Slave To The Funk is out now!
Image: Teel Studios.
Funk collective Big Twisty & The Funknasty recently dropped their new banger, Slave To The Funk. To celebrate the release, the man himself has shared with MILKY five key ingredients that go into creating a zesty Twisty track.
Produced by Jack Nigro at The Grove studios, the track brings the collectives signature funky stylings, delivering your new favourite boogie anthem. To celebrate the release, Big Twisty & The Funknasty are hitting the road, visiting the Gold Coast, Wollongong, Melbourne and Sydney this May-June.
Bursting onto the scene in 2019, Big Twisty is the musical project of local musician and Pacific Avenue drummer, Dom Littrich. Enlisting longtime friends and fellow musicians to form Big Twisty & The Funk Nasty, the collective have delivered a string of fire singles, and gone on to sell-out venues across the east coast of Australia,
A SPOONFUL OF POPPA TWIST AND FUNKY FRIENDS
The writing of our newest hit Slave To The Funk was actually a collaborative effort between myself, The Funknasty and none other than Poppa Twist (John Littrich). Poppa Twist actually came to my ass with a voice memo he made humming the melody of the chorus.
My beautiful little eyes instantly lit up with funk magic, and I quickly got into the lab with Warbaby (Dylan Rodgers) to flesh it out. I laid down some bars and Da Brain (Gabriel Deburgh) came over to add his synth magic and juicy harmonies.
We then took the demo to the rest of the Funknasty and in no time at all the masterpiece that your earholes hear today was created.
A WHOLE LOTTA LEGENDS
A big inspiration to our music would be the retro-funk style of Parliament Funkadelic, combined with the fast-paced funk of Rage Against the Machine and Red Hot Chilli Peppers. In terms of the hip hop flow, I also take inspo from the hip hop greats of the 90s.
A BITTA EXPERIENCE AND LOVE FOR THE FUNK
Having played drums in other rock bands my whole life, I wanted to delve into a genre that I’ve always loved but never created anything in. Bringing to life the alter ego character of ‘Big Twisty’ has really enabled me to detach from my normal self - and become this eccentric, funk Hip Hop party starter. The music we create has been based around this character who has the attitude of ‘anything goes’, the main focus is getting down!
The whole 10-piece Funknasty similarly have played in other rock and pop groups, but have tapped into their mutual desires to create funk with the formation of the Funknasty.
We don’t want to necessarily create what everyone else is creating at the moment - rather create something different that people can have fun to, not take themselves too seriously to, and detach from reality for a little while.
AN ‘ANYTHING GOES’ LYRICAL ATTITUDE
As with everything in the Big Twisty world, when writing the lyrics for the project, pretty much anything goes. Quite often someone in the Funknasty will even just say a weird one-liner while jamming, and we base the song around that. The songs don’t always make a whole lot of sense, but really that sums up the whole project.
When writing, we work hard on catchy phrases the crowd can sing along to, to bring that energy in the live set. The main focus is always the live performance, so it’s great to create simple lyrics and chants that can enhance the funk and make everyone get on down!
BOOTY-SHAKING AND GETTING DOWN
Beyond lyrics, when we create any music as Big Twisty & The Funknasty, how it will translate live is always in the forefront of our funk brains. The whole goal of the project from the start was to put on the most cosmic funk show the world had ever seen, so we put ourselves in the shoes of the audience when writing. We want every person who watches us to shake their booty and leave the show in a bit of a whirlwind, thinking ‘what just happened?’ in the best way.
The songs all seem to translate well with the audience too, as our ass has been lucky enough to grace the stage for Yours and Owls Fest, supporting Dune Rats, supporting Ocean Alley, and heating things up at the Formula 1s in Melbourne.
Get yo ass to a show NOW and see it for yoself!
Slave To The Funk is out now! Watch our interview with Big Twisty here.
BIG TWISTY & THE FUNKNASTY SLAVE TO THE FUNK AUSTRALIAN TOUR
Sat 07 May - Burleigh Bazaar - Gold Coast
Fri 03 June - Waves (with Ocean Alley) - Wollongong
Sat 04 June - Waves (with Ocean Alley) - Wollongong
Fri 10 June - The Gasometer - Melbourne
Sat 11 June - The Lansdowne - Sydney