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We’ve got the Funk

Laidback local at the heart of the Whistler music scene
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"The Funk is a highly-revved, fully-cocked musical machine with many dials on his radio. He is what good musicians are: influenced by the great genres and makers before him and appreciative of the new ones on the way. He’s a performer by nature and a musician by heart. He’s a pretty good guy too…"

— Downtown Jay Brown

They call him The Funk, but funk is but one musical arrow in his extensive quiver.

To say Whistler musician Rob Funk is versatile is an understatement. In the course of an hour he’ll throw down classic rock, hippie jams, the theme from the Littlest Hobo, Gershwin’s Summertime and an acoustic folk version of Iron Maiden’s Number of the Beast. The man can play everything.

A gifted multi-instrumentalist, the man can also play everywhere.

With guitar and keyboard he’s a fixture at Black’s Pub every Friday night and entertains the coffee crowd at the Second Cup on lazy weekend afternoons. He regularly tickles the ivories on the baby grand at the Mallard Lounge and jams out at the Crystal Lounge. Monday nights he’s pounding the skins for local reggae collective Kostaman and the Mighty Backhoes at Moe Joe’s. In the summertime, he’s on the patios with trusty wingman Gary Yoshida or with Glenn Mishaw and Raj Das as the Rutherford Creek Trio. The trio has roots in the Rutherford Creek Collective group that came together to record Watershed – a benefit CD for the widow and child of a victim of 2003’s Pemberton highway bridge washout tragedy.

As well as contributing as a musician, Funk recorded Watershed both in his home studio in Alpine and at a temporary studio space in Mount Currie. Recording is kind of a "hobby" of his, he says.

"The first time I played with Rob, he gave me a disc of tunes to learn and we diligently rehearsed in what key and tempo he wanted to perform them. We arrived at the venue and I had my trusty charts with me and as soon as we started to play Rob threw out the set list and played 40 songs I had never played or rehearsed with him ever before. Needless to say, Rob keeps my chops honed as he can throw you into left field when you’re used to first base."

— Gary Yoshida

Rob Funk is actually Rob Hebert. The stage name comes from a former blues/funk project called The Bob Funk Band. During the Bob Funk era he called himself Rob Funk for solo gigs, and the name stuck.

A small town boy from Nova Scotia, Hebert went west to Whistler on a whim right after high school in the early, early ’90s (he’s 32 now). He returned to the east, only to go west again, spending a couple years in Vancouver before returning to Whistler in the mid-1990s to work as a ski-school instructor. Trained in piano and percussion as a kid he picked up guitar while in Vancouver.

"I’m a heavy metalhead," he confesses. "When I learned guitar I learned heavy metal style: Megadeth, Metallica, Slayer."

Despite his love of the hard stuff he has no problem adapting it for the lounge/chill out scene. Mallard guests will often be blissfully unaware that the smiling young man with the guitar is playing notorious metal classics.

"Why not?" says Funk. "It’s a lot of fun." His disclaimer: "That’s the Maritimer in me."

"Rob is an excellent example of a talented and versatile musician without the ego."

— Glenn Mishaw

A current fascination with Celtic music has reconnected him with his Maritime roots, but even so, Funk says Whistler is home. He started gigging in this town soon after he arrived. One of his favourite stories involves his first New Year’s Eve job at La Brasserie in 1996, which resulted in nudity – he doesn’t say on whose part.

For the past two years he has been a self-supporting musician, keen to take opportunities when they arise. It’s not uncommon for him to have three jobs a day during the busy Christmas season. No matter how many hours he’s logged in a day, the last straggler at closing time is going to get the same smile and enthusiasm from Funk as the hopped up crew partying at the peak of après-ski.

How does he sustain himself?

"It’s pretty fun playing," he says. "The hardest part isn’t the playing. In a situation like that where it’s Christmas and it’s super busy it’s getting to the gigs and setting up.

"I’m my own roadie. I have to set up and tear down. The playing is easy."

"When you’re playing with Rob, he’s the glue that holds it together."

— Kostas "Kostaman" Lymbertos

It’s his easy, "good-times" approach to playing and his ability to join in with any style at any speed that has made Rob Funk an integral part of the Whistler live music scene, appreciated by all with whom he has shared a stage. He deems the Whistler scene "healthy," citing a wealth of venues and collaborators, both known and in the underground. A healthy number of the Whistler live music scene is involved in tonight’s St. Patrick’s Day party gig at Merlin’s. Collaborating under the moniker The Pickled Livers is Funk, Yoshida, Raj Das, Kostaman, Mishaw, Greg Garland and Andy Gallant (a.k.a. Tiny Elvis) with guests. While there is no official Pickled Liver bandleader few would argue with the choice of Funk for spiritual frontman.

Despite his wealth of gigs and collaborative scope he hesitates when asked if he’s making a mark on Whistler.

"I don’t know. I don’t think so," he hedges. "I’m making a lot of good friends," he says, then reconsiders.

"I would think so, because a lot of other people are making a mark on me. I’m feeding off other people and I’m pretty sure other people are feeding off me.

"I can feel the love."

The Pickled Livers throw down an epic St. Patrick’s Day set tonight at Merlin’s starting at 4 p.m. and going until midnight. Check out the nightlife listings on page 72 for a complete list of St. Patrick’s Day party action in Whistler.