Matt Coughlin and the Growlers have labeled their style as "funktry" - a combination of funk and country, natch. Coughlin grew up in Montana, raised by a couple of hippies. "They're folkies from back in the day," says Coughlin. "They got me playing piano and playing the guitar and singing and whatnot. I carried that through high school, and found out that girls like it when you play guitar and sing."

After a brief stint in a punk outfit (Bumma Stoge), Coughlin returned to his roots and worked on gathering together a band that would aid him in delivering his funktry to the masses. Just like in a heist movie, his team came out of the woodwork to create a force more powerful than the sum of its parts.

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Matt Coughlin and the Growlers

With the Crying Shame, Phunkatron
Wednesday, Sept. 22, 8 p.m., $5
The Swiss, 1904 S. Jefferson Ave, Tacoma
253.572.2821