Speaker 1: Quest Left Show is a production of iHeart Radio. All right, y'all,
Speaker 1: this is Letters to the Quest Left Show again. If
Speaker 1: you have any letters, slide into our dms. First of all,
Speaker 1: follow QLs on all the socials please and also subscribe
Speaker 1: and like on YouTube. That is the fuel to our fire.
Speaker 1: If you like these episodes and whatnot. Look, it just
Speaker 1: takes a second. Please like and subscribe. With trying to
Speaker 1: build a nation of inform music heads here, Yeah, thank you,
Speaker 1: I like doing this. Give me more questions.
Speaker 2: All right, Steven asks. You've been getting into this James
Speaker 2: Brown mustache period quite a bit, and I wanted to
Speaker 2: ask you your opinion on the track Deep.
Speaker 1: In It my favorite period by the way.
Speaker 2: Yes, you and Christian McBride right, Yes, it sounds like
Speaker 2: he was trying to get into his very white bag.
Speaker 2: But to me, it also sounds just like one uncle
Speaker 2: who's passed his prime and is trying to holler at
Speaker 2: the young twenty something at the bar. Any thoughts about
Speaker 2: that song in particular.
Speaker 1: Look, I'm telling you again, I'm stand on ten toe's
Speaker 1: with this. The genius of James Brown. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: low hanging fruit. Just to talk about the actual genius
Speaker 1: of James Brown. Like literally that yes, there's a period
Speaker 1: between sixty seven and seventy four when at least sixty
Speaker 1: percent of his output changes the world, and literally is
Speaker 1: the blueprint that we file to this day as far
Speaker 1: as music, dance, music, drum breaks, rap, all those things.
Speaker 1: But for me, the period after his prime, which is
Speaker 1: seventy five to really eighty nine ninety one, when he
Speaker 1: stopped making records, that his hands down my favorite favorite
Speaker 1: period of James Brown, simply because he's so intense and
Speaker 1: so committed that his bad period is really like, if
Speaker 1: it's bad, I like it. If it's mediocre, I hate it.
Speaker 1: And that's the thing, Like James Brown has never been mediocre. So, yes,
Speaker 1: the song is on an album. It's on Sex Machine Today,
Speaker 1: which again this is his attempt to you know, delve
Speaker 1: back into his past to try to update it for
Speaker 1: disco periods or whatnot. Didn't work necessarily, but yes, matter
Speaker 1: of fact, I believe at one point we were gonna
Speaker 1: sample it. Wait just give me one second please. Yeah. Ah, yes,
Speaker 1: I have a group chat with Harry Wagner of Universal
Speaker 1: Eric Leads who played with Prince Shout out to Pittsburgh
Speaker 1: Allan leads, Eric's brother and James Brown's former tour manager
Speaker 1: and Prince's former tent tour manager Krista McBride, and myself
Speaker 1: like our ongoing almost fifteen year group chat could be
Speaker 1: a book, but literally the discussion of the Sex Machine
Speaker 1: Today album needs to be studied. But yes, deep in
Speaker 1: it is such a I don't know, it's like Showgirls,
Speaker 1: Like it's so horrible that I love it. It's so
Speaker 1: genuinely horrible that I love it and respect it as
Speaker 1: actual art. And now I'm trapped in a place where
Speaker 1: I'm listening, like I'll DJ Life Changing James Brown for
Speaker 1: my DJ sets, but when I just want to listen
Speaker 1: and have a good laugh, usually when the roots are
Speaker 1: going to work, Like when we're you know, landing in
Speaker 1: the airport in a new town, we got drive an
Speaker 1: hour or two a festival whatever, we are listening to
Speaker 1: horrible James Brown only, And I highly recommend that which
Speaker 1: begs it.
Speaker 2: His own question in those situations, because you've spoken a
Speaker 2: lot on the podcast of Tarik listening to Rocky and
Speaker 2: listening to you know, a different thing. Who controls the os?
Speaker 2: Is it rotate?
Speaker 1: We're still maintaining the Gryffindor Slytherin method. You know, Team
Speaker 1: Gryffindor is geeky, nerdy, meditative, silent. Slytherin is weedy, smoky, drinky,
Speaker 1: loud music gotta get amp like you know, like it's
Speaker 1: a soccer game or a football game, that sort of thing.
Speaker 1: So yeah, there's two vehicles, and I well, you know,
Speaker 1: Tarika's impeccable taste as well. But yeah, if Tarika has
Speaker 1: a smoke, then the guys roll with him. But I
Speaker 1: have the tunes, so half the cats roll with me.
Speaker 2: Three more questions. Hey questo, this is Nico from Spain.
Speaker 2: Question for your weekly mail Bag episode. I love the
Speaker 2: show and your work all around. You're my hero.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: Than do you have any advice for finding instrumentalists, singers,
Speaker 2: rappers to collaborate with online? It feels very hard to
Speaker 2: find people unless I'm living in New York, for example,
Speaker 2: And it seems impossible to ever make something work online,
Speaker 2: either because of mistrust on reliability or lack of response.
Speaker 2: It's hard to get out there in person if you're
Speaker 2: not geographically situated.
Speaker 1: Any tips. You know, every movement starts with the seed,
Speaker 1: and you know my answer to that, My answer to
Speaker 1: that situation was busking. Yeah, I mean we busked because
Speaker 1: you know, a cute girl had approached us mistakenly thinking
Speaker 1: that we were someone else, and we were like, hey,
Speaker 1: we can get more girls phone numbers if you know,
Speaker 1: if we become the person that they thought we were.
Speaker 1: And you know, a girl thought I was a busker.
Speaker 1: I know that I pulled a community together by playing
Speaker 1: on the streets. And I'm you know, I'm not a
Speaker 1: goose gander person. I'm not saying that, Well, what works
Speaker 1: for me works for you. And definitely had tok and
Speaker 1: I grown up in an era twenty five years later
Speaker 1: where the internet could actually help us get our point across,
Speaker 1: we would have definitely taken advantage of it. But I
Speaker 1: will say, I mean, one is just depending on your
Speaker 1: will to really really make this happen. Busking is how
Speaker 1: I drew people in when that ran out free food
Speaker 1: like the you know, as glorious as we make the
Speaker 1: Black Lily story sound. And you know, oh man, there
Speaker 1: was a time when you know where Jill Scott and
Speaker 1: Ndre and most Deaf and Beanie Siegell and you know,
Speaker 1: the ten year old Jasmine Sullivan or like in a
Speaker 1: mirror's living room and like, yes, of course in retrospect,
Speaker 1: I could make it sound like really really amazing, But
Speaker 1: on the real motherfuckers heard there was free food at
Speaker 1: quest Love's house, and it was like grab a plate
Speaker 1: and let's go, oh, what are these instruments doing here?
Speaker 1: Oh we got oh, okay, put the bag down, put
Speaker 1: take the code off, put the plate down. Free food
Speaker 1: is how I got people. But you know, I would
Speaker 1: say that start one at a time. There has to
Speaker 1: be like minded person that you know, either local record stores.
Speaker 1: I know record stores are still a thing. You know,
Speaker 1: there's there's ways to find out where music, Where music is,
Speaker 1: you will find musicians.
Speaker 2: And Nico listened to the Foreign Exchange episode of Questlove Supreme,
Speaker 2: Fonte and Nicolay breakdown their oceans across a journey on
Speaker 2: meeting online exactly. Amri says, you mentioned record stores. A
Speaker 2: Mario says, what's good, Emir Love the new edition and
Speaker 2: the show opening up Q and A, the rise of
Speaker 2: listening bars, hi fi systems and all of that is
Speaker 2: becoming the new aesthetic for spaces. How do you feel
Speaker 2: about it? And he also says, shout out to Rich
Speaker 2: Mendinas Dante's Hi Fi in Miami.
Speaker 1: Yes, I recently fell into that rabbit hole. Kind of
Speaker 1: a pleasant shocker. The go to promoter in Tokyo, Japan
Speaker 1: if you were an artist in the late eighties, all
Speaker 1: the way up, I mean even until now, He'll still
Speaker 1: take us there Yuji son. I didn't realize that Yugi
Speaker 1: had permanently moved back to New York City and just
Speaker 1: opened up a spot in New York City called All Blues,
Speaker 1: and it's one of the most unique things I've seen.
Speaker 1: They kind of have a scheduled thing where it's like
Speaker 1: Thursday nights they're going to play you know, this live
Speaker 1: jazz album from the New four Jazz Festival nineteen sixty
Speaker 1: six or whatever. I do like the idea of us
Speaker 1: getting acclimated with the record again. However, on the other
Speaker 1: side of that coin, I am not a part of
Speaker 1: this new renaissance of you know, it's and it remains
Speaker 1: to be seen. I'm not saying it's it's performative. I
Speaker 1: don't collect records to brag about what I have, and
Speaker 1: I believe that you know, there's this this this movement
Speaker 1: to vinyl. It's kind of a let me. I'm taking
Speaker 1: my ball and going home, which I guess is sort
Speaker 1: of like, well, you know, I'm a real DJ. I
Speaker 1: use vinyl, I now to do this, and we now
Speaker 1: live in a time where yeah, like people are button
Speaker 1: pressing and you know, making millions of dollars this button
Speaker 1: pressing and whatnot. But sound quality wise, I'm sorry, I
Speaker 1: like I like well eqed loud, louder sounding. I've been
Speaker 1: to these forty five parties where the fidelity is not
Speaker 1: that good, Like if it if it's a spot like
Speaker 1: the uh New York's like Paradise Garage, Like the people
Speaker 1: that built Paradise Garage built up their spots around New
Speaker 1: York that I've I've DJ'ed in, and they know how
Speaker 1: to tune, like tone the room, they know what's right
Speaker 1: speakers to use. Yes, if it's the case where I'm
Speaker 1: spending vinyl in a place that was built by engineers
Speaker 1: that know what they're doing, I'd be with it. But
Speaker 1: just spending forty five for the sake of like I
Speaker 1: got this and you don't. I mean, it's it's cute,
Speaker 1: but to me, that's that's novelty. Like there's so much
Speaker 1: creativity that we've yet to explore. Kind of in this
Speaker 1: in this serato age that we're in, that is up
Speaker 1: my game. So I don't I don't want to go back,
Speaker 1: but yes I do like the idea, like my my
Speaker 1: date nights are way better now, you know. That's I'm
Speaker 1: a I'm a vinyl bar person now, so who knows,
Speaker 1: maybe I'll open my own one day.
Speaker 2: So last question, and it's right on subject with this,
Speaker 2: Jitny Music asks, what's your favorite snare drum and why?
Speaker 2: And what's your favorite recorded snare drum sound? Ever, if
Speaker 2: you know such a thing.
Speaker 1: What's my favorite snare drum and why? You know? I
Speaker 1: will say that every time I hit the Steve Gretch.
Speaker 1: I've told this story a trillion times before. Steve Farona,
Speaker 1: the Average White Band is my idol. When Average White
Speaker 1: Band was on Soul Train, I was absolutely transfixed on
Speaker 1: what I was seeing and I just kept staring at
Speaker 1: the drummer and was like, That's what I want to
Speaker 1: do when I grow up. And somehow, through a friendship
Speaker 1: with fern Once, I eventually met him via Pete and
Speaker 1: Palladino when we were on the Voodoo tour. Yeah, Steve
Speaker 1: was really beautiful and giving me something that I don't
Speaker 1: feel like I truly deserve and the fact that you
Speaker 1: know that one snare drum from those average white band
Speaker 1: albums like between nineteen seventy five and nineteen eighty one,
Speaker 1: like he only used one drum, and he that's a
Speaker 1: historic drum, like when you're listening to Microphone Theme by
Speaker 1: Eric ban rock Kim, like I have the schoolboy crush drum,
Speaker 1: so literally to just sit with that drum, and I
Speaker 1: used that a lot on this Roots album. It's also
Speaker 1: I played it on the Elvis Costello Wise Up Ghost album.
Speaker 1: To me, that's that's the amazing drum. So recently I
Speaker 1: just inherited drummer Buddy Williams, who has played on Grover
Speaker 1: Washington Junior's stuff like mostly a jazz cat ROBERTA Flack,
Speaker 1: which is kind of how I think he, you know,
Speaker 1: got in tuned into Vandros's world because they both played
Speaker 1: with ROBERTA Flack, but he was also part of the
Speaker 1: Saturn Out Live band. So the drum that Buddy Williams
Speaker 1: used on vandross Never Too Much album just got that
Speaker 1: and wow, it's amazing. Also shout out to the elusive
Speaker 1: John McClain, who you know, the offer still stands to
Speaker 1: this day that I want you to come on QLs.
Speaker 1: John McClain is pretty much you know, he ruled the
Speaker 1: eighties with an iron fist of I mean he's responsible
Speaker 1: for Janet and Jam and Lewis getting together and you
Speaker 1: know Atlantic Star's successful period for as the band turns
Speaker 1: and on. But yeah, John McClain, out of nowhere, he
Speaker 1: does this to people. He sent me John Robinson's snare
Speaker 1: drum from nineteen seventy eight. I am led to believe
Speaker 1: that this is the same John Robinson snare drum that
Speaker 1: he used on his time with Rufus. I think John
Speaker 1: Robinson joined Rufus during the master Jam period. So you
Speaker 1: love what you feel? And are you househeads that know
Speaker 1: any love or disco heads? And of course John Robinson
Speaker 1: was the drummer on Michael Jackson's Off the Wall album.
Speaker 1: So yeah, maybe like twice a year, I'll just do
Speaker 1: the rock with you role just for the hell of it.
Speaker 1: But those are You have three notable snare drums that
Speaker 1: I own that pretty much I use on all my
Speaker 1: recorded material. I am currently trying to negotiate and I
Speaker 1: say that it's so weird now every drum I've played
Speaker 1: on in my career is now being sold back to
Speaker 1: me for astronomical I'll go on these auctions and it'll
Speaker 1: be like, this is what Quest Love played on Things
Speaker 1: Fall Apart? Like literally, I had to buy the studio
Speaker 1: drum set that I drummed on between Do You Want
Speaker 1: More and Things Fall Apart? I recent only got that set. Also,
Speaker 1: Jerome Bigfoot Brailey of a Parliament Funkadelic the drums that
Speaker 1: he used on the Pfunk Earth tour, just got those
Speaker 1: and currently trying to get my Voodoo drum kit, which
Speaker 1: I'm certain now if I don't get it now then
Speaker 1: they'll just charge me one hundred thousand dollars for it
Speaker 1: because it is what it is. So yep, those are
Speaker 1: my drums, all right, y'all. This is you know, letters
Speaker 1: to the Quest Loft Show again, if you have any letters,
Speaker 1: slide into our dms, not my dms, but the QLs.
Speaker 1: First of all, follow QLs on all the socials please
Speaker 1: and also subscribe and like on YouTube. That is the
Speaker 1: fuel to r fire. If you like these episodes and whatnot.
Speaker 1: Look it just takes a second. Please like and subscribe.
Speaker 1: With trying to build a nation of informed music heads here. Yeah,
Speaker 1: shout out to Britton cousin Jake for holding down the
Speaker 1: fort and our our fan at iHeart and the q
Speaker 1: LS squad still love there and yeah, thank you. I
Speaker 1: like doing this. Give me more questions, all right, question
Speaker 1: them show. It's a production of iHeart Radio