{"id":3478,"date":"2011-08-19T00:00:39","date_gmt":"2011-08-19T07:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/?p=3478"},"modified":"2011-08-19T00:00:39","modified_gmt":"2011-08-19T07:00:39","slug":"bootsy-collins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/2011\/08\/bootsy-collins\/","title":{"rendered":"BOOTSY COLLINS"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/h1>\n

BOOTSY COLLINS<\/h1>\n

The funkiest bass player in the universe throws an all-star party<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cI am the funk, I\u2019m with the funk, the funk is within me,\u201d declares legendary bass player Bootsy Collins\u2014and you\u2019d better believe it. Whether holding down the mighty grooves of James Brown\u2019s early-1970s band the J.B.\u2019s, slapping his way through extraterrestrial funk workouts with George Clinton\u2019s Parliament-Funkadelic, charting solo hits such as \u201cBootzilla,\u201d or collaborating with everyone from popsters Deee-Lite to bluegrass icon Del McCoury, the much-sampled Rock and Roll Hall of Famer has always given us earthlings the funk, the whole funk and nothing but the funk.<\/p>\n

Collins continues to funkify the masses with his latest release, Tha Funk Capital of the World<\/em>. With his trademark star-shaped space bass firmly in hand, the funkateer surrounds himself with a wide range of all-star talent, from Snoop Dogg and Samuel L. Jackson to the Rev. Al Sharpton and B\u00e9la Fleck. \u201cI\u2019m into changing things up,\u201d explains Collins. \u201cI wanted to add a little rap, a little rock and little gospel in with the funk\u2014and come up with a thing where I can break into a whole new area.\u201d He has also been recording with Sly Stone on what is slated to be the reclusive R&B master\u2019s first new album since 1982. We spoke with Collins at his Bootzilla World Headquarters in Cincinnati about his music, his business and the cosmic importance of the one.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s behind the album title? <\/strong><\/p>\n

One night I looked up at the universe, saw the stars and thought, \u201cI need a title for this record.\u201d I woke up the next day with Tha Funk Capital of the World<\/em>. As soon as I said it, I thought, \u201cWow, that\u2019s it!\u201d It has more than one meaning. I like that. You can marinate on it. I knew, first off, people would think I was talking about a certain city. So that was fine. Then it could be deeper than that. Wherever I\u2019m at is where the funk is. But it also tells people that it\u2019s wherever you\u2019re<\/em> at. What you bring to the table, that\u2019s pretty much\u00a0what it\u2019s gonna be.<\/p>\n

How did you work with your guests?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Each song dictated a different approach. For example, on \u201cFreedumb,\u201d I invited\u00a0Dr. Cornel West in because I had this concept I wanted him to speak about. What I told him was, we all got these smartphones, but everybody\u2019s still making dumb decisions. (laughs<\/em>) He took that, and what you hear on the record is what he came up with. He didn\u2019t write anything down. It came off the top of his head. It was fun and encouraging to watch that process, because that\u2019s how we used to do it back in the day. Just off the top. Reverend Sharpton and Samuel L. were the same way on their songs. Didn\u2019t write nothing down. I gave them a direction,\u00a0and they took off.<\/p>\n

Where does that \u201coff-the-top\u201d approach come from? <\/strong><\/p>\n

That idea is about dedication to music. It\u2019s hard for younger people to be dedicated to music when they\u2019ve got so many distractions. Twitter, Facebook, video games, all these different things. Back in the day, we would kill ourselves to rehearse. I don\u2019t care what was going on, we had to rehearse. It takes that kind of dedication to lead with the music and to create the expression of what you\u2019re feeling. You have to be focused like a boxer going off to training camp. No sex, no drugs\u2014just total focus. It\u2019s a hard thing to do, but that\u2019s what made the great ones great. Michael Jordan, Jimi Hendrix, these cats were dedicated. They practiced and got great at their craft. It wasn\u2019t about going out and saying, \u201cHey, everybody throw your hands up!\u201d It\u2019s like, \u201cThrow my hands up? You haven\u2019t done anything yet. Do something and I\u2019ll throw my hands up.\u201d We\u2019re asking now for applause and credit before we even do anything. It\u2019s a little backwards.<\/p>\n

What did you learn from James Brown?<\/strong><\/p>\n

He taught me about the one. That first beat of the measure. When I got with him, I was playing a lot of notes. I had grown up playing guitar, and I was forced into playing bass because I wanted to play with my brother [Phelps \u201cCatfish\u201d Collins], who played guitar. But when I joined James\u2019 band, I didn\u2019t have all the natural attributes that bass players have. I was playing like a guitar player. But James disciplined me, settled me down. His whole thing was, \u201cYou can play that stuff, but make sure you give me the one.\u201d The one\u00a0was so important to him.<\/p>\n

Did he give you extramusical advice?<\/strong><\/p>\n

He told me, \u201cIt\u2019s 75 percent business, 25 percent music.\u201d For me it was all about the music, so I didn\u2019t know what he was talking about. But he let me hang around and see him take care of business, make those phone calls, go to the promoter\u2019s office. All these different things didn\u2019t make sense to me then. Later on, I got it. I thought, \u201cThat\u2019s why he made that phone call,\u201d or, \u201cThat\u2019s why he cussed out so-and-so in front\u00a0of me.\u201d It all benefited me.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s up with Sly? <\/strong><\/p>\n

He\u2019s doing a solo album with remakes as well as new songs. I played on \u201cHot Fun in the Summertime,\u201d one of my all-time favorites. Sly was one of the main cats who opened the door for us freaky black entertainers. He and Jimi opened a whole new door that said, \u201cYeah, it\u2019s cool to\u00a0look and sound like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

How\u2019s he doing? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Sly is going to be Sly. That\u2019s the way he came up, and I think it would be hard for him to change. I understand. When you\u2019re coming up and you\u2019re dedicated to music like he was, and then you find out that the business has corrupted every part of the musical vision that you\u2019ve intended, it affects you deeply. I know what I\u2019m talking about, because I went through the same thing. I fell out the back door of it all and landed on my feet. Sly, he don\u2019t want to deal with it. A lot of the \u201960s and \u201970s musicians are not here because they didn\u2019t want to deal with it. They took themselves out of the picture. That business aspect of music is no joke. I got into this because I loved music, but the business aspect\u00a0can ruin that for you.<\/p>\n

How do you feel about sampling?<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a way, it\u2019s been great. And in another, it hasn\u2019t been so good\u2014especially for black youth, because they are following more of the rap lifestyle than the musicianship. There isn\u2019t enough balance there. The musician side needs to come up some. Hopefully I can help more people get involved in playing music on real instruments. I know that they\u2019ve put down the Guitar Hero<\/em> games because the violent killing games were earning more money. When it becomes about the paper gods so much that you\u2019ve got to worship that lifestyle, then things are out of whack. You can\u2019t be creative with the wrong priorities, but that\u2019s what it has come to. We\u00a0need to instill music values.<\/p>\n

\u2013Bill DeMain<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BOOTSY COLLINS The funkiest bass player in the universe throws an all-star party \u201cI am the funk, I\u2019m with the funk, the funk is within me,\u201d declares legendary bass player Bootsy Collins\u2014and you\u2019d better believe it. Whether holding down the mighty grooves of James Brown\u2019s early-1970s band the J.B.\u2019s, slapping his way through extraterrestrial funk […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[2416,1807,970],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3478"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3478"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3478\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3480,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3478\/revisions\/3480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}