Junkadelic will celebrate two decades of performances, community engagements, recording and tours with a 20th Birthday Party in the Earthwise Community Garden in Subiaco from 3pm to 8pm on Sunday, February 27.
Junkadelic fans, former band members, locals and visitors alike are invited to attend this family fun event that will feature live entertainment, free kids’ activities CirQuest acts, food for sale, roaming performers, sustainability information and much more. Subiaco Primary School have also collaborated with Junkadelic with workshops to create a unique sculpture and the final result will be unveiled at the party.
Junkadelic began in 2002 as a project by Ken Allen and Dora Deluca for the Earthwise Community Association with the aim to “make junk from junk,” adopting a mission to spread an environmental message, taking workshops for how to make instruments and play rhythms to schools – and the broader community.
The first official performance for Junkadelic was for World Environment Day in June 2002. The band morphed into Funk Junktion, a stage band featuring brass, bass, electric guitar and a drum kit as well as the ‘junk percussion’ section and lead vocalist Hoodwynk. The band toured with performances and workshops throughout WA and in 2007 the band toured Hong Kong, performing daily for ten weeks.
In 2011 the first iteration of the Junkadelic Brass Band formed, reworking tunes written by Pippin Kenworthy in the Funk Junktion days. Over the next decade the band developed new material under the musical direction of Dylan Hooper and Marc Osborne and band leader Leah Van Der Meulen.
In recent years the band has collaborated with Dr Richard Walley and some of Perth’s best aboriginal vocalists to form the Six Seasons Band. Last year the Six Seasons band performed on the Saturday night at the main stage at Fairbridge Festival and headlined the Opening Night concert of the Perth International Jazz Festival.
The current band line-up – under the direction of Laura Halligan and Seb Davidson with bandleader Camryn Thomason – has big plans for 2022.
The Junkadelic 20th Birthday Party is supported by the City of Subiaco, Earthwise, UpBeat Events, Kindling Creative, CirQuest, Drummers for Climate Action and DJ Loco Ren.
Junkadelic’s 20th Birthday Party goes down at the Earthwise Community Garden in Subiaco on Sunday, February 27. For more info head to the Facebook event page.
