You’ve had some big milestones in the last year or so: The Meters celebrated 50 years, Jazz Fest is celebrating 50 years. Does it feel like an important time?
I turned 71 the day after Christmas last year and I’m just chuggin’ along. I’m still enjoying it. There’s a few aches and pains. Some mornings I don’t want to get up, like this morning, I didn’t want to get up.
I think last night was the first time that—or maybe it’s the second time—that my voice was destroyed. So I guess that that’s a sign of my growth, or my aging. The voice can’t take the punishment that it used to take.
Are you one to warm up your voice or warm up on the bass?
I don’t think what I do on my bass is considered warming up. I think I’m just making sure it’s in tune. Warming my voice up is something that I have never ever done. I think for years and years, I never really considered myself a singer. Singers warm up, you know? I’m not a shouter, but I’ve been told that I do a lot of shouting. People say, “When you sing, you sing really good, so you should try and do that more often.” So, I’ve got to learn how to use my tube.
Recently Art Neville said he’s officially retired. Does that mean we’re never going to see the original Meters on stage together again?
I don’t think unless it’s something that’s really special and he wants to be there, he’s always welcome. But other than that, I don’t think so. I think he’s really, really done.
photo by Dean Budnick
I did get to catch the Foundation of Funk at LOCKN’ this year with a surprise appearance by a bunch of the Dead & Company guys. It seemed like you guys were having a ball up there.
It was just fun, you know? It was a jam room. We started off being the Foundation of Funk and playing some Meters stuff. It was funny, we were told that Mickey [Hart] and Billy [Kreutzmann] were coming to sit in and but didn’t know that Bob [Weir] and [John] Mayer was comin’ in too. All of a sudden, we had four of the six pieces up on stage with us. It was killer. It was fun.
How did you know what to play?
I think we went into the “Iko Iko” thing which led into other things that were flavorful. I don’t remember the exact set list, but we played some things that wasn’t in the Dead songbook…I mean those guys are players, they’re good musicians, so when you throw curves at great musicians they hang tough and play. And the audience was blown away by what they were singing.
The crowd went nuts for that. It was the absolute highlight of a lot of people’s lives, I’m sure.
It felt good to us on stage too.
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