Andy Siegel
Special to the Review
One of the best bands I’ve ever seen in Revelstoke Five Alarm Funk is returning downtown this Wednesday night March 27 to start their 2019 spring tour at the Traverse.
All proceeds from this event will benefit the Revelstoke Paddlesport Association which is a perfect excuse to go see some great live music on a weeknight.
Five Alarm Funk is a Vancouver-based band eight men strong playing gypsy-rock, afro-funk, latin, ska and punk infused songs with an enormous amount of on stage energy that will guarantee to have the crowd dancing all night long.
Over a decade deep into a career that has seen it release five acclaimed albums and burn up stages across the country on six national tours, Five Alarm Funk always brings the heat so get ready to rock the Traverse Revelstoke.
They released their sixth studio album, Sweat in March 2017, this album gets right to the roots of what Five Alarm Funk is all about: epic, intense arrangements, heavy groove and a ton of fun.
I’ve seen Five Alarm many times over the years and have always been fascinated with how the entire band brings so much energy to their live performances. The one time that stands out in my memory was a legendary show they played at Longhorns in Whistler village during the TelUs Festival. The bar was packed and being April it was warm out so the temperature was not cold it got very hot inside, to cool down the entire band decided to shed some layers which by the end of the show had all eight members in their tight underwear with no shirts on. I’ll never forget that image of them on stage, they were jamming so hard crushing the last few tunes in just their skivvies I could not stop laughing at how hilarious they looked.
Five Alarm Funk features Tayo Branston on lead vocals and drums, Gabe Boothroyd on guitar, Oliver Gibson on guitar, Jason Smith on bass, Tom Towers on congas, Ricki Valentine on timbales, Eli Bennett on saxophone, and Kent Wallace on trumpet.
The Revelstoke Paddlesport Association is a not-for-profit society created to develop, provide, and promote recreational and competitive paddle sports, activities, and events in and around the city of Revelstoke. Founded by Bill Pollock in the winter of 2017, with the initial goal to bring the David Thompson Paddlesport Classic to life. The Revelstoke Paddlesport Association was formed to bring together the nomadic paddlers of our community.
Our goals are to promote paddling in Revelstoke by providing programs and equipment, organizing events, promoting safe practices and developing and maintaining water access and infrastructure for the public. As paddlesport enthusiasts, we advocate to preserve and protect free flowing, clean, healthy waterways.
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