While many kids grew up listening to Blink 182 in their rooms after school, and even learning some of their songs, not a lot can say they have been able to open for Blink in concert. However, it is true for New Beat Fund, a Los Angeles based band, who just finished a tour as Blink’s opening act. 

Michael Johnson, Jeff “Burnie” Laliberte, Shelby “Button” Archer, and Paul “Snapz” Laliberte make up the quirky New Beat Fund, which just got signed to Red Bull Records in May of this year. NBF has a unique sound they call “G-Funk” described by them as a derivative of West Coast gangster rap, “Like Dr. Dre or Snoop Dogg or Tupac.”

They also add that they all grew up on punk rock bands, “like Blink, Rancid, AFI, and Red Hot Chili Peppers,” which are a great influence to them, and accredit further influence to Sublime which adds to the funk sound their music has. 

New Beat Fund started off as a self-producing band under their own label “Grinchfoot Records”. Burnie went to art school for graphic arts and does all of the designs for the band. Button went to audio engineering school and learned about the technical aspects of recording music, so together the group got really good at producing their own complete product. The name “New Beat Fund” even originated in a very original way.

The band was in the same studio that Dave Grohl shot his documentary in co-producing tracks with Matt Wallis, a producer for Maroon 5, when they found a jar that said “New Boat Fund” and etched out the “o” to make an “e” so it read “New Beat Fund”. The jar always remained empty save a single guitar pick, so one day the band took the jar and threw it into the side of a corporate building to symbolize not only their financial independence, but also their willingness to give their music to fans for free.

The band seems to be adjusting to the media well and they love soaking up the attention. Their first single, "Scare Me" was recently added to MTVU and Sirius XM’s Alt Nation station. “[Scare Me] is kinda old for us, but it’s just seeing the light that it deserves. People are just now starting to discover it, so it’s new to everyone else.” Though New Beat Fund only has their "Coinz EP" out right now, they have plenty of other written material and are looking to release a full album by next summer.

The feedback for the band has been mostly positive, but there have been a few negative reviews. “Some people passionately hate us, which I love. I would rather have people passionately love us or passionately hate us. As an artist that’s about the best thing you can possibly do. People are either offended or f--king love what we do and how weird we are.”

Opening for Blink was a dream come true for New Beat Fund. “I must have been like six years old when I got into Blink,” Paul said. “They were one of the first bands I ever really connected with. The first song I ever learned was Dammit. My friend in 6th grade taught it to me, and it was completely wrong, but it was my first attempt at just trying to play an instrument.” Never would they have imagined playing alongside that band one day, “the fact that we got this opportunity is amazing.” 

After completing their tour with Blink 182, New Beat Fund is starting Journey’s Noise Tour this fall on October 16th, along with 3oh!3, The Summer Set, and Wallpaper.  The band has a long road ahead of them, but the future is looking bright for these rising stars of G-Funk.

Reach Contributor Jordan Gary here.