Michael Bland reveals what it was really like playing with Prince at the height of the New Power Generation era.

In this rare 2001 interview, he shares untold stories from inside Prince’s band.

Best known as the powerhouse drummer behind Prince & The New Power Generation, Michael Bland joins Joe Kelley for a deep dive into one of the most iconic eras in funk and R&B.

Bland reflects on:

1. Life inside Prince’s band
2. The Minneapolis music scene
3. His work with Sons of Almighty
4. The mindset and discipline behind elite musicianship

This is a rare, unfiltered conversation with one of the defining drummers of Prince’s NPG era.

___

Musicians Reveal with Joe Kelley features in-depth interviews with legendary artists, Prince collaborators, and top session musicians—sharing the real stories behind the music.

From inside Prince’s world to the broader legacy of funk, R&B, and rock, each episode dives into the musicianship, moments, and untold stories that shaped the sound.

And the upper room, Mr. Michael Bland.

How you doing, my brother?

I'm doing fine, man.

How you doing?

Yeah, I really appreciate you stopping by.

And you got a session today, right?

Yeah, I'm at the studio, man, but, you know, my main man James Ryan's Jimmy.

He's setting up.

My drums, man.

Technician.

So, you know, I got.

I got a few minutes.

Well, not a few minutes.

I got quite several minutes.

Yeah.

As a matter of fact.

Yeah.

Because I, you know, I think people need to know right up front, you have a new album that.

That you're ready to release, that you have produced, and you're the man behind it.

Sons of Almighty.

Sons of Almighty.

Yeah.

So where did the genesis for this new project start?

I mean, it started.

Sonny and I, we've had several conversations about doing something, you know, post mpg, but, you know, with something with a bit more of a positive edge.

Well, an obvious positive edge.

Something that, you know, was.

That could not be mistaken for anything else other than positivity, you know.

Yeah.

There's a lot of spiritual and Christian messages in the music.

Right, sure, yeah.

Yeah.

And that's.

That's.

That.

That was premeditated.

I mean, we thought about that for a long time.

And as we thought, you know, over the last three years.

Well, over the last two years.

No, I guess.

Well, in any case, as we contemplated doing something, the modern music just took a.

Took a turn for the worst, in our opinion.

And so it just.

It seemed to be more needed now than, you know, than it did even when we started thinking about doing it.

It's just.

There's a lot of people, you know, fighting for the other side.

So we jumped on our side.

Right.

Soldiers marching for the other team.

Right, exactly.

Now, you know, you're going in another direction for, you know, what is.

I guess we could say selling.

Selling in the music business.

And.

But the music is just.

It's outstanding.

I had the record all weekend long, and I was playing it on the computer.

I was playing in my DJ speakers at home.

And, you know, there's a couple songs in there.

Brought chills to me, I tell you.

Oh, right on.

That was generally, in general, what we were hoping to do was just inspire, you know, and not inspire you to go out and, you know, rob a liquor store or something.

Inspire you to do something, you know, do something good for somebody.

Yeah.

So, you know, when you're putting this, you know, you mentioned Sonny T. And listeners out there.

Sonny Thompson, who is a longtime musician out of Minneapolis, Guitarist, bassist.

Yeah, Todd Prince.

How to play.

Yeah, that's right.

You know, and Prince even acknowledges it in interviews, right?

Uh huh.

Yeah.

So, you know, were you talking with Sonny and said, hey, we're going to take the risk here and go together with this.

How difficult was that?

Well, not really.

Sonny and I, we have been, you know, more often than not.

We've been together since.

Ever since mpg, we've been.

We find ourselves on the same tours, you know, constantly.

People think of us as a team, you know, and we think of us as a team.

So it just kind of works out that way.

He and I have been in the company of one another on several tours with other artists.

So now when.

When you first met up with Sonny, how far go was that?

He came down through bunkers.

Dr. Mambo's combo was down there and he had heard about me from a friend of his.

A Hammond player named Billy Holloman told him, yeah, man, you got to check out this young cat on the drums.

And Sonny found his way down to Bunkers and it came to an end.

It was just immediately we had an immediate just musical kinship.

Like just straight away, right from the first note, I was like, wow, this cat is about something different.

Yeah.

And you were, you know, younger than him and you guys just locked in and you know, you know, Mambo's combo, now, it's the legendary combo, right?

Yeah, yeah.

What was that group about?

I know you've got a lot of great publicity, that you do it out in Minneapolis, but what's, you know, for the people out there listening on the Internet.

And also vof, you know, what's the Combo about?

Oh, the Combo is just about throwing down on a Monday night, man.

Ain't nothing else to do in Minneapolis on a Monday, but go down to the Combo.

There's nothing else to do because that's where everybody is.

And if there's, you know, acts, national acts that come through town and if they.

Now, who carts the drum set out there for you?

Oh, well, I mean, I've had, I've had.

I've had a few different technicians over the, over the years.

He came to work for me shortly after that because I just I had grown accustomed to not doing it anymore.

So it was him.

And then he came out to Paisley with me.

And then he ended up his career as a front of house engineer.

Took off with Sheila E. And he went out with Seal.

He did a couple of tours with Maxwell, and he's actually.

Right now he's out with Prince.

Oh, yeah.

As a drum tech, right?

No, no, he's as a front of house engineer.

Oh, okay.

Out of Paisley Park.

Yep.

But after him, it was Magoo.

Magoo who also worked out at Paisley.

Ah, so that's the origin of Magoo, right?

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, well, but Magoo, they knew Magoo from Around the Waves since Magoo was a teenager.

Right.

Prince and Sonny and Magoo and Andre and all them knew each.

Knew each other back then.

So Magoo was always kind of around.

It's just he came to work out of paisley in about 91 or 92, and he was doing some work for me when Scotty couldn't do it.

And after he hooked up with.

He's been out with d' Angelo most of last year.

Tekken for Amir for Questlove.

Right.

So Magoo, you know, ended up being more on the road with other artists.

He went out with David Sanborn, a few different artists as a tech, and then I got who I got now.

And his name is James Rines, and he also works for the Sons of Almighty.

He is more or less our A and R department right now.

So he's our A and R department and he's the drum and bass technician.

So he's one of your best buddies, right?

Absolutely.

Without question, Jimmy.

He keeps me from having to ever show any sort of darkness or confusion or frustration because he tends to.

When people know who you are, it's difficult to speak freely sometimes because the things you say may be taken more.

More seriously.

You know what I mean?

Yeah.

So he tends to tell people who.

Who need to be told things that I can't really tell him.

He tells them, and you guys get the job done together.

So we get the job done together.

Can't do it without James.

Hey, Michael, you.

I would have been able to do it without any of them.

Yeah.

Well, that's good to acknowledge them.

I'm sure they definitely appreciate it.

Absolutely.

And, you know, you know, before coming to the studio, I got some emails today, and I want to let you know, people out in Europe, they are.

They're really ecstatic.

You guys got a new project coming out and everything's really positive.

And before we get into a Track.

Do you have any tentative dates when it's going to be out?

You know, I'm trying to work out a deal with a friend of mine who runs a record label called Atomic K Records, actually this week.

I mean it's.

By all practical, I mean realistically, the thing could be available for sale by the end of the month.

Oh, okay.

And I'm hoping for that.

And there'll be more information about that posted if I get this deal on with him.

People will be able to find out more about when the Sun's record will be out by way of atomic k.com

so atomic k.com and you're also going to have a website, sonsofalmighty.com yeah, it's.

It's still under construction.

And another good site to find out a lot of information.

We have to acknowledge Nicole, who is your public relations guru.

And she gets the word out really strong and she actually linked us up together and she puts a lot ofstuff on prince.org which is Minneapolis and Prince related artists.

Yeah.

She knows whoever it was that designed the website.

I can't remember the guy's name.

I'm so sorry.

Maybe Matt, Matt Conrad.

What's that?

There's a guy, Matt Conrad.

I don't think that's him.

Yeah.

Okay.

But she keeps in direct correspondence with him constantly.

And he's really been a lot of help, him and his wife.

I know his wife's name is Valerie.

I can't remember the guy's name though.

Okay.

But they've been extremely helpful to her, so they've been extremely helpful to me.

I just.

There's a lot of love out for you and the guys you're working with, so.

Yeah.

And we're feeling all that.

Appreciate it.

You know, to the fans.

Yeah, you know, thanks.

We really appreciate it.

Hopefully we'll see you soon.

And you know what we're gonna do, Michael, before we get into talking some more, we're gonna play a track off Sons of Almighty.

And this was co written by yourself and Julius Collins, who was former lead singer of Greasy Meal, another great Minneapolis band.

Oh yeah.

I was the one who convinced Julius to move up here.

Oh, okay.

Where's everybody?

He came down to Buckers and he sat in.

I was like, dude, where do you live?

Uh huh.

He told me Atlanta.

I said, well, when you move it.

Oh, so you were the guy?

Yeah.

You convinced him?

Well, you'd have to ask him, but I think I was the guy who convinced him to actually move.

Yeah.

And I think you guys working Together has been real nice.

Yeah.

I mean, we tried once before, but the circumstances weren't correct.

Right.

But this I feel real strongly about, and so does Tommy and Jeff Lee and Sonny.

And we really want to take this out on the road this year and try to reach people, try to save some souls, you know?

Yeah.

So Sons of Almighty.

Saving some souls.

We're going to talk about the collaborators on this record with Michael Bland, and we'll also talk more about Michael way, way back and the future.

So we'll come right back after hearing this, the new track from the Great Tribulation.

This is Michael Bland, Sons of Almighty, right here on the Upper Room with Joe Kelly.

Upper room with Joe Kelly.

And that is the wonderful sounds of Sons of Almighty, the Great Tribulation from their upcoming cd, and it's entitled the Great Tribulation.

Positivity.

And just some great musicianship.

You have great players on there.

Sonny T. Sonny Thompson on the bass, Tommy Barbarella on keyboards, Jeff Lee Johnson, whose name is on, I'd say, a good, good portion of records I bring here to play in the studio.

And good stuff.

He's on there.

And Julius Collins on the vocals and my special guest, Michael Bland on the drums and vocals.

They have various other additional sons who are on this record.

But we are going to take a short break, take care of some business here, and Michael is going to be with us in just a few moments.

Okay.

We've got Michael Bland on the line and I'm really thankful once again, Michael, for having on the Upper Room and talking about this new record.

The pleasure's all mine, man.

Hey, I gotta.

You know, we talked briefly last night about yourself and Julius Collins growing up in the church and music.

Why don't you speak on a little bit about your experience growing up in the church and how you got into music through that.

I mean, it was kind of.

I didn't have much of a choice.

I mean, with five piano players in the house, it was bound to rub off in some way, shape or form.

So, I mean, really, my father, he still plays.

My father and my youngest son, Sister, who was eight years older than me.

They both still play in church every Sunday.

So, I mean, it's just.

The musical thing was just in the family.

My father discovered I was interested in the drums all of a sudden when I was almost nine years old.

And I just took to grabbing some branches and just beating the snot out of the garbage cans in the back alley.

Right.

And he got me a set of drums shortly after that.

And I Just started taking lessons.

But before that I had taken, you know, I had taken piano lessons from about the age of six, I'd say.

Do you still dabble with the.

The keyboards?

Oh, yeah.

That's how I wrote the songs that.

Well, I wrote the musical parts of the songs that I wrote on the album.

Oh, okay.

I still play keys.

I play a little bass guitar, you know.

You give Tommy Barbarella a run for his money?

No, absolutely not.

I mean, you know, some things.

I mean, I played a little bit on the album, actually, but just, you know, just.

I mean.

But no, Tommy is.

Tommy's super bad man.

Yeah.

Now you're talking with the church you grew up in, the Baptist church, right?

Yeah, I came up in it.

And then I.

Around 11 or so, 11 or 12, I played for a Church of God in Christ, you know, so it was a bit more, you know, rhythmically.

It was a bit more, you know, up and at em, a bit more aggressive and, you know, almost straight from there.

I mean, straight from there.

I mean, I was probably playing the Sunday before, you know, whatever day it was the next week that I went on tour with friends.

I mean, up till, you know, from the age of 11 probably on, I was mostly in Church of God in Christ, Pentecostal Church, that sort of thing.

Okay.

Yeah.

So, I mean, the main.

A lot of where that has to do with the Sons of Almighty, really.

Julius had a similar experience.

He came up and he was down in Waterloo, Iowa, you know, having similar experiences as me.

And a lot of the old gospel hymns, the words were so inspirational.

A lot of the work, Thomas Dorsey, you know, he wrote Precious Lord, Take My Hand.

You know, a lot of that stuff was real poetry and real inspiring.

And a lot of it stayed with me up through my adult years.

And even now, I'll wake up singing a song that I remember from my childhood.

I'll have to call my mom and find out what the real words are, because they're kind of a. I have an idea and I know how it makes me feel.

But she knows all the words or she's got her hymnbook nearby.

So that's how it directly correlates to the Sons.

It's just that if I was going to make a gospel record, it was going to have to be based on, by and large, in just what I came from and not, you know, I wasn't really interested in doing a Kirk Franklin type of gospel thing.

Right.

Being contemporary is not a concern to me.

Right.

It's just being true and playing music with the Friends you've been jamming with.

I mean, I made a record with the baddest musicians I know.

Yeah.

And I mean, you've got players.

You know, you guys played in the MPG together, and plus Jeff.

Jeff Lee Johnson, who's a great guitarist.

Jeff Lee.

I can't explain Jeff Lee.

Jeff Lee was a real blessing.

I met him while I was on tour at Chaka Khan.

Okay.

He came out as a substitute guitar player, and I. I just did not know what to.

What to make out of him.

I was like, sooner or later, we got to do something, you know?

Oh, you were on tour with Chaka Khan.

Yeah.

Oh, okay.

Playing about a year and a half.

Oh, okay.

Wow.

Great.

She's so cool.

Yeah.

Just one of.

Just one of the.

I'd say probably one of the top three baddest singers in the world.

Yeah, she.

She's.

She could.

I could definitely.

Well, I'd say she's my number one.

Yeah, Well, I can't even think of the other two.

Yeah.

I'm just leaving a margin for.

Yeah, right, right.

So, you know, we were talking about your early beginnings, and I got a question for you.

Okay, sure.

If we.

If we heard those unreleased tapes from Bathyscope, what would they be like?

Oh, no way.

It would sound like some.

I don't know.

It would sound like.

That stuff was so off Broadway, sounding ridiculous.

I was just talking to Rick Ziegler today on the phone.

He said, I met Rick.

Rick came to, like, a high school band concert that I was playing at and recruited me there.

I was 16.

And, yeah, that was an.

An incredibly enriching musical experience.

But that music was so strange, though.

And that was your high school band, right?

Yeah, but, I mean, I was the only one in high school.

Everyone else was, like, an adult.

Oh, yeah, yeah, that's right.

Because you're like a drum prodigy growing up.

Yeah.

Okay.

I said it.

You just can let it go.

I'm letting it go.

Yeah.

Because I definitely mean it.

I was crappy, too, once upon a time.

Yeah.

You know, and still can be.

So.

You know, what was the first record you ever bought?

You remember?

Oh, man.

The first record I ever bought with my own money was probably acdc.

Back in Black.

Yeah, because you grew up.

I've seen some other interviews that, you know, besides being into funk and R and B, you're into a lot of rock and roll as well.

I came up rock and roll.

I mean, but so did.

So did Sonny.

So did Prince.

Sonny was telling me about how, you know, people used to bump Grand Funk Railroad in the community.

Right.

You know, black folks, you know, so we all came up rock and roll up here.

Yeah.

Now, now you led me to a thought because, you know, I always talk with people about this that, you know, so called, like urban contemporary radio.

You know, it seems today they're afraid of a guitar solo.

Right.

Oh, right.

And I'm just like, come on, that's where it all started, you know?

You know, what happened there?

Do you see any resurrection for that?

You know, mixing the funk and the rock together?

Well, other than us.

Yeah.

I don't know.

Right.

Well, you guys could be the champions to that.

Well, you know what?

Somebody.

You know what?

We realized that one day I was like, modern music more or less sucks because we're not doing anything.

Yeah.

You know, and you can't be both.

And actually, my first drum tech, Scott Pikulski, he was the one who really made me mad enough to go out and start making a record.

Because we were sitting around and we're, you know, we try to watch it, you know, we try not to be overly critical, but it happens.

It just happens.

And, you know, because we're musicians, we dissect everything.

And we were sitting around talking about a record that somebody made, and we were being mean.

And Scott Pikulski goes, well, where's your record at?

You know, and I really couldn't say that.

You know, I got flippant.

But later on I was like, that's it, we're making a record.

Right.

You know, so he's kind of the one who really kicked it off, like, you know, from the worldly perspective.

Yeah.

Sometimes he may be mad enough to call Sonny and.

Come on, man.

You go into the studio.

That's it.

Where'd you record, in Minneapolis?

Oh, several places.

But let's see, you know what?

I ended up rerecording things to a certain degree just to get an idea of where certain places sounded like.

You know, I cut the drums at Orphan Studios.

I cut them over at the Brewhouse with Rob Genetic.

I cut them at Angel Beach.

But it was a new studio and they didn't really know what they could do.

And so, you know, I recut the drums in some instances, I tried different things until I found something I liked.

And, you know, some of it we recorded at Tommy's house.

Some of the vocals, some of the keyboards, you know, all around.

But, you know, the next record, I really want to record live.

I want everybody to be playing.

I mean, it started out that way, a lot of it.

Was left pretty consistent.

A lot of Sonny and Jeff and Tommy's tracks are the same as they were the day we cut.

I just changed things because, I mean, I was so busy writing at the time, I hadn't really thought about the role that the drums were going to play, you know, So I just kind of played what I had to get them through the tune.

And I think it's definitely one of you guys, as, you know, the guys that came out of the mpg.

You guys really excelled at that recording live in the studio.

Sure.

Exactly.

It's just because things were kind of rushed along early, and Sonny and I were on tour with an Italian artist named Giorgia, and that took us out of town for, you know, several weeks at a time.

So were you just overseas with.

With her again?

Yeah, we were from about the 5th of December to the.

Through the 22nd.

We were just there before.

Yeah.

She's got a new record coming out in March and she wants to tour this summer.

So I'm trying to figure out how to get the suns out on the road this summer and still, you know, take care of my mortgage.

Right, yeah.

Because it's definitely a struggle sometimes.

Right?

It's a struggle.

I mean, and especially being a freelancer, it's Easter famine constantly.

Yeah.

Either everybody's calling or nobody's calling.

So, you know, I'm just trying to find the balance and.

But really trying to stay dedicated to the idea that the suns has to be validated by us actually going out and reaching the people.

Otherwise, it's all in vain, you know?

Okay, well said by Mr. Michael Bland, My special guest.

He's a drummer extraordinaire, producer, and he's worked with the heavyweights and he's, you know, Prince and Shaka and so many others.

And by.

By himself, he is a true artist to be reckoned with.

And we're gonna let you be in the guest here on the Upper Room.

Choose a track off your new cd.

Michael, what are you feeling today?

Wow.

Without excluding, you know,

gee, you know, I better let you choose, man, because, I mean, all in all, I'm so familiar with everything, right?

No, I'm not gonna let you choose.

Play sons of almighty man so they can hear Sonny get ill again.

Okay, so Sonny Thompson, what's he using on this one?

A five string.

Sonny always plays five string, Right, Okay.

But he plays it like a six string, so.

Hey, you know, I had a question.

Speaking of Sonny, right?

You remember when you guys were doing the.

The Act One tour, right?

He's up there standing.

But then Sonny started sitting down on a stool during the shows, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Any particular reason?

Prince had this custom chair made for Sonny.

Oh, okay.

And asked him to sit in it.

Yeah.

You know, I don't know.

That was probably, you know, probably like.

Yeah.

People used to ask Sonny if he had, like, a debilitating disease, Right?

Like, no.

Yeah.

But it was definitely different, so that's cool.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I'm gonna let Jimmy pick the.

Jimmy, what's the next track that you want.

You want to.

Want him to play on the radio?

What'd you play already?

Great Tribulation.

Great Tribulation, Great Drift.

What do you think the people should hear?

Make it quick, man.

Oh, welcome to Heaven.

Okay.

Oh, welcome to heaven.

So we're gonna go to the conclusion

of Jimmy says Welcome to Heaven.

Jimmy says welcome to Heaven over at Master Mix.

And we are going to play it and then come back and talk with Michael about on tour with the mpg and also get into those exciting new projects he's got cooking up.

Okay, Michael.

All right, man.

Yeah.

All right.

This is welcome to Heaven, Sons of Almighty Michael Bland and Sonny Thompson and Tommy Barbarella, Julius Collins, Jeff Lee Johnson.

And this is Joe Kelly and the Upper Room cd.

You know, you saw how tough it was for Michael to choose a track and also his friends over at the studio in Minneapolis to pick a, you know, a song.

It's all good, Mike, you know?

Yeah, yeah.

Okay, man.

Well, you know, that.

That's a good problem to have.

Yeah, that's.

That is a good problem.

Yeah, I agree.

Yeah.

Because I see friends of mine, they throw in somebody's new cd, they'll get through, like, the.

They'll listen to the first track, or they'll listen to the single, whatever, and then they'll just preview all the way through everything else and just be like, up.

Weak.

Yeah, Weak.

Weak.

Or that.

Oh, it doesn't sound like the single.

You know, the hit single.

They want everything to sound the same.

So.

Yeah, this all over the place.

I mean, you got ballads.

Beautiful, you know.

Whoo.

That I was listening.

It was yesterday morning.

It's like, I got the goosebumps.

I haven't showed my girlfriend.

I said that.

That that's what the good music's about.

Wow.

Yeah.

That's all right.

And I know I'm not gonna be alone, so.

Yeah, you know, we talked a little bit before your days with the Dr. Mamblo's combo, and, you know, what were you when you started working with Prince was about, you were 21 or so.

No, man, I met Prince.

I was 18.

18.

Wow.

Yeah.

And let's see, I turned 19.

And then that summer we shot the video for Party man.

And we did the 15 year anniversary for Saturday Night Live.

Yep.

With Candy Dolpher and Patrice Rushin.

Patrice and Margaret Cox, who used to be, you know, Tamara in the scene, who's another person you might want to have on your show.

Oh, yeah, she's.

I mean, from Margaret's, one of the

baddest from the Jesse days to all the countless years in Minneapolis.

Absolutely.

She's still in Minneapolis, right?

Yeah.

She's gonna be singing tonight with us down at Bunkers.

Oh, okay.

Well, every Monday we're down there, man.

Meet Julius, Sonny.

Yeah.

Maybe you can slip a good word in tonight, Mike.

Have her on the show.

I'll definitely mention.

Yeah.

I talk to you.

Yeah.

Because I mean, I played her records for.

For years.

You know, she's a sweetheart.

Yeah, she's real cool people.

And we grew up in the same neighborhood anyway.

Oh, all right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So the days with, you know, you started getting in towards the.

The Batman with the videos.

Yeah, Batman had come out.

And then I got the official offer to join the group because people had been telling me, you know, for months, man, you're gonna be in the band, man, you're gonna be in the band.

I'm like, whatever.

It's like, Prince don't ought to contact me.

Lo and behold, I get home one afternoon, you know, Prince on my answer machine, you know, so.

And of course, you went on a really nice tour.

You got to see a lot of the world with the new tour, right?

Yeah.

The only problem with seeing it at an early age is that it gets boring for you later on.

I didn't realize then I'd still be going to Europe.

Now.

I'm still going.

Right.

It's funny.

So were you in awe back then or.

It was just.

I mean, you guys worked so hard.

I don't know if you had a lot of time to check in.

It was hard to be in awe of much more than him.

Right.

You know,

so, so what were those?

The rehearsals for the new tour.

You know, you were what, 18 or 19 then, right?

And you're working with guys roughly early 30s or so.

And, you know, I've seen interviews.

Prince see, thought the worldy and probably still does today.

Yeah, he's.

You know what?

He's.

He's.

He'll.

Every once in a while, he'll Come through bunkers and, you know, sit in for a little bit, you know.

You know, he'll come down and, you know, it'll.

People will get all, you know, wow, it's him.

He's here, he's here, he's here.

You know, I guess after seeing somebody, you know, every day for seven years, it's just when he walks in, it's just like seeing anybody else right now.

Now when you guys jam together, you still feel the electricity that you guys did together.

Yeah, it's.

It's.

It's.

It still works, man.

I mean, it's that.

That's not the type of thing that just, you know, seeps out of your system.

It stays in me, you know.

Right.

It's like I'm.

I always, you know, he set a new standard for me in terms of just being aware, right.

Musically, just being.

Being conscious, being all the way there because I had to be constantly, you know, and now I am everywhere.

Right.

It's, you know, the only frustration I feel usually is when other people aren't right.

You know, so you work the band just.

Just as tough as Prince back in those days.

Right?

I mean, the same.

Same work ethic.

You talking about Sons of Almighty?

Yeah.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

But they know it already.

Yeah.

I don't have to tell them.

That's right.

You know, it's just.

And.

And I'm not.

I guess, you know, I'm the founder, but I'm not really the leader.

I just.

I keep.

Most of my time, my personal time is devoted to keeping everything as organized as possible.

And musically, I just make it my business to know every nook and cranny.

So if somebody has a question, I can answer it.

All right?

You know, And Sons of Almighty has a lot of upcoming things.

He spoke on getting the record out and distributed, and, you know, I'll definitely keep the listeners abreast of what's happening.

How about.

You're hopefully gonna work out some kind of a tour, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

I've been saying this since last summer because we did do one gig on Memorial Day weekend last year.

And where was that at?

That was at the Quest, which is owned by Gilbert Davidson, which is another person I met.

He was doing security for Prince when I first met up with everybody, and so I toured with Gilbert, and then Gilbert managed Pence for a couple of years, and then he just decided to just run the club.

And he's done everything in the world for us.

He wants to know when we're going to play again, and I want to Be able to have the record done, you know, I mean, not done, but want to have copies on hand to sell because, you know, it was Memorial Day weekend and we still had a 400 person draw, you know, and we really kind of did it just to get our own, you know, rocks off.

But you know, people showed up, you know, sounds like, wow, that could have been 400 CDs right there.

Yeah, well, I'm going to give you the offer because this summer we're, we're moving into new studios and, and part of my show is having live bands in.

And if you guys come eastward, you know, you have the open invitation.

We're double the space of what we have now.

Wait, so you're saying we can come down there and play in your, in your studio?

Oh, yeah, yeah.

We had Bernie Worrell in here.

We've had five piece bands and it's a tight fit now, but we're doubling the space.

So you know, where you at?

Atlanta?

No, no, no, no, we're in Connecticut.

Oh yeah, we're in New Haven.

30 minutes from New Haven, 60 minutes from New York City.

So city, the closest city.

I would say Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Okay.

Which by the way, they're, they're opening up a 9,000 seat arena.

So, you know, and it's the biggest.

We can pack that, but we're working on it.

Right, right.

But, but I'm saying if you guys come eastward, I'd love to have you down here.

And you know, if it's not too much trouble, you're welcome anytime.

Well, it'd be.

Well, I, I appreciate the offer and, and I appreciate you, appreciate you extending your hospitality.

And you know what, we'll try to

come around that way and I'll also help carry the drum set, if you trust me.

Yeah, well, I don't know about that, man.

Yeah, because, because a drummer got the toughest gig setting up.

That's the truth.

Not me, man.

I've been spoiled rotten ever since I was a kid.

People have always helped me when I needed it and, and you know, now I got Jimmy and he does everything, he does things I don't ask him to do, man.

He's really attentive and, you know, a driven individual and he's all the way down with the suns and we down for him.

Now.

I forgot to ask you, on.

When you were growing up listening to music, did you take to any particular drummers?

Well, seeing as I grew up on album rock, I had to, you know, I took the, you know, John Bonham drummer from Led Zeppelin you know, Keith Moon, the drummer from the who.

You know, just all the notables.

Everybody, you know, everyone else kind of got to.

I got to.

Anybody, not particularly drummers.

It could be anybody, but anybody knocking your socks off with new releases or new musicians these days, besides the Suns.

I don't know how to take that, but.

No, I didn't mean it anything bad.

Oh.

I mean, it's.

Well, I mean.

I mean, just for a minute.

It could have been interpreted like.

I think that it all.

It all begins and ends with us.

No, no, no, no.

Okay, good.

We don't want people thinking that.

Right, right, right.

But I'm trying to think if any new records.

No, unfortunately, no.

The last time I went to the record store, I bought.

What did I buy?

I bought Root down by Jimmy Smith.

Oh, yeah, that was it.

Can't go bad with that, you know,

I gotta go back and dig.

Just a lot of records got past me when I was coming up, you know, so, you know, usually if you come by my house, what you'll hear is you might hear some P Funk rolling.

I was listening to that earlier today.

But then again, you might hear Schubert, man.

I was listening to Ave Maria yesterday.

Yeah, you're definitely a well rounded guy.

You know, Donny Hathaway, he's always on the box.

You know, I'll pull out some of Prince's old records.

1999 stays in my disc player, man.

You have any favorites off.

Off a Prince's catalog that come to mind?

Oh, you know, I still dig Dirty Mind and not so much, you know, just the message is kind of twisted on that record.

But it's so hard.

That record is so hard and so descriptive of him in that particular moment, you know, And I think that was probably the thing, the defining moment of his career was that album.

And so it's kind of interesting for me to hear how that all began because he was really ahead of his time.

He was already, you know, got the new wave funk thing happening, you know, and nobody was really doing that yet.

Right.

You know, I don't think anybody actually got.

Once again.

Until I ask the question.

Until I found the key he.

Until I degraded one Locked up inside of me.

People language lost forever steeped in these worldly frames.

But now we stand before you ready to proclaim.

The one who made the mountain, the one for the sea.

He the one who made the whole world visit you and me and yes we are.

Are the children beautiful and strong.

For he is the father who love will bring us home.

And he will lead his children.

We are the sons of.

Children.

Help me, soldier.

Come.

I will trust

something, Sam.

Blessed is the child born to leave.

Blessed is the heart that feels the need.

Till the day the day will be.

We learn that pain's battle will end in victory.

I marvel at these things they're beautiful it seems perfect when we come into this world so when will you find yourself beautiful?

Beautiful.

Blessed is the wind that kisses pain.

And the whispers your trouble won't be vain.

Beauty is a kind and earnest deep love.

Helping your brother wants to stop when they're in need.

And that's why I know that these things the beautiful it seems perfect when we come into this world so when will you find yourself beautiful?

Find yourself beautiful.

Hungry is the soul for the spirit.

Patient and kind we all want to be.

The beauty is alive.

A triumph is king Is there for all I see.

Find yourself beautiful people.