Welcome to Music Matters Podcast with Darrell Craig Harris talking about all things music with celebrities, artists, music business insiders and more. Michael Hampton, how you doing today? Great, great. Funking stuff. You looking fucking, you got your fucking guitar right next to you? Yeah, yeah. It was like, just follow me. It's like staying bed, you know. Yeah, it's like a tats to you, right? Sure. Hey, so you have such an interesting story. You're a member of the Rockville Hall of Fame. You played with George Clinton, Parliament Funkadelic for many decades. You've co-written a lot of their biggest hits and written a lot of music for other people as well. Man, you have such an interesting story. How did you get started with music and also how old were you when you got with George? I was 17. We could just back up just a little bit. I mean, I didn't write a whole lot of the lyrics and stuff like that. I did mostly overdoses. When I first started, I did stretching out, the sessions stretching out. I think Be My Beach was the same day or night that I recorded. But a lot of it, I was just so overdubbing, you know, guitar parts and stuff like that. Yeah, you came up with some kind of key guitar parts. Yeah, so I was just saying, I'm thinking lyrics and singing. Oh, I got you. Yeah. That's all. But yeah, thanks for that. I just, well, the band called me. They knew a guy named Ed Sparks. He lived on the East side, which weren't really allowed to go on the East side. It was like the Ruffer side. That's like Cleveland, right? Yeah, it's a Cleveland thing. But you know, it's just parts. There's always some parts everywhere. This guy, you know, he just happened to live over there and he was trying to put together a few young guys, you know, basically a young older guy can kind of like, oh, we didn't know any better. He's like, we just want to play, you know. He's an older guy to kind of put it all together and get everybody organized. Well, he knew the band. I guess I just fast forwarded to, he knew Funkadelic and Paul, the new Funkadelic, that's and he invited them over to a house party after we had seen Funkadelic. I think they opened up for Bloodstone. It was take that high. I'm not just, yeah. Anyway, you heard me play Maggot Brain, a couple of guys at the party, you know, and later on Tiki Forward, he called me from DC and they flew me into Landover, you know, Shreemun at DC. The concert was at the Capitol Center in Landover, Maryland, which I hear now it's a mall now. But it used to be one of the first concert places, so the Sport Arena and it had the big screen TV. And then the other, this is a sold out show. I found a string to put on the guitar and went out and played. Bernie and I opened up the show with Maggot Brain. And that's the first time I see myself on a closed circuit screen. I mean, I think it was, I didn't know where to go from there. Do you know what I mean? And I was like, wow, you know, like blowing your mind, right? Getting better than your big, big head, big waterhead. Yeah. Yeah. So that must have been, that must have been crazy because you're so young. Like, you know, when you, when you got together first with the guys and stuff and started playing, did you feel like you were like the young kid or did you feel like you were an equal with the other players? How was that for you? Yeah, I was definitely looked fine. Like just, you know, you know, and they, they took me up on the wings, you know, like Gary and Gary and Boogie were there. Ron Bykowski, he did the original Cosmic Slop solo and then I modeled, but I did live after his solo on the, on the recorded. But they all, you know, helped me out, whether one on one or like we'd be sitting. I'll watch him would have. And I was doing my own practicing, but we'd get in the room and they showed me some key parts of the, you know, the figure because it's slap or standing on the verge, you know, which is an interesting part to play finger it. And I was fortunate. I was blessed enough to pick it up, you know, like, you know, I, I just practiced all the time. And that's how they didn't really have to babysit me. Yeah. Yeah. Cause you had a passion for it. So when you love it, it's like, it's not almost like not work, right? Yeah, exactly. Yep. Plus, you know, the grown up stuff, I probably, I mean, I'm not going to do it at night and it's like, go to bed. Get some sleep. Yeah. You don't, you don't want to come in here. You know what I mean? Yeah. So how, how, how will you, when you first started playing guitar, did you, did you have like a musical family or how did that happen for you? I just, well, I just said it musical in a sense that I had an uncle that played a little bit and, um, you know, and sang a little bit. Yeah. Michael Bill and, um, and well, my, as far as tasting music, I say my parents there's just a taste of music and then we had a good old, good old AM radio. I'd be listening to that. That'd take me to sleep pretty much every night. And I'd hear all these, you know, hits and, um, I never thought I'd be playing guitar, you know, just kind of happen. Um, when I was visiting my, my, my, my uncle had the same place where I did the, the, my first show, which was really, you know, for whatever reason, you know, some, if you believe in pre-destined type stuff. Yeah. So it's like karma. Right. Yeah. But you say like Cleveland, Landover, this is a demo, so Springs, Maryland. Practice a little bit. Um, basically it was a process of elimination. You know, everybody probably wanted to be, well not everybody, but you want to be a job, it's like football, baseball, play Pee Wee, baseball. I was pretty good with that. But nothing, um, you know, you just kind of find out what your niches are, right? You know, and, um, start playing guitar. Now I found a couple of notes and I got them, you know, uh, I learned a couple of notes and like super bad or something, some single line stuff. Yeah. All the James Brown stuff. Yeah. Yeah. It's awesome. And, uh, somebody, they're playing get ready on one string. And it's just that one string, two or three strings on the guitar. And whatever you could, whatever I could play on, you know, one string. And then I started, you know, of course, to add, put the missing strings there. I got some lessons from a guy, uh, John DeChero, in the, on the west side of Cleveland, it used to be a, uh, old music store. Well, they're still there. It's called D. Fiori's music. And, um, yeah, I used to take some lessons there for like three months. Yeah. That's why it sounds like you had some great people mentoring you. I mean, not only with like the George Clinton thing, but also like guys like that. Cause when you're a young player, you just want to learn, you don't even, you don't even care where it comes from. You just want to get information, right? Yeah, sure. And, um, yeah, Bernie was a big part, you know, uh, my big brother, you know, he's, he basically, you know, um, you know, you know, theory things, little things that he would say, you know, I didn't study, but he, he went to, uh, was it, uh, was it Berkeley, he might have went to Berkeley or something like that. Anyway, he, you know, we trained all that and some. So he's like, so you give you some ideas to try this, try this or try that. And just to kind of broaden your, your sound, right? Yeah. And it definitely found out, um, something different from him and, uh, about keyboards and guitar, cause, you know, everybody turns up like EAD, GBE or something. You know, right. Basically. And you're asking the keyboard player to give you the notes. And one time Bernie's, he's giving me the, uh, he's giving me the open notes. So I tuned it up open and, but on the neck, you know, I'd hit it and it'd be out of tune with, with his, with his keyboard, you know, and, um, so I mean, this is something I did to set up the guitar, put all the, the, um, the saddles back so I can have like a, a more, more of a bendable action, you know, right? It's things easy. And then I'd set it up so that, um, basically it's, it isn't tuned with itself. Right. Yeah. It's what people will call intonation. Cause you play, you play that air and it's cool. You go up the back and all of a sudden it gets all long. Yeah. And I was like, I think Gary, Gary Shaddy used to tease me about that. I used to tell people about, um, me telling Bernie, you know, to tune his keyboard to my guitar. Yeah. So if you have to tell them, like, Hey man, what's wrong with your organ? That's funny. Never doing that. He's just, you know, those things that get started. Who are some of the, the good, when you were young, a young guitar player, who were some of the guys that you really looked up to some, some influential, influential guys? Oh, it's, I mean, this is like Eddie, uh, I mean, you know, in the group or, uh, yeah, group or, or just guitar players. I kind of mentioned one of them I saw from you was BB King was one of them. Yeah. Yeah. BB King, uh, and Albert King, you know, the guitars, uh, you know, um, I played on our engine, engine number nine, you know, to gotta play for where earth gotta play for war. Yeah. That Tana, sugar foot from the high players. Yeah. You know, Jimmy index, of course, and some page. Yeah. Black Sabbath, deep purple. You know. Yeah. So like it's interesting too, because a lot of people would, a lot of people would think that you would only be listening to like funk, but you actually listen to everything in your album, um, into the public domain has a lot of rock and roll stuff on it too. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I, you know, and West Montgomery, he was one of the first like my father said he was, he thought that that was, it was a big deal. And it is, you know, or was back then when you could play those octaves West Montgomery, the only guy can play two notes at the same time. I'm like, you know, it's like, it's an octave. You know, I'm like, okay, you know, but I mean, you find out later. But, uh, yeah. And he's playing, he's playing with his, his thumb and he's got his guitar action is like this high and he's playing, he's playing a different chord on every, on every beat, right? It's crazy. Exactly. And, um, yeah. I mean, I started off listening to him and, uh, BB and all the guitar and, um, uh, oh yeah, something that said on the album cover, the day of life. What's my, uh, Gummer is like, uh, the guy did some linear notes in there. And it was basically one of them said it's only two kinds of music. Good and bad. So when you say like, there's a lot of rock and roll stuff on there and I'm like, okay, how do you sum up? It says, you know, when you put the labels on, yeah, people ask you like, what style do you play? It's like, you just love music. It's not necessarily about a style, right? Exactly. Yeah. It's changed a few styles and it's something else. Right. Yeah. But, um, yeah. Yeah. How do you, um, so when you, when you're recording this album, tell me, cause I know you got a couple of partners on this that produced it, help you work with the album. Tell me about those guys. Good. Uh, yeah. Your producer, um, it's a Joe Nicol, Joe Nicol and Phillip, Phillip Smith. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah. Yeah. Basically, you know, um, we were at tracks down and was doing a lot of mixing with, uh, we're doing a plan with a lot of different ideas and then Joe's ear and Phillip's imagination is just, you know, or, you know, just it came in different times, you know? Uh, but yeah, we did, we, we talked, we didn't talk as much as just get in there and just play, you know, like playing and having fun and having other artists come in and we just went at it. And I think they, you know, we went through the parts, you know, to see if, you know, just like this and that wasn't much too much said about, no, don't do this or do this over. Yeah. Just trying to feel each other out and find the songs, find the groove. Yeah. It was, it was a, wasn't a lot of, you know, static about any of that and that flowed. So, um, hopefully, you know, I mean, it just felt good, you know, just to be around people, you know, playing and not kind of, not over, you know, thinking over thinking everything. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Do you like, do you like when you record, do you like recording with everybody live in the room? Yeah. Most, most of the time. Yeah. Like that. It's, um, it, it depends on, I guess, how much time you have, you know, uh, the unfortunate that to be at a shooting, shooting, you know, is through, you know, and we had, um, a lot of time, you know, some days, just kind of, I'm just living there, you know, but I'm, um, yeah, it depends on how much time, you know, I mean, and that was some people was far through, Jen put a little something, someone they'd have to go to something else. And by having it open like that, yeah, um, the studio open like that to, to record was great. So yeah, it gives it, it gives it a fun energy. It's, it feels live, which was, that's, that's what I like. I like hearing a band live, like kind of vibing off of each other, uh, trying different things. Does that, does that make it really fun for you? Yeah. If we did like, if it was just a stage somewhere and, you know, I'll say outdoor indoor, if you want to get all fancy, but, but a stage and then, and just go at it like a, a, a, a, my concerts, might as well, might as well rehearse the fans too. Yeah, absolutely. Like going in and listening to it. Nah, man, play the last one. So tell me about, so you toured, are you still touring with George or is that, is that those days have gone by? Are you still doing live shows with him or? Yeah. Yeah. Still doing some things. We just did over, over, it was like Malaysia, Japan, um, Australia, you know, a little, little stop in Hawaii, the hard rock, hard rock, no, no, the blue note. Yeah. Yeah. It was a hard rock cafe type thing. Yeah. I was one of the passes. First times I was up there where they had like the, the flame throwers coming up. Oh yeah. Yeah. Works, confetti, everything happened. Yeah. Like what the? And so I've seen you guys live. I saw you at the house of blues here in Las Vegas a couple of times and it's fun, but it's fun with that band because you guys have like 15 people on stage. Yeah. Yeah. It give a take of more than that. Yeah. And how, how long, uh, cause also you guys are known for doing very long shows. How long is like a regular show for you guys? Well, now, nowadays it depends on the venue, but probably could longest could be like maybe two and a half. Yeah. You know, if, if they get really, if, you know, if I could make it. Hey, it's like, it'll be a few of the young guys still up there. Yeah. We're going to go if they were going to jam all night. Yeah. But it's so fun because it's a he I know like with what you guys do, it's sort of like a, I don't want to say circus, but it's fun because you're having fun and you're trying different things. Has that been always a good time for you? Yeah. The carnival. Yeah. We got caught in the car. You had the dressing up. Yeah. Yeah, it was, I remember, you know, finding the sombrero. And it was, the cape came from watching a lot of horror movies and Dracula. Oh, okay. I think the fence and mask for me came from the fly. You know, just that thing. And then, yeah, it was, and it was an easy thing to put on, you know, I didn't really like getting out of everything and putting on a costume. Yeah, and having fun, right? Yeah, I could just take that cape out, shape it over whatever I had on. Make it work. Yeah, I want a quick dress up. Yeah. Have you guys all been together mostly for a very long time? Or is it like, is it always changing with the members? Yeah, it's been changing since, I mean, I was a change when I got there. When Eddie and Billy, they went to Motown and did the shaky, shaky ground and in the class, I was, took a minute for me to put that together. You know, because they basically, they, when they did that, they needed me. I got a card, you know, I just happened to be, you know, available at the time. Yeah. But yeah, so after that, I think Ron Bacosti, I think he left, you know, his lifestyle was like, get a real job, you know, not a real job, but I think he was married. He got a family, yeah. Yeah, it's like, you know, that's not gonna be consistent. Do you still enjoy doing the road stuff? Is that still fun for you? I mean, I gotta say, yeah, you know, I mean, I really, I could pick it apart, you know, it's not, I mean, I can't move like I used to all that. Well, none of us can. Yeah, yeah, that part, you know, that's the thing, but I'm finding a way to have fun, you know, no matter what, you know, I still enjoy it, yeah. I still enjoy it, you know, I enjoy people that enjoy it. Right, the audience. Yeah, not everybody I meet, but every now and then, you know, I meet one person and then just like, yeah, that makes it, that would make this worthwhile, you know, out of all of what's going on. And people still really love, they love what you guys do. I mean, you have fans that go way, way back. Yeah, yeah, definitely. And then there's one woman there, her husband was with us and she's fixing breakfast and she said, my husband loved you guys and I'm like, wow, you know, it's still there, you know, it's like, you know. And it's like, it's like multi-generational because you got the whole family where even kids and young kids have rediscovered you guys because of people sampling your music, sampling your guitar riffs, right? Yeah, yeah, except for that one time. That was like, oh, it's so somebody about this, it was a CD they put out and they sampled like Niti. Oh, right, right, yeah. They really didn't care what the solo was doing. You know, they said, what they, even they sampled it. Yeah, they're chopping it up. Yeah, you know, it's like, what happened to, yeah, it sounded like it just went into another key or... Right, right, yeah. Yeah, unfortunately, you know, when they do that, you don't have a lot of control over what they do, right? I'm glad they came up with AutoTune and all that. Just go back and fix that. And so AutoTune's been helpful for a lot of people. Can we just key this up? Can we do, yeah, get it to the right key, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Tell me about being in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. What has that meant to you? Well, I mean, I kind of keep it on low, you know, I mean, I don't just aim at it in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Oh yeah, but that's a huge accomplishment. Yeah, yeah, but like, it's incredible. Like, it's incredible. If you look at the ceremony that was videotaped from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame when we were getting... The induction ceremony, yeah. And I'm like, oh, I could have did better than that, but I had, I probably barely knew who Prince was, which was stripped out. He loved you. Yeah, and I loved him, you know, just like, I was that deep in the touring or... Right, yeah, and that whole, a whole nother world, you're just doing that thing, right? It really was, and I'm like, so I get up there, you know, but what I said, that's kind of probably how I felt at the time, but it was like, I'm from Cleveland, I was a black man, I wouldn't be. And before that, I'm like, hold on for a minute, Prince, you know, I'm like... I get it. And I don't wanna be waiting in line to say a speech, right, you know, and then you go to, I guess, I think Billy Bayes, he might have did the last speech of that ceremony for the funk, you know, and it got really, I was like, I should probably rehearse doing something like that, you know, to give it more relevance. It's like, I just went through it, like, I mean, now it's very important, but then it's not as relevant as like, or no veteran affairs or I don't know, some kind of, like, you know, somebody, they couldn't save the guys that were trapped down. I get you, yeah, I get you. Yeah, I get you. But you know what, man? The thing is with you and what you guys do, you guys have inspired generations of people like Prince and people even before him. So like, I used to play with Billy Preston, I played with Billy and Phyllis Hyman. I'm a bass player. And it was the same thing with Billy, like you guys, you original guys were so influential and you're still very relevant because people are still using your music, they're still listening to you guys. So the Rockwell Hall of Fame, I mean, you're in there with Jimi Hendrix, right? Which is one of your idols. So that's an amazing story that a guy from Cleveland, a young kid from Cleveland ends up at the Rockwell Hall of Fame is an amazing story. Yeah, I believe us. Yeah, truly blessed, yep. Yeah, I know you're a humble man and I can tell that, but it's an important story. Yeah, yeah, I appreciate you know, reinforcement. Yeah, I get crazy every now and then. Well, we all do. Thank you. Okay, okay, that passes. Thank you. I'm trying to keep it going and... Keep it real. Yeah, being humble and being more extroverted, or just showing up. Yeah, you know what? And you're doing you the way you should do it and you're authentic. And that's important because we've all met guys that were kind of in their head and kind of hard to deal with. And what's kept you working all these years is because you're a nice humble guy and you can play. That's a great combination, right? Yeah, yeah, I'm trying to get along. Exactly, yeah. I always say like, you could be the best player in the world, but if you can't get along in the tour bus, you're gonna need to talk at work. Right, chemistry. But of course they had a few other things to help it. If you couldn't think of your own dictionary and things to talk about, you know. Yeah, yeah, of course. I really appreciate you joining me. I know you're a busy guy and I appreciate you making the time and telling your story. And we could probably go on for hours because I know you got, and we might even know some same people in LA and Cleveland. But I want everybody to make sure everybody checks out into the public domain, your new album coming out in a couple of days actually. And then there's gonna be a second album that's kind of also connected to that. Tell us about that. Yeah, that album, you know, I think all of my notes have just got, I wanna know more to tell you. That's okay. All of it is just, a blur of ideas and then we put them together in different, at least times, as they were being done, you know. So it's hard to say exactly. Yeah, it's probably more of the same with something. Right, and it's like I said too, it's not just one thing. There's some funk in there, but there's some jazz, there's some rock and roll. I think it's a lot of people will be surprised by the music and I think they'll really dig it. I'm just gonna go with, I think so too. That's okay. That's okay. Take it. But yeah, I really hope so, yep. Yeah, awesome. That would just keep trying, right? That's, you know what? That's all you can do. You wake up, you put your pants on, you keep trying. Yeah, that's it. Hey, Michael. Do you say something about these cards? Oh yeah, absolutely. We did. So they'll be at the shows, we'll wherever I'm at. Okay. Basically they have like a QR code on the back of each one is different and then you get a free download, you know. Something smart, you know. And the stems, the stems are, they're up for grabs too, you know. Okay. You know, the individual, you know. Right, so people want it, if they want to sample stuff and check it out. Yeah, sorry. Do, do, do. There you go. Yeah, and show us. I mean, you were showing me your fold out too. Let me see that. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm sorry. That's awesome. Yeah, it's okay. Yeah, it's like, is that how much? I'm okay, yeah. Yeah, and for people that are listening, I'll put some photos of this in the podcast description. That's awesome. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I love that. Whoever designed that, who actually designed that for you? You know, I had the ideas that I wanted to be like Pedro Bell and Overton and Ronald Stozo and all these different artists, like from the 60s or whatever. Right, kind of psychedelic a little bit. Yes, yes. So it's got that in mind. Awesome. Philip the artist, he put it together, you know? Yeah, he did a great job. He's inspired by all of these artists, just like, he's a great musician also. And so, you know, this is probably a lot. A lot of that is why I'm here too, is somebody reached back and pulled me up out of, you know, out of some vinyl and pulled me up out of it. Yeah, you know what? We all need that. We all need somebody to help us out. So it's hard to do this. Life without help. Good, yeah. Hey, Matt, have fun on the road. God bless you. I really appreciate you taking the time and it's really a pleasure and an honor to speak with you. I appreciate it. You as well. Out of space, man. That's one of my jazz. There you go. Yeah, I know. I love Billy. I miss him. He was a really good guy. Yeah, I passed by him one time, you know? And out here, it might have been the Oakland or something. Oh, we was partying up with the Rolling Stones somewhere. Yeah, yeah, him and my buddy Manny Kellogg, who was Billy's drummer. You might have seen that crazy picture with Bernie, me and was Bernie, him and myself. Oh, okay. Yeah, I look like I was sheets over there. But yeah, we... You have a good time. That's a picture. I'm like, wow. Yeah, that's, you know what? Yeah, that's history. That's like history right there. So it's very awesome. We'll have to get together, man. I'm looking forward to it somewhere you got there for. And just go and thank you for having me too. Oh, you're welcome. Yeah, we'll hook that up. If you guys, also if you guys come to Vegas, I'll come down and maybe we'll get a chance to meet a little bit. All right, bye, man. All right, man. Hey, have a great day, Michael. Okay, you too, dude. All right, awesome. Thank you very much. Thanks for joining us. And please consider subscribing to our podcast and follow us on our social media pages for guest announcements.
