Get Your Funk On

By Jenna Croyle

With a blending of Soul, Jazz and R&B Music, some our country’s legendary musicians such as Jimi Hendrix, Wilson Pickett, Stevie Wonder, and The Blackbyrds have been entertaining the world with a funky sound that has rocked our country for decades.

With that same innovative and hard-driving spirit as the founders of funk of the 60’s and 70’s, this week’s featured band, Special Guest has taken the good old fashioned Rock N’ Roll sound and given it a new, modern and very Funky edge.

To listen to Special Guest, you honestly can’t believe that such a full, rich big band sound was pumping out of only a three-piece group, simply drenching you in a rhythmic waterfall of Electric Guitar and Drums.

Special Guest is the perfect blend of Rock and Funk with a fantastic Hendrix edge that features all original songs that combine influences from Rock, Funk, and Blues with an amazing style, creating a sound that is not only undeniably unique, but addictive as well.

Featuring members of Unhinged Mandible and The Caterpillar Brown Band, Special Guest is made up of Tony Lavadie on Lead Guitar and Lead Vocals, John Feighner on Keyboard, and Dan Wisniewski on the Drums and Percussions.

Merging influences of The Black Keys, Ginger Baker and The White Stripes with an infusion of the jam style grooves of The Doors and the Grateful Dead all seasoned with the super high energy of Jimi Hendrix, Special Guest brings to the stage a one of a kind sound that grabs you, holds you and never lets you go.

Rocking the house with phenomenal originals such as Izzy B, Stone Groove, ARKansas, What Time Is It, and Squanto, Special Guest turns every show into the biggest Rock N’ Roll jam party you have ever been to.

Tony Lavadie’s Electric Guitar is simply electrifying, pure energy flowing freely throughout every song, pulsing and zapping everybody in the room. Delivering incendiary solos with tremendously funky grooves, Lavadie’s Guitar work is soulful and rhythmically powerful, standing as a stellar example of what funkadelic Guitar work should sound like.

Doubling as the group’s Lead Singer, Lavadie’s stage presence is enthralling and very charismatic, grabbing the audience’s attention, and keeping it the entire show. With a smooth and flexible voice, Lavadie delivers vocal artistry that packs a hard-hitting melodic punch that is just as professional as it is talent rich.

The Keyboard work of John Feighner is scary amazing, his electrified Rock’n Funk sound ignites not only the keys, but the fire under your feet as well, forcing you out on the dance floor and keeping you there all night.

Dan Wisniewski pounds out power packed melodic beats that drive the rhythm deep into your soul, tantalizing the senses and forcing a fierce craving to jam. Wisniewski’s beats are always in time, always strong and clean, and the epitome of true drumming genius.

Special Guest is the perfect mix of original Rock and Funk with a 70’s style vibe all served up with an energy level that starts out at full throttle and blasts off from there. Offering their audiences nothing but a jam and groove party on steroids, Special Guest is your one stop shop for good times and amazing music that makes originals that you have never heard, feel like tunes you know and love.

For more information on Special Guest and their show dates, please visit their Facebook Page.