Review: Infectious Grooves and Cyco Miko – Funk It Up And Punk It Up: Live In Paris '95 [2010]

Can you remember way back to a long time ago when it was perfectly acceptable and rad to fuse punk rock and funk music?

I’m talking about 1995; When Head Banger’s Ball was replaced with Super Rock and Dave Navarro was the new guitarist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. It was also a year when Faith No More was still relevant, but more importantly, a year when Cyco Miko and Infectious Grooves embarked on a powerful European power tour in which the Mike Muir and company band worked tirelessly pulling double shifts.

Featuring the legendary Muir (Suicidal Tendencies) on vocals and Metallica bass god Robert Trujillo, Cyco Miko opened the extravaganza with the punk, while Infectious closed the show delivering all of the funk. Fifteen years later we finally have a live release. Infectious Grooves and Cyco Mike offer a magical double disc set titled Funk it Up & Punk it Up: Live in Paris ’95. And fifteen years later, we still have yet to hear an apology from MTV for Super Rock.

Of the two discs in the set, Infectious is clearly superior to Cyco Miko in technical virtuosity, but the raw punk attitude of Cyco cannot be discounted for one second. This live album will have you rocking out hard. It will take you back to your funk metal roots and school the newbie generation of rockers.

The eclectic sounds within the discs are divine and features the undying influences of Black Sabbath, P-Funk, and the Sex Pistols. When you’re dealt the momentum of Trujillo’s versatile bassmanship and Muir’s amped up energy, it is very difficult to resist this infection.