Do you feel a responsibility to mentor people now because those teachers are gone?

I definitely feel a responsibility to be responsible. Not necessarily that I need to be a mentor because I’m not really sure if I’m a good mentor. [Laughs] I like staying home and looking at the television, which tends to take up more of my time than being in the studio. I basically haven’t turned my studio on in five, six months.

What do you watch on TV?

Stupid shit.

Like what?

A lot of shoot-em-up, blowing shit up, action flicks. I have been watching The Mandalorian with the baby Yoda guy. I watched a whole season of that.

You mentioned your studio. Last time I spoke to you there was a Runnin’ Pardners album in the works.

The guitar player that was recording that project with me at the time left the band. Since then, I’ve added a new guitar player and I want to re-do those guitar parts with the new kid. I have two records that are recorded and just need to be finished. For the Runnin’ Pardners album, I just need to replace Brint [Anderson’s] stuff with Chris [Adkins]. With the Porter Trio stuff, it’s two members of the Runnin’ Pardners and myself: Michael [Lemmler] on keyboards and Terrence [Houston] on drums and myself. I have to get a vocal track that I’m happy with. I’m pleased with the instrumental parts of the recordings, I’ve just gotta be more musical vocal-wise.

Do you ever take vocal lessons?

I do what I think I should be doing and then the end result is that I’m not happy with it. [Laughs] So it’s been suggested to me that I should get someone to come in and tutor me on that, on how to actually produce my vocal tracks.

Do you think you’re your own toughest critic sometimes?

Absolutely. One of the things I’ve learned from previous recordings that I’ve done is that when the album comes out and I go play it, I realize I can’t play and sing [at the same time]. So, I started thinking that playing the track and trying to sing it at the same time means that I have to simplify my bass line. A bunch of the bass lines are really melodic bass lines or it’s a strict pattern, but vocally I can’t figure out how to sing and play that pattern.

I want to talk a little bit about the Maple Leaf. Why is that home base for you?

I’m not expected to be anything. It’s a jam situation and people like coming out and seeing it. A lot of the music that The Porter Trio is recording was creating at the Maple Leaf.

A friend of mine from New Orleans told me that when you walk up at the Maple Leaf, people cheer in the streets. Is that true?

I just got nominated to do the King of Oak, so that means that if I walk in a bar, everybody has to say, “Hail King Robustus 34.”

What is that?

Robustus is the king; I have no clue what Robustus means.

Is there a ceremony? Are you getting a crown?

Yeah I got a crown and all that stuff.

That’s very New Orleans.

You can’t be a king without a crown.

Where is the crown now?

Right now it’s on the table in the living room.

What are you going to do as king?

I have to go talk to other kings and find out what I’m expected to do.

In addition to the kingship, are there any other awards from your career that you are particularly proud of?

The two Lifetime Achievement awards. One I knew I was getting, the other one came as a complete surprise, the Grammy one. I had no idea that they even knew who we were.

Were you happy to have that type of recognition because The Meters were unsung heroes for a really long time…

That’s true and that’s what made it more like, “Why?” In the Grammys, people had never recognized our music. I was told that the song “Cissy Strut” had gotten an award several years earlier, but I had never heard about it. [Laughs]

Do you have anything you’re working on in the near future?

I’m hoping that I can complete the two records that I’m pretty close to finishing and start the third project that I want to do. It’s going to be an acoustic bass and a female singer and myself, not necessarily doing a Marvin Gaye-Tammi Terrell, but a duet thing. I’m writing the music and I’m asking the ladies to write the lyrics.

Do you have any particular singers in mind?

Yeah, Mila Borles, a singer-songwriter, Susan Counsel, Erica Falls who sang with Galactic for a while and has a solo project out now, and my granddaughter. And then there are two other ladies that I’m supposed to be setting up an audition interview with. They were suggested to me, but I don’t know them. I was told I need to check those ladies out. I can’t mention who they are.

Would that all be originals?

Yeah, I’m going to write all original bass lines and the girls would write lyrics to fit those bass lines.

When you’re working with a musician or a singer can you tell almost immediately if it’s going to work or not? If you’re jamming with someone, can you tell within the first few notes?

Not within the first few notes, but you can just hear when you need to tell somebody that it’s time to leave.

How do you tell someone it’s time to leave?

“Time to leave!” [Laughs]

With all of this new technology, are you still using techniques you used back in the ‘70s?

The trick I use today is just knowing how much information to put on. I use my ears more than I use the technology, because I believe that’s still important. When I was growing up, it was about what you heard, not what you saw.

When you heard those first Meters tracks, did you know it was magic on tape?

We had no idea [Laughs].

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