Photo courtesy of Chauncey Crail.
When did the band form?
Caleb Cofsky: I’m gonna take this one. January of 2014. Is that right?
Jake Lauer: Well the band really began in November of that year when myself, Jake Sabetta, and Brian LeMeur got together for a jam session. Then we needed to find a bass so we met Dylan. We wanted to play really badly first semester and we were jealous of bands that were playing so Brian just scheduled a show for us even though we weren’t ready at all. We got back from Winter Break, met Caleb, practiced a lot, and then played our first show during first weekend of 5th block. That is really when we began.
Jake Sabetta: The first lineup was Dylan Pearl on bass, Brian LeMeur on saxophone, Jake Lauer on drums, Caleb Cofsky on guitar and vocals, and Jake Sabetta on guitar and vocals.
Who came up with the name ‘Funkdozer’ and why?
JL: Oh no.
Dylan Pearl: Okay. So the name is based on a great American hero, named Captain Killdozer, who built a death tank and went on a rampage in his town in Granby, Colorado.
What is Funkdozer’s most memorable moment as a band?
CC: What about when Dylan had his nuts out on stage for an entire song?
DP: That happened? When did that happen?
JL: The most memorable moment was right before Battle of the Bands Round 1 last year. Jake and our saxophone, Brian…
JS: Our saxophone Brian? Brian is not a saxophone.
JL: He might as well be. Anyways… Brian and Jake were wrestling and something weird happened. Jake slammed his head into the concrete floor and got a concussion. This was like the day before Battle Round 1, and he didn’t know if he could play. We really needed him so we were freaking out. We spent the next 28 hours his room with all the lights out just keeping him company. We ended up playing Battle Round 1. He had ski goggles on and big earmuffs on to protect his head. It was really dramatic. JS: And a great song came out of those 28 hours too, a sweet original that we play a lot.
What is your favorite song to play?
DP: I could tell you my least favorite song to play. It’s “I Wish” by Stevie Wonder. I hate that song.
JS: It’s a good song just hard to play right?
DP: You know what it is… It’s the feeling of the metal sliding on my fingers, cause I just do that the whole song. It makes me nauseous.
JL: One of my favorite ones to play is “Seven Nation Army” with Jenna Wu singing it.
JS: I think “Hot Coffee.” It’s the band favorite. It’s a Dylan Pearl original.
CC: How about “Moving Out”?
DP: I really like “She’s Not There.”
Where is your favorite place to play?
CC, JL, and JS: Cossitt.
DP: I haven’t played in Cossitt so I liked playing at Llama. I don’t know if that counts but that stage was dope.
CC: I actually really like playing in the Mathias basement. It’s called the Jam Room and they pump in toxic chemicals to make us feel depressed all the time. It’s super fun. We are all really happy down there during practice. We don’t get mad at all.
How would you describe the music culture at CC?
CC: John Moody is a pioneer.
DP: John Moody is the patron saint of Funkdozer. He does not know that he is the patron saint but he is.
CC: We really look up to this guy named John Moody. He’s like 6 feet 7 inches tall.
DP: No he’s like 9 feet tall.
JS: His beard has been growing for like 5 years.
CC: Last year the music culture was full of life and excitement and activity. Battle of the Bands last year was 28-30 student bands. It made us push each other to become better. This year there really hasn’t been too much live music.
DP: There is a lack of venues here and in the Springs.
JL: There seems to be a lack of motivation to put together sets. It is pretty bizarre actually. I think and hope that Battle of the Bands will spark something this year.
When will you perform next?
JL: Next Friday we are going to play at KSig. That is March 6th.
Will you compete in Battle of the Bands this year?
JS: Yes.
DP: Hell yes. We are gonna win.
If you could go to any concert past, present, or fictional, who would you see?
JL: The sweetest concert I would go to, based on my personal likes now, would be Lettuce, Snarky Puppy, and Humphreys McGee this summer at Red Rocks.
CC: I would see the Grateful Dead in the condition they were in 1972 in my mom’s womb. So it would be 98.6 degrees and we would be floating around in fluids and it would be super relaxing and stress relieving.
DP: What are you?
JS: Before Jimi Hendrix died he was talking to Miles Davis about putting together something. I would really like to see that collaboration.
DP: Ooh, I would watch the s*** out of that. I would really like to see Sublime when Brad Nowell was still alive. If I could see ’84 Metallica I would be so about that. That would be awesome.
If you could have any superpower what would it be?
JL: I am going to go with the classic answer and say I would love to be able to fly.
DP: Booooo. No creativity. So there is this superhero that I really like called Darwin, this is the nerdiest thing you are going to hear all day. He has the power called adaptive evolution. Whatever happens to him his body adapts. So if you put him underwater he grows gills or if you throw him all of a building he will grow wings.
JL: I want to be able to fly whenever I want to. That seems like only certain situations.
DP: Fine then I want the power to create things out of thing air.
JL: I still want to fly.
DP: Fine I will just create a flying gun that shoots people that fly.
JS: Probably to be able to play any instrument as good as I wanted.
JL: Ahh dude that’s a good one.
DP: How are you going to fight crime with that?
JS: I will soothe the ears of all the criminals.
CC: I want the ability to go to the bathroom anywhere in public without anyone noticing. You don’t have to leave Rastall to poop. You can just poop. It would save so much time.
The post Funkdozer talks about their formation, the origin of their name, and their most-wanted superpowers. appeared first on The Catalyst.
