GREG BOYER
by funkygirl
| First Greg let us
tell U how much we are proud to talk with such a legend of Funk
as you !!!
1) Let's start with the beginning ;o) At what age did you start to be passionned for music ? Which are the artists you were listening to as a little boy ? I've been fascinated with music ever since i can remember. Iused to sing songs i'd compose whenever i was bored. I used to spin the ashtrays around and pretend they were '45's. And when i got my first horn (a toy saxophone at age four), it took off from there. 2) Did the Funk appear as an evidence from that time ? Can you explain why you like this music so much (like us ;o)) ? My parents played a lot of jazz when i was young. My sister and my cousind would play motown all day, and my older brother would play james brown continuously. I think that's where i got my "funk" from. 3) Is it the reason why you decided to become a horn player ? Tell us about your complicity with this instrument…
4) At the early age of fifteen, you joined Parliament/Funkadelic (a.k.a George Clinton and the P-Funk All Stars), the first highlight of your musical career for sure !!! ;o)) So of course, we want you to relate to us some memories about this period ! Was it as crazy to be part of this group as we imagine it was ?
5) A subjective question about those nineteen years of collaboration with the best P-Funk bands ever : What is your favorite song among the ones you played with them and why ?
6) Why did you decide to leave the group ? I just felt that i had done all i could with p-funk. Musically they just weren't inspiring anymore, the business was becoming unraveled, and it was hard being around such complacency. So with nowhere to go, i just quit. 7) So you left the group and then you played your horn in different style of music : Funk with Bootsy and Gap Band, Jazz Funk with Stanley Clarke, Soul with Al Green and even Gospel, reggae and house (with Crystal Waters). Was it a real choice?
I had known maceo from my p-funk days. So i wasn't as "awestruck" as i could have been. But that doesn't mean that i didn't learn anything from him. the last four years with maceo have been an immeasurable experience. He's much like a 'big brother' to me. 9) As Funk fans, we also love a lot GoGo music ! And in this style too you played with the best… ;o) You often join Chuck Brown's group in Washington DC when you aren't on tour… How do you explain that both style seem less popular than a few years ago ? Simply put, music executives feel that they can make more money with R&B and hip hop than they can with funk. There's always going to be "funk lovers", but they'll have to look harder for the music they like if MTV isn't giving up da funk! 10) So we get to 2002 : you're currently on tour with Prince (The most creative men in the musical world for me, I'm really a big fan ;o) After all the brilliant musicians you played with all over your career what's different with playing with Prince ? Each bandleader will be different - musical genius or not. but the thing that amazes me about prince is how music flows constantly out of him. I think he has no time to sleep because he's always manufacturing music! 11) What are the dates that let you the best memories or a special feeling among all this European Tour ? Probably the after shows at bataclan and nighttown (paris and rottendam respectively). There's nothing more musically pure than a jam. 12) I have my own opinion on what I think of the 2 concerts (Zenith and Bataclan) you made in Paris on the 28th October … but I would like you to give us your opinion about them ? What the group (and Prince of course) thought of those two shows and the French audience ? I think they were both very hot (très chaud!) and the crowd was so welcoming and enthusiastic! 13) So now you have answered my questions, I can give you my opinion on the shows ;o)) : It was the best musical experience of my live !!! It was amazing and all the fans are still crazy about this special night. Have you been touched (like us) by so much crowd and crazy people who were shouting and singing together (even at 5 in the morning ;o) just to give you back all the love and pleasure we felt in listening to the music you were playing ? I loved it. It was the only thing that kept me awake! 14) With a musical career like your, did you ever feel the need to create your own music ? To make and release your own personal project ? Is it something you'd love to do now ? And what kind of music would you like to mix in it ?
15) What do you think of the musical industry now of the fact that real music played by real musicians is so rare ? It's not the "music industry"
anymore. It's the "entertainment industry"! Ithink sometimes
that the only way to be a superstar is to be under 25, dance very
well, be no bigger than a size 7 (women/girls), and think of nothing
but sex! It's taking me too long to think of somebody. Maybe no one's showing me any promise! 17) More and more artists have decided to work without major labels and the Internet has become an unlimited playground for music fans like us … What's your opinion about this new way of distributing music ? Since label executives know very little about music (but plenty about marketing!), i like to see artist control their music, even if it's selling it via the internet. 18) Now the traditional WeGoFunk's question
for finishing on a high note : which are the 3 I'd rather give you my favourite songs: 1) "fencewalk", by mandrill 2) "cold sweat", james
brown 3) "super stupid", funkadelic 4) "hair", graham central
station 5) "the ocean", led zeppelin 6) "star child/mothership connection",
parliament 7) "alligator woman",
cameo 8) "ghetto life", rick
james 9) "love the life you live"
or "open sesame", kool & the gang 10) "i like the girls",
fatback band Thanks U so much Greg…
and have a good time in Keeping the Funk Alive in Japan soon with
Prince and the Band ;o)) Funkygirl
(November
2002) >>> more
d'infos on:
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By
the time i graduated from high school, i could play every instrument
in the band. So i always had a gig! Trombone kind of "chose
me" more than i chose it. Iwas originally a tenor sax player
on my first gig..jpg)
Actually,
i joined the group at nineteen....jpg)
Anybody
that had the money was good to play with! Plus i wasn't playing
the same music all the time. Also, i was writing and arranging
a lot more then; one of the things i really love to do.
I've
been so busy, when i come home, i don't think about music! i visit
my three kids, play billiards, and go for rides on my harley davidson!
but seriously, the songs i've written and plan to record on my
CD are a mix of jazz, go-go, salsa, and of course funk! Iwonder
if the music industry is ready for such a mix? 