McMann, Badger, Balben, Gritti to Start Band, “Founding Fathers of Funk”

By Sam Johnson ’19

Hold onto your hats ladies and gentlemen, because there is something big coming to The Gunnery, and it’s coming to you in the form of Craig Badger, Bartholomew McMann, James Balben, and Steve Gritti in what some are calling the greatest thing to come to music since, well, anything, I guess.

The Founding Fathers of Funk, or FFOF, have certainly carved themselves into their own Mount Rushmore of musical success. They’ve established themselves as the first history funk rock group to emerge onto the scene since the beginning of time.

The band consists of Craig Badger on drums, Steve Gritti on bass, James Balben on guitar, and Bart McMann on lead vocals. They’ve released a number of singles in the past six months, including “My Love for You is Like the Eighteen Hundreds’ European Colonization of Africa (Mono Version), ”and “The Ballad of Bunker Hill.”

We spoke to the members personally to see what they thought about their rise to fame, and what it’s like to work with one another. “We’ve been teachers together for years, and we jam together everyday in McMann’s basement,” James Balben said. “But ever since he had his kid, we’ve had to start practicing in the stairwell of the science building. It’s a bit of a pain, but the acoustics are excellent.”

“We have no plans to stop making music anytime soon, and you should be expecting a full length album by the end of 2019,” said Bart McMann. “That is, if Badger can keep a beat for that long!” Ouch.

Well, we are certainly loving the music that The Founding Fathers of Funk have given us so far, and look forward to hearing what they come up with in the future!