Larry Graham was still a teenager when he first took to the road as a working musician, performing with his mother. Initially a guitarist, serendipity led him to the bass where he has become one of the most influential musicians on the instrument. He first gained acclaim through his role in Sly and the Family Stone, and then went on to lead his own group, Graham Central Station. This past fall he released his first studio album with GCS in fourteen years. Raise Up includes guest appearances by Raphael Saadiq and Graham’s neighbor and longtime collaborator Prince. In the following conversation he talks about his latest efforts and looks back to his earliest years on the road.
You grew up in Texas. How long have you been living in Minnesota?
I’ve been here about fourteen years.
You’ve been there for over a decade, so you clearly enjoy it out there?
You know for what we do, it’s amazingly centrally located. [laughs] So we can get to the East Coast, West Coast or down south really easy.
Although as I look at your tour schedule, it seems like a lot of what you’re doing is not even on this continent these days. Why don’t we start there. I mean can you talk about your reception in Europe, in Japan and what it’s like sort of playing to those audiences versus here? Are there appreciable differences?
It’s all good, it’s all positive. We just did twelve shows over in Japan, and it’s interesting because a lot of the people, you see ‘em during the show singing your music along with you; they know all the words. And then you’ll meet some of the same people after the show and they can barely speak English [laughs] but they know your songs.
There are a number of great jazz musicians and blues players who thrive overseas but don’t get the support that they deserve in their home country. Would you say that applies in your case and do you have any thoughts on that?
I’ve heard that before and I’ve seen there are some artists that may get more recognition in Europe or Japan. For us, fortunately, the reception has been great, here too. But yeah, in the last couple of years we’ve been exposed to more parts of the world than before. We’ve been to places that I’ve never been before like Istanbul, Turkey. I mean, I never thought I’d be doing a concert there.
What sort of setting were you playing in and what was that experience like?
It was I think the 17th annual International Jazz Festival, and so they had venues, you know, all over the place with different bands, and the reception was incredible. I didn’t even know they knew my music there. [laughs] We also played a couple of months back in Batumi, Georgia, which is right next to Russia. I didn’t know they knew my music there as well [laughs]. So we’ve been going to some pretty surprising places, but it’s all been good. And then again, when we play here, you know, Annapolis or Oakland or New York or Philadelphia it’s been great.
You have a new album that came out in the fall and it had been a while since a studio album of yours had been released. I’m curious as to what was the precipitating factor that led you to say, “Now’s the time, let’s go in and record”?
Well, a number of things. I love my band, they’re all from Oakland as well, and I have a nice collection of songs I wanted to record with them. I wanted to do a large portion of the album live in the studio, not like a live recording on stage, but playing live in the studio. So I had the right band, the right combination of people together with the record label and distributors, so all the pieces came together at the right time. The also had the right collection of songs, because I’d been writing over the last fourteen years. So everything just fell into place at the right time.
Was there one of those new songs that was the one that finally inspired you to go in?
Well, no, actually, all of the songs that I did, I handpicked them for this album. I have a lot more tunes, but these all fit together for this particular project. So there’s not one that sparked anything although they were all recorded under different circumstances. Like the songs we did with Prince, we recorded all those over at Paisley Park, and then the song I did with Raphael Saadiq, I recorded in Los Angeles, and then a lot of the other material we recorded in Europe, which was pretty cool because we were at the height of touring. So you’re in high gear and sort of go in and capture that live sound like on “Throw-N-Down The Funk” and “It Ain’t No Fun to Me” and “It’s Alright” and others, to go in and capture that live that was great for me to be able to do that. So collectively all of it was inspirational to me.
I wanted it to be live as opposed to a lot of overdubbing and stuff, so it was a blessing to find this great studio in France. And we had an off period of a few weeks at the end of one of our tours and we were able to book the studio and the timing was great. But I did want to record it live, whether it be in France or whether it be here in the States or anywhere, my intent was to capture it live. That’s the feel that I wanted because that’s what I’ve done in the past with Sly & The Family Stone records we did a lot of live recording up until [ There’s A Riot Goin’ On ] and so I wanted that feel. A lot of my Graham Central Station records were recorded live as well.
Can you talk about that experience? Was there anything particular to being in France that impacted on the sessions?
No, I don’t think so. I mean their equipment was great, the environment was wonderful. Let me see… maybe because I think we were a little more isolated where we were, it was way out in the country, so we were pretty much there in the element the whole time that we were recording. We were pretty much just living together, all of us, and so that was a good thing, we never had to leave the element. Not necessarily because it was France, but the circumstances were that we were all together as one big family the whole time, so that was great.
You mention family and clearly family is obviously important to you, your wife plays on your album, your daughter plays on the album, and you dedicate this album to your mom. When you first started playing live when you were a teenager, you performed in your mother’s band…
We worked together from the time I was 15 until I joined Sly & The Family Stone actually which was around 21. So yeah, my mother was a big influence on me.
She was a piano player, was that her main instrument?
Piano and vocals.
How would you characterize the sound of the band when you were performing with her?
It was just my mother on piano and me on guitar at first and then drums, so a three-piece band, a trio. The Dell Graham Trio. And then later when I switched over to bass, it was just me and my mother and the drummer, and then my mother decided to just make it a duo- just bass and piano. So that’s when I really created my style trying to compensate for not having the drums, I would thump the strings with my thumb and pluck it with my fingers to make up for not having the percussions in the background. So she was a big, big influence on me.
The development of that technique has had an incalculable effect on bass players. You just explained how it came about but how long did it take you to develop your signature style?
Well, not very long at all. Guitar was really my first love. Before then I had played drums and piano and stuff, but I thought guitar was going to be my main instrument. And then this one club had an organ in it that had bass pedals on it and I played the bass pedals with my foot at the same time playing the guitar. That’s where the bottom came in.
So now we got used to having the bottom and then when the organ broke down, we sounded empty because we were used to having that bottom. So I rented a bass, a St. George bass, from this place called Music Unlimited in California. And I rented this bass thinking that I was going to bring it back when the organ could be repaired [laughs]. But when the organ couldn’t be repaired, I kind of got stuck on the bass. So it was kind of like an unplanned thing that just happened overnight. I got this bass and now I’m playing it and I’m stuck on the bass ‘cause I can’t bring it back now [laughs].
And then clearly, you stuck with it. So you liked what you could do on bass and decided to continue with it?
Actually, I started playing the bass, but then when my mother made the decision to not have drums anymore, that’s what dramatically changed everything. That’s when I started thumping the strings to make up for not having that bass drum and plucking the strings to make up for not having that backbeat on the snare drum. So I was kind of playing the drums on the bass, you know. So it came out of a necessity and because I never intended to be a bass player I wasn’t listening to other bass players.
I wasn’t doing the so-called correct over the top style of playing with your fingers, when you go from upright to electric bass and so I was doing it all wrong [laughs] but it was necessary for what we were doing. I didn’t think I was inventing anything new or trying to come up with something unique; it was out of necessity.
But then when Sly, he was invited to the club by one of the regulars there, when he heard me doing my style, he loved what he heard. So asked me to join the band, and then through that band, the style became popular because to play “Thank You” or “Dance To The Music,” you kind of pretty much had to play like me. And so other bass players started playing like me because they were covering our songs.
I read somewhere, tell me if this is true, that when you first met Prince he said that he was familiar with Graham Central Station but he wasn’t all that familiar with Sly & The Family Stone. Is that accurate?
He was raised up on my music. When Sly & The Family Stone was popular, when our hit records were out, he was a lot younger. So it’s not that he didn’t know of the group, but by the time Graham Central Station came along, he was older and he was more into his writing and creativity and so forth. So Graham Central Station was a bigger influence at first, you know, he was more aware of our music I think, and then he went back like a lot of people did. A lot of people that learned about Graham Central Station and then learned my background, went back and got into Sly & The Family Stone.
I read an interview with you recently where you’re just about to leave for a European tour and then Prince calls you and says, “Hey, can you just come in for a little while and play?” I would assume that that’s happened any number of times over the years, and my question about that is, does he roll tape? Are all of those sessions recorded for posterity?
We’ve recorded a lot, I mean I can walk to the studio in five minutes [laughs]. I’m right around the corner, so it’s not unusual for us to get together and we’ve been neighbors for years. So sometimes we play and we record, sometimes we don’t, we just play because we love to play, and sometimes it could be a bunch of musicians, sometimes it could be just me and him [laughs].
That’s the session I want to go to, just to see the two of you. I imagine that has to be stellar.
We do that all the time, we get together and play and you know, we could be on various instruments because we love what we do. It’s a blessing to be able to do what we do and make a living at it, but we also love it so sometimes we just play to play. It’s not always rolling but sometimes it is.
Hopefully some of those will come out one of these days.
Oh yeah, we have a lot of stuff recorded, I mean a lot of tunes so you probably will hear some more of it.
In terms of Raphael Saadiq on the album, how did that come about?
Well he’s another one that was raised up on Graham Central Station’s music, and he’s out of Oakland too, we’re from the same hometown. So I recorded at his studio and he lives in Los Angeles now, but he’s from Oakland and that’s how that connection came about. He was raised on my music pretty much like Prince.
Your new album, there are three songs you’ve recorded, each of which is described as a new master. What led you to those three and why did you decide to take another crack at them?
Those particular three, we’ve been playing live and so I kind of, I guess you could say they’re kind of tried and tested [laughs] on the audience and I’ve gotten great reactions from those particular songs when we play them live. Others too, but those three, having said, kind of tried and tested. And then to record them again and put them out there as the new master it means that I’m the owner of those songs. Everything I recorded before is owned by Warner Brothers, you know. And so anything I cut under these circumstances then I end up owning it which is great.
With sampling and the like, I’m surprised more artists don’t do that. Obviously you want to do it for creative reasons but for business reasons it makes a lot of sense as well.
Well, yeah, then your kids end up benefitting from the music down the road because it obviously goes to them, you know, if you own it. But everything I did with Warner Brothers and Prince, the same thing, and other artists, the same thing, the record company and their families own it. These are the new masters because I’m the new owner of my own songs. That’s the way it should be for everyone but unfortunately it’s not. But I think that as time goes on, more and more people are starting to feel the same way that I feel. And I think also technology helps you to do a lot more now than you could do 20, 30 years ago too. So you’re probably going to see more and more artists owning their own material. And there are more avenues to get your music to the people available now than there was before, so you’re probably going to start seeing more and more of that. But anyway, that’s my reason behind doing the new masters and hopefully I want to do some more new masters.
Last question: About a decade ago you recorded with Gov’t Mule’s Warren Haynes and Matt Abts after Allen Woody passed away. I know it’s a while back but I’m sure our readers would love to hear, what are your recollections, if any, of that particular session?
Oh yeah, great bunch of guys. Obviously super talented musicians and stuff so they asked me to participate on their project and we hit it off immediately musically. I think you can hear on the album we just had a bunch of fun and the end product turned out great [laughs]. There’s a video out there somewhere.
