As a genre, there aren’t a lot of local funk bands doing the rounds.

But one act who have sewn their funk roots across Brisbane are Soul Continuum.

“We really have listened to a lot of music from the late ‘70s and early ‘80s in that sort of funk/ soul genre mix up. Really, when we started out we were emulating a lot of early ‘80s stuff,” lead singer James Higgins says.

With a resume that includes supports of industry giants like Brand New Heavies and Jamiroquai, the band are looking to create a strong dynamic and presence on stage.
“We just watched closely how they work on stage and really have taken as much from that as we can. Their cohesion of the band is probably the most impressive thing that they bring, so we've really worked on that to really sort of have a tight outfit on stage where we're all close to each other and play tightly.”

Set to play Wunder Bar as part of the Brisbane Festival, James says they want to build upon their strong performance there last year.

“At Wunder Bar [the audience] responded to that really well and it went from being a seated dining experience to having a packed dancefloor very quickly.”

Soul Continuum’s mixture of soul, pop and funk is greeted with less uncertainty in Europe, as they find the audiences are more aware of the sound they produce.

“There's more general awareness of funk and soul music in Europe, it's a bit more ingrained in the culture whereas in Australia it's a little bit more out of the box, they're just a little more surprised by what they hear. People in Europe are expecting what they hear and they're quite enthusiastic about it.”

As they build their reputation as a funk band, James says they still find joy from the smaller things.

“We're not as well known as we'd like to be but that's okay now, we're happy to just fit into a niche. I still get the pleasure from time to time of just randomly hearing one of our songs on the radio.”

Soul Continuum play Wunder Bar as part of Brisbane Festival September 19.