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Some kids play in the marching band. The cool kids play in the funk band.

Not to condone that misplaced adolescent notion of what’s cool and what’s oh-so-lame, but the UH Laboratory School has taken ninth period music to a level that’s pretty much way cooler than most music classes. The class, which is titled The Funk Band, is to high school curriculum what Converse kicks are to footwear: classically hip.

(Before I go on, a disclosure: Claire Gordon, the band’s bassist, happens to be the daughter of Advertiser reporters Mike Gordon and Suzanne Roig.)

The Techniques performed last Thursday at Ala Moana’s center stage and I was there to witness the kids in action (which led to an inevitable internal rehashing of regrets, which led to me asking myself angrily why I never had the discipline to learn a musical instrument).

The young band did an amazing job, working through their super eclectic set list with just the right amount of fervor and focus. They played everything from The Cure to Jason Mraz and they did it really, really well. Aside from the obvious advantages that the class offers the kids (discipline, music theory, etc.), it’s also really cool to see these kids jamming out pop classics like The Cure’s “Just Like Heaven” and Jimi Hendrix’s “All Along the Watchtower.” Micah, the band’s ‘ukulele pro, killed it on the Hendrix classic, playing his four strings like he meant it.

Listen to the band play here.

The Techniques take the stage for the band’s last concert of the school year.

Singer and lead guitarist Will Pascua doing his thing and doing it well.

Micah jamming on his ukulele. He also sang lead on the band’s version of Jason Mraz’s mega hit “I’m Yours.”

Guitarist Max Cone also has a decent set of pipes. Here he’s doing lead vocals on The Young Rascals classic “Good Lovin.”

Bassist Claire Gordon is also the band’s very gracious and articulate emcee.

Tags: Ala Moana Center, live music, The Techniques, UH Laboratory School

This entry was posted on Monday, May 19th, 2008 at 1:34 pm and is filed under Arts and Entertainment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.