12 QUESTIONS WITH CHRIS FUNK

Can you give us a brief history of your playing career?

Sort of all over the place, on many different types of instruments, all of which inform each other. In terms of my “career”, just playing with all sorts of different groups until The Decemberists went full time really, that’s about it.

What inspired you to start playing guitar?

I played saxophone in all through school, though wanted to play rock and I didn’t really make the connection at the time that there were in fact saxophones in rock and I thought you had to play guitar to play rock I suppose. I’m glad I made the assumption, as saxophone would sound ridicules through a half-stack.

What was your first electric guitar?

Peavy Patriot. I thought to get “rock sounds” that you had to have heavy gauge strings on it. So I was basically trying to get the bar chord sound but playing single strings with no distortion. So I put .13 – .58 strings on before a show my high school rock band booked and the sting tension pulled the whammy bar bridge really high, causing my fingers to literally bleed during the show, which I suppose looked “rock”.

What are your top 5 favorite records?

Man, that’s to hard of a question to answer, it changes.

What was the proudest moment and/or performance of your playing career?

We’ve had a ton of cool on stage moments, but I think it’s usually in the studio when you pull of cool ideas, something everyone in the room is excited about. Sorry!

How did you hear about Reverend?

Sadly, I was reading over the stolen gear list from The Stooges and I remember seeing his guitar when we did a festival with them. So I just started reading via the magic of the internet.

What Reverend guitar(s) are you using?

Club King 290 and a Reverend 12-string proto.

What do you like about your Reverend guitar?

The neck is really interesting and playable. The body shape is totally different and you can really hear the tone of the body.

What amps and pedals do you currently use?

So many; Orange and Fuchs heads, Sun cabs, Orange Cabs, Fender Twin, Steve Carr amp. Pedals like crazy, usual boss suspects, Keeley modded Ratt and Boss Compressor, Koln Distortion, tons of E.H. phasers and micro synths.

Do you have any unusual hobbies, skills, or pastimes you’d like to share with us?

Sitting in airports?

Do you have any advice for up and coming players?

Have fun making records, touring is overrated. Take a vacation if you want to see the world as you are not going to see it on tour, unless you define the world and airport or backstage the world.

Please tell us about any of your current projects, tours, cds, etc. we should know about:

The Decemberists’ new album “What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World” is available now, and we’re touring.Always my ongoing instrumental band Flash Hawk Parlor Ensemble. Acoustic band called Black Prairie. New band called Blue Giant.