LE TOUR DE FUNK
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Sunday, January 6
The Patch
Sam Pfister's mum, Liane, freaked out a bit about the mess in the garage when her son and his band mates shot their first music clip there.
The clip to The Bike Song has the six members of Wollongong band Le Tour de Funk wearing bike helmets as they play their fun groove about freedom and riding bikes.
"We all just said it goes with the garage band look," Sam laughs, explaining how he convinced his mum not to worry.
The Bike Song, released on an EP in August last year, was the first song the group had written and also provided the uni students with the name for their band.
The music clip has had hundreds of hits on YouTube.
"We didn't have a band name yet and we were stuffing around with words and the lead singer came up with it on the spot," Pfister said.
The band mates, aged 18 and 19, aren't serious bike riders but Pfister says he depends on his bike a lot as he doesn't drive.
Together for just a year, Le Tour de Funk, or LTdF, is a funk-soul-indie pop outfit that includes Pfister, Hayden Wilkinson, Jake Parker, Stuart McNair, Geordie Crawford and Rhyan Clapham.
The Sunday gig at The Patch will see three cousins play together for the first time.
Pfister's cousin, Brendan Pfister, will perform as the acoustic Jungle Boy and Sam teams up with fellow cousin Paul Davis in The Deep Blue Sea before LTdF take the stage as the third act of the night.
On top of working on their music, the lads of Le Tour de Funk are also completing arts and science degrees at university.
"I think we'd all like to eventually make a living from music - we all just want to be able to keep doing what we love," Pfister says.
"The hardest part is just getting everyone together."
In between flights coming back from family visits to Adelaide, Pfister says the holidays were a rare chance for everyone to catch up.
"Yeah, we did have a bit of a play over Christmas," Pfister says, admitting that the cousins cannot resist a chance to jam.
"We also talked about the gigs coming up."
Being trained in jazz, the band members produce a funky sound using horns, and are inspired by other bands that use horns in their music, such as The Cat Empire and Ball Park Music.
"We're going to try a few more electronic elements because that's the way music's headed these days," Pfister says of plans for the future.
"As we play more we learn more.
"We all like jazz and being young we've also got the pop and indie influences."
Pfister says music did not really run in his family, but it was supportive parents who fostered his ambitions.
"I've had a lot of formal training, learning piano, guitar and singing but I've done a lot myself sitting with the guitar and learning songs," he says.
Le Tour de Funk have played gigs mostly in Wollongong, but Pfister says they hope to land shows in Sydney this year.