MILES TACKETT

A typically cold November night in London, a darkened venue with a softly lit stage in the middle, and Brainer is in the midst of an all-engulfing, thunderous drummery. Miles ‘Music Man’ Tackett is sound checking with his band The Breakestra. And with the way things are sounding, Brainer would rather get a drink, sit back, and enjoy the sounds of the funky drummer.

“I think that funk, as a music form, is not getting promoted in the mainstream media,” says Miles, leaning back on the sofa – which takes up a good portion of the tiny box room behind the stage. “People aren’t going to be given that soul vaccination, and it’s not going to get into the system. With shit that’s real, you’re going to have to get it into your system, and then it grows.” It’s a sentiment that’s hard to argue with. After all, the closest thing funk has to being represented in mainstream media, is Mark Ronson. And we all know he’s more pop than anything else.

Tackett cuts a rather cool figure, fedora hat and all, and the forty-year-old (who looks remarkably good for his age), has been an integral part of the L.A. music scene for a long time. Since 1996 in fact. “It was a small, tiny, little café,” recalls the multi-instrumentalist. “Some friends were sitting on the couches with a coffee table, playing fusion records, jazz records, you know, sample source stuff. It was pretty mellow, and a few weeks of hanging out with some friends there, I asked ‘hey, what do you think about me bringing in some musicians, just doing an impromptu funk jam?’