behind the funk

The beginning of a funksplosion

In 1985, Powerfunk was born in some hospital in Tucson, Arizona. Of course, his parents--a laidback dad and a software engineer (she co-wrote this)--didn't yet know his name was Powerfunk, and they offhandedly called him Rob Anderson. Rob spent ages four and five in Sydney, Australia before moving back to the States. Sugar Land, Texas (a suburb bordering Houston) was where this funky kid was to grow up.

An awkward, goofy, happy and creative kid, Rob took up the baritone ukulele at age nine. Powerfunk's musical roots quickly began to form, and after a couple years he clearly needed a sensible instrument. So he picked up the most reasonable instrument with four strings, and he began taking electric bass lessons at eleven. Within two years, Rob upgraded his crappy Peavey to an Ibanez Ergodyne EDB600 (the bass he still uses) and started study under Rozz Zamorano ("Best Bassist in Houston" Houston Press '02).

In high school, Powerfunk dabbled in tennis and cannabis inhalation, but was primarily a theatre kid. He played in hard rock band Verity from age 15-16; click here to download their "Bring it In."

The collegiate experience

At age 18, Powerfunk enrolled at Northeastern University in Boston, a party school with above average academics and a good internship program. John King, aka "J-Trod the Incredible" happened to live three doors down in their Stetson East dormitory. J-Trod is a beatboxer, meaning that he makes spitting noises into a microphone in order to create rhythms. I don't know; apparently kids are doing that these days. By late '03, Powerfunk & J-Trod were creating music together.

The next school year, Rob introduced John to his friend Jeni San, a sexy Cuban-Cambodian 20-year-old with a gospelfunkmazing voice. Thus Isosceles was formed; they played a handful of shows at a local Cambridge bar. Jeni will soon leave to teach English in Cambodia for a year, but Powerfunk and J-Trod will ensure that the funk continues to be brung.