WEBVTT - Questlove Supreme: Mic Murphy 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:03.080 West Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:08.800 --> 0:00:12.720 I'm from Raleigh, North Carolina. Man, you kidding me? 0:00:14.400 --> 0:00:16.360 And it starts right. 0:00:19.160 --> 0:00:25.080 I'm recording now, recording. Oh hell no, I ain't. Come on. 0:00:26.560 --> 0:00:30.560 Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another episode of West Love Supreme. 0:00:30.920 --> 0:00:35.560 It was quest Love with me of course. Uh, Team 0:00:35.640 --> 0:00:39.120 Supreme fon Tigelow in a new location. 0:00:40.200 --> 0:00:42.479 Yeah, man, yeah, man came down to Charlotte. 0:00:42.479 --> 0:00:47.080 He gets working for a couple of days and yeah, bro, yo, 0:00:47.600 --> 0:00:49.320 yo man, I had to I'm meant to tell you too. 0:00:49.400 --> 0:00:51.880 I think I may be joining you. I ain't going 0:00:51.920 --> 0:00:53.080 as crazy as you going with. 0:00:53.040 --> 0:00:56.760 It, but I've drastically cut down my meat into. 0:00:58.120 --> 0:01:01.920 There you go bright like drastically. I still I mean, 0:01:01.960 --> 0:01:02.840 I still do my fish. 0:01:02.880 --> 0:01:03.120 I love. 0:01:03.240 --> 0:01:04.760 I can eat fish like every day of the week, 0:01:05.200 --> 0:01:07.200 and uh still do my you know, my chicken. I 0:01:07.319 --> 0:01:10.920 do like you know chicken, but uh like beef or 0:01:11.400 --> 0:01:12.559 like I think, yeah that. 0:01:12.880 --> 0:01:15.880 It might be wrapped. Bro, we might make it the seventies. 0:01:16.600 --> 0:01:18.840 Make sure you're replacing that iron. Just make sure you're 0:01:18.840 --> 0:01:20.280 replacing that iron with something. 0:01:21.440 --> 0:01:23.200 Man, I be drinking metal musle in the morning. I 0:01:23.200 --> 0:01:23.640 feel old. 0:01:26.200 --> 0:01:30.319 Keep doing George Loe Man listen to keep that cholestero 0:01:30.319 --> 0:01:30.720 all down. 0:01:32.440 --> 0:01:35.040 Speaking of what's up sugar, Steve? How you making out? 0:01:35.360 --> 0:01:37.920 Oh my god, you're just talking about meat? Makes me 0:01:38.000 --> 0:01:41.679 want a steak. You know, I don't know, I do 0:01:41.720 --> 0:01:44.360 everything bad, so I might I might not make it 0:01:44.400 --> 0:01:44.880 to seventy. 0:01:44.920 --> 0:01:52.440 But I love y'all, loveye, I'm everything's okay to be 0:01:52.560 --> 0:01:55.720 with with everybody here and looking forward to great. 0:01:55.760 --> 0:01:59.520 Everyone's fine. You just you just recorded an album for 0:01:59.560 --> 0:02:00.000 your label. 0:02:00.800 --> 0:02:05.000 We recorded, We recorded two full records in two days 0:02:05.320 --> 0:02:09.239 for David Murray was one of the records and London, 0:02:09.320 --> 0:02:13.680 a h Norwegian guitarist was another one. That's JMI Recordings 0:02:13.720 --> 0:02:16.880 dot Com. Everybody. 0:02:17.360 --> 0:02:20.840 We we joke, we joke about Steve's new Fountain celebrity. 0:02:20.880 --> 0:02:25.200 But Steve has definitely done a lot of pivot work 0:02:26.240 --> 0:02:29.239 in the last few years, developing really just living in 0:02:29.280 --> 0:02:31.960 his dream, like you know, recording and putting out is 0:02:33.040 --> 0:02:35.280 you know, after you collect every jazz record, I guess. 0:02:35.160 --> 0:02:37.320 The next thing is you have to be start making 0:02:37.360 --> 0:02:41.280 them start. Yeah, you're the new tailor, so that's right. 0:02:41.440 --> 0:02:41.600 You know. 0:02:41.880 --> 0:02:44.840 The label started right around when this podcast started, about 0:02:44.840 --> 0:02:45.720 five years ago. 0:02:47.320 --> 0:02:50.040 Five years old. You have a new background. You look 0:02:50.080 --> 0:02:51.320 like you're on a tour bus right now. 0:02:51.600 --> 0:02:51.960 I'm not. 0:02:52.320 --> 0:02:54.240 I'm in my new spot, but. 0:02:54.320 --> 0:02:57.320 You just have tour bus curtains. 0:02:59.200 --> 0:03:03.360 Well, from this, this is way better than the paper 0:03:03.480 --> 0:03:04.200 with the paper clip. 0:03:05.840 --> 0:03:08.040 You just it looks it kind of looks like a 0:03:08.080 --> 0:03:08.720 tour bus. 0:03:08.840 --> 0:03:10.560 Okay. 0:03:10.840 --> 0:03:12.880 These are the factory blinds they gave me at the 0:03:12.919 --> 0:03:14.120 new spot, and I'm real happy to be. 0:03:14.120 --> 0:03:17.560 At Okay, Well, you're making out everything's fine. 0:03:17.560 --> 0:03:20.280 Living good and the blackest and neighborhoods in Los Angeles. 0:03:20.320 --> 0:03:22.360 Holly Louijash shout out to a Stelle who took me 0:03:22.400 --> 0:03:25.120 around and showed me the good corner stores I am living. 0:03:25.400 --> 0:03:27.160 That's like, yeah, we'll just. 0:03:27.120 --> 0:03:30.359 Be careful because a lot's going on in LA that. 0:03:30.480 --> 0:03:33.560 Is happening to very rich people, very rich people who have. 0:03:34.200 --> 0:03:37.520 Say that to me, Like, because everybody who tells me 0:03:37.560 --> 0:03:41.280 to well, I'm being specific because people have said that 0:03:41.320 --> 0:03:42.920 to me a lot out from outside of LA and 0:03:42.920 --> 0:03:44.560 I don't think they understand that the people who are 0:03:44.560 --> 0:03:46.400 getting robbed are not in my tax. 0:03:49.160 --> 0:03:51.360 It's like criminals just figured out rich people. 0:03:51.600 --> 0:03:55.440 Yeah, so that's what Well, Okay, let's hear everyone's moving 0:03:55.480 --> 0:03:58.480 to a pivot where we now you know, now, let 0:03:58.520 --> 0:04:02.200 me not even put that out there, lazy gentleman. I 0:04:02.240 --> 0:04:06.080 will say that our guest today is the founding member 0:04:07.240 --> 0:04:14.240 of probably one of the most legendary futuristic electric funk 0:04:14.480 --> 0:04:19.559 duos professionally and better known as The System. What made 0:04:19.680 --> 0:04:22.760 The System unique is the kind of space that they 0:04:22.920 --> 0:04:27.839 occupied at a time period in which new ideas and 0:04:27.880 --> 0:04:30.200 new concepts were happening in real time. 0:04:30.760 --> 0:04:32.120 And this is like the post. 0:04:31.800 --> 0:04:37.320 Disco Leroy Burgess era of boogie, in which it was 0:04:37.400 --> 0:04:39.640 needed of a jolt. You know, It's like new wave 0:04:39.720 --> 0:04:41.240 was sort of coming in for a lot of the 0:04:41.279 --> 0:04:44.720 pop acts. And you know, of course, Prince finally had 0:04:44.760 --> 0:04:47.000 control of the wheel and made the entire world take 0:04:47.120 --> 0:04:50.080 notice of his vision, even made like Leon Silvers in 0:04:50.120 --> 0:04:53.000 the West Coast take note of his vision. Meanwhile, I'll 0:04:53.040 --> 0:04:56.120 say that in New York City, you know, club culture, 0:04:56.200 --> 0:04:59.520 dance culture sort of reached a boil where hip hop 0:04:59.680 --> 0:05:03.400 was slow creeping into We're dipping their toes in the water, 0:05:03.480 --> 0:05:06.360 and you know, for the first time you're hearing songs 0:05:07.000 --> 0:05:08.920 with a little harder edge to it, and R and 0:05:08.960 --> 0:05:11.480 B and funk you know, acts were slowly dipping their 0:05:11.520 --> 0:05:15.479 toes in the water using like futuristic synth sounds and 0:05:15.640 --> 0:05:21.480 harder drum programming, and you know, and I feel that 0:05:21.480 --> 0:05:24.240 that particular pocket is very influential. 0:05:24.320 --> 0:05:25.360 Duo occupied. 0:05:25.960 --> 0:05:27.880 Let me just get it, get him out of the 0:05:27.880 --> 0:05:30.600 way first, please, welcome to the cost Love Supreme Mike 0:05:30.720 --> 0:05:33.239 Murphy of the System, Thank you, sir, Thank. 0:05:33.040 --> 0:05:35.800 Your brother, thank you quest Love, thank you fam Wait. 0:05:36.000 --> 0:05:42.080 I wanted to know because you occupy there's there's a 0:05:42.200 --> 0:05:46.000 very specific period of New York City that I'm unaware of. 0:05:46.200 --> 0:05:49.640 Like we've had many guests that can sort of put 0:05:49.680 --> 0:05:52.479 me down with what was happening in Los Angeles between 0:05:52.560 --> 0:05:57.360 like seventy seven to eighty five. But for the first time, 0:05:57.400 --> 0:06:00.800 I think we're really going to dive into what R 0:06:00.839 --> 0:06:04.719 and B and what dance culture and what black music 0:06:04.720 --> 0:06:09.760 in general was going through in between you know, nineteen 0:06:09.800 --> 0:06:11.680 eighty eighty one, eighty two, eighty three or forty five 0:06:11.720 --> 0:06:14.719 for those that weren't under the Purple Umbrella and for 0:06:14.800 --> 0:06:17.719 those that weren't directly doing hip hop, like especially in 0:06:17.720 --> 0:06:18.360 New York City. 0:06:19.120 --> 0:06:21.880 So you know, thank you for doing the show Man. 0:06:22.200 --> 0:06:22.920 I appreciate it. 0:06:22.960 --> 0:06:25.119 Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it. Brother. 0:06:25.400 --> 0:06:27.200 So you're you're speaking to us now from. 0:06:27.080 --> 0:06:30.200 Where East Harlem, New York City? 0:06:30.520 --> 0:06:32.960 And okay, so you're still a Harlem resident? 0:06:33.800 --> 0:06:35.839 Yes, yes, I am. Okay, but well I grew up 0:06:35.839 --> 0:06:38.279 in Jamaica, Queen, so this I'm a I'm a twenty 0:06:38.360 --> 0:06:40.719 year transplant of each Okay. 0:06:40.760 --> 0:06:43.279 Well, before we started taping, you were letting Fonte know 0:06:43.360 --> 0:06:45.640 that you two are from the same hood. 0:06:45.920 --> 0:06:47.760 We're probably sorry. 0:06:48.520 --> 0:06:51.200 I'm born and raised in Raleigh, North Carolina. 0:06:51.720 --> 0:06:54.920 Wow, yep, crazy Morgan'll the. 0:06:54.960 --> 0:06:58.880 Cores, the Austin's, Yeah, we big, We rolled deep down there. 0:06:59.320 --> 0:07:02.520 That's so dope, some of them, I'm sure I do. 0:07:02.640 --> 0:07:04.960 I went to Central, so I went to kind of Central, 0:07:05.839 --> 0:07:08.120 so that was where I came from school. And then 0:07:08.279 --> 0:07:10.480 and uh, Raleigh. I mean I've moved to Riley in 0:07:10.560 --> 0:07:13.840 like five but been there ever since. But yeah, man, 0:07:14.360 --> 0:07:17.120 it's you know, cool city. Real it's going up like 0:07:17.120 --> 0:07:19.800 everywhere else, like the rent and all the property is 0:07:19.800 --> 0:07:20.400 going nuts. 0:07:20.440 --> 0:07:22.720 But but it's it's a beautiful city. Man, That's what's up. 0:07:23.720 --> 0:07:25.520 How long did you live there before you moved to 0:07:25.680 --> 0:07:26.080 New York? 0:07:26.160 --> 0:07:28.040 Oh? I was I moved up here when I was 0:07:28.080 --> 0:07:30.880 a baby. But every summer, you know, how mom, do 0:07:31.360 --> 0:07:33.720 you're gonna go down your uncle Jess. You're going to 0:07:33.760 --> 0:07:38.320 your uncle Jesse's this summer. So I did that till 0:07:38.320 --> 0:07:40.560 I was like thirteen fourteen. Once you finally was like 0:07:40.600 --> 0:07:43.320 all right, okay, you know, because I started, you know, 0:07:43.360 --> 0:07:45.280 playing in bands and stuff, and we were gigging a 0:07:45.280 --> 0:07:46.920 bunch and she was like, all right, I'm gonna let you, 0:07:47.160 --> 0:07:49.240 gonna let you get some okay. 0:07:49.480 --> 0:07:51.720 Was it were those good memories of having to go 0:07:51.800 --> 0:07:54.040 down south or was it always like I mean, I 0:07:54.160 --> 0:07:55.800 want to play with my friends in the summer up 0:07:55.800 --> 0:07:56.520 in New York. 0:07:56.640 --> 0:08:01.840 Or No, my cousins were friends. Bernard Fowler is my 0:08:01.920 --> 0:08:04.880 first cousin. Yeah, that's my first cousin. 0:08:05.160 --> 0:08:08.960 Of course. So is this the Queens as well? 0:08:09.880 --> 0:08:12.920 Yeah, he's from Queensbridge, and you know, as kids, we 0:08:12.960 --> 0:08:15.840 would we were best friends, running back and forth to 0:08:15.880 --> 0:08:19.040 each other's house. Is our mother his My father and 0:08:19.080 --> 0:08:23.840 his mother are brother and sister, so so she was 0:08:23.880 --> 0:08:27.640 like my she's my real auntie. And we spend weekends 0:08:27.680 --> 0:08:31.360 together hanging out, playing and stuff. So we've tight. Wow. 0:08:31.480 --> 0:08:33.160 So he's your actual first cousin. 0:08:34.200 --> 0:08:35.679 He's my actual first cousin. 0:08:35.960 --> 0:08:37.120 That's incredible, all right. 0:08:37.160 --> 0:08:39.400 So for our listeners out there, like Bernard is pretty 0:08:39.480 --> 0:08:44.240 much you know, he's who's the who of background singing. 0:08:45.760 --> 0:08:47.520 You know, he's known for his work with the Little 0:08:47.640 --> 0:08:48.719 Rolling Stones. 0:08:48.640 --> 0:08:53.320 Yeah, and lead singers and lead singers. She's he's definitely 0:08:53.440 --> 0:08:55.720 one one of the absolute best. 0:08:55.800 --> 0:08:58.840 Yeah, I gotta say the infamous House classic, well Peach 0:08:58.880 --> 0:09:00.560 Boys don't make Me wait? 0:09:00.960 --> 0:09:03.880 Maybe it won't make me wait. Yeah, that's all Bernard. 0:09:03.960 --> 0:09:06.200 Yeah, yeah, not to mention like the work that he's 0:09:06.200 --> 0:09:10.120 done with Bill as well and and Herbie. 0:09:09.840 --> 0:09:15.720 Hancock and the recently departed HYBYI. 0:09:16.320 --> 0:09:16.600 Wow. 0:09:16.840 --> 0:09:18.040 Okay, absolutely. 0:09:18.720 --> 0:09:20.960 So the question I usually start with, can you tell 0:09:21.000 --> 0:09:25.200 me what your first musical your first musical memory was. 0:09:27.360 --> 0:09:29.320 You know, as a kid, my mother loved music, so 0:09:29.800 --> 0:09:32.040 we used to go to the Apollo all the time, 0:09:32.480 --> 0:09:34.120 and it was at a time when you could see 0:09:34.679 --> 0:09:37.520 five shows in one day. You could just sit there, 0:09:37.600 --> 0:09:40.480 hang out and watch all the shows, and so I 0:09:40.559 --> 0:09:44.160 did that a lot. Those are my earliest, my earliest 0:09:44.200 --> 0:09:47.280 memories you know in music in the house of course, 0:09:47.320 --> 0:09:50.200 the Jackson Five, who I emulated in my first band, 0:09:50.320 --> 0:09:53.160 and kind of That's how I got my start. 0:09:53.400 --> 0:09:57.160 What did your mom do for work, man, My mother. 0:09:57.160 --> 0:10:01.439 Was my mother. No, my mother was a a plan 0:10:01.600 --> 0:10:06.679 reader engineer for Ma Bell for Bell Telephone Company, and 0:10:06.720 --> 0:10:11.040 she was a rebel, like she was the original liberated woman. 0:10:11.679 --> 0:10:17.040 She really was community leader and she used to give back. 0:10:17.040 --> 0:10:20.280 In the day, there were a lot of social groups 0:10:20.280 --> 0:10:23.800 that gave dances. So whenever they'd have a dance, of course, 0:10:23.840 --> 0:10:26.320 my little band, the Soul Shakers, we'd be like the 0:10:26.360 --> 0:10:28.880 floor show. So they would have like a well known 0:10:29.000 --> 0:10:33.480 kind of orchestra. One was Ron Ron Williams and the 0:10:33.520 --> 0:10:36.840 Band of Renown, so they would be the big band playing, 0:10:36.880 --> 0:10:38.360 and then we would come on and do like a 0:10:38.440 --> 0:10:41.040 Michael Jackson James Brown floor show. 0:10:42.200 --> 0:10:46.680 It's interesting to hear normally a lot of our guests 0:10:46.720 --> 0:10:52.400 on the show, if their formative years were in the 0:10:52.520 --> 0:10:56.600 sixties or seventies, nine times out of ten secular music 0:10:56.880 --> 0:10:57.640 is taboo. 0:10:57.760 --> 0:11:01.720 But it sounds like to hear like was was. Were 0:11:01.720 --> 0:11:04.040 your parents strict with music? 0:11:04.040 --> 0:11:06.480 You're not allowed to listen to any music but gospel 0:11:06.600 --> 0:11:08.200 or any of those things. 0:11:08.800 --> 0:11:11.560 No, I didn't have any of that pretty much. I 0:11:11.600 --> 0:11:14.600 mean in my house it was like Brooke Benton was King. 0:11:14.960 --> 0:11:17.800 You know, it's like the Black King, Cole was King, 0:11:18.640 --> 0:11:22.560 the smooth, the smooth r and b love the Love 0:11:22.600 --> 0:11:25.679 of Boys singers. So I kind of grew up really 0:11:25.720 --> 0:11:29.240 actually loving Brooke Benton, those kind of classic songs with 0:11:29.280 --> 0:11:33.880 the strings, with the deep, deep melodies and the deep lyrics, 0:11:33.920 --> 0:11:36.240 and that's kind of what I cut my teeth on. 0:11:36.320 --> 0:11:39.520 And later it developed into more more of the funky stuff. 0:11:40.200 --> 0:11:43.080 Okay, how many siblings do you have? Where do you 0:11:43.120 --> 0:11:44.640 fall in your family line? 0:11:45.040 --> 0:11:50.600 I'm I'm firstborn, so the only of three. 0:11:50.840 --> 0:11:54.800 Okay, so I'm the leaders passing it down to you. 0:11:54.960 --> 0:11:58.360 How do you because normally, if most I noticed that 0:11:58.440 --> 0:12:02.320 most of people in MU are usually the younger person. 0:12:02.800 --> 0:12:06.360 You know, there's always an older sibling that's passing the 0:12:07.120 --> 0:12:09.240 music down. Here, listen to this. This is James Brown. 0:12:09.280 --> 0:12:13.400 This is kind of nobody. But my aunt Jennis. You know, 0:12:13.520 --> 0:12:15.320 like I told you, my mother worked for mob Bell. 0:12:16.080 --> 0:12:19.200 My aunt Jennie, who moved up from North Carolina, would 0:12:19.280 --> 0:12:21.560 keep me during the day and she could sing like 0:12:21.559 --> 0:12:25.120 Aretha Franklin, real real talk, but she would only sing, 0:12:25.120 --> 0:12:27.560 and she would only sing in church. So during the 0:12:27.640 --> 0:12:29.720 day when my mother would be at work. She'd be like, 0:12:30.040 --> 0:12:32.880 Michah Micah Owen is what you call me, get up 0:12:32.880 --> 0:12:34.320 on the table and put on a show for me. 0:12:34.960 --> 0:12:36.800 And she put me on the table and you know, 0:12:36.920 --> 0:12:41.160 have me sing different songs, the Jackson Five particularly, and uh, 0:12:41.240 --> 0:12:44.480 you know that's kind of where my love for music 0:12:44.559 --> 0:12:46.960 and performing came from my aunt Jenny. 0:12:48.320 --> 0:12:50.720 So I assume that at one of these concerts you 0:12:50.760 --> 0:12:53.640 saw the Jackson Five perform, Like, would you say that 0:12:53.640 --> 0:12:55.640 that was like one of the more memorable concerts that 0:12:55.640 --> 0:12:56.560 you've saw or. 0:12:57.400 --> 0:12:59.120 Oh yeah, well the Fought. There were a lot of 0:12:59.480 --> 0:13:02.200 There were a lot of young groups. The Five Stare 0:13:02.200 --> 0:13:05.120 Steps may have been the first group that I saw 0:13:05.120 --> 0:13:09.000 at the Apollo of Young Guys, and Black Ivory actually 0:13:09.040 --> 0:13:15.559 performed at the r KO on Jamaica Avenue in Queens. 0:13:15.880 --> 0:13:18.679 When I saw them perform, I'm like, Wow, I can 0:13:18.760 --> 0:13:20.640 do that. I can do that because I don't I 0:13:20.679 --> 0:13:23.720 think they're just slightly older than me. And when I 0:13:23.720 --> 0:13:27.200 saw that they were able to perform and and actually 0:13:27.200 --> 0:13:29.480 make a living at it, I was like, wow, I 0:13:29.480 --> 0:13:30.000 can do this. 0:13:30.679 --> 0:13:34.320 Were the Stairsteps actual musicians in concert? 0:13:34.520 --> 0:13:40.000 Because yeah, I know that it was studio musicians. But 0:13:40.040 --> 0:13:42.320 I know that Kenny. 0:13:41.920 --> 0:13:45.640 Kenny, Kenny Burke played, Kenny Burke played on stage. My 0:13:45.679 --> 0:13:48.680 memory doesn't serve me how well he played at that time, 0:13:49.120 --> 0:13:52.000 but he was definitely he was definitely playing on stage 0:13:52.040 --> 0:13:53.400 back then at the Apollo. 0:13:58.120 --> 0:14:01.240 Did when did you start your well you talked about 0:14:02.120 --> 0:14:04.839 as far as your musical development was concerned. Was that 0:14:05.280 --> 0:14:08.679 a school thing that school encouraged or did you get 0:14:08.679 --> 0:14:09.240 her on your own? 0:14:10.480 --> 0:14:13.000 No? I was. I was really I went to egghead schools. 0:14:13.000 --> 0:14:15.559 I was busted to schools, and you know, I was 0:14:15.679 --> 0:14:19.640 very much into magnet kid math and science. To be honest, 0:14:19.800 --> 0:14:23.720 I was really an egghead. But my best friend, this kid, 0:14:23.800 --> 0:14:28.040 Robert Fontaine. He and my mother a Rain Fontaine and 0:14:28.160 --> 0:14:31.560 Shirley Austin. They could not be separated, and she was like, 0:14:32.680 --> 0:14:36.200 they dressed the same, they hung the same. So rob 0:14:36.360 --> 0:14:39.280 was her child. So we became close friends, even though 0:14:39.280 --> 0:14:41.280 it was a couple of years older than me. He 0:14:41.360 --> 0:14:43.960 had a band, and of course he didn't want to 0:14:44.040 --> 0:14:45.400 let me in the band because I was too young. 0:14:45.520 --> 0:14:49.280 I was like a little perp. But eventually two of 0:14:49.320 --> 0:14:52.400 the band members, especially the singer, they started getting into 0:14:52.480 --> 0:14:54.640 drugs and everything, and my mother's like, you should hear 0:14:54.680 --> 0:14:57.120 Michael sing. I'm telling you you'd hear him sing. And 0:14:57.160 --> 0:14:59.400 so I started singing with that band and that's how, 0:14:59.760 --> 0:15:03.400 you know, initially got my start singing and performing. And 0:15:03.440 --> 0:15:06.040 the band was the Soul Shakers. And I don't know 0:15:06.040 --> 0:15:07.120 if you know Ronnie Drayton. 0:15:07.400 --> 0:15:10.040 You know that name, Yes, Ronnie, the late Ronnie Drayton. 0:15:10.080 --> 0:15:14.880 Correct, Yes, the late Ronnie. Yes. Indeed, he was the 0:15:14.960 --> 0:15:15.920 drummer in the band. 0:15:16.280 --> 0:15:19.960 Wait, isn't Ronnie related to FLAVEO? 0:15:20.280 --> 0:15:22.080 Ah, yeah, we don't know if he. 0:15:22.320 --> 0:15:25.520 Okay, I might be mistaken because there was another Drayton 0:15:25.600 --> 0:15:27.440 that I met that used to work at Tower Records 0:15:27.520 --> 0:15:28.680 that is related to Flave. 0:15:29.600 --> 0:15:31.480 I know that Flave came from a large family. 0:15:31.640 --> 0:15:35.720 But no, Ronnie's not related to No no no. But 0:15:35.880 --> 0:15:37.800 we grew up two blocks from each other. He lived 0:15:37.800 --> 0:15:40.440 around the corner for me, and also growing up, he 0:15:40.560 --> 0:15:43.520 was kind of inspirational for us because he left the 0:15:43.560 --> 0:15:45.360 band as a drummer and said, I'm going to be 0:15:45.400 --> 0:15:47.920 a guitar player. I'm gonna start playing guitar. We're like, 0:15:48.440 --> 0:15:50.200 I want to stick to drums because you're such a 0:15:50.200 --> 0:15:53.400 good drummer. But eventually he kept going at it. He 0:15:53.400 --> 0:15:56.040 got a gig with the Chambers brothers and so they 0:15:56.080 --> 0:15:57.680 were going on the road and we were, you know, 0:15:57.720 --> 0:16:00.360 we were kids in pro keads and we were go 0:16:00.400 --> 0:16:03.000 around the corner and watch him being picked up by 0:16:03.000 --> 0:16:05.840 the band the station Wagon with his amps and everything, 0:16:06.080 --> 0:16:09.120 and we're like, wow, he's really he's really doing it. 0:16:10.480 --> 0:16:12.440 So he was an inspiration at all as well. 0:16:13.240 --> 0:16:15.720 It just hit me that Ron used to play with 0:16:16.520 --> 0:16:17.280 Noah Hendricks. 0:16:17.760 --> 0:16:21.200 That's right, he was really her band leader Edvin Bird's 0:16:21.240 --> 0:16:22.720 song Noah Hendricks. 0:16:23.400 --> 0:16:24.800 Yeah, yeaeah. 0:16:24.840 --> 0:16:28.480 He's a legend, you know, very very sad to see 0:16:28.600 --> 0:16:29.280 see him past. 0:16:29.400 --> 0:16:32.320 He was at our age, he was like the most 0:16:32.360 --> 0:16:35.200 serious musician. I mean, I grew up around a lot 0:16:35.200 --> 0:16:37.960 of really talented funk bands, like in my neighborhood and 0:16:38.000 --> 0:16:41.240 Jamaica Queens. Literally every other block there was a there 0:16:41.280 --> 0:16:44.800 was a band. There was a funk band, Mother Night, 0:16:45.160 --> 0:16:47.240 you know Eddie Eddie Martinez. 0:16:47.120 --> 0:16:49.080 Of course, the legendary Eddie Martinez. 0:16:49.200 --> 0:16:50.560 Yeah, Mother. 0:16:52.680 --> 0:16:55.280 Yeah, rock Box yeah yeah yeah yeah. 0:16:55.280 --> 0:16:57.640 They were one of our local bands. And we had 0:16:57.680 --> 0:16:59.680 some hell of funky bands back then. 0:17:00.760 --> 0:17:04.280 Yeah, where would these shows happen at high schools or 0:17:04.760 --> 0:17:08.439 like how like give me a typical rundown of Okay, 0:17:08.440 --> 0:17:12.040 if you have a neighborhood band, one, where do you rehearse? 0:17:12.080 --> 0:17:16.240 Because I know that, at least for the Midwest, families 0:17:16.240 --> 0:17:19.120 with garages, you know, hence the term garage band, like 0:17:19.280 --> 0:17:21.119 that's where bands are formed. But if you're in New 0:17:21.200 --> 0:17:25.080 York City and you form a band, first of all, 0:17:25.119 --> 0:17:26.680 where do you rehearse at. 0:17:27.040 --> 0:17:31.680 We're in Jamaica, Queens everybody had a garage and a basement, 0:17:32.040 --> 0:17:35.160 so you're the You're you're either rehearsed in the basement 0:17:35.359 --> 0:17:40.520 or the garage. My next door neighbor was Eddie Hazel's father, 0:17:40.680 --> 0:17:44.399 Eddie Hazel. He lived next door to me, so the 0:17:44.480 --> 0:17:48.840 parliament back in the day would come and and pull 0:17:48.880 --> 0:17:51.080 around on the back of you know, basically give parties. 0:17:51.359 --> 0:17:55.760 But his father, he did all the processes in the neighborhood. 0:17:55.800 --> 0:17:57.639 All hair processes. 0:18:00.920 --> 0:18:07.360 Could also do hair. I forgot about that. 0:18:10.280 --> 0:18:12.359 I'm saving a hair chapter until get the. 0:18:17.040 --> 0:18:18.959 Wow, oh that's crazy. 0:18:19.200 --> 0:18:22.520 Who who else were your were your contemporaries growing up 0:18:22.560 --> 0:18:24.960 as far as like who you went to school with 0:18:25.119 --> 0:18:27.280 or other people? 0:18:27.520 --> 0:18:31.359 Well, yeah, when I was in public school, it was 0:18:31.400 --> 0:18:34.120 really you asked about how where we would gig. There 0:18:34.119 --> 0:18:37.920 were five or six local clubs. There was the Club Ruby, 0:18:39.080 --> 0:18:43.119 the Linden Manor, there was after Rochfield Village was built, 0:18:43.160 --> 0:18:46.719 there was a big concert venue there. Everybody would play it. 0:18:46.800 --> 0:18:48.320 There were a lot of clubs. There were a lot 0:18:48.320 --> 0:18:51.520 of bars, local bars, and they all had bands. I 0:18:51.520 --> 0:18:54.320 mean we're talking before DJ before they realized, oh we 0:18:54.359 --> 0:18:56.200 can just get a DJ to come in. You know, 0:18:56.359 --> 0:18:59.480 we give it every everybody would gig. There were bands 0:18:59.560 --> 0:19:04.280 like the Firebolts, who were really kind of the leaders 0:19:04.280 --> 0:19:07.320 for us local bands because they had it organized so 0:19:07.600 --> 0:19:10.719 they played. They gigged every weekend like they always had 0:19:10.800 --> 0:19:14.399 shows for different cotillions. And there were a lot of 0:19:14.400 --> 0:19:18.320 gigs back then and when we were like the band 0:19:18.480 --> 0:19:21.200 under them, so we would sometimes be the opening act 0:19:21.240 --> 0:19:22.359 basically the floor show. 0:19:23.440 --> 0:19:27.080 Is this a thing where you can if you're that 0:19:27.240 --> 0:19:30.760 top band, can you make a nice living? 0:19:30.960 --> 0:19:33.600 Well, first of all, how old are you doing this period? 0:19:34.280 --> 0:19:37.640 I'm like thirteen, fourteen, fifteen when. 0:19:37.560 --> 0:19:39.400 You can go into a nightclub and do a show 0:19:39.440 --> 0:19:43.440 and it's not because a culture wasn't a thing yet. 0:19:43.560 --> 0:19:49.840 Or my mother was a mamager and she was a beauty, 0:19:50.560 --> 0:19:53.680 so nobody said no to Shirly, so she would kind 0:19:53.680 --> 0:19:56.320 of she was kind of book us on gigs. And then, 0:19:56.440 --> 0:19:59.200 like I said, during that era, everybody was a member 0:19:59.200 --> 0:20:02.000 of a social club. So they would be uh shinnecock 0:20:03.080 --> 0:20:05.719 Rod and Gun club and they would give an annual event. 0:20:06.040 --> 0:20:11.720 There might be the motorcycle. The Fat Back Band was 0:20:11.720 --> 0:20:17.000 the official band for like the Linden Boulevard Biker Biker Club. 0:20:17.560 --> 0:20:20.400 Really they would all have event yeah, yeah, yeah they would. 0:20:20.560 --> 0:20:23.199 They rehearsed from Linden Boulevard. How far from where I 0:20:23.240 --> 0:20:23.680 grew up. 0:20:24.080 --> 0:20:25.600 I didn't know that Fat Back was from there. 0:20:25.720 --> 0:20:28.480 Okay, yeah, Fatbacks from Linden Boulevard. 0:20:28.560 --> 0:20:33.480 Yeah, wacky for like thirty minutes. Yep, I've heard about 0:20:33.520 --> 0:20:34.000 their series. 0:20:34.720 --> 0:20:37.600 So all these social clubs, they would have a contillion 0:20:37.640 --> 0:20:40.080 where they'd bring out the young ladies. There would be 0:20:40.080 --> 0:20:42.159 a lot of events you could play. You could really 0:20:42.680 --> 0:20:44.240 make a living. I mean I was a kid and 0:20:44.280 --> 0:20:46.720 I was I'm making like one hundred dollars a weekend 0:20:47.040 --> 0:20:48.920 all the time. And you know, back in. 0:20:48.920 --> 0:20:52.080 That a teenager period. 0:20:52.160 --> 0:20:56.159 Yeah yeah, yeah, back then, what. 0:20:56.960 --> 0:21:00.480