The Funky Bunch

Sugar and Gold's KC and the Sunshine Band-via-Kraftwerk sound nominates the group as the Bay Area's answer to the Scissor Sisters.

You know you’re off to a good start when you’ve inspired a cover band before establishing yourself as a household name. Such is the case with disco-electro outfit Sugar and Gold. Formed by frontman Philipp Minnig (lower right) and keyboardist Nicolas Dobbratz (lower left), who first met in middle school down in Pacific Grove, and rounded out by bassist Jerome Steegmans (center), drummer Robin Macmillan (upper right) and, on back-up vocals, Fatima Fleming (upper left) and Susan Cortes (not pictured), the funk-friendly sextet released their debut full-length album, Creme (Antenna Farm Records), in June. Creme’s KC and the Sunshine Band–via–Kraftwerk sound nominates the group as the Bay Area’s answer to the Scissor Sisters—the record is stocked with two-years-in-the-making danceable disco beats and saucy, tongue-in-cheek attitude. And as for their dedicated cover band, Molasses and Tin? “They take our songs to children,” Minnig explains. “They changed the lyrics from ‘This kind of lover’ to ‘This kind of monkey’ and give all the children kazoos. And the parents are all, ‘What the hell are these people doing to our kids?’”

See Sugar and Gold (sugarandgold.com) at Mezzanine on August 23.

Check out our exclusive behind-the-scenes video at the band's photo shoot.

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