Best Regular Club Event: Q&A with Bite-Size Buddha of Funk Fever

 

In honor of you fine party people voting Funk Fever Beijing's Best Regular Club Event at this year's Reader Bar & Club Awards, we tracked down DJ Bite-Size Buddha, one-third of the team, to discuss how the night came to be as well as the best cure for when you're in a funk.

Martin Star, Perman and myself (Bite-Size Buddha) created Funk Fever in February 2009, at a time in Beijing where you could only either go to a Techno party or a commercial club. We all just wanted to go to a fun party that had different styles of music that make you feel good – Funk, Soul, Disco, Old School Hip Hop and Classic Pop. So, we figured if no one was doing it, why not try ourselves to make it happen. Along the way we met many Funky collaborators and added new members ... and drank far too many shots.

 

Funk Fever's have come in all shapes and sizes, and we love them all unconditionally. One of our proudest moments probably being in February 2010, when we united three bands and three DJ crews to raise money for disaster relief in Haiti after the earthquake hit. We turned everything around in about 2 weeks and packed Yugong Yishan on a Wednesday night, raising over 40,000 RMB, all from donations and entrance tickets. More than anything it was great to see everyday Beijingers, musicians and DJs coming together to do something good for the people of a country that needed it. 

 

Just let the Funk flow through you and let your body give in to the rhythm. Check out James Brown's dance lessons online, or for more ambitious folks check out Breakin', Napoleon Dynamite or Planet B-Boy.

 

We're changing the format a little this summer, as Martin Star has gone back to Germany, and currently Suiki, Perman and myself will hold down the tunes, freeing up some space to invite some great international guest DJs, like the legendary DJ Spinna on July 11. We're working on bringing someone big in September as well, and between then we'll be up to our normal crazy shenanigans. We'll also continue our collaborations with brands like Skullcandy, Plastered 8 and Dienastie, that get our vibe, and together push forward cool concepts to level up what we do.

 

Music! As the great group Parliament once said, "Funk not only moves, it can remove." We have a few old podcasts floating around the internet, which you can find through iTunes or www.beijingfunk.com, we'll also be looking to move some of our old mixes to Mixcloud, and get some new mixes and recordings up. You can also check out myself on Soundcloud or Mixcloud ... shameless self-promo.

 

Uuuuuuuugggghhhh-good gawd-uh-ha-hah-wheeeeeeeeeeeeew-spread-the-Funk-yeeeeeeeaaaaoooow!!!