(Re-)Introducing WPRB’s 1980s House Band: The Funstigators!
By Steve Buratowski ’84
DOWNLOADS: The Complete Funstigators WPRB Tapes (.zip file) and the original Funstigators bio (.pdf)
One by-product of WPRB in the early ’80s was a band called the Funstigators. The band consisted of Steve Buratowski, Mark Crimmins, Ray Gonzalez, Kevin Hensley, Chuck Steidel, and Charles Sullivan. All were class of 1984 and, and except for Charles, joined the station as DJs soon after arriving at Princeton. Mark, Chuck, and Charles were roommates, and as far back as freshman year one of their favorite things to do on weekends was to get some cheap beer and play music. Chuck and Mark had guitars, and Charles played one of those tiny squeaky Casiotone keyboards that were popular in the ’80s, using an overturned trashcan as a stand.
During sophomore year, two more people joined the fun: Kevin Hensley returned to Princeton after taking a year off to tour with his band The Law, who sprang out of Des Moines, Iowa, and not only included Kevin (aka Billy Disease), but also Charlie Chesterman (aka Chuckie Suicide) and Mac and Burns Stanfield, who would later go on to form Boston greats Scruffy the Cat. Kevin shared the irreverent and ironic humor of the three founders, but being rock royalty, he brought quite a bit of experience and credibility to the budding group. Ray Gonzalez stepped in on vocals and brought a powerful but soulful voice that complemented the sound perfectly. Steve Buratowski was already playing around campus quite a bit as keyboard player for several New Wave cover bands, but had some rudimentary drumming skills and so jumped at the opportunity to just make some noise. He joined the band in their junior year and completed the line-up that would finally emerge from the basement of Holder Hall.
Somehow, without noticing, all those weekend rehearsals had tightened up the songs and they sounded less like a bunch of guys goofing off and something like a real band. Surprisingly, a few people started coming by to hang out and listen when they got together in Holder, and so they decided maybe they should play in front of a real audience. The opportunity came when Colonial Club, where a big chunk of the PRB crowd ate their meals, had a mid-week “Talent Show” one evening in 1983. They debuted with just three or four songs under the name “The Cheap Fuckers” (a quote from Flipper’s “Living for the Depression”: “…a real cheap fucker like you, cop out!” ). Based on this performance, they were asked back to play a fuller set at a Colonial “dance party”, where they added a number of new songs and adopted the Funstigator moniker.
The band’s eclectic (i.e. random) repertoire, which they designated “Motley Music”, grew to include rock, punk, ska, surf, and a generous helping of TV show theme songs. Guitars and the Casio were upgraded to vintage Rickenbacker and Farfisa instruments. At a time when the typical bands at Princeton were rocking spandex and synthesizers, The Funstigators were goofy, unpretentious, and unpredictable. Lest anyone think they were taking themselves seriously, they wore matching outfits, which included bowling shirts, bright pastels, or the iconic black turtlenecks. And all shows included their onstage mascot: a fuzzy, leopard skin lamp. (Seen below in this clipping from an April ’84 edition of the Daily Princetonian.)
The meteoric rise of the Funstigators in 1983 can be traced to the simple fact that they had been given the keys to WPRB that year. Ray was Station Manager, Chuck was Program Director, and Mark was Business Manager, and Kevin and Steve had weekly shows. Before leaving for the summer break, The Funstigators went into the WPRB production studio and recorded about a dozen songs, including several originals written by Kevin and Chuck. That summer, the studio recordings of “Potato Chip” and “It’s Worse Than You Think” were at the top of the station’s charts.
LISTEN or DOWNLOAD: “It’s Worse Than You Think” by the Funstigators, recorded live at WPRB.
Soon after school started again in September, WPRB threw an outdoor party early in the year featuring station favorites The Neats. Who could we get as an opening band? Hmmm…..let’s see, who do we know? How about The Funstigators?! The Fleshtones are playing a party at Colonial: let’s make it a double bill with the Funstigators! The Funsti-mania soon spread beyond WPRB and Colonial, and in their senior year they were playing almost every week at the Chancellor Green Pub or one of the clubs. Before the end of the school year they even made it beyond the Princeton campus. There was one infamous show, caught on cassette tape, at the Princeton YMCA where Ray had to ask the high school kids there to stop dancing on the tables. And through the station’s connections to City Gardens, the Funstigators were booked for two fantastic shows in the seediest section of Trenton. (A pristine recording of which recently surfaced on YouTube.)
The Funstigators live at City Gardens. Photo credit unknown.
Pictures, videos, flyers, and recordings from some of the band’s shows can be found on their Facebook and YouTube pages. Although graduation should have marked the end of the story, The Funstigators were asked to reunite for a party at Colonial Club in 1985. A video of the show, which includes an amusing “mockumentary” pre-show interview with the band, is preserved in the Princeton Archives.
Decades passed before the band reunited again for sets at their 25th and 30th class reunions. They were shocked to discover in 2009 that there were people at the station who still remembered them and they were thrilled to be back on the WPRB airwaves for an interview with station legend Ken Katkin. Browsing the stacks in the beautiful new WPRB studios brought back lots of memories of vinyl records and pithy reviews written on album covers. But there is one Funsti-mystery that has never been solved. After graduation, the famed Funstigator leopard skin lamp was bequeathed to WPRB, and while a few people remember seeing it in the years immediately after, nobody seems to know what eventually happened to it. The Funstigators hope it lives on, if only in the memories of one of WPRBs golden periods.