You might not know who Aaron Funk is, but if you're a music fan, you've probably heard of his new bandmate: Guitarist John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
The L.A. rocker and the Winnipeg musician are the leaders of Speed Dealer Moms, an electronica outfit that grew out of their recently minted friendship.
"He was a fan of my music," explains Funk. "He turned up at a couple of my gigs in Europe. We started talking about music and we sort of became really good friends. He's a cool dude. We just share this huge love of making music. We really clicked."
So much so that when the Chili Peppers went on indefinite hiatus last year, Frusciante came to Winnipeg for a couple of weeks in August to hang out -- and naturally, the duo ended up recording together at Funk's home studio. "We just made music the whole time," he says. "We have this really good telepathic chemistry."
When he says "the whole time," he means it. The duo, often joined by fellow Winnipeg electronica artist Chris McDonald of The Alison Project, recorded more than 11 hours of material. "A lot of it is acid-electro-techno kind of stuff," says Funk. "It's pretty strange. It doesn't sound like anything I've ever heard before." Based on what we've heard, it certainly doesn't sound like the Chili Peppers. Frusciante doesn't play guitar on any of the cuts, some of which last up to half an hour and range from soothing chillout music to chilling horrorscapes to chaotic grooves.
Funk has since travelled to Los Angeles to continue recording with the 38-year-old guitarist, who has maintained an active and eclectic solo career during his tenure with the Peppers. More sessions are planned -- but at this stage, there are no plans to release any material.
"We're just doing it for fun. I think it's cool if we never release anything. I'm totally happy with that. We're just doing it for us -- not to be a product."
But there is one way you can hear Speed Dealer Moms: At April's Bang Face Weekender music festival on the English coast, where the Moms are slated to make their live debut.
"People seem to be making a huge deal out of it," says Funk, admitting he's not keen on the fuss. "I feel kind of weird about it. I am kind of concerned about having to deal with people who just want to check us out because of John's brand name."
Then again, he's not too worried. After all, "any Red Hot Chili Peppers fans who come to one of my shows are in for a shock."
