Funk Nation

Despite having a larger-than-average line up of NINE band members, we take great pride in being super-slick and punctual in all aspects of our arrival, load in, set up and soundcheck. 

Although we require 1 hour to set up and soundcheck, we always arrive well in advance of our stated arrival time. We would much rather arrive 30 mins early than 5 mins late! 

We begin with your first dance at 20:00, breaking for buffet at approx. 21:30, then resume performance approx. 22:15 and  finishing our performance at 00:00

We aim to be as flexible as possible and can cater for an early load-in and set-up, for an additional fee.

When you feel the full force of our non-stop, high-energy sets, you will understand that a 45 min break is not only needed, but worth it. 

You and your guests will be glad of the time to grab a drink and a snack, have a sit down and chat (about how good we are 😉) while we play some suitable background music through our P.A. 

We can play your choice of background tunes if you share your Spotify playlist with us prior to the event. We will ensure all the tracks are downloaded and ready to play, avoiding unpleasant silences due to dodgy WiFi!

Due to having nine first class professional musicians in the band, we feel it best to play to our strengths. We want clients to experience the best entertainment possible and so a great deal of time and effort goes in to curating our sets. 

We want to feature the band to best effect, as well as keeping the dance floor full all night. To do this we have our own arrangements of tunes that we have specially written to seamlessly merge into one another so that there’s no long gaps between tunes.

We are happy to provide potential clients with a list of tunes that we play but we would prefer to keep the exact running order secret so as to not spoil the surprises!

We are more than happy to learn your First Dance. In fact, we take great care to fully arrange, score and rehearse every First Dance as if it were the most special and important tune in our set, because it is!

Asking a band the size of Funk Nation to ‘busk’ a tune that we haven’t fully rehearsed, without fully notated music, is not a service we offer as we feel it diminishes what you have paid for. 

You want top performances, and we’ll give them to you, but not by winging it.

We are happy to provide a DJ/disco set from midnight to 1am, at an additional cost, by prior agreement. 

No additional equipment is needed and the disco picks up from the end of the last band number. No gaps and no rest for the dancers!

Clients thoroughly enjoy asking guests beforehand to provide their top 2 or 3 ‘party bangers’ that we can include in our disco hour. 

Our saxophone and piano players (known as The Gold Standard Jazz Duo) can provide the perfect background music for your drinks reception, for an additional fee. 

Timeless jazz classics can add a touch of class to your afternoon celebrations. Take your pic from 3 x 30 min sets or 2 x 45 min sets. 

Funk Nation are your one-stop shop for the best night’s entertainment available in Scotland, and beyond. 

We carry all our own equipment: microphones, speakers, lights. Everything is included at no extra cost. Our PA speakers and sound desk were upgraded - at significant cost - in Spring 2022. 

Some of the things clients find most impressive about Funk Nation:

Size matters! Nine top class musicians doing what they love can’t be faked. We put our heart and soul into every performance. 

Vocals: Let’s be honest, the singers really matter. And Gordon and Sheryl are two of the nation’s best. 

Energy: we bring it. Every time. And it’s infectious. The dance floor will be full and your feet will be sore! We weren’t invited to be the house band at BBC Radio Scotland’s live broadcast Hogmanay party for nothing!

Even though there are nine of us, we share a love for soul, funk and disco. Everyone from Aretha Franklin, Earth Wind and Fire, and Stevie Wonder to James Brown, Chic, Beyoncé, Prince and Bruno Mars. 

Yes, we are happy to play some ceilidh tunes, although this will be from a pre-recorded playlist. We think ceilidh tunes sound best on the traditional instruments so can play top quality recordings for you to dance to. 

We will also call all the dances and take time to make sure novices are not left wondering what’s going on! 

Clients have really appreciated 2 ceilidh numbers being included in our first set (prior to the buffet/break) and then another 2 in the second set. More than 2 ceilidh dances in a row is enough to puff out even the most enthusiastic dancers and we find this model works well.