By Kate Stow
In a twist of fate, Wes Stephenson, co-founder of the Dallas-based Funky Knuckles, wouldn’t have even become a musician if not for being hit by a car during his freshman year of high school. By his own account, Wes had been looking for his sense of purpose as a 13-14-year-old, and had decided to turn things around and was looking forward to playing 9th grade football.
Wes had a friend who had been talking about a buddy of his who was a killer bass player, so they went to the guy’s house. When Wes heard his pal’s friend play the Red Hot Chili Peppers version of “Higher Ground,” he was blown away and his world.
On his way home, he was hit by a car in a bad accident, and while it ended his high school football career, the desire to be a musician was born.
Wes has come a long way since learning to play the $100 Memphis bass his mom bought him. Lessons followed with Dallas blues and jazz bassist Richard Thomas, who taught the boy how to slap and pop at weekly jam sessions.
Although he had dropped out of school and admits he was headed down an “interesting path,” he discovered that you could go to college for music studies. He went back to high school, graduated, and enrolled at the University of North Texas.
After a year at UNT, Wes got a road gig playing the blues with Tutu Jones and dropped out. Having cut his teeth on the music of Les Claypool, he and some young friends formed a band, playing what they described as “munk” – a unique fusion of hip hop, funk and metal that resulted in really fast, distorted music.
While Wes stayed busy with local gigs, it was at church that he found his future in music. That is where he met drummer Cedric Moore and keyboardist Caleb McCampbell. Playing with them on Sundays and jamming with mentor Bernard Wright and John Carruth during the week helped Wes create his own unique style of bottom end and low-mid pulses that hit you in the chest as the other instruments dance in and out and around it.
The Funky Knuckles, born of that church trio, are now five albums into their collaboration. The first of the impressive portfolio was 2012’s As of Lately. The 2014 release, Meta Music, reigned as #1 on the iTunes jazz chart for several weeks. It was followed in 2016 by New Birth and in 2019 with Delicious. The group, currently comprised of Wes, Cedric, Phil Aelony on guitar, Ben Horhorquez on saxophone, Evan Weiss on trumpet and Kwinton Gray on keyboards, is currently recording their fifth album.
