WEBVTT - Questlove Supreme: Narada Michael Walden Part 1 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:03.000 Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:09.840 --> 0:00:11.720 I'm raring this hat quest Love for you. This is 0:00:12.560 --> 0:00:20.720 my drumming hat in high school in the high school bands. Man. Yeah, 0:00:21.000 --> 0:00:21.680 you still have that. 0:00:21.760 --> 0:00:26.480 Wow, that's amazing. Yeah all right, Uh, I'm not nervous 0:00:26.520 --> 0:00:26.840 at all. 0:00:28.600 --> 0:00:31.160 Good. We gotta get your. 0:00:31.080 --> 0:00:36.040 Hat like that of mair ladies and gentlemen. 0:00:36.159 --> 0:00:39.279 This is quest Love Supreme. I am quest Love, your 0:00:39.360 --> 0:00:42.080 host of the day. We are here with fun Tigolo 0:00:42.280 --> 0:00:42.800 f Takeolo. 0:00:42.840 --> 0:00:43.639 Where you at right now? 0:00:44.120 --> 0:00:46.239 I'm at the crib man. I just uh, I came 0:00:46.280 --> 0:00:49.000 in just straight from the gym, so you know, sweat 0:00:49.080 --> 0:00:51.600 same shame here, yep, shame. 0:00:53.440 --> 0:00:57.560 It's it's something about uh March that creeps in that says, okay, 0:00:57.960 --> 0:00:58.600 summer coming. 0:00:58.680 --> 0:01:04.240 I gotta get my summer by yeah, mineus picnic. 0:01:03.840 --> 0:01:08.000 Body, so yeah, I. 0:01:07.959 --> 0:01:11.199 Want to look halfway presentable with the picnic. H Steve, 0:01:11.360 --> 0:01:12.039 how are you pal? 0:01:12.720 --> 0:01:16.120 I'm good, really looking forward to this interview like everybody else. 0:01:16.520 --> 0:01:18.240 How interesting was your evening? 0:01:19.040 --> 0:01:23.080 Super interesting? Definitely trying to hear you pronounce words and 0:01:23.120 --> 0:01:23.600 so forth. 0:01:24.360 --> 0:01:27.720 All right, Steve, As you guys know, I can't stop 0:01:27.760 --> 0:01:30.679 writing books. And one of the well I'm not trying 0:01:30.680 --> 0:01:33.160 to say unfortunate, but one of the things that I 0:01:33.200 --> 0:01:36.160 am not much of a fan of in the process 0:01:36.200 --> 0:01:39.039 of book writing is doing the audio books, especially when 0:01:39.720 --> 0:01:43.840 Steve is on standby to hear me struggle with college words. 0:01:44.120 --> 0:01:48.400 And he definitely got a ear full last night. But look, 0:01:48.520 --> 0:01:51.240 we got more important pressing matters on our hands. Let 0:01:51.240 --> 0:01:54.559 me just say that I know that a line share 0:01:54.840 --> 0:01:59.760 of my personal music knowledge, you know, honestly came into 0:01:59.760 --> 0:02:07.160 play once hip hop contextualized my parents boring record made 0:02:07.160 --> 0:02:11.480 it interesting, which you know, basically my age fourteen fifteen sixteen. 0:02:11.560 --> 0:02:15.480 Of course I could ratle off any musician's name, but 0:02:15.520 --> 0:02:17.320 I wasn't in a slouch either when I was a kid. 0:02:17.400 --> 0:02:19.560 But you know this, this knowledge I have a music 0:02:20.160 --> 0:02:21.880 really became a thing when I was a teenager. 0:02:21.919 --> 0:02:24.560 However, I will say that. 0:02:24.560 --> 0:02:27.920 In my life in real time, and I'm talking about 0:02:27.919 --> 0:02:31.760 when I'm seven years old, there were two particular drummers 0:02:31.960 --> 0:02:35.040 who I idolized. And of course, if you're a longtime 0:02:35.080 --> 0:02:37.760 listener of the podcast, you already know that I've had 0:02:37.760 --> 0:02:40.000 the pleasure of doing a one on one with my 0:02:40.240 --> 0:02:45.400 idol Steve Rone, formerly of The Average White band today 0:02:46.040 --> 0:02:49.040 is no exception, and today we'll actually complete that circle, 0:02:49.520 --> 0:02:52.400 because if I'm really honest with myself, our guest today 0:02:52.480 --> 0:02:58.320 might be the first air quote fusion drummer that I 0:02:58.400 --> 0:02:59.480 became familiar with. 0:03:00.040 --> 0:03:01.160 Not exactly by choice. 0:03:01.160 --> 0:03:05.240 It just so happens that a particular family excursion of 0:03:05.320 --> 0:03:08.920 nineteen seventy seven on a trip to Disney World in 0:03:08.960 --> 0:03:12.200 a van with an A track tape player as our 0:03:12.320 --> 0:03:17.000 entertainment and maybe six A track tapes in rotation, and 0:03:17.840 --> 0:03:20.920 one of those six A track tapes had heavy rotation 0:03:21.639 --> 0:03:24.919 of the debut album of our guest on the Show today, 0:03:25.240 --> 0:03:30.800 entitled Garden of Love Light. And one song in particular 0:03:31.360 --> 0:03:36.400 that I know that I personally put ten thousand Gladwellian 0:03:36.640 --> 0:03:39.920 hours in a practice was a tune called The Sun 0:03:40.040 --> 0:03:44.240 Is Dancing. And now that I think about it, I 0:03:44.280 --> 0:03:47.400 think the very first time that I nerded out on 0:03:47.680 --> 0:03:52.440 Bassis Megabasis will Lee of The Letterman Show was more 0:03:52.520 --> 0:03:56.160 about him playing on that album than it was anything 0:03:56.200 --> 0:03:59.320 else that Willy has done. Willie's done legendary shit, but 0:03:59.680 --> 0:04:04.880 I will say that his resume is beyond impressive. Name 0:04:04.920 --> 0:04:11.120 It Whitney Arefa, Mariah, George, Michael Jeff Beck Campbell, Yeah, 0:04:11.120 --> 0:04:15.480 Temi Campbell, Barbaris Streiss and Wynald Richie Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Dona. 0:04:15.400 --> 0:04:17.560 Ross, Rachel my Vision Orchestra. 0:04:19.400 --> 0:04:24.120 He's worked with everyone but me, and the time I 0:04:24.120 --> 0:04:26.720 think I'm trying to be him, you know what I mean. 0:04:27.880 --> 0:04:30.720 Not to mention, I will say that he's probably the 0:04:30.760 --> 0:04:36.000 first human being that I've ever taken note of that 0:04:36.240 --> 0:04:39.520 even mentioned the word that I'm obsessed with now post pandemic, 0:04:39.520 --> 0:04:44.279 which is meditation. So this is a long overdue conversation 0:04:44.560 --> 0:04:50.200 with the great legendary. Please welcome Nordom, Michael Walton, finally 0:04:50.200 --> 0:04:51.200 the Quest Love Supreme. 0:04:51.520 --> 0:04:55.479 Thank you so much man, a long time man. Wow, 0:04:55.839 --> 0:04:58.800 thank you so much. Happy to be here. This is wonderful. 0:04:58.839 --> 0:05:00.800 I'm a big fan of yours, breath, a big fan 0:05:00.839 --> 0:05:03.120 of yours. You know, you bring the funk, man, you 0:05:03.160 --> 0:05:05.839 bring the soul, and you bring the integrity to the music. 0:05:06.200 --> 0:05:07.359 Some I'm really really loving you. 0:05:07.440 --> 0:05:15.640 Then I'm bringing everything I ever learned from you, man, So. 0:05:13.560 --> 0:05:14.560 Now you know what it is. 0:05:14.839 --> 0:05:20.640 I'm also realizing I've met you briefly before, and I 0:05:20.680 --> 0:05:24.039 will say that there are very few human beings that 0:05:24.160 --> 0:05:26.800 have an instantaneous. 0:05:26.760 --> 0:05:29.960 Disarming chip that I wish I had. You have a 0:05:30.080 --> 0:05:30.600 level of. 0:05:30.560 --> 0:05:34.599 Calm that I now know that. Of course, your resume 0:05:34.680 --> 0:05:38.280 is that impressive because I believe that you have a 0:05:38.320 --> 0:05:43.120 sort of calming element, because you produced some people that 0:05:43.320 --> 0:05:45.760 I would believe would be some of the hardest people 0:05:46.480 --> 0:05:51.200 personality wise to even step with. I've said no to 0:05:51.240 --> 0:05:54.160 a few of these people were just like drumming with 0:05:54.200 --> 0:05:57.280 them or any of those things, because I couldn't bear 0:05:57.320 --> 0:05:59.680 to think of the thought of, you know. 0:05:59.760 --> 0:06:01.159 Of dealing with that. 0:06:01.440 --> 0:06:04.960 But can I ask you, like, what when did you 0:06:05.040 --> 0:06:08.599 develop this personality of just calmness, Like you have a 0:06:08.720 --> 0:06:12.520 very disarming like have you ever gotten angry in your life? 0:06:12.880 --> 0:06:15.120 Oh? Yeah, sure, sure I do, of course I do. 0:06:15.600 --> 0:06:19.320 It's just that I learned, like what you're speaking about 0:06:19.320 --> 0:06:22.919 in production and working with other people that I wanted 0:06:22.920 --> 0:06:25.320 to get their best, and I realized that the love 0:06:25.360 --> 0:06:28.560 aspect was really powerful. It is really powerful. And then 0:06:28.600 --> 0:06:32.320 you mentioned meditation, So through meditation and the love aspect 0:06:33.040 --> 0:06:37.000 that became the most important part, and that the person 0:06:37.040 --> 0:06:41.400 I'm working with could feel that love to do their best, 0:06:42.320 --> 0:06:45.280 and then that would just make everything just go. So 0:06:45.320 --> 0:06:48.880 I kind of just pray, swim, you know, get myself 0:06:48.920 --> 0:06:52.560 together physically, and then get in that spirit that the 0:06:52.600 --> 0:06:54.120 person you really feel like, oh, you're not here to 0:06:54.120 --> 0:06:56.240 fight with me, You're going to me that great music. 0:06:56.520 --> 0:06:58.200 Then they start singing whatever they're going to do, and 0:06:58.200 --> 0:07:01.359 then endorphins kick in and are gone. But that spirit 0:07:01.400 --> 0:07:03.880 of love is really really important. That's what I want 0:07:03.920 --> 0:07:04.280 to say to. 0:07:04.200 --> 0:07:04.600 You about that. 0:07:05.360 --> 0:07:08.920 Do you have a pre studio ritual that you do 0:07:09.080 --> 0:07:10.680 or something like the kind of get ready to get 0:07:10.680 --> 0:07:11.000 into this. 0:07:11.200 --> 0:07:13.720 You know you can see behind me. I have a candle, 0:07:14.080 --> 0:07:16.600 two camels here and a candle up there. You know. 0:07:16.760 --> 0:07:18.880 I burn a little incense every now and again. I 0:07:18.960 --> 0:07:20.960 usually bring a gift to the person I'm working with, 0:07:21.040 --> 0:07:23.400 just kind of make them feel the love on a 0:07:23.680 --> 0:07:27.200 physical level, a Teddy bear flower or something sweet. And 0:07:27.240 --> 0:07:30.200 then I want to say one more thing about what 0:07:30.240 --> 0:07:32.080 you're asking about, because it's really important for me that. 0:07:32.840 --> 0:07:36.760 Probably the most incredible moment along this line was after 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:40.600 I made the songs of two songs, Who's the Men Who? 0:07:40.680 --> 0:07:43.000 Until You Say You Love Me? And Here and flew 0:07:43.080 --> 0:07:45.920 back to Detroit, Michigan to meet Aretha. It looking in 0:07:45.960 --> 0:07:50.120 her eyes is scary that would that would scare you? 0:07:50.200 --> 0:07:54.520 That would that scared me? But there again, you know, 0:07:54.880 --> 0:07:57.240 I let her know in my spirit, my eyes, my love, 0:07:57.320 --> 0:07:59.000 I'm not here to fight, I'm not here to make 0:07:59.000 --> 0:08:01.200 a problem. I want I want to serve you, I 0:08:01.240 --> 0:08:04.760 love you, and help us make the best music. And 0:08:04.760 --> 0:08:07.160 then once the music comes on and then she starts 0:08:07.200 --> 0:08:10.120 opening up and singing, then again, like I said, it 0:08:10.200 --> 0:08:11.840 just gets happy. And then it's like, well, what do 0:08:11.840 --> 0:08:13.960 you want to eat? You want cheeseburger, you want, you know, 0:08:14.000 --> 0:08:16.280 fried chicken? What you want? And all that sounds happening. 0:08:18.320 --> 0:08:22.480 See, I wish I'd known you previously, Steve could have 0:08:22.520 --> 0:08:22.960 tested this. 0:08:23.720 --> 0:08:26.960 You know. Of course I'm still here at the tonight. 0:08:26.680 --> 0:08:32.160 Show and Lovely Lovely, and I've only had one client 0:08:33.160 --> 0:08:35.840 sort of put us through the ringer to the point 0:08:35.880 --> 0:08:41.720 where I just walked away. And you know, unfortunately, I've 0:08:41.760 --> 0:08:44.920 had the pleasure of playing practically with every person I've 0:08:44.960 --> 0:08:45.880 ever idolized. 0:08:45.960 --> 0:08:47.199 But when it. 0:08:47.200 --> 0:08:53.560 Came to a refa and the alpha level of testing 0:08:53.600 --> 0:08:58.160 that we were put through, I failed that test. 0:08:58.679 --> 0:09:02.679 Oh no, you know it was like. 0:09:04.160 --> 0:09:06.400 My ego was there because in my mind I'm like, well, 0:09:06.480 --> 0:09:09.440 I'm holding up the tradition, like we are holding up 0:09:09.440 --> 0:09:13.199 the tradition of Cornell dupri and Bernard Purty like her seventies, 0:09:13.440 --> 0:09:17.280 her seventies crack band, and you know, she wanted to 0:09:18.160 --> 0:09:20.640 have a long talk, and she wanted us to audition 0:09:21.440 --> 0:09:27.719 and all this stuff, and you know, I just now 0:09:27.840 --> 0:09:31.000 regret that that move. But I was just like, well, no, 0:09:31.240 --> 0:09:34.079 I'm fine. If you want to sing behind your karaoke track, 0:09:34.160 --> 0:09:35.800 then go ahead and do so. 0:09:36.000 --> 0:09:37.280 And she did so, and. 0:09:38.840 --> 0:09:40.640 It could have been magic, but you know it was 0:09:40.679 --> 0:09:45.160 definitely I didn't know about what you just said, Like 0:09:45.440 --> 0:09:47.600 we're dealing with people and how to disarm them and 0:09:47.640 --> 0:09:51.319 all that stuff. And so first starters, Where were you born. 0:09:51.960 --> 0:09:56.920 I'm from Calamazoo, Michigan, between Chicago and Detroit, rightland middle 0:09:56.960 --> 0:10:00.000 in the country, Calumbo where they make gifts and guitars, 0:10:00.120 --> 0:10:02.400 you know, and Battle Creek, Michigan is not far away 0:10:02.400 --> 0:10:04.760 with the Mick Kellogg's conflicts, and that's where Junior Walk 0:10:04.800 --> 0:10:06.400 All the Star comes from, you know, with all that 0:10:06.440 --> 0:10:08.760 funk so Calams in Michigan. 0:10:09.080 --> 0:10:12.840 I'm only laughing because Kalamazoo is always my go to 0:10:14.000 --> 0:10:18.320 random hypothetical city when I say something like, oh you 0:10:18.360 --> 0:10:20.840 know I always in Kalamazoo, miss but I've never known 0:10:20.960 --> 0:10:23.800 one human being from Kalamazoo, Michigan. 0:10:24.440 --> 0:10:25.520 Now you do, Now you do. 0:10:26.200 --> 0:10:32.880 I read a really interesting story about you in a magazine. 0:10:33.040 --> 0:10:34.000 I think it was right on. 0:10:34.160 --> 0:10:37.080 I'm not certain, but the very first thing I've ever 0:10:37.120 --> 0:10:41.360 read about you. I happen to be reading this story 0:10:41.480 --> 0:10:45.640 a year before were in Philadelphia. And I don't remember 0:10:45.640 --> 0:10:48.840 the exact lining of the earth whatever, but I do 0:10:49.080 --> 0:10:53.400 know that we were about to go through in nineteen 0:10:53.440 --> 0:10:56.960 eighty four a major solar eclipse. 0:10:57.320 --> 0:10:57.840 Oh wow. 0:10:58.520 --> 0:11:00.760 And it was one of the things were like the 0:11:00.760 --> 0:11:03.559 school was like handing out these these sunglasses and. 0:11:03.559 --> 0:11:05.839 You must never look in the sun or else you'll 0:11:05.920 --> 0:11:06.360 go blind. 0:11:06.400 --> 0:11:10.160 And yes, yes, And I remember reading an interview of 0:11:10.200 --> 0:11:12.800 you where you said you were so inspired by Stevie 0:11:12.880 --> 0:11:15.640 Wonder that could you tell that story? 0:11:15.640 --> 0:11:15.960 Please? 0:11:16.440 --> 0:11:21.640 Okay, brother, that's true story. Okay, let me just go 0:11:21.679 --> 0:11:24.439 back up just for a second to say that Ray Charles, 0:11:25.280 --> 0:11:30.240 George Sharing or blind men knocked me out with their genius. 0:11:30.760 --> 0:11:34.199 And then on the scene, my aunts, my mom's sisters, 0:11:34.200 --> 0:11:36.560 they're Vickian Valor there their twins. They said, well, you know, 0:11:36.640 --> 0:11:38.760 on the scene now is a little boy your age, 0:11:39.160 --> 0:11:41.240 maybe a little older than you, but he plays drums 0:11:41.280 --> 0:11:44.000 better than you play. And he's incredible. I said, no, no, no, 0:11:45.120 --> 0:11:47.400 I don't want to buy it. And he said, oh no. 0:11:47.440 --> 0:11:49.320 His little name is little Stevie Wonder you know. And 0:11:49.360 --> 0:11:51.200 he plays. I said, how can you he's blind, how 0:11:51.240 --> 0:11:55.120 can you even see the drums? Well he does, Okay, okay, okay. 0:11:55.720 --> 0:11:58.720 But not long after came out a song that was 0:11:58.720 --> 0:12:02.760 a live version of Fingertips, and Fingertips were smoking and 0:12:02.840 --> 0:12:07.200 I mean smoking, like smoking smoking. And I was lucky 0:12:07.280 --> 0:12:09.800 enough to go to Chicago, my dad comes from Chicago, 0:12:10.200 --> 0:12:12.880 and go to the Regal Theater and see him play. 0:12:13.480 --> 0:12:16.760 And when they walked him out, it was like an alien. 0:12:16.800 --> 0:12:20.480 He walked like an alien, slowly, kind of back and forth, 0:12:20.920 --> 0:12:23.000 like you know, like I've never seen anything walk like 0:12:23.000 --> 0:12:25.959 like you walked. But now in the audience it's packed 0:12:26.000 --> 0:12:30.559 with screaming girls, like beatles, screaming, you know. And when 0:12:30.600 --> 0:12:36.480 he gets the microphone, he's just in control and his 0:12:36.520 --> 0:12:38.920 voice is high like a little boy, but just every 0:12:38.920 --> 0:12:42.160 little note just so perfect, just so perfect, and the 0:12:42.200 --> 0:12:55.000 band just rocking and on the harmonica perfect, and I 0:12:55.200 --> 0:12:58.080 just was like is true. He is better than me. 0:12:59.679 --> 0:13:04.640 He's got everyone in his pond of hand. He's challenging God. 0:13:05.400 --> 0:13:07.480 And that was the summer of the eclips you're talking 0:13:07.480 --> 0:13:11.800 about Signed in Chicago. I decide, Okay, if I'm blind, 0:13:11.920 --> 0:13:13.840 I can maybe be as good as these guys are 0:13:13.880 --> 0:13:17.520 are my hero. So I wasn't stare at the sun 0:13:17.640 --> 0:13:19.880 make myself blind. But the Good Lord said no, no, no, 0:13:19.880 --> 0:13:21.440 you keep your sight. But I did try to make 0:13:21.480 --> 0:13:22.000 myself blind. 0:13:22.080 --> 0:13:27.400 Yeah. Oh, I read that story and I guess we had. 0:13:27.600 --> 0:13:30.200 You know, the next cycle of that was sometime in 0:13:30.280 --> 0:13:36.120 nineteen eighty four, and you know again this and also 0:13:36.280 --> 0:13:37.920 you know, there's a thing like when you're a kid 0:13:38.040 --> 0:13:42.240 an adult tells you no, you're just instantly like, even 0:13:42.280 --> 0:13:44.560 if it's to your own detriment. And there was one 0:13:44.600 --> 0:13:49.920 point where I was like, yeah, Nardi Michael's right, like 0:13:50.720 --> 0:13:53.440 if I'm blind, like Stevie Wonder, I too can have gifts. 0:13:53.480 --> 0:13:56.920 And I was actually thinking, let me go outside and 0:13:57.080 --> 0:14:07.160 just stick. Do you remember your very first musical memory? 0:14:08.400 --> 0:14:10.280 When I was really little, my dad bought a record 0:14:10.280 --> 0:14:12.280 home called Froggy went a court and he did lie 0:14:13.000 --> 0:14:16.880 Froggy went according he did you know I was a 0:14:16.880 --> 0:14:19.120 little kid, kid, kid, kid kid. I remember that kind 0:14:19.160 --> 0:14:21.600 of thing. I also remember, very very young, I was 0:14:21.640 --> 0:14:24.800 so blessed by Santa with a toy toy Land drum 0:14:24.840 --> 0:14:29.040 set for Christmas. That blew my mind. These little drums 0:14:29.040 --> 0:14:31.720 with the paper heads. So you play them, but the 0:14:31.760 --> 0:14:33.600 head's been last very long because it's bit of paper. 0:14:34.360 --> 0:14:36.480 But I get orgasmic beating these damn things. And I 0:14:36.600 --> 0:14:39.880 see the happiness of my parents, my grandparents, and I 0:14:39.880 --> 0:14:42.960 got so happy. That's bigger when I knew that's it, 0:14:43.120 --> 0:14:45.800 that's a little little kid. I guess just after that 0:14:45.840 --> 0:14:50.080 would be like then making pillows and getting a pie 0:14:50.080 --> 0:14:52.960 ten and playing along with Na Simone live a town hall, 0:14:53.440 --> 0:14:56.080 you know, Summertime and that album, the live album of 0:14:56.080 --> 0:14:59.280 hers playing along with that, and then that became like 0:14:59.360 --> 0:15:01.480 kind of going on like that, you know, Ama Jamal 0:15:01.880 --> 0:15:04.560 and those those those type of records, playing along with them. 0:15:04.760 --> 0:15:08.000 But yeah, it's just always there, that record, the young, 0:15:08.160 --> 0:15:12.920 the young vibe, catching the spirit of the music. So important. 0:15:13.560 --> 0:15:16.880 High tins were your symbols. Yeah A ten ten A 0:15:18.080 --> 0:15:19.560 we are the same person? 0:15:19.880 --> 0:15:25.160 Yeah yeah, yeah, that's crazy. Yeah, that's right. 0:15:25.440 --> 0:15:27.400 So what is the significant of a pie tin symbol? 0:15:27.440 --> 0:15:28.920 What what what will we hear that on? 0:15:29.640 --> 0:15:31.680 Well, you know, it just makes a high, high tending 0:15:31.800 --> 0:15:34.120 tink tink, you know it kind of if you don't 0:15:34.120 --> 0:15:37.200 have a symbol, at least it can make high kind 0:15:37.240 --> 0:15:39.800 of a sound like a symbol, so you know. H 0:15:39.960 --> 0:15:42.440 And a pillow, like a flat pillow can be like 0:15:42.440 --> 0:15:43.800 a bass drum or whatever you want it to be. 0:15:44.600 --> 0:15:47.520 I was set up chairs, Yeah, that's it. I was 0:15:47.560 --> 0:15:50.320 set up chairs, as my drum said. And then either 0:15:50.440 --> 0:15:53.200 the lamp, lamp shade or a pie ten. 0:15:53.280 --> 0:15:56.440 Was always my damn. I thought I was the only person. 0:15:56.240 --> 0:16:00.640 That thought about no, no, man. I bet Steven want 0:16:01.080 --> 0:16:01.360 it too. 0:16:02.280 --> 0:16:04.040 That is crazy. 0:16:04.080 --> 0:16:07.960 Recently I went back to my old neighborhood and I 0:16:08.000 --> 0:16:10.960 saw there's a lady that you know, still living and 0:16:11.000 --> 0:16:13.840 down the block, and she was telling like people's stories 0:16:13.920 --> 0:16:15.880 off like, eh, he used to always wail in the drums. 0:16:15.880 --> 0:16:19.680 I used to hear him five six houses away. So 0:16:19.840 --> 0:16:24.040 your parents lived in a household in which they encouraged 0:16:24.040 --> 0:16:26.000 you to make noise and all these things, and. 0:16:26.160 --> 0:16:27.920 Yeah, yeah, I got to say my dad was like 0:16:28.000 --> 0:16:29.920 eighteen when he had me. My mom was nineteen when 0:16:29.920 --> 0:16:32.240 they had me, and my dad wanted to be a drummer, 0:16:32.520 --> 0:16:34.800 and he would carry his best friend's drums around in 0:16:34.880 --> 0:16:37.320 a cant named Bill Dowdy from the Three Sounds. So 0:16:37.400 --> 0:16:39.480 he wasn't a drummer, but he loved it. So that 0:16:39.640 --> 0:16:41.680 was a big yes, you know, build out it from 0:16:41.680 --> 0:16:44.600 Three Sounds. Yes, well that was my dad's friend, and 0:16:44.800 --> 0:16:46.960 that's another record I was raised up playing along with 0:16:47.040 --> 0:16:49.360 him and my dad. Quite frankly, the only time he 0:16:49.400 --> 0:16:51.240 really kind of gave me the kudos like ild I 0:16:51.280 --> 0:16:54.000 could play was when I could play a note for 0:16:54.040 --> 0:16:56.640 note that record he bought. That was when he knew, oh, well, 0:16:57.280 --> 0:16:59.560 I guess you can play. But it wasn't until that. 0:17:00.440 --> 0:17:00.720 Wow. 0:17:01.200 --> 0:17:03.760 Yeah, I'm letting you know that. The whole Billdouti thing 0:17:03.760 --> 0:17:06.439 in our family was a big to do and and 0:17:07.119 --> 0:17:10.119 I was I could make noise. So you're right, the 0:17:10.200 --> 0:17:15.240 parents loving you, loving what the sound? It's important. 0:17:15.840 --> 0:17:17.720 How old were you when you first started drumming? 0:17:19.359 --> 0:17:21.560 A little kid? Five, six, seven years old? But I 0:17:21.600 --> 0:17:24.240 didn't take stare droom lessons until like ten years old. 0:17:24.400 --> 0:17:28.760 You know, rudiment, five stroke, role paradiddles, you know like that, 0:17:28.840 --> 0:17:30.440 and then oh, your left hand is not as fast 0:17:30.440 --> 0:17:32.080 as your right hand. You gotta work right your left hand, 0:17:32.160 --> 0:17:35.760 all that kind of behavior. But then I'm really blessed. 0:17:35.920 --> 0:17:40.680 Maybe you're around the age of eleven twelve. There was 0:17:40.680 --> 0:17:43.040 a drummer on the north side of Kalamazoo, not apart 0:17:43.040 --> 0:17:47.200 from my grandparents house named Harold Mason. And Harold was 0:17:47.240 --> 0:17:52.520 a black cat who knew independency. And he had a 0:17:52.560 --> 0:17:56.240 Blue Book of Independency by Jim Chapin. So that book 0:17:56.359 --> 0:17:59.440 you play right hand written Jane Jane K Jean Chane 0:17:59.520 --> 0:18:03.040 K Jean Jechang like that, but then against it on 0:18:03.080 --> 0:18:06.320 the left hand. The pattern keeps changing, so you have 0:18:06.320 --> 0:18:08.359 to kind of, you know, keep reading the changing and 0:18:08.480 --> 0:18:10.440 like learning your mind how to break it up. Then 0:18:10.440 --> 0:18:12.680 you bring your feet into it, your bass drum, your 0:18:12.760 --> 0:18:15.399 high hat. But then he'd be so advanced. He would say, well, 0:18:15.480 --> 0:18:17.560 you know the jazz cats in New York, now you 0:18:17.560 --> 0:18:19.080 know what they're doing. They aren't just playing two and 0:18:19.080 --> 0:18:22.280 four in the hide anymore. They're playing with the high hand, 0:18:23.280 --> 0:18:24.720 you know, whatever they want to do on the on 0:18:24.760 --> 0:18:27.000 the on the left foot. I thought that that would 0:18:27.040 --> 0:18:28.280 be too much. I don't want to get into all that. 0:18:28.280 --> 0:18:30.160 I was happy just playing to do on the high 0:18:30.160 --> 0:18:33.639 hat with my foot. But he was that advanced breaking 0:18:33.680 --> 0:18:37.080 the mind up for independency, which really, to this day 0:18:37.640 --> 0:18:39.359 helped me. A lot of people don't understand its like 0:18:39.480 --> 0:18:41.639 learning to ride a bike. You can do it, then 0:18:41.680 --> 0:18:44.320 you can play all kind of crazy stuff. So it 0:18:44.359 --> 0:18:46.480 happened early in my life that I got with peril Maze. 0:18:46.480 --> 0:18:48.520 And then guess what happened. Harold went on to play 0:18:48.560 --> 0:18:51.520 the drumps for Stevie. Wonder. Now Stevie's a little older now, 0:18:51.680 --> 0:18:54.080 you know, signed to deliver. Those records are out and 0:18:54.119 --> 0:18:57.359 they came through Calumu Zoo a place called Western Michigan 0:18:57.440 --> 0:19:00.360 University of the College, and the place is to see 0:19:00.359 --> 0:19:02.520 Stevie won. He's a big star. So here's my teacher, 0:19:02.600 --> 0:19:04.840 Harold Maston, drums and the thing that caught the fire 0:19:04.920 --> 0:19:08.520 is this, and you'll appreciate you You're you're bad. Harold 0:19:08.520 --> 0:19:12.000 starts playing this groove, goes on the bell like one, two, 0:19:12.359 --> 0:19:16.040 the four dean t kitting dan thing, but bean to 0:19:16.119 --> 0:19:23.440 kitting thing thing, pan, kting thing thing, ticketing thing pan 0:19:24.080 --> 0:19:27.080 like that, and Steve's catching fire with us. Stevene runs 0:19:27.160 --> 0:19:31.080 over the blind stuff pushes us get off the drums. 0:19:31.240 --> 0:19:34.360 Harold gets on the drums and starts playing the same 0:19:34.400 --> 0:19:35.520 thing stronger. 0:19:35.400 --> 0:19:36.520 Dean Ti Kadan. 0:19:38.000 --> 0:19:43.320 King. I was like, damn. Then Stephen gets crazy. He 0:19:43.400 --> 0:19:45.480 stands up on the stool and the police goes ah. 0:19:46.440 --> 0:19:48.720 He falls off the stool on the floor, gets back 0:19:48.760 --> 0:19:52.240 up up again, falls on the floor and starts playing 0:19:52.240 --> 0:19:57.280 this groove. I'm like, these people are nuts. They're nuts, 0:19:57.359 --> 0:20:00.959 But it showed me that the level craziness you can 0:20:01.040 --> 0:20:02.280 go to and it's okay. 0:20:02.920 --> 0:20:05.520 You're one of the rare artists that I mean. 0:20:05.560 --> 0:20:07.840 We've had a few artists on the show that I 0:20:07.960 --> 0:20:11.119 have recollections of seeing one concert or two concerts or whatever. 0:20:11.200 --> 0:20:13.960 But a m I have believed that even since childhood, 0:20:14.000 --> 0:20:17.959 you were just regularly seeing shows of musicians. 0:20:18.480 --> 0:20:20.520 In Kalamus and Michigan. We're in the country, so it's 0:20:20.560 --> 0:20:22.800 not like I'm in the city. So no, I wouldn't 0:20:22.800 --> 0:20:24.439 say like I'm like a New York where Ucats were 0:20:24.480 --> 0:20:27.560 or Philadelphia. No, we're country cats. We're country mice. But 0:20:27.880 --> 0:20:29.640 our ears are big because we're hearing all the music 0:20:29.640 --> 0:20:31.840 out of Detroit, We're hearing all the music out of Chicago. 0:20:32.160 --> 0:20:35.360 You know, five stairsteps Curtis Mayfield. We're hearing everything. We're 0:20:35.359 --> 0:20:37.720 hearing everything. We're hearing them the brand new motown, you know, 0:20:37.800 --> 0:20:41.400 shop around Miracles, We're hearing all the new stuff. You know, baby, 0:20:41.440 --> 0:20:43.159 I need you to love them before you don't even hears it. 0:20:43.400 --> 0:20:46.159 It's there at our parties. So that's what it was. 0:20:46.160 --> 0:20:48.720 It was just hearing the radio. And then I gotta 0:20:48.760 --> 0:20:52.600 say pop music like Patty Page, Old Cape Cod, Johnny Mathis's. 0:20:52.640 --> 0:20:57.320 Chances are all that music is just as huge in Michigan. 0:20:58.000 --> 0:21:02.479 So you love Prince. That's why Prince is so bad ass, 0:21:02.520 --> 0:21:04.720 because Prince not only got the funks, but but he 0:21:04.800 --> 0:21:07.480 got all the white pop stuff just as wrong. That's 0:21:07.480 --> 0:21:10.600 what it is back there, miss Minnesota, Michigan. Right, It's 0:21:10.640 --> 0:21:12.639 like a big old gumbo. 0:21:13.760 --> 0:21:15.840 I see. Were you a big record collector as a kid. 0:21:16.000 --> 0:21:18.040 Yeah, I love the records. I love the records, and 0:21:18.080 --> 0:21:21.040 I loved also like playing that song by the who 0:21:21.119 --> 0:21:22.639 I Can See for miles and miles of miles in 0:21:22.640 --> 0:21:25.120 my basement. That was that caught my attention. I didn't 0:21:25.119 --> 0:21:26.800 even know who Keith Muon or anything that was. I 0:21:26.880 --> 0:21:31.800 just like the I can see I Can see you 0:21:31.840 --> 0:21:32.720 know that left power. 0:21:32.800 --> 0:21:38.600 Yeah, who was your idol? Drumming? Wise? Uh wait, do 0:21:38.640 --> 0:21:40.760