These songs are recent discoveries of which I’d like to take inspiration from to create my own music. Since I haven’t composed for this style of music before, I’ll have to learn about each aspect of funk metal using different examples, to then display what I’ve learnt through distributing an original song.
Hump de Bump definitely has multiple funk characteristics within it, starting with bass tone and technique. The bass tone is sharp and clear, which emphasised the impact of of Flea’s slap. The dynamic contrast between bass and other instruments is minimal. Drums and bass sound like they’re at the same level, while the guitar sounds slightly louder. Vocals are at the very front with the loudest volume. The additional percussion sounds like it’s slightly louder than the drums generally. Other instruments are included later on, such as trumpet, which sits at a lower volume than vocals but higher than guitar.
Natural Joe is closer to what I’d like to create. It shares many of the same features of Hump de Dump, especially in dynamics. The bass tone differs as it sounds more gritty, likely due to some distortion. The structure of the song allows much more variation in bass and guitar, meaning more ideas can be explored and expanded on. A common theme in Primus lyrics is that each song follows a story, which is worth noting as it’s generally evident in other funk metal songs from various bands.
This is a band I found during the process of writing, sometime late in the Easter holidays. I listened to the whole album, which leaned towards rock or funk rock more than funk metal, but I found some aspects of it interesting and noteworthy, particularly in this song. The focus is very much on the guitar and vocals, but they use instrumental sections to give bass some space to carry a rhythmically captivating groove. I also think there are dynamic shifts with the bass, shifting from the intro and the first verse. The instrumental section features the bass by allowing other instruments to drop out or change their intensity before shifting to drums and guitar for the second half.