Funkmaster V switches moves once more

Vinnie Vineyard, foreground, stirs up the wrestling fans with his funky ways as Funkmaster V.

KNOXVILLE — Versatile entertainer Vinnie Vineyard is fighting (literally) to bring respect to funk music.

The longtime bassist turned pro wrestler, due to injury, has reverted his attention to music once again but is finding ways to incorporate the vastly disparate passions into his act. The combination of seemingly irrelevant influences has proven a staple in Vineyard's music and wrestling successes.

After years of playing bass for modern rock and cover band Flipside Runner, Vineyard was lured away by the call of the funk. The call led him to the unlikely stage of professional wrestling. His creativity has since flourished, grappling as self-styled character Funkmaster V.

The Funkmaster preaches the gospel of funk to a younger generation of fans with funk-themed ABA basketball-inspired costumes, jive talking and signature moves that include the "funky figure 4," "1,000 watts of funk" (a top rope knee roll) and the "glory swinging neck-breaker."

"I started yawning in front of about 1,200 people," explains Vineyard of his 2008 departure from Flipside Runner. "There are better musicians than me that have never played to that many people. To be fair, I was kind of tired, but Joe Namath said when he caught himself yawning on the football field, he knew it was time to get off the football field; someone else would appreciate the spot a lot more.

"I got tired of the music, so I was doing wrestling part time back in 2007. After about seven or eight months of trying to serve both masters, I decided to really delve into wrestling because I had the opportunity to do television work. I always liked doing skits and movies and stuff, and it's more conducive to that. People don't always care about comedy when they're listening to music. Now that I've had all this freedom with wrestling - and since I'm injured - I want to perform music again."

Playing original music in character, Funkmaster V will serve as the front man (bass and vocals) leading a full band of "hired guns." Though he will perform in costume, the music is themed around the funk aspect of his character more than the wrestling. When asked what differentiates the Funkmaster from Vinnie Vineyard, he acknowledges that much remains consistent.

"When I pull up at a wrestling match and I'm actually listening to funk music, people look at me like I'm just trying to put them on, but it's because I really do love the stuff," Vineyard says. "The difference between Funkmaster and Vinnie is that it's just me all ramped up. It's like Vinnie Vineyard on a thousand Red Bulls. So it's basically me as a jerk. Whether you're a good guy or bad guy, you're always kind of a jerk.

"There aren't a lot of wrestling themes in the music. They're more like Funkmaster V themes. [The music] is over the top. I want to say it's legitimate music that's fun to listen and dance to. It's not that I'm making fun of funk, but there is a light element to it."

Vineyard projects that he will return to wrestling once his knee injury is properly rehabilitated and he is adequately conditioned for demanding physical exertion, but in the meantime he will exercise his Funkmaster persona by recording an album. His album expected for release late this year will be titled "Funkmaster V (or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Funk)."

"In my wrestling career, people have thought Funkmaster V is something unique, but all I did was quote a bunch of crap from old funk albums," says Vineyard of his ability to splice unlikely interests. "I wanted to be something different. That's the same thing you should do with music. Go outside and get some other influences and put those into your music. Instead of listening to your favorite bands and saying, 'These guys are great; I want to sound just like them,' try playing something else and then bring it back to your genre. That's the only thing I've ever done in music or wrestling is borrow from different sources."

RUNNING FREE: Flipside Runner plays a free show at Oskie's Sports Bar tonight at 9 p.m.

BAD TIDINGS: Bad Dudes join High Tide, Caleb Lionheart, Jeff Blank and His Day Has Come tonight. The show kicks off at 9 p.m. and costs $5 for legal drinkers or $7 for ages 18 to 20.

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