No sooner had the five members of Clusterfunk, campus' self-proclaimed "supergroup," strolled into The Dartmouth's offices than drummer Hyoung Yoon '10 cracked a joke.
"Can we get a handle of whiskey?"
As the musicians shared stories about friends and laughed over the details of their nights out drinking, the dynamic of their friendship was slowly unveiled. The band's members, all seniors, don't let their newfound popularity on campus get to their heads. Outside of performing in front of screaming fans, they are just a bunch of friendly, laid back guys.
"There's a lot of personality in the group... we all take jabs at each other. It's fun," guitarist Doug Nelson '10 said. "We're all very good friends at this point, despite the fact that when we started we weren't necessarily good friends."
Even their label as a Dartmouth "supergroup" started as an inside joke.
"The idea of having a supergroup on a campus is ludicrous," Brendan Lynch-Salamon '10 said. "The first time I blitzed out Clusterfunk: Dartmouth's only supergroup' was kind of a joke."
Lynch-Salamon is a member of The Dartmouth Staff.
Clusterfunk's popularity has exploded since its founding in the early summer of 2008. The group began with three members, bassist Tim Bolger '10, guitarist and vocalist Marc Shapiro '10 and Nelson. Later came the addition of vocalist Andrew Rayner '10, guitarist and vocalist Lynch-Salamon and drummer Yoon. A former member, Alex Bowers '09, played the keyboard and sang.
"Pretty much all of us came from different backgrounds," Shapiro said.
Rayner and Lynch-Salamon perform in popular campus a capella groups the Dodecaphonics and the Aires, respectively. Yoon is a member of the Dartmouth College Gospel Choir. He also has extensive jazz music experience and trains in contemporary music with Doug Perkins, a professor in the music department. Bolger performs with another band, Company Green.
Because of the diversity of their musical backgrounds, there is no "leader" or "frontman" of Clusterfunk. Every member brings a different, equally important quality to the group, whether technical or conceptual, Rayner said.
The members' different tastes and musical backgrounds are evident with the variety of music Clusterfunk plays and the way it covers songs.
"Everyone having their different backgrounds brought in a lot of different interests in types of music," Bolger said. "Our range of music is really incredible from Stevie Wonder to Guns N' Roses, Foo Fighters, Led Zeppelin, Johnny Cash. If you're going to put them all together there's no category that will cover it all. We're really all over the board."
In choosing covers, the band determines how much it wants to differ from the original. Some songs lend themselves more easily than others to personalization. While Yoon said he believes Stevie Wonder is essentially untouchable, he added that he finds he is able to create complex drumbeats to overlay the iconic simplicity of Weezer's music.
"There's always the decision to bastardize it," Yoon said. "Sometimes I don't like the idea [of the song], and I'll just throw it out and do it how I want."
Their creative experimentation with existing songs also grew in spring 2009 when the group expanded its repertoire of instruments. William Friedman '11 and Andrew Purpura '11 joined Clusterfunk as featured members. Friedman plays the trumpet while Purpura provides beats and raps.
"For me, being the rapper in a rock cover group, it allows them to diversify their set list a lot," Purpura said in an interview with The Dartmouth. "Like we played Still Dream,' which is straight up a hip-hop song, with a hip-hop beat and everything like that, but they turned it into a rock song with a guitar solo."
The way Clusterfunk's members collaborate on songs, as well as the group's openness, speaks to the members strong respect for each other as musicians.
Purpura and Friedman have consistent solos at almost every show.
Andrew Hannigan '13, a harmonica player who was featured in Clusterfunk's most recent concert at Alpha Chi Alpha fraternity, said he believes the band has benefited from having a variety of live performance opportunities
"The energy that they bring to frat basements is really, really awesome," Hannigan said in an interview with The Dartmouth. "At the end of the day a DJ is not interacting with a crowd the same way as a band would. The real core is live music and I think that is why Dartmouth students connect with Clusterfunk. You know if you're going to a show and Clusterfunk is playing, they're going to be spot on."
Shapiro said that his favorite songs to perform are those that feature all band members, even featured players.
"I like anything that really grooves," Shapiro said. "Like if we can really fall into a groove, even if my part is not interesting, it's totally worth it because we just got the groove going and that's what the whole band is about."
Turnout at Clusterfunk's concerts has been immense. Performing mainly in fraternities, Clusterfunk's concerts are jam-packed and boisterous, with audience members dancing and singing along.
At Alpha Chi on Dartmouth Night, the Friday before Homecoming, Clusterfunk played for a crowd that filled the entire main room.
According to Sam Ticker '13, a self-described Clusterfunk fan, the covers the band plays appeal to students.
Clusterfunk has also affected students on a more personal level.
Lynch-Salamon spoke of a female student at Dartmouth who approached him after their show at Alpha Chi. She said she was unhappy with the social scene on campus prior to hearing Clusterfunk, but that he restored her faith in the possibility of alternative fun.
"You can't ask for a better compliment than that," Lynch-Salamon said. "That's something that wouldn't have even crossed my mind."
All supergroups comprised of college seniors, however, must come to an end.
Yoon alluded to "spontaneous combustion" and "controlled demolition, probably onstage," as well as "pulling a Yoko."
As far as plans go for a final concert, the group didn't want to give too much away.
"You can say that we're planning an ultimate epic show in the spring," Bolger said.
Whether they split up or start touring the world together after graduation, one thing is certain: Clusterfunk is devoted to its music and its fans.
As the band writes on its blog, "Clusterfunk is here to give you every inch of our love."
