Tight rhythms, powerful riffs and well-articulated horn lines are at the band's foundation, yet there is enough space for individual and collective jazz-influenced improvisations to stand out in their music. Amber Hunters came to life in 2021 when they were still part of the world-renowned Conservatorium van Amsterdam. Since then, the band has been active in the Netherlands and has performed internationally, featuring world-known musicians such as Yoràn Vroom, Bart Fermie, Justs Sirmais, Karl Frierson, and more. In 2022, Amber Hunters released their first single, "New Wheels," and in 2023, in collaboration with Amsterdam-based record label Wicked Wax, their second single "Hyacinthia" came out. Amber Hunters are influenced by the rich musical history of the funk genre, taking inspiration from iconic artists to create their own compositions. Some of these influential artists include Parliament Funkadelic, Ghost note, Prince, Earth Wind & Fire, HeadHunters, The Meters, Candy Dulfer, Philip Lassiter, Mokaad and many more. Before their live session at Hidden Gem Studio, we sat down with Kas & Rico to have a little chat.
We are an instrumental funk band, slash fusion and a little bit jazz influenced. It's quite a big band, seven people, all from different countries. So it's international, culturally influenced international band. We have a lot of influences of course, from American funk style and all the funk history, the legendary records. And of course we're also taking a step further into the modern scene. We all come from very different backgrounds and we try to incorporate this upbringing into the tradition of funk.
How would you describe the sound of Amber Hunters?
Rico: It's... Energy. Energetic music. We try to make people dance. That's what we love. And yeah, we also try to get away from the stereotypes of funk and take the parameters that work within funk and that make you dance and move and use them to create new sounds. We had some changes in personnel because our original key player moved to New York about a year and a half ago. Or two years already. And yeah, he was a big part of our sound. So we went through some research to find the right person. Finally, we found Danny van Kessel, who's here with us now. And yeah, so that's been a bit of our journey to reshape our sound, let's say.
Kas: And we also added percussion. So our sound is pretty close, I would say, to Ghost Notes, which is our really big influence and motivation. And because they're the band that takes funk to the next level - this is how they also introduce themselves. We really take a lot of musical examples from them. We have many more bands, and I think it's worth to mention Candy Dulfer and Phil Lassiter especially, because they're really present in the Amsterdam scene. We're taking a lot of examples from them as well, because it's different. It's European funk, let's say. That's something that we also stick to, because we're not in the States, so we're building something different here.
Tijmen de Nooy Photography
What’s in store for Amber Hunters in the near future?
Rico: We are writing an album, which is what you're gonna witness tonight, or part of it. We are in the process, and next winter we are going in the studio to record it. So yeah, and then hopefully tour a lot, and make people dance around the world and beyond.
Kas: One of the big plans is also to try to infiltrate more in the city by hopefully creating a session that lasts long, because in my opinion we really need more of that in the city and the country. In Europe in general, because people really love it. It creates a lot of positive vibes, positive energy. It's just a really peaceful thing. I think it brings a lot of peace and joy and relaxation for people. So hopefully we will do the sessions. Anybody, please feel free to contact me if you have any ideas of where to play, where to spread this message of funk. We would appreciate it.
Rico: A monthly session where we play funk. We will host the jam session, invite guests, invite other artists that we look up to, and grow the scene. Basically, let's grow the funk scene in Amsterdam.
Is there anything else you’d like to share?
Kas: We need to go to live venues, we need to go to live concerts, we need to go out of the house. I think this is the most important, it's not only about funk and whatever other style, it's just for people in general to check out the scene, local scene, more music, support musicians, because we're working for people, for the joy.
Rico: Also, we very much embrace weirdness in our band. We value a lot personality and uniqueness, so we just want to encourage everybody that comes to our shows to be weird and be proud and just let your demons out when you listen to our music. - As much as possible.
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