Local band gains notoriety in Vermillion

Olde Funk Riot isn’t just a name you come up with over night, and the music they play certainly isn’t either. Olde Funk Riot is a local jazz band growing in popularity at the University of South Dakota.

“The name of the band is a bit of a joke,” said Kevin Sparks, the lead bassist in the band. The band’s name started out as Rat Hole Pig Dwellers, and was then changed “for hopefully obvious reasons,” Sparks said.

They later became The Bend for awhile, but ultimately, took a word from two of their newly written songs and added “Olde,” creating the catchy name of Olde Funk Riot.

The band consists of five USD students. Kevin Sparks, 22, plays the bass, clarinet and guitar. He is from Omaha, Neb. and is a music education major.

Reid Turner, 21, is the keyboardist and percussionist. He is from Aberdeen and is a double major in music studies and economics.

Michael Bruning, 21, plays the tenor saxophone. He is from Sioux Falls and is a music performance major.

Terry Kenny, 20, plays the trumpet and is from

Sioux Falls.

Alex Hanson, 19, is the drummer and percussionist. He is from Sioux City, Iowa and is a music performance major.

Sparks was in similar jazz groups throughout high school and became part of Olde Funk Riot because he wanted to continue to play. He joined forces with Turner and Bruning; together they formed the group in the spring of 2010. Although members have come and gone, they have still maintained half of the original group.

“Every one of us plays in the group because we love to perform,” Sparks said. “As nice as it is to have a large group of fans or to be touring, we’re perfectly content to just play when we get the opportunity.”

The band previously had scheduled two-hour practices twice a week, but because of busy schedules, they recently cut it down to once a week. They feel the hour time slot is more than enough time and really keeps them motivated.

With most of the members being music majors, and all being full-time students, their schedules are in fact very busy. However, they make the time, and the band a priority.

“Being in this band fits quite well with being a student,” Hanson said, “Being a music major myself, I feel like it helps me become a better player. It also gives us some performance experience, and we get a chance to go out and meet new people,”

Sparks and Turner have written a few original musical pieces for the band. Sparks’ pieces are fairly standard blues pieces, but when preforming, the group adds their own twist, with some acid and funk jazz.

“Since we mostly play jazz charts that are already written, we’re really taking a page from those musicians,” Hanson said. “We tend to play a lot of Herbie Hancock, which is easier to play, and we can really put out our own interpretation.”

Olde Funk Riot’s fun and quirky twist on jazz keeps their fans interested. Their first show this year was at Raziel’s on Sept. 29.

“They have performed here four or five times now and they always bring in a fun, large and exciting crowd,” said Bonnie Rowland, the owner of Raziel’s. “We love having them here and the students do, too.”

Junior Kelley Gilson attended their show in September and loved it. She said she will definitely be at all their other shows.

“The atmosphere was probably the best part,” Gilson said. “They have played inside Raziel’s before, but playing outside on the patio was the icing on the cake.”

Their next show is yet to be determined and will be announced on the group’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/OldeFunkRiot?. They hope to find a guitarist that will seamlessly fit into their band but are excited to see where this year will take them.