Edinburgh's funk band DR JONES are attracting a growing legion of supporters. Tony Cummings reports.

Ever since 1974 when The Average White Band catapulted to international popularity with their 'AWB' album, Scotland has been recognised as a nation that can produce decidedly funky musicians. Today there is a receptive audience across Scotland for musicians familiar with belching bass lines, stuttering wah wah guitars and sassy horn sections. One band who have caught the ear and moved the feet for a legion of Scottish funksters are a pulsating five piece from Edinburgh, dr jones. Their debut album 'Sugar' (2002) clocked up impressive sales and received numerous critical accolades while dr jones' second set 'Groovelution' is also doing nicely with the song "Cold" one of the highest rated songs on www.garageband.com, the independent artists site endorsed by such music industry big wigs as Sir George Martin. What might be less well known about dr jones is that all band members are committed Christians.

I quizzed the band's lead singer and record producer Euan Macrae how the band's faith effects dr jones' music. "While rarely being overt, the lyrics often have a clear Christian message or perspective on the songs' themes. The writing of the music itself is essentially amoral as we haven't been aware of the Devil having control of any particular note or chord sequence. Having said that there is an element in all that we do that is deeply influenced by our faith and nothing we do can be wholly separated from that. We haven't felt any real clash between our faith and the gigs we play as we haven't been offered gigs that present those issues, except possibly for beer festivals. Our Christian ethos does have a considerable bearing on how we present ourselves as people and professionals when we work and perform at gigs."

Euan has come almost full circle from a choir and trumpet playing youth through the golden age of rock guitar in the '80s to his current standing as a formidable vocalist. Dr jones got together as a band at the end of the '90s as two other bands fragmented and reformed into the band. Keith Tait (guitar), Mark Inchley (drums), Ash Kimber (bass) and Karen Porter (vocals) had all been playing in a pop/rock band for a few years and had done a lot of session work together over the years. They sequentially hooked up with Euan who was winding down the band he had been in with Karen for a couple of years. The band's original keyboard player left in 2001 and Niall Howe was drafted in at that point. Said Euan, "The reason we formed was because we loved playing and creating music and this has been fundamental in keeping us going for this long. The fact that we have all got on so well has been a huge bonus. Over the time we've been together we have all been through some huge life changes and the support we have had from the friendships that have grown in the band have been a real blessing." In fact, the band recently lost keyboard player Niall who has emigrated and dr jones are hard at work auditioning for a replacement. In the meantime, though, the band are still doing plenty of gigs.

Having produced albums and EPs for other artists in 1999 Euan produced dr jones' first effort, the EP 'Time For Medicine'. Encouraged by enthusiastic reviews in Sound On Sound and Guitarist magazines, the following year the band's 'Sugar' album was released and in 2005 came 'Groovelution'. Euan is delighted with how the band's latest album has turned out. "We genuinely feel that 'Groovelution' is a huge leap forward for us. After the success of 'Sugar' we felt there was a high level of expectation on us but I think our own expectations, and belief in ourselves, were the major driving forces behind what we've produced. We consciously decided to go for a more edgy, raw feel so the bulk of the album was recorded live over a week at Mucmara Studio on Mull with additional material recorded at Mister Green Studios in Edinburgh. By being much more aware of our strengths and much clearer about what we wanted to produce the album has a more cohesive feel to it but still pulls in a variety of influences and sounds that we wouldn't have had the nerve to do on 'Sugar'. It was also fantastic fun to do. I suppose that without the pressure of a record company or looming release dates we have been able to take our time and not settle for anything until we're sure it's right."

Euan warmed to the subject as he continued, "We are genuinely proud of it because we feel it really captures what we do best. We have always loved improvising so a lot of the songs evolved from late night jams in the studio and some of the guitar and keyboard solos were recorded at the end of 24 hour solid sessions so there's real blood, sweat, blisters and tears mixed in." Euan and Karen have both pulled out some strong melodies and harmonies throughout the album that reinforce the band's track record of turning funk grooves into seriously listenable songs.

But the constant underpinning to the band's style are those compulsive funk rhythms. Euan finished our interview by attempting to explain just why Scotland has produced so many avid devotees of funk. "The connection is that sometimes you hear music that makes you feel different. It's not necessarily related to where you come from or your background but in our case funk has been the common experience. (If you check out our record collections you won't find much else in common.) We've all found that there's something that just clicks into place when we hear a great funk groove and that playing it makes us feel very, very happy - what greater connection could there be? There have been, and still are, some great Scottish funk bands but a quick search on the net and you'll come across fabulous acts from all across Europe and beyond so we don't feel that Scotland has anything in particular, although further research may well identify a funk gene that is particularly strong up here!

"At its root funk is a black American thing but like any genre it is open to interpretation and reinvention. We love the music's roots and have been influenced by them but it has never been our intention to imitate them nor have we felt tied to them. We're all suburbanites from Scotland and Northern Ireland and as a result of that the music we make isn't, and shouldn't, be the same as music produced in downtown Chicago or LA."