funkUs is one of Orlando’s most prolific and enduring bands. (Don’t count “Us” out yet! We’re currently on a self-prescribed hiatus.) Dubbed “flavor rock” and declared “a guilty pleasure” (Orlando Weekly), the “groove heavy precision” of “Orlando’s highly regarded jam band” (Orlando Sentinel) has inspired audiences to move, groove and gather since 1998 earning titles statewide as “Orlando jazz-groove staples” (Creative Loafing Tampa Bay.) With an original, often surprising blend of musical genres and “jam rock styles that recall Phish and The Allman Brothers” (Daytona Beach News-Journal), the band is also renown for musical tributes to Santana, The Doors, Pink Floyd, The Police, John Lennon and David Bowie.
With 5 CD releases including contributions by many top Orlando/Tallahassee musicians with a notable cameo by Tom Constanten (formerly a member of The Grateful Dead), they were mostly active from 1998 – 2018 performing coast to coast throughout Florida at premier music venues and festivals including the Purple Hatter’s Ball (2013), the Bear Creek Music Festival (2009, 2011), the Orange Blossom Jamboree (2010-2011), Jambando In The Park (2010-2012) and many others. funkUs is also one of the founding members of Jambando in Orlando, Florida and has shared stages with Galactic, Soulive, Dumpstaphunk, Robby Krieger’s Jam Kitchen, Victor Wooten, Steve Kimock Band, Jeff Coffin and the Mu’tet, The Dead Kenny G’s, The Soul Rebels Brass Band, The New Mastersounds, The Lee Boys, Zach Deputy, Consider the Source and more.
Their latest CD highlights the most musically adventurous incarnation of the band to date and marked 14 years as Florida’s commercially challenged purveyors of flavor rock.
Toni Brown, author, musician and former publisher/editor of Relix Magazine, writes: “funkUs fits neatly into the eclectic jamband musical melting pot. The band possesses powerful blues leanings and intense R&B and funk rhythms. With an emphasis on meaningful songwriting and free-form jam exploration, their songs range from quirky and catchy to emotionally moving. The combination results in highly danceable, energetic grooves that reach dizzying, intoxicating highs or soothing, spiritual lows.”