The Five Fingers of Funk The Fingers' groove is almost mechanically provided by the bass and drums. On top of that they add
the punch of a super tight horn section - guys who were probably "band geeks" in high school,
but who went on to college and ended up pulling some tubes and listening to James Brown. So, with
such a talented band, it is wild watching a show where most of the improvisation comes from the
singer, rapper Pete Miser in this case, and from the turntables. DJ Chill Blend comps, throws in
fills, and solos using syncopated percussion with sampled voice lines, spinning and stopping the
turntables with one hand and controlling the volume with the sliders on the mixer with the other.
He, like the rest of the Fingers, is a great musician, not just someone playing records.
Mountainfreak, Spring 1998
Like Belizbeha, these guys from Portland, Oregon are masters of live hip-hop funk. They put twenty'O's
in smoove. That's smooth with a 'V'. This eight-piece band blends rap with funk with the
absence of a keyboard and guitar. Listening to them is sometimes confusing because you hear both
missing instruments. But as you focus on the percussionist and the turntablist spinning and
scratching vinyl disks on his two turntables, you realize that they are magically imitating these parts.
It's About Time The album, to be released on Miser's Ho-Made independent label, carries on the hip-hop/funk traditioin
that made his debut album, "Slap Me Five," a surprising local phenom.
Miser is particularly keen on the cuts "One in a Million," "Stand Clear" and "Let It Flow." Guest
MCs include Guaran-T from Vancouver, Wash., plus Freaky Federali, Cool Nutz and an appearance by
Dickey Dan the Mackin' Row. Five Fingers of Funk hit the road in early April to open for Fishbone and Maceo Parker.
The Oregonian, February 12, 1998
Five Fingers of Funk fans have waited a long time, but the wait is about to end. According to frontman
Pete Miser, the Fingers' second album, "About Time," will be available at the group's CD-release party
Feb. 28, and available in stores in early March. Miser just returned from Los Angeles, where engineer
Brian "Big Bass" Gardner finished mastering the 14-track CD. Gardner has done similar work for
Snoop Doggy Dog, Dr. Dre and Ice Cube.
Five Fingers of Funk Bring on the Culture "We're not exactly what some people call hip-hop, but we're in that vibe" said Miser of the
5 Fingers. "People expect violence, braggadocio lyrics, all that, but we reference stuff
outside of hip hop."
Miser, who writes most of the lyrics and manages the band, is an articulate 26-year-old with some
powerful ideas and a forum for expressing them. Songs dealing with single parenthood, self-respect
and self-expression are mixed into the funky, hip-hop, party atmosphere of the 5 Fingers' music.
They don't use samples, though Miser samples on his solo work.
"But we sample styles, not beats" Miser said. The 5 Fingers prefer live, free form funk, even getting
away from rehearsed material for much of their set.
"We get to a point where we rap about what's going on right now, in the room, the people, make it up
on the spot. I start with the bass, get going and the horn players work something up and when they
give me the 'look' I nod them in. It's really dope."
Though involved with a Portlnad movement to support "slacker" businesses, or "buy slacker," Miser
doesn't want to get into that, except to say that it's a matter of getting people to be conscious of
businesses run by young people, as well as young bands and young artists, and supporting these
businesses because a whole "generation is looked at as slackers, and OK, cool, call me what you want,
but we're doing things, and we're not just a bunch of knuckleheads."
This writer doesn't know a lot about hip-hop culture, and Miser was gracious enough to do some
educating of the basics.
"It started with two turntables, two copies of the same record. You find a breakdown and you go
back and forth between the two copies of the same beat. It's two bars. It's a break. Then you rap
over that beat. They callit 'break-mixing.' That's why they called it 'breakdancing.' That's why they
called DJs 'break-boys,' or 'B-boys'."
Miser was weaned on such break music, as, ironically, the first brand new record he ever bought,
the Rolling Stones' "Green Grass and High Tides" had a skip in it. So, for Miser, scratching, rapping,
breaking, and rocking comes naturally.
He also is noted for his infectious dancing. Once at the Mangy Moose in Jackson, Wyoming, the
band noticed all the attention being diverted out the window, and when they looked to see what
was happening, some pale blue white guy was dancing buck naked outside in teh cold of night. The band
has broken stages with their musical exertions. People have been caught fornicating at a 5 Fingers
show. This is high energy music.
Miser enjoys bringing his Portland hip-hop to such rural areas as Wyoming, Missoula, Salt Lake and Aspen.
"It's a way of shaping what people think about hip-hop. Here's some live hip hop, get down. Sometimes
people don't vibe on what I'm saying, but musical intensity is there, people feel it anyway."
And hip-hop heads know the variety of the form. Once in Pocatello, Idaho, the opening act was a local
rap outfit who indicated they were going to do some "east coast hip-hop" in their set. Miser
shook his head. "Why you wanna do that? Do what you are. Don't copy someone else."
Asked if there was a message he wished to project in his music, Miser was philosophical.
"What bothers me is when people don't think for themselves. People assimilating what's
going on on MTV, and the mainstream media shows a really thin slice of what's going on, as if
that's what dictates what's acceptable and what's not acceptable. What's happening is that this
thin slice invalidates the other 99.9 percent of what can be, what society is bringing us."
The 5 Fingers of Funk CD "Slap Me Five" is an advanced mixture of funk rhythms,
rapping, horns, bits of taped poetry readings and studio banter that comes
off as a sonic slice of urban life. It's also a lot of fun.
Aspen Daily News, January 1, 1998
Hip-hop culture is not just music. "Break, rap, DJ, and graffiti are the four pillars of the culture"
says Portland-based Rapper Pete Miser. It's about art, music, dance, urban culture and commerce.
Miser and his band "The 5 Fingers of FUnk" will be bringing the culture to the Double Diamond on
Wednesday, January 7.
-Larry Good