A New Orleans-based band is promising to bring the “Phunk” to the Varsity Theatre this Friday.
Progressive funk band Earphunk is performing at the Varsity at 8 p.m. as part of its “May the Phunk be with You” tour.
Keyboard player Christian Gallé said the band has a special relationship with Baton Rouge and is happy to be back in its college town for another performance.
“We started as just a band that played in the house, then we started playing at Bogie’s Bar in Baton Rouge,” Gallé said. “We’ve come a long way since then.”
The band is currently comprised of Gallé on keyboard, bass guitarist Michael Comeaux and lead guitarist Paul Provosty, along with Michael Matthews on drums and Mark Hempe on guitar and lead vocals.
Gallé said he met Provosty in grade school. While attending Loyola University, Gallé became better acquainted with Provosty, who had recently transferred from LSU, where the other three members also attended school.
Earphunk has created a local audience by playing venues like Chelsea’s Cafe and the Varsity Theatre, but Gallé said the band feels better prepared for this performance than any other.
“We’ve spent a lot of our time practicing, and we sound better as a group,” Gallé said.
“May The Phunk Be With You,” will feature fan favorites and songs from the band’s 2014 release “Sweet Nasty.” Gallé said the show will also feature new songs and a new addition from a cult classic.
“There will be some new stuff put together for this show and our promotional material has Master Yoda from Star Wars, so you can expect some stuff from the series,” he said.
With a New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Electric Forest Festival appearances under their belt, Gallé said the band hopes to please fans with what they’ve learned from these performances.
Gallé said Baton Rouge is always a rowdy crowd and is one of the band’s favorites and wants the crowd to feel pleased with their performance.
“We also want the crowd to notice our improvement live,” Gallé said.
This performance will hopefully lead to bigger tour venues in the future, Gallé said.
“I hope we’re selling out stadiums somewhere, but until then, we have to rock this performance,” he said.