[Det.Ele.Funk Records]
"Put the fun(k) back into techno"
 
Paris The Black Fu, his multiple personalities and Mysterious Mr O, the butcher, are behind the Detroit Grand Pubahs, known for their capricious on-stage antics fuelled by techno beats and funk a la Parliament.
 
The Pubahs began in 1998 after the fortuitous meeting of founding members Mark Goudy (Paris The black Fu) and Andy Toth (Dr. Toefinger) in Michigan. They took the international club world by storm in 2000 with the track they are best known for, Sandwiches. The electrofunk-infused booty anthem became and underground hit in Detroit after it was released as the A-side of the Mad Circus EP in 1999 on the small independent label, Throw, run by Brian Gillespie. The lewd lyrics ensured fast exposure, and it was subsequently picked up New York based Jive Electro – a label most often associated with Groove Armada – as well as Pepper Records in the UK.
 
The duo’s wild live performances sealed their success. As part of their ‘put the fun(k) back into techno’ agenda, they donned wigs, fake beards, outrageous costumes, or in Goudy’s case, a skimpy thong. In May of 2000, the Detroit Grand Pubahs played to a packed house at the first Detroit Electronic Music Festival, wowing the crowd with a set that included Sandwiches as well as unreleased tracks. They toured extensively over the next couple of years and released their first full-length album, Funk All Y'all, a mix of funk, techno and bizarre booty on Intuit-Solar. After another single on Jive Electro the Pubahs began releasing singles on Steve Bug’s Poker Flat Records in 2003, first The Clapper, followed by Big Onion in 2004, which led to their second album, Galactic Ass Creatures from Uranus.
 
Original member Andy Toth was a drummer and recording engineer who had a part time job in a Detroit recording studio, where he worked with local talent including techno pioneer, Robert Hood. Toth met Goudy while they were co-workers at a restaurant in Royal Oak, Michigan. The two formed a production partnership and, using Toth's connection at the recording studio, embarked on the Pubahs journey. Toth left the Pubahs after the first album, but has production credits for the two singles that followed.
 
The brain behind the Pubahs, Mack Goudy, is renowned for his offbeat sense of humour and various personalities; characters like Nurse Hearse, Offbeat Killer, Percy Slade, Plasticene Gene, and the Schizofrenic Brainchild of Funko.
Goudy began DJing at sixteen, after being inspired by the early techno radio shows and their DJs, Electrifying Mojo and the Wizard (Jeff Mills) in Detroit.
 
Goudy is also well-known as the vocal half of Heckle and Jeckle, with Jon Billebob Williams. It was with Williams that Paris had an almost regular part in a group of promoters and DJs active in promoting warehouse parties and in support of Detroit's newer talents. Goudy also fronts the The Lotterboys, a high camp electro trio on Belgium’s Eskimo Recordings. He’s also done guest vocals for The Advent’s Scent of a Woman, collaborations with St. Plomb and Marc Romboy, and is active in Filth N Dirt, a production project with Dave The Hustler, where they produces heavy, funk infused dance music.
 
‘The Butcher’ is Oliver Way, who also runs techno label Urban Substance Records and manages Robert Hood. Way and Goudy established the Pubah’s label Det.Ele.Funk (Detroit Electro Funk) in 2005 with Way as label manager.
 
The new Detroit Grand Pubahs album Nuttin Butt Funk follows later this year.
 
> www.myspace.com/detroitgrandpubahs
 
Appearances:
> CTM.08 > OPNENING CLUB NIGHT - BUMPER TO BUMPER