"funkharp's first concert was me on a boardwalk bench, all the instruments I could carry and an open guitar case with a sign saying 'Change'" says Joseph Randle. Founding member and songwriter for funkharp, Randle is a classic band nerd with a surprising tongue. Drifting between childlike vulgarity and ultra-literate eloquence, that "Change" sign on his guitar case was probably meant as a general statement, not a request for spare coin.
A few months back, Randle began plucking talent from the Philadelphia scene. He found the Thundercat, a grinning and excitable bass phenom whose slap n' pop style interlocks with funkharp's off-rhythm guitar licks the way a zebra's stripes fit together. Next came Mofa, a relentless drummer whose tasteful interpretations of funkharp's nuanced songs reflect his past career as a singer/songwriter. The final addition is Gene Orlando, the MacGyver. This tonehead mixes and masters all of the band's recordings in the studio, and onstage, he tackles whatever part is thrown his way, even when it means learning to play (and sometimes having to invent) yet another instrument.
Though nearly strangers at the time, the members of funkharp moved into a house together after a handful of rehearsals and only one gig together. They built their own recording studio matching the band's exact specifications (and budget) in the house, and the squeaky old conversion van they tour around in usually pulls back into the driveway in the wee small hours of the morning carrying the boys of funkharp, dazed by the rising sun and another stint on the road.