Following a dream: Making it in the music industry

A local band is trying to make their dream of playing for a living come true.

For the past two years, Fists of Funk has been playing together at various gigs.

Although the band has been generating local buzz in the Sweetwater County area, they hadn't performed in any battle of the bands competitions.

This changed when the group decided to attend its first battle of the bands competition when the Young at Heart Senior Citizens Center hosted the Southwest Battle of the Bands.

All three of the band members, Jeremy Smolik, Paul Dittman and Dustin Cleary, have lived in Green River at some point. Smolik is lead vocalist and guitar player, Dittman plays bass guitar, while Cleary plays the drums.

"That's the first one I've ever won," Dittman said. "That was pretty cool. I was pretty surprised we won."

Smolik and Cleary were also surprised with the result.

"It was awesome. There were some good bands in there too," Smolik said. "I knew there were a couple of bands who had won in the past."

Cleary named a couple of the well-known local bands that were there also including Zamtrip and Wade Wilson Project. The group took home the first-place prize, which was $1,000.

How they got started

Cleary has played the drums for the past 19 years. He started after his uncle from Scotland came to visit him. His uncle was a drummer.

"I thought he was the coolest guy in the world, so I started playing drums," Cleary said.

His uncle left him with drum sticks; and shortly after his uncle went back to Scotland, Cleary's parents bought him a drum set. They also purchased a sound dampener so it wouldn't be so loud.

When Cleary was 12 to 13 years old he played in youth groups at his church. He started playing in what he called "an actual band" when he was 14 or 15 years old.

He remembered his band doing well in Denver, which is close to where he lived growing up.

"We did pretty good. We won battle of the bands in Denver against adult groups," Cleary recalled.

When Cleary turned 17, the family moved to Arizona; and eventually he moved to Green River, where he has lived for the past seven or eight years. He continued to play for bands and then eventually met Dittman who was a local bass player. Dittman was born in Rock Springs and eventually moved to Green River. They started jamming together and realized they needed a singer.

"I thought about Jeremy and gave him a call," Cleary said.

Dittman said he and Cleary had been jamming together with a couple of other guys "who flaked out on us." So, Cleary said he knew someone who might work if he was willing to meet him. Dittman said he figured it wouldn't hurt.

"I heard him play like three notes and just knew. I've been doing this long enough where I could tell he was good," Dittman said about Smolik.

Dittman had been playing bass guitar with his family since he was 16. He said he would always back up his brother who played guitar.

Both Dittman, Cleary and Smolik seemed to work well together. Smolik then played a song for Dittman and Cleary that he had wrote called "Fists of Funk." Not only did the group like the song, they liked the name. They all decided to name the band Fists of Funk.

As for the type of music they play, that is as unique as their name. Dittman described it as Primus meets Sublime meets Rage Against the Machine. Smolik said it is an infusion of blues, funk, reggae and hip hop.

"It's pretty hard to pinpoint it from what we've been told," Smolik said. "We're so different than anything else there is."

Moving Forward

The local success has been great, but the group is looking to obtain more success in other cities, including Jackson and Park City, Utah.

"We are actually trying to spread ourselves out a little bit and get more exposure," Smolik said.

He said they picked Park City, Utah, and Jackson to get this exposure because they don't have to go too far and they are more likely to run into talent agents in those locations.

Smolik said the band wants to make good music and get paid to do it.

In an effort to invest more time looking for gigs and possible agents, Smolik and Dittman have quit their jobs.

In fact, Dittman recently moved to Salt Lake City to play bass for other bands during the week, while searching for a talent agent that would meet the needs of Fists of Funk.

"I'm just getting my foot in the door," he said. "You've got to be careful."

Cleary's favorite part of the process besides people dancing and clapping along to the band's music is the creation of music.

"This is the first band I've been a part of that didn't struggle to write music," he said.

He said they are all very talented, which is why they have set their sights on obtaining their dream.

"The ultimate goal is to be able to do it for a living," Cleary said.