Benz World Blog » Funk

Freak Flag

Jason Benz — Thu, 28 Mar 2024 11:53:35 +0000

This is Here Come The Mummies letting their freak flag fly on the Delta stage at Bluesfest 2024 in Byron Bay, Australia. They are the most powerful groove machine I have seen, or not seen, in ages. Why the disguise? Could they be moonlighting while signed to opposing record labels? Maybe they are the real Fun Lovin’ Criminals? All I can say is they are the Banksy of the disco funk world. They have 3 more sets over the next 4 days of music, tickets are available via the Bluesfest Website.

UPDATE: Here Come The Mummies will return one last time for the final Byron Bay Bluesfest in Easter 2025, tickets are available via the Bluesfest Website.

UPDATE: In 2026 Bluesfest will be the last in a line of major festivals closed from increasing headwinds. This began before covid, with the previous state government’s legislative “war on festivals“. The new government risks letting this trend continue through inaction. However, you can change this. If 20,000 signatures are received, the NSW Parliament must debate Bluesfest’s future. #savebluesfest if you live in the state Sign up here. For everyone else, there is an international petition on change.org Sign up here.

UPDATE: Due to the success of Bluesfest 2025, its future has been confirmed. Discounted early bird tickets for the 2026 festival are available here.

Paul Janeway

Jason Benz — Sun, 23 Apr 2017 23:06:26 +0000

This is St Paul and the Broken Bones on the Crossroads stage at Bluesfest 2017. Lead singer Paul Janeway is a force of nature. His passionate performance of authentic southern soul led a band with a massive groove factor.

UPDATE: St Paul will be back at the 30th Bluesfest in 2019. It is guaranteed to be a great show.

UPDATE: The band will return to the festival in 2023, tickets are available via the Bluesfest Website. A few days after the Easter festival they have shows in Melbourne and Sydney, tickets from Bluesfest Touring

This image is available for download here.

The Bamboos

Jason Benz — Mon, 30 May 2016 14:29:07 +0000

This is Kylie Auldist singing with Melbourne based Soul Funk band The Bamboos at the 2016 Blues on Broadbeach music festival. If you want to get your groove on, I highly recommend you check them out.

Stage lights often produce challenges for cameras. To process this image a little split toning was added in Camera RAW to recover the skin tone. A mask was then created in Photoshop to put some red back into the dress.

UPDATE: The Bamboos will perform at Bluesfest in April 2022. Get your tickets from the Bluesfest website.

George Clinton

Jason Benz — Sun, 19 Apr 2015 10:15:17 +0000

This is George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic at the start of a 4 hour set as the final band on the Mojo stage at the Byron Bay Bluesfest. George is known as one of the foremost innovators of funk music. I first heard their music in the UK through Nottingham funk band Fat Digester. It was a nice surprise to find them on the line-up for a blues festival in Australia.

This image is available for download here.

Shark Night

Jason Benz — Sun, 08 Dec 2013 02:59:21 +0000

On Friday night we went to see soul funk band His Merry Men at the local Southport Sharks Gold Coast Club. I think this is Andrew Ball on the Baritone Saxophone who is part of the bands impressive brass section. The club was much bigger than we expected, feeling more like an entertainment venue with many bars and stages.

Gold Night

Jason Benz — Wed, 13 Nov 2013 22:55:04 +0000

Last night we went to Brisbane to film 3 bands for the YouTube channel MusicLive4U. Highlight of the evening for us was this 10 piece funk soul band called His Merry Men who were launching their new single Gold. I highly recommend you check it out.

To process this image yellow/orange split-toning was used to achieve the gold colour under the pink lights.

New Year

Jason Benz — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 16:49:19 +0000

This is Albany band Manaia who Rocked Hopetoun last night with their own brand of Reggae, Funk and Groove. After the gig the guitarist ask if I could get them a gig in the UK. Unfortunately it’s been 10 years since I put on gigs in Nottingham and I think persuading a venue to fly five guys half way round the world is beyond my ability. I wish them the best of luck and if they make it I would gladly pay to see them play again.

The last 25 posts I have been experimenting using sRGB colour space. From now on I am switching back to Adobe RGB as the last two low key gig shots displayed a lot of visible noise in the shadow areas when viewed using Firefox browser. Redeveloping theses images in Adobe RGB colour space has greatly reduced the distortion. I suspect this is due to the wider colour range of Adobe RGB being clipped to display on the web. The clipping will increase the amount of pure black in the picture which makes the image punchier and eliminates the dark grey noise.