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 Stephen Karukas, Mitchell Beck, and Paul Millette. Stephen Karukas is a Seattle-based musician who participates as a contemporary percussionist and composer in various collaborations. He also releases experimental electronic music as kmodp. Also 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. 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.