Friday, December 14

Cabbage Tree Hotel

Free entry

The SideTracked Fiasco like to be a little weird.

Their music is a blend of funk, hardcore, punk and hip hop, while their on-stage antics involve coating themselves in body paint, donning face masks and morph suits and wearing hula skirts patterned with both skulls and rubber ducks. In short, they're not what most people expect.

Singer Ryan Miller says their pre-stage prep often involves a few strange looks from unsuspecting revellers.

"Before each show, there'll be four guys in the toilets standing in their undies covering themselves in paint," he laughs.

"The other night we were in Armidale and this guy walked in, looked at us and we looked back at them through the mirror and they just turned around and walked out."

He says many people expect the boys to be far more hardcore or screamo and often get a shock when they take the stage and start dancing around.

While he admits they listen more to heavy metal and punk music during their time off, the ability to dance and have fun is what draws Miller and the rest of the band to funk music, and why they never stick to a single genre.

"It makes you move. Especially when we put it with distorted guitars and a heavy groove it's full of energy and we play at a pace that's a bit faster than your more traditional funk music."

"It's by no means traditional funk, it's got a lot of energy and gets the heart pumping and body moving."

The group, which originally formed about six years ago with a different line-up, has drawn comparisons to the early tunes of The Red Hot Chili Peppers.

While Miller takes the suggestion as a huge compliment, he believes they have a different sound and are only aligned with the band because funk outfits are few and far between.

"There's definitely some influences there, but we're a bit heavier, a bit more punk than what they were," he explains.

He wouldn't strictly call The SideTracked Fiasco a funk band, because they incorporate elements of other genres into their tunes.

While their bassist relies on a slap bass style of playing, their other guitars are heavily distorted and their lyrics sound more like they come from a hip-hop artist than a cool and casual funk man.

Although their live shows are high-energy, Miller and his friends manage to recover well. This year, they have already toured three times, doing the majority of their booking, promoting and organisation, all the while holding down day jobs.

"It's been a pretty wild year balancing the life of music, and still having to go to work to play the bills.

"But we're planning more tours next year with the hopes of going bigger and better."