What's the common note between a nurse, a graphic artist, a Best Buy manager and tech-staff member of a local church?
It's Funkabuckets, a street band composed of these four drummers who play 5-gallon industrial buckets.
Funkabuckets made its debut on Chestnut and Broad streets last spring. By November, they were the opening act for UTC Percussion Ensemble's Beat Hunger fundraiser. Most recently, they drew a rousing ovation for their halftime performance at a Mocs basketball game.
Drummers Matt Broom, David Blevins and Zach Turner met while UTC students, playing together in the marching and concert bands. Matt Grimes of Columbia, Tenn., was a student at Middle Tennessee State University.
"Matt G. was involved with Music City Mystique drum line from Nashville. We all knew each other through the drum world, and after Matt graduated from MTSU and moved to Chattanooga we started performing together," said Blevins.
Broom said Grimes was the one who drummed up their support for Funkabuckets.
"I think he really just wanted some money while he was looking for a job," he quipped.
The quartet made their debut last spring playing for tips outside Lookouts games, Mellow Mushroom and the former Bijou Theater.
"We loved making the atmosphere of downtown, which is already a great place, more fun and exciting," said Broom.
"Chattanooga is an art-loving and an art-creating city. We feel like we are just something a little different to add to that vibe. But we always have the 'Funk-a-tips' bucket out," he said.
Blevins said their instruments are buckets they've scavenged from anyplace they saw them tossed away.
The Funkabuckets• Matt Broom: Director of technical support for Signal Mountain Presbyterian Church, who is completing a master's degree in percussion at UTC. He also teaches the percussion section at Signal Mountain Middle-High School.• David Blevins: Graphic designer who recently moved to Spring Hill, Tenn. He teaches McMinn County and Ridgeland High schools' drum lines.• Matt Grimes: Nurse at Life Care Center in Cleveland, Tenn., works with Soddy-Daisy High School drum line.• Zach Turner: Best Buy manager, works with Soddy-Daisy High School drum line.CATCH A SHOWFunkabuckets is scheduled to perform for halftime of the UTC Mocs vs. Samford basketball game Monday night in McKenzie Arena. Tipoff is at 7 p.m. For tickets, call 266-MOCS.
"People throw stuff out all the time, and we'll pick them up. We have random pieces of percussion equipment lying around that we incorporate into the setup," said Blevins.
Each of the four sits on an overturned bucket surrounded by a mini trap set of sorts - a semi-circle of four industrial buckets and perhaps a cymbal or cowbell tossed in the mix.
Broom said there are basically two tones that can be coerced from a normal bucket: Hitting the center makes a bass note and hitting the edge gives a high-pitched crack.
"We duct-tape carpet padding in some buckets, and we've stuck weather stripping in some to give them the sounds we want," said Broom. "We also have a few buckets that we put actual drum heads on and tightened with strips of duct tape."
Broom added that drummers are used to playing "anything we can get our hands on," but they've had to adjust to how their sticks rebound off these new playing surfaces.
Funkabuckets' equipment may initially fool audiences into thinking they're amateurs, but their performances quickly prove skill and professionalism. It's a fast-paced routine of driving cadences, intricate syncopation and even complicated integration of rhythms between players.
"Matt Grimes has written all the stuff we know. What we play is some of the most complex stuff I've ever played," said Broom.
Blevins added that the scores are theirs exclusively and won't be sold, although several drum lines have asked to buy Grimes' compositions.
Blevins said the guys are discussing taking their act on the road. Since his move to Middle Tennessee, they are considering setting up on a street corner in downtown Nashville this summer. In the meantime, fans can catch them at the Mocs game Monday night.