Squamish Valley Music Festival DJs of the Day: Funk Hunters

When the Funk Hunters bring their four turntables, custom synced visuals, crazy skillz, and vaguely filthy sounding name to Squamish on August 9, they'll be fresh off a tour that's presently winding through England, Scotland, Bosnia, Croatia, the Netherlands and a pretty big chunk of Canada. And yet, Nick and Dunks still found the time to answer our stupid questions!

Sea to Sky Playlist:

Long drives on tour and plane rides are sometimes the only time to catch up on full albums. Here's a couple getting heavy rotation on our iPod's right now:

Fat Freddy's Drop Blackbird
Pretty Lights A Color Map of the Sun
Charles Bradley Victim of Love
Rudimental Home
Flume s/t
Justin Martin Ghettos & Gardens
C2C Tetra
BrixtonBoogie Crossing Borders
K+Lab Space Dirt
The Cuban Brothers Bonita 

Outdoor Essentials: 

Nick: If you’re camping, a proper blow up mattress with real bedding. There's just no other way really. A portable espresso machine would be next on the list though!

Dunks: I'm all about ridiculous costumes. Although my tickle trunk has dwindled over the last few years, I love getting goofy come festival time. If you have enough costumes, it doubles as a mattress.

I Would Love to Hang With: 

Nick: Pretty Lights for sure. Derek [Vincent Smith] has always been a big source of inspiration. And to see him have such continued success while always staying true to the music he wants to make is really encouraging. His music has never lost that soulful element and it’s just amazing to hear and see his evolution over the past few years, both in the studio and with the scale of production on his tours. From some videos we've seen online, he also has one of the most badass onboard studio setups inside of his tour bus, so I think a quick tour and studio session in the bus would certainly be in order!

Dunks: I'd like to go head to head in a thriftshop-off with Mackelmore. I really dig his steeze but since I've been thrifting since my diaper days, It would be good to see if his bargain hunting skills go beyond a dope song and hilarious music video. 

First Festival Experience:

Nick: My first real music festival was actually in the Squamish Valley! Well over a decade ago, it was called Reconvergence of the Tribes, and took place up the Elaho River Valley, not far from the old Bass Coast festival site. Back in those days the lineup was flooded with nothing but good ol’ psy-trance. Pretty sure my weekend was spent in a magic cookie haze strolling the river banks and attempting to learn how to spin fire. God, was I hippie back then?

Dunks: My first festival was a folk fest in Eastern Ontario called Blue Skies. Its still happens every year but I havn't been since I was 17. The place always seemed so massive but I'm pretty sure they cap it around 1000 people. It was all about groovy folk music and a family oriented community vibe, so of course it was also the first place I ever got really drunk and experienced a proper hangover. 

As stellar as this year’s Squamish bill is, what’s your Fantasy Fest line-up? 

Jurassic 5 and Pretty Lights is pretty damn impressive already. There's a couple I'd have to add though. Rudimental is blowing up Europe with their live show right now, and have yet to hit our neck of the woods, so that would be one of the first on my list. And then some classic rock, for sure. Where's all the classic rock at on this lineup? Us Canadians love our Neil Young! And the Rolling Stones are on their 50th Anniversary tour with no Vancouver date, what's up with that?

What’s your official rider request

Nick: Coconut water all the way. Pretty sure there was multiple days at Burning Man last year where I consumed nothing but litres of chocolate coconut water... and I felt great. Ever since then it's my go to, day or night!

Dunks: I like to keep the rider fairly modest.  When it's super hot, towels are a must as sweat and DJ gear are a bad mix. If we ever wanted to go all out we could just add Steve Aoki to our rider then we would have an endless supply of trampolines, inflatable boats, and broken limbs. 

Trivia time: What’s Squamish’s official slogan?

Nick: One word: Squampton.

Dunks: Come check out our Chief. You can climb up the face, hike up the backside, or stay awhile and we'll build you a gondola to the top. 

The Squamish Valley Music Festival takes place at Hendrickson Fields & Logger Sports Ground. Quick—what’s your favourite logger sport?

Nick: Do loggers hunt?

Dunks: I'm a big fan of the 100 meter wheelbarrow race—dash to splash edition. You basically throw a friend in a wheelbarrow then race across rugged beach terrain hitting the breaks right before the water, launching your mate as far as you can.  Points for speed and distance launched. 

The Funk Hunters play the Woodshed Stage at 8:30 pm on Saturday (August 9)