Bongo Funhouse is a free-improvisation performance ensemble that explores the world of percussion and found sounds. Bongo Funhouse seeks to create a unique performance experience that blends elements of avant-garde and contemporary classical music. Taking influence from many types of music, literature, and nature, Bongo Funhouse travels through a wide variety of sound worlds and moods that at times will have your adrenaline pumping and at other times will have you drifting into an ambient trance. Having met at Indiana University through a shared interest in free improvisation, Bongo Funhouse is composed of Mitchell Beck, Stephen Karukas, and Paul Millette.
Based in Seattle, Mitchell Beck is an active performer, composer, and educator in the Pacific Northwest. He has performed internationally, had his works performed internationally, held the position of Visiting Assistant Professor of Percussion/Music Technology at Boise State University, and founded the Seattle Percussion Academy. Mitchell and Stephen are also co-founders of local percussion collective, Splinter Percussion.
Stephen Karukas is a percussionist and composer living in London, with interests in contemporary and improvised percussion. He also releases electronic music under his solo project, kmodp, as well as collaborations such as Traveling Boyfriend and Collected Works.
Paul Millette is a percussionist based in San Antonio, Texas, where he teaches at the University of Texas at San Antonio. He maintains an active career as an orchestral percussionist, improviser, chamber musician, composer, and educator.
Miles Friday is a composer and sound artist who aims to rethink how we hear and listen, drawing on sound as a site for community-building, critical exchange, and play. He is based in San Antonio, Texas, where he teaches music technology at the University of Texas at San Antonio.