Why Scottfunkel?

During my carefree days of high school I played in a rock band called Fine Line. We were well known throughout the greater Grantsville area as well as the Two Mile Road region of Malad, ID. We played at a few local “battle of the bands” events, at a middle school dance, for a pep assembly, and the annual GHS talent show. If Grantsville had a “local music scene” we probably would have dominated it. The pinnacle of our music careers came when traveled to First Take Studios in Orem, UT and recorded a CD.

Taylor Parkinson (Drums), Taylor Hutchins (Vocals/Guitar), Erik Anderson (Bass/Vocals), Devin Didericksen (Guitar), Scott Johnson (Keyboard)

After that first album Fine Line just kind of dissolved. We never officially called it quits; we just never played together again as a band (unless you count the impromptu jam session at Taylor Parkinson’s birthday party). I remember a conversation with Taylor Hutchins where we discussed the fact that the band was now defunct and what we were going to do about it. I suggested that Taylor and I keep playing as a duo. We had similar tastes in music and the fact that we lived next door to each other made this a natural route to take. I imagined it along the lines of Simon and Garfunkel. I shared this idea with several people until someone said somewhat in jest, “You guys could be ‘Taylor and Scottfunkel.’” I thought that was pretty funny so I shared it with Taylor and his family and it kind of stuck.

“Taylor and Scottfunkel” never really got off the ground. The only audience we ever played for outside of the small gatherings on the front porch was one of our family reunions. We did, however, have several late night jam sessions in the summer of 2002. We would start when I got home from work and would play until the wee hours of the morning.

Taylor and I haven’t had many jam sessions since then, but the name Scottfunkel stuck, thanks mainly to Taylor and his parents. When I was heading out the door on my mission Taylor came and handed me a letter addressed to “Elder Scottfunkel.” When I returned two years later there was a large banner on the front of the Hutchins’ house that said “Welcome Home Elder Scottfunkel.” Since then I have been known in the Hutchins family and on the world wide web as Scottfunkel. Or Funkel for short.