Putting the fro in funk

By Nicole Kobie

An injury to a basketball player is as unlucky as tonsillitis is to a singer. If you’re Jay Crawford of Froside, you’ve been down both roads.

"I’m getting my tonsils out," says Crawford, who goes by the stage name Baby J. "I’ve been singing with tonsillitis for the last eight shows. It’s a contractual obligation, I don’t have a choice."

But don’t worry, his surgery isn’t until after the Froside-headlined Funk U Cabaret. After that, he goes under the knife, so don’t expect to be hearing from Crawford for over a month. At least he gets to stage a comeback, unlike with his basketball career.

"I was a basketball player, a college prospect. But I had an injury or I’d be playing ball for sure," he explains. "That was always my first love; music’s a secondary thing."

While music may only be secondary for Crawford, he and his bandmates are making strides towards success. They released their first CD, D.B.A.-which stands for "death by afro"-last July and have been performing their retro-styled funk ever since.

"There’s not a lot of funk bands in Western Canada or in Canada at all really," says Crawford. "We’re just trying to expose a new flavour, to open [Calgary] up to the urban funk market, which is nonexistent as of yet."

Crawford is confident the university crowd will be more receptive than a recent audience at the opening of the Whiskey. There, the patrons were mostly middle-aged corporate men, who just didn’t seem to get it when he yelled "say ho" into the crowd.

"They were stiffs. They were looking at me like ‘he’s telling us to say ho? What’s he talking about? What’s he mean by that?’" he laughs.

While their funk sounds may not appeal to the fiftysomethings, they do to people in Hong Kong, where Froside’s DJ Spinacillin has been for the past year.

"He goes there as DJ Casual-I don’t know why he switches it up-but he’s one of the top five DJs there and, of course, he pumps and promotes our stuff," Crawford says. "It’s actually played on the radio, so we’re gonna go crash that market."

The high energy so loved overseas is evident in the band’s eccentric wardrobe. For them, every show is Halloween. One band member once walked onto stage wearing just a bathrobe, slippers and the band’s namesake, an afro. At their last show, Crawford sang his set in a baby blue tuxedo, huge bow tie, sunglasses and of course, big hair.

So why the obsession with afros?

"I was just looking for a niche-a hook-to get people familiar with our band. At the CD release party we gave away 500 afros, so all these guys and girls were wearing afros at the show," Crawford says. "It makes them feel more involved. It’s a visual too, so you’ll be
able to remember Froside. It’s all a
hook, all a gimmick."