Best New Band: FunDubMentals

March 28, 2010

“Best New Band” the FunDubMentals
By Rick Coates
Sometimes great bands come together when its members are not looking
to form a band. That was the case with the FunDubMentals, the Traverse
City based Reggae/Ska /Dub band that took home our Readers Poll honors
for “Best New Band.” While this was good news in the FunDubMentals
camp, the better news came a week earlier when band member Marc
Alderman was told he would be able to return home.
On December 2, 2009 Marc Alderman was involved in a three car accident
near Interlochen. A driver crossed the yellow line, crashing head-on
into Alderman leaving him in serious condition with a broken femur,
shattered knee, shattered ball socket in his ankle, a broken arm and a
broken pelvis, along with several broken bones in his hands. A woman
who stopped to assist Alderman was struck by another vehicle and killed.
Marc spent one month in intensive care in the hospital and another two
and half months in a long-term care facility before receiving the news
that he could return home to continue his recovery.
“First I want to say that I am very humble, thankful and grateful for
the out pouring everyone extended to me and Dede (his wife and band
mate),” said Marc. “The road to recovery is a long one and the fact
that so many have been so helpful has made it easier.”
The Alderman’s have been givers to the Northern Michigan community
donating their time and talents to many causes and music events. Dede
teaches percussion at Marshall Music in Traverse City.
So does Marc Alderman plan to return to the stage?
“Yes, right now we are scheduled to play the Island Music Festival on
June 19 in Kalamazoo,” said Marc. “We might play a warm up show prior
to that at the Loading Dock, we will see how I am doing.”
For Dede, she chuckles a little bit about the Best New Band honors.
“We formed three years ago, but we pretty much gigged downstate for
the first year before we started playing local,” said Dede. “I’m not
sure if we played Radius Recording first or the Loading Dock but it
was about two years ago for our first show in the area. Our first ever
public show was three years ago at the Blind Pig in Ann Arbor.”
Marc recalls they never really ever planned to perform out in public
in the first place.
“We started as a group of musicians who got together weekly for what
we called a Sunday Dub (Dub is a type of Reggae style) at our place,”
said Marc. “Well the weekly jam was the same four or five players so
we decided to put together a band.
The band still has the original line up: Sean Dye on guitar, Nick
“Tree” VanderMolen on bass, keyboardist Jack Fivecoate, Dede Alderman
on Vibraphones and Marc Alderman on drums.
“What I like is everyone in the group is a songwriter and I think that
makes for a better dynamic than when just one or two members are the
songwriters,” said Marc. “Everyone also has other musical projects so
we stay energized when we come together as FunDubMentals.”
The band has a self titled EP out and plans are in the works for a CD
in the future. To hear a sampling of their music and to keep tabs on
future gigs in the region go to myspace.com/fundubmentals.




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