WTF with Marc Maron Podcast - Episode 1184 - Bootsy Collins

Episode Date: December 17, 2020

Bootsy Collins is one of the world's preeminent practitioners of The Funk, although that might not be the case if he hadn't snuck his brother's guitar out of the closet when no one was around. Bootsy tells Marc about starting out with a homemade bass and graduating from the James Brown School of Hard Knocks as part of the Godfather of Soul's band. Bootsy explains how he came out of that experience and shaped his own identity in the Parliament Funkadelic Universe, thanks to the freedom provided by George Clinton, and how it all ties in to his new album, The Power of the One. Sign up here for WTF+ to get the full show archives and weekly bonus material! https://plus.acast.com/s/wtf-with-marc-maron-podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Lock the gate! Alright, let's do this. How are you, what the fuckers? What the fuck buddies? What the fuck nicks? What's happening? My name is Mark Maron. this is my podcast wtf i've been doing it a long time now a long time twice a week every week a new show since 2009 people a new conversation every monday and every thursday a new one. Always. Since 2009. Isn't that crazy? Through all the bad things, all the good things, all the peaks, valleys, plagues, deaths. We do it.

We do the work here. We don't stop. If you're not familiar with the show, you're new to the show, welcome to the show. I talk for a while, then I talk to people. That's the deal. How's everybody doing how are you how is how's everything you're right are you with nothing's all right i know that i know nothing's all right but some things are better it seems or almost better i don't know this fucking pig president is on his way out, which makes me happy. And if you find that disrespectful, I'll only respect the office as much as the president in office respects the office.

And for any of you fascist clowns out there who decide to listen to me for whatever reason and justify your support of the pig, well, clearly, and i mean this objectively there's something fucking wrong with you is that is that too harsh look man we're all just people some people are scared some people are sad some people are are you know angry inside and it seems like the people that are most against the idea that they're being fucked with are the most vulnerable to be fucked with because their triggers are so goddamn easy. When you're full of sadness and you're full of fucking anger and you're not processing any of your grief or your feelings of trauma, abandonment, bitterness. You got the easiest trigger in the world.

You got a wide open door into your heart and mind. All you got to do is fucking stoke those fucking coals of contempt. And there you go. The doors just open up and anybody can fill your head with whatever kind of garbage they want and just throw it on your fucking already burning fire. That's a that's across the board shit. Did I mention I didn't? We have a pretty amazing show today.

Bootsy Collins. Yeah, I got pitched this. You want to interview Bootsy Collins? Fuck yeah, I do. Is he going gonna wear his star glasses and his top hat while I interview him on zoom the answer to that question is yes he is he most certainly is gonna wear his top hat and star sunglasses while you interview him on zoom but the big topper is he's gonna have outer space as his background. Yeah. Yeah, that's what happens when you interview Bootsy Collins on Zoom.

I will say this. He did his ear pods or earbuds or whatever the fuck they are, those Apple things. They kept falling out of his head. So it's a little tricky. But what a great conversation. If you don't know who Bootsy is, he is a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member. He played in James Brown's band the Pacemakers back in the day he is and was

a member of parliament he has lots of his own solo stuff he's basically the definition of funk his new album is called The Power of the One what a thrill it was to talk to Bootsy Collins oh my decision to work I know it's peak COVID I know's fucking insane. I took the gig and I'm doing it. And for some reason, with everything hanging in the balance, I get tested every other day and we're doing the work. It's like I'm having one of the best acting experiences of my life. I don't know if it's going to be the last one. I don't know why. I don't know if it's going to be the last one. I don't know why, but I've decided to do something, and I'm doing it because I had the opportunity to do it safely, as safe as possible. We'll see. Maybe I'll get through it without getting COVID. Maybe the production will go all the way through without having to shut down because of COVID. Happy to be working. Happy to be talking to you now. Look, I know there's a lot

of people in trouble right now. I know there's a lot of people that can't work. I know there's a lot of people who are sick, who have lost people. I've known people who are sick. I don't believe that I've lost anybody personally to COVID, but I know my aunt and uncle just got through it. My cousins, kids had it. I know people around here that have gotten it. I know it's horrible. I know it's not anywhere near good. I know there's a vaccine and now it's just sort of like, man, if I get this and kick it because I'm stupid before I get that vaccine, then that'll be a true fucking tragedy. A lot of true tragedies around. But nonetheless, I chose to take the gig. But I knew in my mind that if I'm going to be an actor or if I'm going to try to do it,

I don't claim to be a great actor. I'm learning how to do it. You hear me learn how to do it on this show. But I knew how to challenge myself. And I knew I had to do something different. I got offered this gig to play a guy who is definitely not me, who is definitely written as a Texan and who is a different personality than me altogether. I didn't want to do it because I was like, this is crazy. I don't need to be on a set. It's COVID. I don't need it. But then I was convinced, and I've gone through this before, that I could, that, you know, it would be okay to do it that that set's probably gonna be safer than the supermarket true I believe that's true but then there's the other element like I buckled the week before I

was supposed to do this work I was like you know god I hope it gets shut down I hope they don't do it I hope the lockdowns will start I was afraid to do the accent I was afraid to rise to the lockdowns will start. I was afraid to do the accent. I was afraid to rise to the challenge, but I knew in my heart before I took this gig that if I'm going to be an actor, I have to, I have to take the risk of failing with a character who isn't like me. That was set in place. I didn't know if I was going to do it, but usually when I set it in place in my heart and mind this isn't any sort of notebook shit it's not like manifesting magic it's just like i knew in my mind in my heart that that's what i got to do to move forward creatively in this particular mode in this particular craft if i'm gonna grow and that goes with anything, man. Pow!

I shit my pants. Just coffee.coop. I'm back. I'm back. So anyway, all that being said, it's been rewarding. And, you know, I've been more aware of doing the work. We did a scene a couple of days ago, me and Andrea Riceboro, who's a genius actress, where, you know, it was a touching scene. It was really not a sad scene, but it was, you know, an open-hearted scene.

And both of our characters are slightly sad, a little bit heavy-hearted characters, but this is a hopeful, beautiful moment between us. And we had to play it. And it was just really kind of stunning to try to stay in the work, to try to put something in place that I could count on take after take to get to the emotional place necessary for this scene to happen. And I tell you, ma'am, we did it. And, you know, the last take, you know, I started, you know, it, and, you know, the last take, you know, I started, you know, choking up, and, you know, the director said, cut, or do you feel satisfied, can we check the gate, and I'm like, yeah, and I'm crying, I kind of can't stop crying, and she's crying a little bit,

he's like, are you all right, I'm like, I am all right, and, you know, we're all all right, we're acting here, and we sat out there in the dust of this field where we'd set up this set to do this bit and her both of us are sitting there in our chairs and our masks with teared up eyes and it was like so satisfying to connect like that and you know i just had to it was just interesting to be part of it and to as to keep that fucking feeling going throughout all these takes. And then what I kept having to do to connect with her, her character, my character connecting with her character. By the last take, I literally was, we had to enter a room and I had to get, she didn't even see me do this.

I was like very close to her just so I could look at her face up close and see her face and see her hair and and know that like that you know that is tangible that is a human face hair we're in this together and had and i put in a place in my heart how i felt about that character how my character felt about that character and then you go into this and you arrive in the present if you're lucky but i had to almost like smell her fucking hair to get in it now i don't know what technique that is and i don't know you know what i'm using i've talked to a lot of people there's a lot of ways to go i don't know how it looks but i do know this that after we shot that scene and we got through it and the director said to me it's like this character's so interesting there's it's just like there's so it's almost like no ego to this guy and i'm like wow well that uh that is definitely not me it's just been uh an interesting experience

and i just want to share it with you i i know that a lot of you you can't work and you're frustrated and you're sick and you're broke and you're this. This time is horrendous. It's horrendous for everybody. But I'm just sharing what I'm doing. Maybe at least you can get lost in that process. I decided to take the risk and I continue to do it. And I'm just I'm trying to live a life in the midst of all this, in the midst of terrible fear, in the midst of terrible reality, in the midst of a lot of things raining down on us that are horrible, I'm not going to let this part of my life suck if possible. Did I mention I roasted a chicken? So here's the deal with that.

I've done it a lot of ways and I've never been happy, really, because I always think it comes out too tough or too dry and I think I'm overcooking it, but I've tried it happy, really, because I always think it comes out too tough or too dry and I think I'm overcooking it, but I've tried it on a slow heat. I've tried it on a higher heat. I've got the temperature right, but I think it really matters if you can get a fucking fresh chicken.

I think some of these chickens you get at Whole Foods that are already packaged in the refrigerator, they might've been frozen before. I don't know, but I just got a fresh one and all I did, I poked around at some recipes. Here's exactly what I did from a couple of recipes that I gleaned. I put the, I put the oven on 475. All right. And, uh, and then I, I salt and peppered a chicken thoroughly inside and out. And then I let that chicken set in the fridge, salted and peppered for like 45 minutes.

And then while that was happening and the oven was heating up, I stuck a large cast iron skillet into the oven to get it heated up to 475. And then I took the bird out of the fridge and I pulled the skillet out of the oven and I threw the bird in there. And, you know, the breast side up, is it? Yeah. But before I put it in the pan, I stuck a wad of rosemary, fresh rosemary in there. I just put it in the pan, sizzle, sizzle, stuck it in the oven for like an hour. You know, until it, you know, the juices run clear. You stick a thermometer in 165 to 170.

I took it out. It was fucking perfect. Because if you cook it high, I thought that automatically makes it took it out. It was fucking perfect. If you, cause if you cook it high, I thought that automatically makes it tougher, dried out. No, it makes that fucking skin nice and crispy. So I don't know if I can repeat it. I've been trying to repeat these recipes I'm working on to make sure that I, uh, you know, that it's not a one-off, but it fucking came out beautiful. it's not a one-off but it fucking came out beautiful and tonight tonight i'm gonna i'm gonna dredge some sand dabs and cornmeal and fucking cook them yeah that's right i'll be dredging sand dabs what are you up to all right bootsy collins you guys this is serious as i said

before he was having some audio issues during this talk he couldn't get the earbuds to stay in his head those little ones those bluetooth earbuds or whatever the fuck they are earplugs what do they call them so the quality goes up and down a bit here but it's still a solid connection and a good talk and it's fucking bootsy collins and if you want to picture it he's wearing his fucking star-shaped sunglasses and his top hat. And he's talking to me, trying to keep his earbuds in. And behind him is outer space. This is me and Bootsy Collins.

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Zensurance. risk your life. When I die here, you'll never leave Japan alive. FX's Shogun, a new original series streaming February 27th exclusively on Disney+. 18 plus subscription required. T's and C's apply. Mark? Yes. Hey, what's going on? How you doing, buddy? Everything's good, you know.

Bootsy Collins. How's, you know, where are you at? Where am I talking to you from? I'm in Cincinnati, Ohio. That's your hometown. Yes, yes, yes. And, you know, what can I say? We're on lockdown.

Yeah. And, you know, hey, nothing never changed. So, when you're in lockdown, do you find yourself playing? I mean, you got a lot of time over there. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Well, actually, that's the main thing that pretty much keeps us sane around here is the music. You know, we got a studio here, and then we got one across the way.

You know, we try to stay very creative because this is definitely a good time to be creative. Yeah. very creative because this is definitely a good time to, to be creative, uh, you know, cause that's really, that's really all you got to focus on is, uh, trying to keep it together and, uh, be creative. Yeah. And I think that being creative and putting out the stuff, it does definitely help you keep it together and not think about how, uh, how seemingly terrible everything is all the time. Yes. Yes. Yes. And you know, that's what this, this album really is all about, you know, just, you know, trying to put some at ease in the uneasiness of what's going on.

You know, it's pretty deep. Nobody expected it, you know, and it hit everybody at once. So it's like. Yeah, no one's getting out from under this we're all on the same page yeah yeah we're all equally fucked in this plague time exactly exactly but you know it's like um i don't know you know it i guess it's probably good for us in a way in a in a in a crazy way but you know um i don't know you know they stopped they took all our gigs i mean you know it's like yeah okay nobody go to work i mean you know especially the musicians i mean everybody is in the same pot were you gonna tour on the record well we was gonna try to you know put some things together. But, you know, when that kind of happened, it starts snatching everything.

All the even the the great ideas start snatching all of that because, you know, it was like, you know, we can't even focus on that no more. So when you do it, when you do a record like this, I was listening. It's weird because yesterday, here's what I did yesterday. I listened to Food for Thought. I've got I got the JB's Food for Thought. Yesterday, I listened to Food for Thought. I've got the JB's Food for Thought. Oh, wow. And then I listened to The Power of the One yesterday and today. So now I got the beginning and the end here, right?

Yeah. That is so true. I listened to you with the JB know at the beginning of whatever you were becoming and then you know i listened to the power of the one and you've got the people that you work with the interview to me the interesting thing about the bass yeah is that i imagine when you started you know the bass you know you're a support instrument and then at some point yeah in some point you evolved into the instrument and then yeah but you but you still like you know because you define something you get people who who you've influenced who who owe you a great deal of creative debt but also

people who like to play with you i mean on the new record the power of the one i mean i didn't even i didn't even know George Benson was still around. Yeah. Yeah. Um, you know, we, we kind of, uh, kind of keep in touch, you know, like by phone or, or how we can, you know, um, but yeah, man, it was like, it was like, he was somebody that I always wanted to do a record with and, you know, and never got around to it. It's just because I got stuck on funk, starting out in funk. Once I got with James Brown, it was solidified

that that's what I do. That's all I do. That's all the music I like. It's like you get like pinpointed in whatever you're doing, that's what you are, you know, which you know, that's cool. Well, it's not like, but you definitely leaned

into it. It's not like you were fighting it at all. Exactly. No, I was loving every moment. I was loving every moment of it. But, you know, I kind of grew up around a whole lot of different, you know, genres of music. And I was loving a lot of different genres. Well, when you were a kid, because that's really my question, because I don't I know a little bit about some music and not so much about other music.

But there seems to be a point where, you know, funk was invented. where, you know, funk was invented. And you seem to be close to the source of that because, like, you know, I don't know where that jump from R&B to soul to funk happens, but there is definitely a groove shift that occurs. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I totally agree. Now, when you were growing up, what were you growing up around in Cincinnati over there?

Oh, man. Well, I'll tell you, the guitar influence that I really looked up to was Lonnie Mack. Oh, yeah. Yeah, him and my brother, because my brother was playing a lot of the Lonnie Mack stuff. Yeah. And if you remember, well, you may not have been around in that time, but Lonnie Mack and a lot of other guitarists would was like doing a lot of instrumentals of West Montgomery. You know, I mean, Eastcatch was like, you know, Freddie King. Yeah. The top of the game, you know, speaking of Freddie King, he he was you know he recorded here in cincinnati no kidding

yeah and so i got a chance to meet him over at uh king records and speaking of king records you know that was a like a whole meltdown of all kind of genres of music oh that's right so king king records was in cincinnati yeah and that's where i got started. Oh, man. That's how I got hooked up with James Brown, you know? Yeah, because all those first, like Cold Sweat, that's on King Records, all those early James Brown records on King Records. Who ran that place? Sid Nathan.

He owned and operated and had everything under one roof. That's the thing that really, really got me. Who are some of those other artists so you were a kid when did you start playing i started when i was like eight nine years old uh and i was i was messing around with it because my brother played you know guitar and he was like eight years older than i so he was a teenager you know and so he was deep teenager. So he was deep in it.

Oh, he was deep in it. And big brothers, you know how they treat their younger kids. So I was always not allowed. I was always rejected. Annoying. Yeah, yeah. And it's like, and his responsibility. Because mama didn't play

that. Mama didn't play that. Do not mess with her baby. You know, so it was like I was caught in a web, like I'm always wanting to please my brother, but I know he don't like me to be around. I know he don't want me to touch his guitar, but I got to. I just got to. so when he's off doing his paper route, you know, I'm, I'm, you know, I didn't get his guitar out of the closet and I'm just wearing it out. I'm listening to Lonnie Mack and I'm just wearing the guitar, learning note for note, you know? And, and, and, you know, anything I could hear or see, I couldn't see too much of anything around that time because I was too young. I couldn't get in clubs, you know.

Sure. And so, you know, it was a different time than now. Now, you know, you got music everywhere, you know. But then you had to have your own radio, photograph player, and transistor radio hadn't even came in yet. Damn. So was your brother playing in a band in high school? Not a band in high school. He had a band of cats he just put together, you know, because everybody was, you know, not everybody, but a lot of people were just corner musicians, you know, like out on the corner.

Right. Playing on the corner, you know, and out on the corner, playing on the corner, you know? And that's the style that I picked up very early because I didn't like hanging around with kids my age because to me it just wasn't really about nothing. What was about something was those jazz players, you know, Wilbur Longmire, Wes Montgomery, these cats that hung around and and played in these clubs I wanted to be around these cats and my brother had to had the passcode to get in you

know everybody loved him because he was supposedly the uh one of the great guitarists out of Cincinnati Ohio and so I got a a lot of people that, um, that gave me, uh, you know, like a pass card, not only because I was a young kid trying to learn how to play, but because I was his brother. Well, that's interesting. Cause I never really thought about that until just now that, that the sort of like the through line of what became funk was really more jazz based than blues based wasn't it it i i was i would think so and i would i would say it was it was kind of like a combination of those elements because that's what i was kind of absorbing at that young age even without even knowing it you know you're not but it's not like, because if you were in Chicago,

you'd be taking in Wolf and Muddy and all those cats, and that's a whole different thing. But I love listening to Wolf. Yeah, of course, of course. I got hip to all of this because of my brother. Right, right.

Because he was like eight years older. He knew all of this stuff. Yeah, see, you had the records. You had the records around the house. Yeah. And we finally got something to play them on. You know, so it was wonderful. You know, I was always at the mercy of somebody else playing a record for me.

Yeah. Like the people down the street. Right. Around the corner. Listening in the hallway. Yeah. I was always at the mercy you know so that that's a part of being funky you know right right when you're always at the mercy

of somebody else allowing you to hear something down the hall across the street upstairs sticking your head out the window it sounds kind of sounds kind of you know someone asked tom waits once years ago i read in an interview someone asked tom waits what his favorite music was and he said an am radio across the street across the street hey hey man that's so true that is so true and that's that's the way you know i was learning stuff you know so when did you pick up a bass how did you how are you on guitar now? Did you decide you didn't want to play guitar? No.

What happened was I wanted to play in the band with my brother. He was my whole inspiration. We didn't have a father anymore. Phelps Collins. Catfish Collins. Phelps Catfish Collins. He was my whole inspiration. It was my mother, my sister, and and my brother that's what was in the

household you know um and so and i was the baby you know i'm the baby boy yeah you know so mama you know mama wasn't going for when when big brother was like you know wearing me out you know like right when he caught me with his guitar you, mama had to stand in the middle so that I wouldn't get crucified. You know, so she had to train, train your brother to treat you nicely. Yeah. But did you eventually become pretty close? Well, after the, after he learned, you know, he had to learn that I was serious because, you know, both of us was jokers, you know, first of all. And then and then, you know, I would say I want to do this and I want to do that.

I want to be an artist. I want to draw. I want to, you know, and I and those are the things that I did do. did do even before i started playing um music or practicing you know was i was drawing and things would come to me in my head i would want to paint them and put them down so i was so interested in art did you do any of the cover art on any of the records uh not not as far as personally doing it myself but the ideas the different the different ideas, I was full of ideas. I mean, you know, that was, that was going everywhere. So to get, to get down with the, the guitar thing, what happened was my brother needed a bass player. And one night, you know, one night it was like, you know, my bass player can't make it. I can't find another to sit in. Do you want to play bass? You know? And it was like um you know my bass player can't make it i can't find another to to sit in uh do you

want to play bass you know and it was like do i want to play bass you know so that was like the best question in the world the only thing that that was worrying me was i didn't have a bass right so i then i had to go real funky on him. I had to say, well, if you can get me four bass strings, I will be your bass player tonight. And sure enough, he got me four bass strings and that silver tone guitar, that twenty nine dollar guitar. Yeah. I put four bass strings on it. Yeah. Unwind, unwind, you know, the strings at the top where you put the string in the hole, the tuning pin. I unwound that, put them all on there, and tuned it up, and I said, let's go. What? My brother couldn't believe it.

He couldn't believe it. He said, okay. And I had never played bass before. But it already sounded funky then. You didn't even have to do nothing. Just by coincidence, you're playing that bass. It's probably getting picked up on two of the

string pickups, right? Right, right. Because it's a big, fat string. What did it sound like? It sounded great. I mean, nobody I'm serious. Nobody believed the sound I was getting out of that and i wasn't even

trying to get a sound out of it i just wanted to play with my brother it was convenient you had to adapt yes yes yes and then what was really so stupid was once i once i played with my brother and he started liking it uh you know i was already loving it but my brother started accepting me you know like wow how old were you how old were you then i was i was like 15 14 15 okay and uh and you know i had i had started growing up i had been playing uh guitar in in a church you know in churches with uh different uh friends of of mine and a group called the Christian Heirs. That's where I really... Oh, Christian Heirs. So gospel, gospel groove. Oh, see, that's where it comes from too. I would say it came from there first. At 11 years old, I was playing

in gospel, in a gospel quartet. But you know what I'm trying to figure out? Like at some point, you know, there was only a couple of blues guys that would do, you know, maybe one chord, maybe throw in that four and then come back to the one, but don't do the five at all, right? Right, right. But with gospel and with church music, that groove of moving, you can stay on that one chord for 20. You can stay there all day, all night, you know. I mean, you know. Right. When in doubt, when in doubt, bam.

Right. You know? Yeah. And that's what it was all about, that groove right there. Right. Right. That's it. Okay.

So, all right. So, that's where you got the foundation of your guitar playing. But now you're doing. Yeah. Now you're playing with your brother and he's playing the Lonnie Mack covers or what he's playing Lonnie Mack you know it was like a top 40s thing you know all bands you know had to play music that uh people uh was listening to you know and what was um what was really grooving to to people and you you know most musicians paid a what was really grooving to people.

And, you know, most musicians paid a lot of attention to what people liked. And then they would play that in those the nightclubs because there was a lot of nightclubs. And that was the thing was to be in a band, to play in a band at nightclubs and anywhere else, you know, you could play it. So you were like 15 when you were doing that? Oh, yeah. I started off definitely. They thought I was 18, 19 because I was tall. And you're playing your silver tone with four bass strings on it?

Four bass strings, okay. How long did you play that silver tone with those bass strings? Until I got with actually James Brown. So wait, your brother's band was the Pacemakers? that that silver tone with those bass strings uh until i got what uh actually james brown so wait your brother's band was the pacemakers yeah he he started the pacemakers with so that was the band you were playing in and the club is doing covers and stuff yeah yeah you never did a record your pacemakers never did a record not no not not that i remember. Not that I recall. Well, you would know. Yeah. Yeah. No, no, we never we never, you know. But but what happened was we started to play in Charles Sperling, an A&R guy from King Records, was searching for new and upcoming rhythm sections and musicians. rhythm sections and musicians.

So he came by the club and checked us out and was pretty, he was pretty blown away. And all we were doing were playing covers, you know? Yeah. And so he wanted, he wanted to, but we were tight. I mean, we were tight. We practiced every day. I mean, so our whole thing was music.

Everything then was around music. So this was the, this was the late 60s yeah this is like uh 67 um yeah like in 66 67 around in that time so shit was getting pretty crazy right music was getting pretty crazy rock music was getting crazy you know soul music was getting crazy so james brown's he's already kind of shifted out of that that old timey thing into a bigger a bigger sound and a kind of a more uh groovy uh presentation he's coming into out of sight pop has got a brand new bag oh yeah yeah yeah that's when we start hanging around king records so the a and r guy says come by well he he wanted us to come by so we could be his band.

Because he was producing so many different artists. Bill Doggett. Right. He needed a studio band. Yeah, yeah, yeah. To make the hits. So we come over there and start doing things with him and people start hearing about us. And James started hearing about us and and james started hearing about us too and so he wanted to test us out and we had no idea what was going on with james brown production but he wanted us to go out on the road with uh hank ballard and so that was our first and real test was you know it that was like going out for the first time with Funkadelic.

Right. You know? Yeah. I mean, going out with Hank Ballard, you would think it was pretty sane. You know, that should be pretty cool. You know, it's harmless. You know, he's just going to sing, you know? Yeah.

But the antics, you know, behind the scene was so deep, you know? Like I say, it was like going out with the first time with funkadelic every time you're out with hank you're out with funkadelic and you don't know exactly what's gonna happen that the day of the show the night of the show the night after i mean it was just amazing like what like what like what like what like what would happen well okay say for instance we on the way to the gig you you know, driving, you know, we'll get Hank Ballas in the front seat. And, you know, you got about four of us in the back and then you get one of the car. Hank, on one hand, would if he saw some girls like in the car next to it, this actually happened.

Yeah, we were going through Lexington and it was a car pulled up next to us this actually happened yeah we were going through lexington uh and it was a car pulled up next to us full of girls yeah hank saw the girls he jumped out of the car and he didn't even know these girls yeah jumped in their car and we didn't see him that whole weekend and it was his show it was his show so he didn't show up for the show he didn't show up for the show we had we did we did the show without without hank ballard uh-huh that was my introduction to the first time on the road with hank the rest of them was all downhill from there uh-huh yeah what were his big hits at that time? What were people coming to see? You know he did The Twist.

Right. You know, that was his really big thing then was The Twist. But that's from the 50s. Well, I mean, that's, I mean, that was still good. No, I get it. But you're going out with him in the 60s. He's got to be doing some other shit, right? Yeah.

Oh, yeah, he was doing other stuff. I just can't remember the songs. Right, right. You know, but... It was the twist, huh? But the twist was, I think, his biggest hit. It was a whole different thing and something that was so much fun, man. I mean, you know, it was just fun.

We wasn't even looking, really, to get paid because we was doing this with James Brown. But where was James? i mean james was i mean james not hank right hank was under james brown's production okay and he was a james brown artist but james not on the road with you no no this is something a part of his a team you know he doesn't sit out there with us i get it to really spy on us you know uh unbeknownst to us because we didn't even know he was thinking of us as his band right uh we never got any signals like that so so james is he's kind of spying on you he's testing you guys and you're what are you like 18 or 19 now what are you i'm i'm like 18 yeah i'm about 18 years old here yeah and out with uh with marva

and hank and then by that time james and i already figured out okay uh i think i can i can handle these boys i can control them because he thought you know by me me being so young he wasn't gonna be able to control me right um you know the way he does his band. Right. And I mean, he was right. He was right in the end. But, you know, this is some stuff that he always thinks he always thinks ahead of the curve, you know, and he was way ahead of us before we even thought, you know, we was going to be a part of the band. He actually sent his plane to come and get us from Cincinnati, Ohio to the gig in Columbus, Georgia. He sent Bobby Bird on a plane to pick us up from a gig.

We was doing a fundraiser, you know, and wasn't nobody in there but us and the bartender. So, you know, we're working off the door. We're working off the door. And then Bobby Bird calls the club, you know, saying he's on the way to get us. Because we had befriended Bobby Bird. So he was our buddy. Him, Maceo, Fred, you know, those were our boys, you know.

We met them over King Records. And they were like our pals. So Maceo, he was James' guy for a long time in the horn section. So these were old-time James Brown guys. Yeah. So you didn't know it was going to happen, and he just summoned you. He summoned us as the band to come down and play on his show uh in uh augustine he needs to come now not augusta columbus

georgia he need us to come right now so once we get there bobby bird takes us through the front door and you know unbeknownst to us people are on riot mode you know so they're like upset because james is late you know the band hasn't hit and where is the band so we walking into this you know so we we walk in you know and you know we have no idea this is going on. And we hear all this ruckus. We want James. We want, you know. And where is the band? Where is the band? You know, and we're walking in.

And somebody looks around and says, hey, there's the band. And, you know, we're looking around, too. Like, who are they talking about? we're looking around too, like who are they talking about? And so the security rushes us out because they look like they're going to mob us because they really think we're the band. So we go around to the back of the stage and they open the door and let us in. And then Bobby said, well, I'm going to take you back. Y'all got to see James Brown.

So he takes us back there, you know, and then we go in and he says, son, I'm glad y'all here. You know, but before, before I jumped ahead a little bit, before I got to that part, we walked in and at least we saw the faces of Maceo and Fred and Cush. We saw their faces and they were not happy faces. So we were looking at each other like, what in the hell is going on? And by the time we got back to James, you know, it was like he was laughing and smiling and grooving like, you know, like, you know, glad to see y'all. And, you know, I want y'all to, you know, play with me tonight. And we kind of looked at each other and I was like, okay, we rehearsed, you know, what are you talking? I mean, you know,

it's like, yeah, well, I'm going to get on stage. I'm just going to call the songs out and y'all, you know, I already know y'all know the songs and we was like, yeah, yeah, we, we know how to sell. Well, just, just well just just hit the hit me on the one hit me on the one when i throw my hand down like this yeah yeah you know and we said okay all right let's do it so he he actually he called us out on stage you know He said, cold sweat. You know? Yeah, yeah. And we went through that whole show with him calling out songs.

And we planned it the way we heard it on the record. Yeah. And that's the way everything started out. You know? But we was, like, shocked because our band, our heroes, were getting fired. And we had no idea. We're flying down there kind of in a state of shock. What does James really want? So you didn't know that what he was doing in front of the band he was about to cut loose was auditioning.

He didn't want us to know. He didn't want us to know. Yeah. He didn't want us to know. Because he thought you guys would have been loyal to Maceo and those guys. We would have. You know, at the time, you know, it was like they were considered friends, you know, because they were our heroes, first of all. And then we looked up to them.

We wanted to be as tight as they were, you know. And so, you know, any chance we could get to get around them when we went over the caves we got around them you know they'd be in the studio doing that thing and then when they come out you know we take them to the restaurant or take them up the street yeah to the store get some wine you know that kind of thing so right so when james did that he knew what he was doing we just didn't know and then and then and then what happened those guys they go home yeah they finally went home you know or something i never really knew what happened you know like after that because once james got us back in the room and started convincing us that we was going to do the show you know it was like everything

else we kind of forgot about everything else you know and james knew he knew what he was doing you know um and he said he was going to introduce us as the band his new band and i mean you know he said all the right things yeah and um once we got out there and he started calling us out you know oh that's great those things like shit we forgot everything so when jane when you're when you're sitting there talking to james i mean he's charismatic you know it's james brown and you're like we're and now and he's saying your name you're like holy shit now we're the guys right yeah yeah how long did you play with him uh i'd say about a year and a half. About a year and a half. Because that was about all we could take.

Because, you know, he was so into controlling every factor of, you know, the shoe shines. You know, why come your afro ain't combed? Oh, really? Your teeth. Your teeth. Yeah, that whole thing. And the old band, they went for all of that because I think they had responsibilities. We weren't responsible for nothing but the music. We had no responsibilities other than the music, to play good music.

Right. And so all of that other stuff, you fine for this, you fine for that. And none of it worked. Because it's like you're a different generation. So those old guys were the original guys. So they were all like Stockholm. They were all gassed with Stockholm syndrome. They were afraid.

Yeah. Right? It's like, yes, men. Like, yes, service. Yeah. Yeah. Right. And so, you know, we were coming up,

and he pulled us right off the streets of the riots. You know, so Muhammad Ali was talking loud, you know, and talking back. And so that's the era that I grew up in, you know, and and, you know, James wasn't, you know, he wasn't budging. Right. And which was cool. And, you know And at a young age, I understood it. But at the same time, it was like bands were coming up front. Bands wanted to be like the singers and playing and all of that. Well, the JB's record I have, the one, the Food for Thought, he's not on that record. It's just you guys.

Yeah, but that's true you know that's true and that's what he called himself bending he bent a little for that kind of you know he sacrificed oh so he said you guys can do your thing but you know you're my guys and if you notice when did that come out that didn't't come out. 68 maybe. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, so it was like, you know, he was trying, he was trying in his James Brown way to appease the band. Right. You know, it just, you know, people were just growing out of that style. Right. So what did you, well,

that right. And then it's sort of interesting because, you know, that's a, you know, he was a tight band leader style. And you guys are going to play James Brown songs. And there wasn't much room for for necessarily personal expression. And then when you move into somebody like like George Clinton, he's like, go for it, man. Yeah. Well, even before we got there, even before we got there. Yeah. It was like here I am on the back of james brown bus playing jimmy hendrix yeah and james ain't going for that you know it's like right what are you doing on my bus playing you know that ain't gonna work yeah and so and so when when the snitches start telling

you know then james will pop on the bus. It's like, who do you think you are on the, on the back of my bus? There's some Jim Henry's. Yeah. You know, I mean, and he was furious. I mean, he was furious, you know, but none of that stuff really scared us. You know, it was just, it was funny. Yeah. Like what's wrong with the old man. Look at him getting all worked up. Right. Yeah. I mean, and he was really worked up, you know, and and once he starts seeing that none of that stuff really affected us because, you know, getting paid. We never we never got paid for pretty much nothing.

Really? Any of the gigs we were doing before James, we never got paid. the gigs we were doing before james we never got paid so what he offered us was so great but at the same time you know it was like you didn't really even have to pay us we'd do this for nothing you know and what did you like in terms of like you know what you eventually were becoming as a player what did you learn from working with him musically the one the one yeah i learned the one um because when i well you know i and and i missed the main story that i wanted to tell you go ahead about the bass the silver tone yeah um guitar that i turned into a bass um so when when i first when i first get there i played it that night yeah fact, the first night that we. In Georgia.

James said after the show, he called me, what was that? Now, let me tell you something. He said, I love everything. But that damn green bass got to go. He said, I hate that bass. He said, what kind of bass you want, son? I hate that bass. He said, what kind of bass you want, son?

I said, you know, and I always was in love with that Fender Jazz bass. Yeah. And here's a man, you know, my superhero asked me, what kind of bass do I want? I'm like, oh, I got to go for it. I got to go for it. So I asked him, I said, how about the Fender Jazz bass? No problem. No problem. We'll have it for you tomorrow.

What color you want? I said, sunburst. Oh, no problem. We'll have that tomorrow. You know, but meanwhile, you send that thing back to the house or somewhere, get rid of it, bury it or something. I don't want to see that thing no more. I said, okay, Mr. Brown, all right. So I got rid of that

bass and started playing. If you see any footage from back in that day, you'll see me playing. He got it for you. James got that for you. Yeah. But James is deep, though. Let me just get

ahead of you a little bit. When we got canned, his whole thing was, I don't care where you're going. Just make sure you leave the base behind. Oh, it's like that.

It's like that. He was a ruthless cat, man, you know. And I was a youngster. You know, I'm a youngster trying to understand why this mug is treating us like this. You know, it's like, man, I thought you got me the bass, you know. Yeah, I did while you was here. I was like, oh, okay, okay. while you was here.

I was like, oh, okay. Okay. Now go back and find your silver tone, little man. No, your silver tone is waiting on you at home. Go get it. So what is the one? Oh man, the one as James explained it is the first count of every measure

one let me count it off for you son two yeah one that's the that's that's the one yeah yeah and he wants you he wants me to um give him the one and then play it in everything you want to play. Because I like what you're doing, son. I love how you're playing it. But you ain't giving me the one. Give me that one and you can play any of that stuff. Because he knew that he didn't know what to tell me to play. Because I was playing a whole lot for a bass player.

And he couldn't wrap his head around what i was doing so you know his whole thing was as long as you give me the one you can play any of that stuff you play so he can go like yeah yeah yeah right and i'm glad i thought of it yeah i'm glad i thought of it it's like okay all right cool and And he actually did that in the studio quite a few times. And we all cracked up. I'm glad I thought of it. And he was serious. That was the comical thing.

Anything that we would think was funny, he thought he was serious. I mean, he was serious. He was serious about it big ego narcissistic guy oh oh man come on i mean the biggest he invented everything everything you guys did he invented he invented it and is who who name on the record who who that on the record you ain't on that so you know it was it was all like that and and you know we we had to learn what that was all about because that was something uh we hadn't been you know uh introduced to it was a whole new uh way of doing things you know you're talking about the boss yeah i mean that was a real ball but But you only stayed with him for a year

and a half. And you played a lot of dates though, right? So you got some road mileage. It was seven days a week. Well, there you go. Three or four shows on Sunday. So you went to school. Oh, yeah. Definitely. I mean, the James Brown school of hard knocks. I mean, and it was hard knocking for real, you know, but it, but it was good. It was, it was good. It was fun. It was good. We got to see the world. We went all over Europe, Africa. I mean, we went out to all these places that we would never have went to, you know. Now, did I read it right?

Weren't you afraid of flying at one point? Well, that happened after. That happened like after I went solo, you know, after with George and him, you know. And I had this experience on a flight actually going over to Europe. This was the first time Bootsy's Rubber Band, that we went to Europe and headlined, you know, we're the headliners. So we had outgrew the part of Parliament, Funkadelic. We were actually headlining shows at this point in 1978.

And so by that time, you know boosts rubber band had started doing um they were the headliners of the show so we got to tour england yeah you know uh france all those places over there so right you know we were flying over there and that was a whole expedition in itself you know uh the sst you remember that uh that the the concord yeah yeah when it first came out right well that was my dream flight you know it was like whenever we go over there that's what i want to fly on yeah and sure enough you know manager hooked it up for me and me and the manager and i think it was one other my base tech or somebody we all got on that flight to go to europe you know and um you know i'm on the sst and when i got on

it you know it was like man this thing is awfully small you know i had no idea it was that small inside you know actually it reminded me of jane's jet you know um when i got in and it's like dang this is you know and so we got about 45 minutes into the flight and all of a sudden you know i'm sitting by the window you know and i like to look out i like to see the ocean you know i like to see the clouds next thing i know man first to see the clouds. Next thing I know, man, first of all, the boom hit where, you know, you're going to supersonic speed. The sonic boom. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. So that was cool. The cat that came out, no problem. We just hit the sonic boom. I think it was M3 or M4 or something. You know, Mach 3 or Mach 4. Mach 4. Yeah mark three yeah yeah yeah so we hit that everything was cool flight you know yeah and and soon as we crossed the line and it's about 45 minutes into the flight

yeah uh soon as we crossed the line i saw fire jumping out from the engine on the, you know, and I'm like, no, this can't be happening. You know, I'm at the peak of my career. You know, I'm getting ready to headline over in Europe. This cannot be happening. And and the pilot comes on, you know, the captain, he comes on and said, all right, we we have a problem. You know, he was trying to be be cool but you can hear in his voice yeah that he was unsure you know and it's like you don't want nobody funking with your funk who's unsure yeah and so this bug is so unsure it's like oh man we you know and then then i'm figuring like

okay i'm trying to figure out okay if we land if we hit the water okay and we just we just had been seeing you know jaws was out you know that was like a big hit back in the day yeah and i'm like okay we're gonna pull through the the crash the crash landing we're gonna make that oh good but jaws yeah i don't know how we're gonna get away from that yeah so i was messed up man i was messed up and the pilot turned back back around and we actually started flying at an angle like kind of sideways oh my god yeah because the engine was out on this actually three of the indians went out you got four engines you got four indians three of them went out so we flying you know sideways like this all the way back to New York. Like I said, we was about 45 minutes out.

So we turn around, flying back. And once I got off of that plane, I said, I will never, ever get back on a plane. It scared the daylights out of me, man. No more Europe. But you know what? I lied because I told them to hit me up with some lutes, some quaaludes.

Hit me up. Because we had to do the tour. We had to do the tour. We had like a three-week tour over there. And you know, you got to figure it's not going like a three-week tour over there and you know you got to figure it's not going to happen twice if it happens twice you you know you had to come i wasn't gonna know about it i wasn't gonna know about it no way i made sure that i made sure all right so well you got over that then huh but once i got back i actually kicked into no more flying

for me and i you know i started doing the bus everywhere, the bus and the boats, you know. So after you get out from James's band, how do you hook up with George? Well, first of all, we got to figure out, you know, like, OK, are we really fired? You know, that's the first thing. OK, we going home. We leaving from James Brown's band. You got no base. We got no base, you know, um, and we had, we had started to get kind of used to getting paid, you know, it's like, okay,

what do we do? Cause me and my brother, we was good at, you know, saving money cause we was used to not having that. Yeah. So, you know, we, we saved a little money and once we got home, you know saving money because we was used to not having none yeah so you know we we saved a little money and once we got home you know it's like okay we got to start practicing because we formerly the jbs so we got to come up with a new new name yeah house you know house guest was going to be our name formerly the jbs so you know we had to put a little uh not only a band you know we had the band we had to put our act together so you still at king records uh actually no not not um after we left james brown james brown actually took us from king records oh okay because you know once we

got with james brown it was no more we was doing no more sessions for king records and and that was his plan all along he was way ahead of us and so um what in terms of oh in terms of like if you left him you got nowhere to go yeah we got nowhere to go you know you ain't gonna be nothing you can't do nothing about jake without jane brown what you gonna do so with with everybody else he was pretty much right you know uh but with us we was just we felt like we was just getting started yeah you know they ain't they ain't even seen us yet you know that's the way we was feeling you know and and so you know we got home we started practicing then we started to have to get a a, you know, to get out of Cincinnati, you know, because we had started playing gigs and stuff around, you know, and building up a following. So we started feeling like, yeah, you know, we bad, we bad, you know, started feeling like Richard Pryor, we bad, we bad, you know.

And so we decided, man, we should, you know, we should maybe go to Detroit, you know. And somebody mentioned the Spinners. And sure enough, they needed a band. You know, so we talked to Billy, who was the leader of the Spinners at that time. And he said, yeah, man, I'll bring y'all up. And, you know, I need a band. You know, I need y'all to be the band. And we said, well, we got Felipe, uh,

feel so welcome with us too. And he was a singer, you know, who, who eventually wound up being their lead singer. Uh, most people don't know the spinners. So they, would they do rubber band, man? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So that's, uh, that's feel. So Walker who came to Detroit with us, you know, who who we went with once I met with George Clinton. And George didn't need Phil, you know, like, no, we got enough singers, man, you know, it's like, OK, so and we were trying to get away from playing behind singers anyway. OK, so and we were trying to get away from playing behind singers anyway. We didn't really want to go up to Detroit to play behind the Spinders.

We were just trying to get in Detroit. Right. So we just show what we can do. And once we got there, you know, met George. It was like, oh, man, you know, talk to him. That was like a perfect, you know, fit. I felt like, you know, he was going to be honest with his word you know he said if i helped him with the songs and um get on the road with him and and be funkadelic you know um you know he'll allow me to to uh get a record deal and help me you know uh get my own thing together so but his but he but that was great but he but his his concept was almost a communal concept right i mean he had it was like an orchestra concept it wasn't like i'm the i'm the front man it's like everybody's going to play their part right yeah yeah yeah well that's that's the way it starts it starts so you see what you're doing is mixing up the start

with the end okay but you know it's how you got to that end you know doing is mixing up the start with the end. But, you know, it's how you got to that end, you know, which is the deep part. I don't even think George knew that he wanted to be a front front man. Right. He knew he knew that he wanted me to be one because I guess he felt like every time we did a show, even if the spotlight, George will tell you this, even if the spotlight wasn't on me, the people were looking at me. And, you know, and it wasn't just because of what I had on. This is George's words. You know, it was the vibe or whatever that vibe was. And George told me that you can't just be a part of the band.

You know, you got to front your own band. Yeah. And know you gotta front your own band yeah and i'm like no i you know i'm like no man i you know i do not want to front the band you know i just want to be in the band yeah he's like man we got to get you a deal you know because george knew like he was just saying you know it was a whole universal uh conglomerate of people it wasn't just george you know right so and he wanted it like that you know uh he didn't want people to know who george clinton was you know uh you have to come in there and figure out you know because all these mobs looking crazy yeah so you know and he loved that you know that's what i loved about it you know is that where you did is that where you just got the star guitar?

That's the time I got the opportunity to get the star guitar and the star glasses because I had to come up with my own identity. Yeah. That's what I felt I had to do. In the Parliament Funkadelic universe, you had to become your own God. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And, and, and I felt great, you know, it felt good to be able to do that because as, as we started out with James, it was like bands would, you know,

bands were just bands, you know? And, you know, bands were just bands, you know. Yeah. You know, you wasn't like first class citizens. You was like, you know, the bottom of the totem pole, especially bass players, you know. So, you know, it was time it came where things were changing. Bands were changing. Basses were being noticed. Yeah. And coming up to the front i mean i didn't notice at the time you know i didn't know that during my time was when bases was gonna start coming to the

front and i didn't know i was gonna be a big part of that well i mean did what your your sound was changing i mean when how when did the you evolve into that space-based business? When I, when I got a chance to start recording with, uh, Parliament Funkadelic, that's when I got it. George allowed me the chance to experiment and, you know, I was free. I was free to do whatever I was hearing, you know? Um, and that's what sound and playing with James. I just got a chance to play what I felt.

But with George, I got a chance to play what I felt and play the sounds that I was hearing, you know, and experiment with things, you know. And George allowed me to get on the drums. I mean, James would never allow me to do that. Yeah. You know. So, you know know and then i played guitar um uh with my brother catfish we would put tracks together me and my brother you know on guitar you know and george you know he was loving i mean you know he was so behind all of that it also speaks to the time you know james was never going to make that jump. But George was a psychedelic dude. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, he wanted whatever you had to bring to the party. George wanted some of it. Give it here. I'll take it. You know, it's like it's like, you know, and that was very encouraging at the time because people were so, you know, like locked in on themselves, you know, and coming into your own, getting your own identity, you know, so it was like, it was like, we were making that

true. It was a true thing. You know, it was like, you know, and it was beautiful, you know, free your mind and your ass will follow. All of this stuff was like, you know, we live in it. You know, we live in it, you know? And it's like, so it was so beautiful to be able to make your own world within the world. And I got a chance to go back and do my star glasses, draw my star glasses. And not only draw them, not only draw my star base, but actually find somebody to make them. So it was all a process. It wasn't like, bam it is it's the evolution yeah and it was like when i was doing the record uh stretching out you know i didn't even have the

bass ready yet you know yeah and so i had found the guy to make it and if you notice on that record if you look hard on that record uh stretching out you'll look at the bass and you can see that it ain't finished you know it has you know we put some fake uh knobs on it yeah uh fake uh pick guard because all we had was the star shaped out yeah you know the bass was all shaped out and everything but it wasn't playable um but it looks like you know it looks like oh yeah and um then i'm still trying to figure out how i'm gonna pay for it right because i'm working with george clinton you know and it's like a whole empire yeah of mugs that uh you know we work for drugs yeah you know we don't have to you know we

don't need to be paid. Whatever you got, just hit us. Hit us. What was your drug? What did you like? Oh, well, at the time, it was LSD. Yeah. So that's where you come up with the base.

Yeah, yeah. That was the king's dream right there, the LSD. That's interesting. So you think that the way you were hearing what you wanted your bass to sound like was probably influenced by that, huh? Yeah. Yeah. It was influenced by that and everything else we was taking. Because it sounds like that, man.

Some of that bass sounds like LSD. Underwater boogie, baby. Underwater boogie. Man, I mean, you know, we had so much fun. It was so much fun at that particular time when, you know, we got the chance to go in the studio and record whatever we felt, you know, and whatever, whatever it was and didn't have somebody cool like George loving every minute of it. So he was totally supportive, pushing you. supportive pushing you george was good at um well he was very creative with with the lyrics and and all of that and he was very good with knowing what people was at and knowing how to push certain

buttons yeah and and all of that you know which james was good at it too he was great at it, too. He was great at it, but he would never let you know that he's digging anything. George would let you know. Because it was all about James and what- It was about him. And he wanted to control the sound, whereas it seems like George was sort of like, let's get weirder. Let's push the envelope, right? Let's see. What else can you come up with? It's more of a jazz thinker. Yeah. You know, let's push the envelope, right? Let's see what else can you come up with?

It's more of a jazz thinker. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. The Sun Ra. Yeah. Sun Ra. Right. So, but did you know, like, you know, ultimately now you have this amazing control over the instrument and you actually invented, you know, uh, certain sounds, uh, of, that the bass can make that were never made before and then that stuff gets carried on you know it gets carried on through through flea and through uh uh thunder uh what's his name yeah yeah yeah i mean like like you you are the you are the portal through which those guys were able to create themselves, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Well, you know, it was like, somebody gotta be first, you know, it's like, it's like, I mean, take, take for instance, take for instance, the Larry Graham, you know, he,

he to me actually started the, the, the, the thump and the pluck. Okay. And, and a few other people would say, no, he wasn't the first one right but i would have to say you know because i i was kind of firsthand right there you know uh i would have to say he was the first one you know um and so yeah yeah and and so now you know bass players have taken that you know they've taken the sound you know the sound that I kind of come up with. They've taken the thump and pluck thing, and they're making it their own. They call it their own, which I think is cool because they've taken it to other levels.

We just introduced it. Yeah. Well, I love that. I remember that. I love that Keith Richards solo album. And when you come in on that, like, it's like,

it's like Keith was like, I want Bootsy. And then it's like, that's all Bootsy. Boom. Yeah. You did not disappoint. Yeah.

Well, I mean, you know, when, when you get the, you get the, the, the green light to go ahead and do your thing, you know, that's like the same thing I got with, with George, you know, when you get the green light to go ahead and do your thing, you know, that's like the same thing I got with George, you know.

It's like the green light and go ahead and do whatever you think and whatever you feel. That's what I try to give to all musicians, you know, or creative people. You know, don't let me influence how you are feeling, do what you are feeling. You know, I even had to tell Bobby Womack that, you know, um, cause once you get caught into errors, you know, of, um, okay, well they do it like this now, you know, once you get into caught into that, sometimes you forget who you are, you know, you are and what you're good at and what people like you for. So we were doing a song together and Bobby was trying to be new. Right.

And I was like, no, Bobby. Give me Bobby Womack, man. Yeah. That one that people love. Well, that's like, you know, I think that's what working with someone like George for so long gives you is a certain confidence. Whereas a lot of guys, they get to a certain age or a certain place, they get insecure. And they don't think they can cut it anymore. Yeah, well, you know, it's like I run into that a lot working with a lot of different people.

I, you know, it's like, I run into that a lot, working with a lot of different people. And, you know, it's like, it's my, it's my duty to make sure that a musician knows it's cool. Go ahead and try it, you know, give it a, give it a shot, you know, just the Bootsy records, they're all a little different. And some of them are more of you. Some of them are a little less of you, but it's so clear that on this one, the power of the one is that all the dudes you got on this record, even the people that, you know, we all know from other things like Snoop or George Benson, they know you from you.

So you guys are meeting in the middle of both of what you both do. Like, you know, that like that first tune with Benson, it's like, it's all Benson and it's all you at the same time yeah yeah well that was that was the idea you know um you know because we always would bump into each other on festivals on these tour gigs yeah we'd always talk about doing something together yeah we never did you know we never did i was always stuck in my thing what i was doing he was always stuck in his thing what he was doing and you know the same

thing with uh the other uh musicians you know well that guy that dude kingfish ingram man that guy's like oh man he's a monster on that guitar he's ripping it yes he is and um you know we we met a couple of years ago uh same thing with Taz we met we met probably about four years ago because he was like maybe 14 15 he's like 17 now yeah and you know it was like you know like last year I went to one of his gigs and that cemented it for me it's like yeah he got to be on the new record yeah and you got brantford marsalis i mean you got you know you can you can move through all forms man yeah yeah well that's that to me is the beauty of music music does that to be able to to to fuse different genres of music together was like a whole big deal for me because I look at it like, I look at this music, like wearing clothes.

It's like, I can pretty much do it and they got to call me crazy and, you know, or whatever they want to call me. It don't matter. And I can get away with it so i figured if i could do that with clothes i guess you'd be able to do with me with music yeah yeah and and so you know call me whatever you know crazy, crazy, whatever, you know, but I know that music, you know, can be put together. I mean, you know, it's not something that's, you know, so traditional that it can't be traditional, you know, unconditional, you know? So, so it's like, you know, it's like, you know, this is what I want to do. I want to experiment. I want to experiment.

I want to mix stuff up. I want to mess with things. I don't want to do what's been done so much. You know, I want to do some crazy stuff. Yeah. Keep it exciting. Yeah, I always wanted to challenge myself. If I, you know, if I wanted to do a Boosie rubber band uh record i could do that if i wanted

to do a p-funk record a funkadelic i could do that but i want to do some something that's new to me you know so you're working with all these different people yeah yeah and it and it and it gives you another kind of inspiration i think when jim said something about, you know, playing those same songs and not being able to do new stuff because the fans are not going to like it or they're not going to accept it. I remember him saying that. And then I found myself in that situation where, you know, you had to keep playing the same old song. Yeah. Yeah. You know, it's like I don't care about that stuff now. It's more about the music to me.

Well, yeah, it's more about it's more about expressing, you know, people expressing and releasing themselves creatively in any form or fashion they want. releasing themselves creatively in any form or fashion they want. Right. Yeah. And I want to, you know, I want to make sure that that door is wide open so people can see that I'm not, you know, I'm not the only one that can do this. I mean, anybody could do this. You know, we just have to,

somebody just got to get up on the floor and dance first. Yeah. You just got to make the space, make the space. But I think it's a great record and, you know seem great it was great talking to you great seeing you oh man man this is this this is all you ask some deep questions too man is it remind you well thank you yeah and is the power of the one is that a tip tip to the one and God or what? Yeah. Yeah.

It's both. It's like, and we got all of it in us, you know, the power of the one is in all of us. The whole thing is we just ain't here. Nobody told us. And when they told us they were preaching at us, they were talking at us. Right. You know, they want a little something something too oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah pass the plate you know yeah you know for me it's just you know i want

you to know everybody's a piece of this one you know uh we all we own this one planet you know we're all on this mothership spinning through space you know and you know it's ridiculous to think that i'm better than you are you better than me because when this world goes you know we all go on you know because we're all on this one it's the one ship yeah you know we all go together so you know anything else is stupid i mean really stupid you know so that's what this power of the one is trying to show us. It's like, you know, just respect your father, you know, respect my father, I respect yours, you know, and that's really, you know, I mean, they're talking about religious size, the black size, the white size, the green. You know, it really it really ain't about all of that. It's just us realizing and respecting each other what we all think and feel. It's cool. Right. You know, I came I came from that from that hippie era.

from that hippie era and i got a chance to taste a lot of different cultures and vibes and you know and that's what i have to bring to the table and i'm gonna continue to bring that to the table because that's what the one has given me and i want to give it back yes the it's the uh the universal frequency the deep groove that's that's what that now you're talking zapper will tell you about that yeah man thanks so much great seeing you man take care of yourself buddy hey you too man appreciate you you too man appreciate you how do you like that fucking bootsy how about that james brown impression right the album is called the power of the one you can get it where you get albums get all the fucking delicate all the get all the bootsy shit he's a fucking guy he's the real

deal he's the one of a kind he's one of a kind. He's one of a kind, man. Okay, so now I guess I will attempt to play some funk. I think I have to, right? I think I got to do some blues funk thing with the three chords that I play on a Stratocaster with a phase pedal. On a Stratocaster with a phase pedal. Let's give it a try. Don't judge me on my rhythm. You can judge me on my groove, but not on my rhythm. Here we go. Thank you. boomer lives and monkey and lafonda cat angels everywhere they also have 24 7 customer support so there will always be someone there to help,

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Hi, it's Terry O'Reilly, host of Under the Influence. Recently, we created an episode on cannabis marketing. With cannabis legalization, it's a brand new challenging marketing category. And I want to let you know we've produced a special bonus podcast episode where I talk to an actual cannabis producer. I wanted to know how a producer becomes licensed, how a cannabis company competes with big corporations,

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