In what was Fun DMC’s biggest and best year so far, it’s been difficult looking back through 2017 and trying to pick out our favorite moments.  As Katey said: “That’s so hard. I have so many favorite moments… because I’m with you guys.”  We each wrote down a few of our favorite highlights, which should give an idea of all of the stuff we’ve been up to this year.  Buckle up!

Talon Holmes

• Opening for Bret Michaels at the Decatur Celebration – If someone would have told me when I joined with Fun DMC that we would be opening for Bret Michaels, I probably would have laughed. A lot. It’s one thing to work toward something like this in a band, but for it to actually happen is an awesome experience. Looking out into the seemingly endless crowd is definitely one for the books.
• Opening for Resurrection: A Journey Tribute – This show took place at the Bank of Springfield Center and at this point it was the biggest show that we had played. To say I was nervous would be an understatement, but once the show got moving its was definitely one of the most fun ones that I have had. The experience and energy from the crowd is something to experience.
• Video shoots – Over the last year we have filmed two dental parody videos, idea brought life by Albert Capati. Never having been involved in a process like this before it was something to behold. How bands don’t get sick of songs after shooting a video for them is a mystery to me. If you haven’t seen them before, you should definitely check them both out.

Albert Capati

• We were selected to perform right before headliner Bret Michaels at this year’s Decatur Celebration, a weekend-long street festival in my hometown of Decatur, IL. I’ve been going to the Decatur celebration each year for as long as I can remember. I’ve performed there twice -once as a finalist in the Karaoke Supastar competition, and once with my first band, Novocaine. We were treated like how I felt big time rock stars were treated. We had our own green room area complete with catered food and beverages. We got to meet Bret’s band (who really liked our set). The energy of the crowd was electric and their size was immense. By the time we finished out second set, the crowd stretched out several blocks from the stage. We couldn’t help but give the performance of our lives. We earned a celebrity fan in local radio personality, Brian Byers, who plugged us several times on his radio show in he following week.
• What do you want to do when you get done with a long work day? I vote for shooting a music video in an unfinished house with no lights and no air conditioning in the middle of summer. I love my band mates so much. Despite the heat and the lack of rest, we managed to have a ton of fun learning choreography, hamming it up in front of the camera, and putting on makeup and costumes to recreate *NSYNC’s video of “Tearin’ Up My Heart” with dental parody lyrics to promote my dental practice.
• I was a very fortunate child growing up. The house in which I was raised is a veritable resort. My parents still live there and for the last few years we’ve thrown a big summer party that we’ve come to know as The Caparty. This year both my bands, Take 10 and Fun DMC performed in front of my school teachers, neighbors, old childhood friends, and a bunch of my parents friends (and any boats passing by on Lake Decatur).

Chad Kamerad

• Pulling an all nighter on the drive down to Nashville: On our way to a wedding in Nashville (after finishing youth worship services at 9:00 pm) we went live every hour. I am pretty sure at some point we unintentionally offended everyone on the planet in some way. Katey almost killed us all by diving into the front of the Jeep from the back seat to be the first into Tennessee.
• The great Snapple search. The band was blessed with a new life. Before said little guy was born we had a baby shower for one of our band members. The highlight of this was hiding over one hundred of his favorite diet peach Snapple bottles around his home. Someday he may find them all.
• The band campaigned hard this year for best of Springfield. We even made a number of videos with the tag line “can your band do that?” Of all the videos the best by far was made after a show. We had a 1:00 am dinner at steak-n-shake with members of another amazing band (the mix). They decided that they should take part in our shenanigans and made a video for our campaign. I mean really, can your band do that???

Katey Kamerad

• Costumes – I know we’re supposed to pick a favorite moment, but so many of my top 10 include all of the unique Fun DMC attire. We definitely stepped up our costume game in 2017. So much so that I have a closet dedicated to mine and Chad’s Fun DMC outfits. We now have costumes for nearly every holiday!! My favorite costumed events of the year definitely include the Fourth of July (American flag attire for days), Waldoberfest (a combination of a Where’s Waldo theme and Octoberfest), and Halloween (the embodiment of 80s wrestling all on one stage)
• Shut Up and Sing Happy Birthday – I absolutely loved finding out for the first time that Happy Birthday fits perfectly in with our break in Shut up and Dance and creating yet another mashup on the spot. We’ve kept that as a part of our regular show for the past several months without having ever discussed any of the details or practicing for a single moment.
• Rained Out – We’ve dealt with a lot of technical difficulties and ridiculous/challenging situations throughout the history of Fun DMC, but one rainy day stands out in particular. We always check the weather forecast before an event, especially for an outdoor gig! During load-in on this particular day at the Panther Creek Country Club, the chance of rain was 2%. Between setup and the middle of our second set the chance of rain rapidly grew to 100% leading to a downpour at the end of our 20 minute medley. We quickly grabbed what we could and moved it under an awning, covering everything else in a hurry with tarps. For a lot of groups, this would be the end of the show. Not Fun DMC. With one speaker, a mic, a snare drum, and guitar, Fun DMC finished out the set. We took turns singing and drying off equipment while the audience huddled under another nearby awning. I love that we altered our setlist and instrumentation on the fly to create one of the most memorable and fun sets in Fun DMC history.
• Other single sentence favorite moments:
  • Spending hours in Cedarwood studios (aka Robert’s basement) recording the vocals for all of our videos and then shooting ALL of our videos!
  • Watching amateur wrestling while setting up for the Petersburg Harvest Fest. Go Space Monkey! Go!
  • When that little girl came up to me at a wedding and all she wanted to do was sing Frozen. So we did.
  • That time the axle broke on our trailer and it took over a month to repair so we bought a bigger more bad ass trailer to take it’s place.
  • Having our caricature portraits done at not 1 but 2 events.
  • The night everything seemed to go wrong and we found out that in the case of emergency Fun DMC can play with 3 members. The show must go on.
  • Oh and the IT award, and Journey, and Brett Michaels.

Aaron Stanley

• Halloween – the band tends to go all-out on theme events (see: Waldoverfest), but Halloween is always a fun time trying to top the previous year with costumes.  That said, I don’t know how we’re going to follow up 2017.  What started as deciding to dress up as “Rowdy” Roddy Piper over a year ago, the idea grew into something better than we could have imagined.  By the time Halloween rolled around, I was the weakest link in the “Classic WWF” theme with my simple kilt, boots, t-shirt, and leather jacket.  Talon as the Undertaker, Katey as Hulk Hogan, Chad as Sgt Slaughter, Robert as Macho Man, and Albert as The Ultimate Warrior was a level of perfection and commitment to detail that would have made any of those superstars proud.
• This may not seem like it should go on a favorite moment list, but there were a couple moments from the year in which the six of us had to rally together and pull through some pretty crazy happenings in order to pull off the show without anyone noticing.  Our production is a relatively smooth-sailing ship 99% of the time, but there are always those moments where the worst possible thing could happen at the worst possible time, and it’s our job to quickly make decisions and take action to make sure that the show not only goes on, but that the audience has no idea it’s happening.  We can still say we have never cancelled a show or ended a show early and that’s because we (over)think contingency plans and make sure we never leave a bride and groom hanging, a dance floor empty, or an owner without a band for the night.  It really is a testament to how well we work together and how committed we are to “the show must go on.”  Some of these examples include:
  • Talon breaking his hand – Fred Sauermann of Decatur jumped in on almost no notice and got us through a number of private events and our valentines day show without missing a beat (ha!)
  • Robert was called away on a family emergency mid-show and I had to jump in to cover guitar along with a number of friends who helped cover vocals.  It was definitely not an optimal solution, but we finished the show with dancers on the floor and I didn’t have a panic attack.
  • The power at a tent wedding reception kept blowing fuses.  Chad and I took off in opposite directions with a case of extension cords to find available circuits while the band played on.
  • I welcomed my son, Jonah, into the world in September.  We had previously tracked all of my bass parts for emergency situations, and so the band (easily) went on without me for a bunch of shows. Luckily, I own the mixer or I’m pretty sure they would have let me go awhile ago.
  • There were a number of shows where Albert or Katey couldn’t be in attendance for one reason or another and we either covered it as a four-piece or had the always-willing Liz Gall fill in.
• Fun with Friends – something I end up talking about a lot with local musician friends is the sense of camaraderie that happens between bands over the last few years.  I get the impression that the local scene didn’t always used to be that way, but it’s so great to not feel like we’re in this on our own like we used to feel when Robert and I were in Closing Time.  Every year we put together a number of events that lets us share the stage with some incredible talent – Fun DMC and Friends, Christmas At The Curve, The Joshua Tree, Valentines Day – not to mention being invited to perform on some great events with our favorite bands in the area – Fat Ass 5k, Jamie Kleimenhagen Benefit, Legacy of Giving, etc.  The members of Smashtag and The Mix have become like extensions of Fun DMC at this point given that we all end up on each other’s stages at any given show, and we’ve gotten to end up with people like Brandy Kristin, Peter Scott, Brian Armstrong, Janet Morris, Lyndsey Bolsen, Lance Stone, Lydia Dawn-Tate, Preston Searl, Billy Cooper, Kortney Leatherwood, and more performing songs with us this year.  It blows my mind that these wildly talented people are willing to hop up and rock out with us and I’m forever thankful for them.  We’ve got the same annual events planned for 2018, plus another one we’re incredibly excited about being announced soon.

Robert Reynolds

• Standing on one of the biggest stages playing for one of the biggest crowds on one of the hottest days of the year to open for a group paying tribute to one of the biggest bands on the planet. This summer Fun DMC played for a crowd of 5000 in front of Springfield’s newly opened Bank Of Springfield Center. If was one of the biggest and most electrifying moments in my time as a musician. The mass of people stretched from Washington Street clear to Adams and they were absolutely one of the most energetic crowds we ever played for.
• Fun DMC was awarded the top spot in the category of Best Hip Hop Band for the Illinois Times Best Of Springfield reader’s poll. We’ve been nominated for various awards in the past but every year we came up short. But much like Leonardo DiCaprio, it was finally time for the academy to recognize our efforts. We are proud of the achievement and happy to stand along side the rest of the winners and nominees of the Best Of Springfield.
• When asked to provide wedding services for old family friends, I didn’t expect the welcome reaction I would receive from so many wonderful people I haven’t seen for years and some in over a decade. In addition, I was able to bring my wife along with our daughter along and the whole event felt more like a reunion and less of a job. On most nights, I am anxious to break down our setup and get home after a long day but in all honesty, I was slightly sad to see it all end. It was a a beautiful September evening filled with laughter and music and watching my little girl dancing and hula hooping.