September 28, 2009

Mod-A-Day: The Funseekers

The Funseekers put the fun into ... well, into everything. They were a mod band if by mod band you mean a bunch of garage rockin' guys who loved sixties R&B, had a touch of the "punk rock" about them, and put on a show that could scare your relatives and deflower a virgin from 50 steps, well then they were a mod band.

Seriously, I only met them once briefly before the Mods Mayday '89 show we put together in LA, and they were the nicest bunch of guys. That is, until you turned on their amps and handed them their instruments, then they turned into a seriously frenzifying (to steal their own term) garage rock combo.

They put out three 7" singles, and a full LP --Frenzyfying (Treehouse Records) all of which are branded with their infectious garage sound that is loud and fast, and above all very sixties focused. In 1987 the embarked on an ambitious filmmaking odyssey --The Funseekers A Northwoods Holiday-- the results of which are still with us. It isn't great. At times it isn't even good. (It reminded me in odd ways of The Style Council's ill-conceived Jerusalem film/video thing of about the same time.) Still, it's one of those bad things that in the end just seems to go right. Part of it was that in the late 80s it was still quite difficult to put together your own video, let alone an entire short film. So no mattter how bad the production, or the acting (they were acting right?) it was still really cool because the music was cool, and ... well The Funseekers were just so damn cool. Below are the links to the Northwoods Hollywood video, and here is one of the best damn songs they ever did, "You Can't Have My Love". One of my favorite mod garage bands of all time.

The Funseekers -- You Can't Have My Love


The Funseekers (Live at Mods Mayday '89) -- Make You Mine


The Funseekers - A Northwoods Holiday pt 1
The Funseekers - A Northwoods Holiday pt 2
The Funseekers - A Northwoods Holiday pt 3
The Funseekers - A Northwoods Holiday pt 4