Lester and Terry Troutman of the iconic funk group Zapp grace the podcast with their profound insights and experiences, revealing the essence of their artistry and the indelible mark they have left on the music industry. This episode prominently features their reflections on the evolution of their music, the significance of the talk box, and the legacy of their late brother, Roger. The duo candidly discusses the challenges and triumphs of continuing their musical journey in the wake of personal loss, emphasizing the unwavering support from their fans as a driving force behind their resilience. Their conversation also touches upon their collaborations with legendary figures in the music world, including Prince and George Clinton, adding rich context to their storied career. Join us as we delve into the vibrant history and ongoing evolution of Zapp, a testament to the enduring power of funk music and its ability to transcend generations.
Takeaways:
Hey, what's up, everybody?
Speaker A:This is Lester Troutman from the group Zap, and you're watching Musicians Reveal with Joe Kelly.
Speaker B:What's up, everybody?
Speaker B:This is Zap Dropman from the group Zap.
Speaker B:You're listening to Musicians Reveal with Joe Kelly.
Speaker C:Welcome to Musicians Reveal.
Speaker C:I'm Joe Kelly.
Speaker C:One of my all time favorite bands.
Speaker C:They are funk legends from Dayton, Ohio.
Speaker C:They are one of my all time favorite bands.
Speaker C:When I got first got into radio, they were coming up with their first couple records.
Speaker C:And I'll admit I had to purchase a couple of those records two times because there were so many scratches on it after a while.
Speaker C:So they're just one of my all time favorite bands.
Speaker C:We are very pleased to welcome Lester Troutman and Terry Zap Troutman.
Speaker C:Zap is in the house.
Speaker A:Hey, hey, hey, what's up, yo, what's up?
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:How you guys doing?
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker A:Hey, Joe, this is.
Speaker A:This is an honor.
Speaker A:I mean, I'm telling you, man, we've been rehearsing for this for a week.
Speaker A:When we found out that we were coming to have an interview with the.
Speaker A:With the great Joe.
Speaker A:The great Joe.
Speaker A:The great Joe Kelly.
Speaker A:I mean, look, we got a lot of those right over there.
Speaker A:That's right, man.
Speaker B:That's right.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker C:All right.
Speaker C:I trust you, Lester.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:All right.
Speaker B:What's happening, Joe?
Speaker B:What's happening?
Speaker B:Musicians Reveal.
Speaker B:Joe Shelley, everybody.
Speaker B:What's happening?
Speaker B:What's happening?
Speaker C:Oh, yeah, that's.
Speaker C:That's fantastic.
Speaker C:I'm honored that you brought the talk box and brought yourselves.
Speaker C:And we were just having a little jokes off record.
Speaker C:Off record.
Speaker C:Real good conversation.
Speaker C:And so you.
Speaker A:You've got.
Speaker C:It looks like you guys are getting geared up to do some peak touring.
Speaker C:I mean, you got a nice crew set up, right?
Speaker A:Yes, absolutely.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:Now wait a minute now, Joe.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:I'm not gonna reveal my age, but I remember cassettes, eight tracks, records, marbles, the real McCoys, two channels.
Speaker A:And the TV went off at 11 o'clock.
Speaker A:So that's how.
Speaker C:Yeah, that's right.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:What does a real nice crew mean now?
Speaker A:What does that mean?
Speaker A:Okay, I said a cruise.
Speaker A:Oh, cruise.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah.
Speaker C:May 2nd through the 5th.
Speaker A:That's right.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:Old school Cruise.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:Oh, man.
Speaker A:Oh, God.
Speaker A:Yeah, we are.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah, man.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:This is Lester.
Speaker B:This is our fourth year in a row, man.
Speaker B:I know that's unheard of, ladies and gentlemen, but is it the four?
Speaker B:It's something like, man, they just.
Speaker B:They keep calling.
Speaker B:We already booked for 26.
Speaker B:They just keep calling us.
Speaker B:Hey, man, the same cruise.
Speaker B:Yeah, that's right.
Speaker B:And all you, you Instagram people, y'all can verify it if you think I'm not telling the truth.
Speaker B:All right?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Well, then he forgot.
Speaker B:Yeah, man.
Speaker A:That we did pre covet, So I don't know.
Speaker A:I don't wanna back in the little lounge when it was about, you know, the room was real small.
Speaker A:We had the whole ship jumping.
Speaker A:They was taking water on.
Speaker A:We was rocking so hard.
Speaker A:Hey, man.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:Hey, man, that's right.
Speaker B:They love us.
Speaker B:That's beautiful.
Speaker A:Zap, you got it wrong.
Speaker A:We love them.
Speaker A:Ah, yeah, we love them so much.
Speaker A:We pay to go on.
Speaker A:We love.
Speaker A:Hey, look, we have a lot of fun on that thing, man.
Speaker C:So you just donate your time in the funk, right?
Speaker B:There you go.
Speaker C:No.
Speaker A:I'm sorry, Joe, but you are you glitching sometimes on my end, maybe.
Speaker A:It's my Internet.
Speaker A:Okay, yeah, I go, I.
Speaker A:They charge by the minute and I put 50 cents in, so.
Speaker A:No, no, you glitch.
Speaker A:I didn't hear what you said.
Speaker A:What was the question?
Speaker C:Yeah, no, no, I was just messing with you about getting paid.
Speaker C:I said you volunteered your time every year, right?
Speaker A:Oh, you bet.
Speaker A:Come on, Joe, you know it, man.
Speaker A:We love it.
Speaker A:Yes, sir.
Speaker C:Yeah, so.
Speaker C:So the cruise, our buddies were really good friends with everybody from the time.
Speaker C:And I know you guys have a long history and friendship together.
Speaker C:Jelly Bean and, and Morris and.
Speaker C:Yeah, they did a couple cruises with you, right?
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:So what.
Speaker A:See that?
Speaker A:What year was that?
Speaker A:When we met Morris?
Speaker A:We were, they came.
Speaker A:We, we were touring with Prince and that was.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Controversy.
Speaker B:81 controversy tour.
Speaker A:Yeah, that was the second we met him.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So Roger introducing.
Speaker A:I know many fast.
Speaker A:Yeah, so, so rough.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:And do it, Roger.
Speaker A:That's right.
Speaker A:That's what.
Speaker A:We met them guys, man.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker C:Yeah, see, I was too young.
Speaker C: I had to wait till the: Speaker C:So I missed the controversy.
Speaker C:But legendary.
Speaker C:I mean, three great bands and so you, you guys went out first and then the timer.
Speaker C:Prince or was.
Speaker C:Is that how it was?
Speaker A:No, no, it was.
Speaker A:Morris was the top.
Speaker A:Morris Day.
Speaker A:And well, it was Time then.
Speaker A:It was the time first and then it was Zap featuring Roger and then Prince.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, yeah, we did it.
Speaker A:Oh, you know, the whole country was wonderful, man.
Speaker A:Wonderful.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:There was somebody from Detroit the other day contacted me, said they saw the, saw the tour out there.
Speaker C:So.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker A:Wow, man.
Speaker A:Joe, I, I, you know, how do you remember that far back?
Speaker C:I don't know.
Speaker C:I, I study and hope it holds in there.
Speaker C:I'm, you know.
Speaker A:Hey, yeah, yeah, man.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:But did you, you know, so much talent amongst three bands.
Speaker C:Did you recognize Prince?
Speaker C:I mean, you guys, you grew up with your.
Speaker C:Your brothers Roger and Larry and the crew, but did you recognize Prince was gonna go up to that superstar level like that?
Speaker A:Me personally?
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:When you were touring with him.
Speaker A:You're asking me or.
Speaker C:Yes, Terry, or I'm asking both?
Speaker A:I certainly did.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker A:Yeah, I certainly did.
Speaker A:When he first came out, you know, I checked it.
Speaker A:I said, what is this stuff?
Speaker A:Just soft and wet.
Speaker A:I didn't, you know, I didn't kind of.
Speaker A:I didn't dig it too much.
Speaker A:You know, I got to check it out.
Speaker A:And then he came out, you know, he just.
Speaker A:He was.
Speaker A:He was hit.
Speaker A:It was funky, man.
Speaker A:I said, this is.
Speaker A:This is different.
Speaker A:And then when we were.
Speaker A:When we were blessed to be.
Speaker A:Be asked to get on the tour, after I seen the first two or three shows, I said, this.
Speaker A:This guy's different, man.
Speaker A:You know, this is different.
Speaker A:This guy's different.
Speaker A:And then I think he had toured with Mick Jagger and, you know, he had been doing a lot.
Speaker A:He was doing things like we would.
Speaker A:We toured with George and Rick James, and he would come in.
Speaker A:He had done those tours or did them after us.
Speaker A:This is.
Speaker A:This is.
Speaker A:This guy say, this is, you know, different kind of guy.
Speaker A:I certainly.
Speaker A:I personally did.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah, but sure, man.
Speaker B:Prince.
Speaker B:Yeah, it was.
Speaker B:It was.
Speaker B:It was an honor, you know, it was a privilege to be able to interact with him like that.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's just beautiful, man.
Speaker B:You know.
Speaker C:Were you there for that infamous food fight in Cincinnati?
Speaker C:Was it.
Speaker A:Say it again?
Speaker C:The first fight at the end of the tour.
Speaker B:Yeah, the last day in Cincinnati.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah, we had eight.
Speaker B:Yeah, we weren't really involved, but.
Speaker B:But they were doing it.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:All backstage.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Terry, see, Terry would hang around backstage, and I just.
Speaker A:I gotta be honest with you, it was after we played, after we came off stage, I made sure the crew got the stuff loaded.
Speaker A:That was my job.
Speaker A:And then I'm gonna tell you, man, I was out.
Speaker C:I had.
Speaker A:I was quite single.
Speaker A:And Prince, we.
Speaker A:We was touring with Prince, one of the biggest artists in the country, and, you know, we had a couple of number one records under our belt and, you know, hang around for a food fight now.
Speaker A:Some other things going on, man, you.
Speaker C:Know, you know, of the job.
Speaker C:That's right.
Speaker B:Yeah, it was beautiful.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Well, you know, you spoke on Rick James and George Clinton and P.
Speaker C:Funk.
Speaker C:We were good Friends with a lot of those guys, like Bernie Worrell.
Speaker C:Oh, yeah, Great friends with him.
Speaker C:Now, Bootsy and George and that crew were really instrumental with you guys getting that first record deal on that.
Speaker C:That explosive record, right?
Speaker A:I was the new.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:What was your first introduction to those guys to George?
Speaker A:Well, yeah, you can tell him about George.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:I'll tell you what.
Speaker B:That.
Speaker B:What we'll do is I got hit in the group, like, later.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:And let's see.
Speaker B:George and Boost.
Speaker B:I bet them.
Speaker B:I personally met those guys in, like, the late 70s in Detroit.
Speaker B:They both, you know, they.
Speaker B:And they were books.
Speaker B:You know, the lesser.
Speaker B:He's gonna go way on back.
Speaker B:But those guys.
Speaker B:I think I might have been 17, Joe, something like that.
Speaker B:And still.
Speaker B:Still in high school when I was allowed to come up to the studio.
Speaker B:But, yeah, that's where I met him.
Speaker B:And you know, my brothers Lester and Larry and Roger, they would talk about George and Bootsy all the time.
Speaker B:But I met them and they were.
Speaker B:They, let's see.
Speaker B:Professional.
Speaker B:Were very professional.
Speaker B:And both of them were very mentoring to me that when I first met him, you know, I.
Speaker B:I was like.
Speaker B:It was like Prince.
Speaker B:I was mesmerized as well.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah, it was beautiful.
Speaker B:It's beautiful.
Speaker B:You know, and then Lester, he's going to go back and you can.
Speaker B:Lester, would you please tell him.
Speaker B:And tell them about today as well, please.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker B:While Joe has us.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I met Bootsy about spots three years ago.
Speaker A:Had a White Castle on Reading Road.
Speaker B:That's.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:Cincinnati.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:No, man.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Come on, man.
Speaker B:Give us the tea, Lester.
Speaker A:Come on.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:The first time you met him was.
Speaker C:What was it?
Speaker C:South Southwest?
Speaker C:When he joined you on stage.
Speaker C:That's like the first time, right?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I didn't even know who he was.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:No.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:I mean, we were.
Speaker A:Roger and I were kids, man.
Speaker A:Been knowing Bootsy since I was a kid.
Speaker A:We played together, Battle of the Bands.
Speaker A:And we used to play on tv.
Speaker A:TV show in Cincinnati called Talent Time USA was this, man.
Speaker A:We used to play at the state theater and at.
Speaker A:In Cincinnati and tell you, man, playing all those clubs, the wine bar.
Speaker A:And the magic moment, the tragic moment, as we called it, man.
Speaker A:I've been many, many, many years.
Speaker A:Him.
Speaker A:And God bless us, so his brother Catfish, I mean, they.
Speaker A:Those guys kind of raised us, man.
Speaker A:You know, they showed us a couple.
Speaker A:Couple of things to do it because we kind of.
Speaker A:We were rivals.
Speaker A:You know, before Booty and Catfish made it, we were, you know, it was like Whatever they, whatever they were doing, we felt like we could do it.
Speaker A:And so, you know, we were kind of, you know, in my mind, but.
Speaker A:And the truth of the matter is Bootsy and Cat was way over here.
Speaker A:We was down here, you know, but, you know, we, we were, we.
Speaker A:We held our own.
Speaker A:We did fine.
Speaker A:And you know, my dad always took us around.
Speaker A:He.
Speaker A:He was everywhere we went.
Speaker A:Our dad took us in.
Speaker A:Bootsy and George, they.
Speaker A:I'm sure.
Speaker A:I'm sorry, Bootsy, Catfish, I'm sure they recognize that and they probably had much respect for that.
Speaker A:And because of that, they learned to respect us.
Speaker A:Now fast forward to.
Speaker A:To that.
Speaker A:When the 70s, when we met him or when we hooked up with.
Speaker A:With Bootsy again, Boosie took us up to Detroit to meet George.
Speaker A:We met George and recorded the first album How I've Been Knowing George.
Speaker A:Probably not as long as I knew Bootsy, but we, we were a local band, Roger and the Human Body.
Speaker A:And we used to play frat parties and George, the Parliament.
Speaker A:It was Parliament.
Speaker A:They had a song called Testify.
Speaker C:Oh yeah.
Speaker A:They would come in the area.
Speaker A:It was a college, Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.
Speaker A:And we used to play at those frat parties.
Speaker A:We'd be the warm up band, if you will.
Speaker A:And that's how long I've been knowing George, you know, back many, many years, man.
Speaker A:One of guys, when they travel by station wagon, you know, they come in the station wagon.
Speaker A:Yeah, our station wagon with a trailer on the back of it with our equipment.
Speaker A:And we would go in and play these frat parties, man.
Speaker A:Places about big as your studio there and.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker B:Amen.
Speaker C:So that, that was.
Speaker C:Yeah, the Parliament's Fuzzy and Ray and Shady Grady.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's right.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:That's right, that's right.
Speaker A:So yeah, I've been knowing them.
Speaker A:I've been knowing those guys for a long, long time.
Speaker A:And then it was nothing but God, that would allow us to.
Speaker A:For Catfish to be in the club that we were playing at.
Speaker A:Caught Never on Sunday in Cincinnati.
Speaker A:Catfish came to see us and he's got us in touch with Bootsy.
Speaker A:We went called Bootsy Boots.
Speaker A:He said coming to Detroit.
Speaker A:Went to Detroit.
Speaker A:We went there, we met George, we sit down, start recording and hey, man, the rest is history.
Speaker A:More bounce to.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:California love, you know.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Happened.
Speaker C:It happened right, right out of the box.
Speaker C:Just.
Speaker C:I mean, he starts their career with this.
Speaker C:A song as powerful as that as well.
Speaker A:That's right.
Speaker A:It was, it was at the right time.
Speaker A:It was a.
Speaker A:It was on.
Speaker A:Never done like that before.
Speaker A:It Was unheard of.
Speaker A:You know, Bass, drums, hand claps, guitar talk box.
Speaker C:Yeah, right.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's it.
Speaker A:You know, and it's amazing.
Speaker A:And it was small, so, you know, we had a.
Speaker C:Okay, you guys still got it.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:With George's expertise and Boosie's expertise, you know, they said, hey, put a little bit this, a little bit of that through the roof.
Speaker A:And that was Zap.
Speaker A:Zap one and then Roger one, we did in our.
Speaker A:In some there in Detroit and a lot of fifth floor in Cincinnati.
Speaker A:Ben, Zap 2.
Speaker A:Our studio in a little bit in fifth floor.
Speaker A:Is that threes at fours at five.
Speaker A:Roger 2.
Speaker A:Roger 3.
Speaker A:The movies that Shirley Murdock is just on and on and on and on and on and on and on and.
Speaker C:On and on and still doing it to it, so.
Speaker A:Yeah, still doing it.
Speaker A:Yeah, still doing it.
Speaker A:You know, it's.
Speaker A:It's really amazing.
Speaker A:Really amazing.
Speaker A:Joe, Terry and I was talking this morning.
Speaker A:We were sitting over at our.
Speaker A:At our office, sitting in a tour bus.
Speaker A:We were talking.
Speaker A:Just talking about what we had to do today.
Speaker A:Told you.
Speaker A:We've been preparing for this.
Speaker C:I could tell.
Speaker A:No, he doesn't believe it.
Speaker A:And we were talking about just the span of our career.
Speaker A:You know, it's just a purely amazing man to.
Speaker A: To sit here in: Speaker A:And Roger and I recorded our first.
Speaker A: I recorded my first record in: Speaker A:I was eight.
Speaker A:So to be able to reflect, to go back and still be.
Speaker A:Still be received.
Speaker A:And with my brothers passing on and the music that we recorded in the 70s and the 80s and the 90s and the.
Speaker A:And to record the stuff then and still.
Speaker A:It's still going on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on.
Speaker A:I don't want to take the whole interview, but, you know, New York.
Speaker A:That's right, New York and the East Coast.
Speaker A:I.
Speaker A:I guess I sound.
Speaker A:People say.
Speaker A:I sound silly when I say this.
Speaker A: be sitting in your studio in: Speaker C:New York City.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:That's amazing.
Speaker A:It's amazing.
Speaker C:You know, see, I.
Speaker C:I was growing up my.
Speaker C:My favorite dj.
Speaker C:I'm sure you guys know him.
Speaker C:Frankie Crocker.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah, that's your.
Speaker C:So it's like that's your out of wbls.
Speaker C:The chief rocker, Frankie Crocker.
Speaker B:Yeah, sir.
Speaker A:He was who to you?
Speaker C:Oh, he, he was my radio idol.
Speaker C:I listened to him and I, I emailed him once when he got sick.
Speaker C:I, I didn't know he was sick, but we talked, you know, on email.
Speaker C:But yeah, I used to listen to bls and I heard that's how I got introduced to Zap.
Speaker A:No.
Speaker A:Why isn't that amazing, man?
Speaker A:That, that, you know, if you did, you didn't get the Frankie you didn't get from New York up to Eastern seaboard, Boston, and hey, new jerk, man, you know.
Speaker A:You know, I, I can't even.
Speaker A:This is crazy, man.
Speaker A:This is crazy good.
Speaker A:I won't.
Speaker A:I know I'm looking down there at your record time.
Speaker A:I'm not gonna let it go past 20 minutes.
Speaker A:So we got a minute and we got two minutes left.
Speaker A:So I'm not going to talk too much more.
Speaker A:All my answers going to be.
Speaker C:Now.
Speaker C:You guys got more time than that, right?
Speaker B:Maybe five more minutes.
Speaker C:Oh, okay.
Speaker B:You know, something like that.
Speaker C:All right, so we got to get Zapp in there talking about.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker C:We got to get Terry in there.
Speaker C:Hey, you know, assuming the primary role with, with the talk box, of course, Roger and Larry, unfortunately, they passed away and you guys, you know, unthinkable what you guys went through, but coming back and reorganizing the band, making the decision to continue on, what went into that?
Speaker C:And, you know, you can condense and tell a little bit about that.
Speaker A:What?
Speaker A:What?
Speaker B:Let me see if I can get this, man.
Speaker B:Okay, let me see.
Speaker B:God, you know, man, that was, that was a quarter of a century ago, Joe.
Speaker B:That was a quarter of a century.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:All right, hold on.
Speaker B:Let me see.
Speaker A:This is.
Speaker B:I'm not going to claim Alzheimer's, all right?
Speaker B:I'm not going to do that.
Speaker B:Not tonight.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah, for me, yes, it was.
Speaker B:I mean, yeah, you're right.
Speaker B:It was unspeakable and.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And I know that you can only imagine.
Speaker B:And the fans, they can only imagine what, what it was like or what it was going to be like, you know, to, to play again and then go out there and be Zap without Roger and all of that.
Speaker B:Yeah, it was a, it was a challenge, you know.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:And hey, man, and I tell you, I, I, I honestly, man, I, I had a, I had Lester to thank, you know, I really did, you know, I mean, I, I helped him a bit with the recording, but just that live and coming Back with the Talk Box, you know, Roger, he showed me, you know, I can play a bunch of instruments, and he showed me the rudiments of the talk box.
Speaker B:But who.
Speaker B:No, that.
Speaker B:No, I didn't see that one coming, man.
Speaker B:Didn't see that.
Speaker C:Yeah, I.
Speaker C:I just.
Speaker C:When you guys came back, personally, when I saw you in New York coming down, we got.
Speaker C:Me and my wife came out of the subway and hearing the Talk Box, I was crying, crying going inside, man.
Speaker C:It was tough for you guys.
Speaker C:Magnified.
Speaker A:Yeah, magnified.
Speaker A:I don't even know if it's the right word.
Speaker A:Imagine the.
Speaker A:The people that's tuning in.
Speaker A:Imagine listening, first of all, making the records, you know, making the records and then going out to perform them live with your brothers.
Speaker A:And then half of them leave, or two of them leave, right?
Speaker A:And the person is out front.
Speaker A:Everybody says the group is nothing without Roger.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:Oh, yeah.
Speaker A:How do you continue on like that?
Speaker A:I mean, it's.
Speaker A:It took a.
Speaker A:It was a lot of prayer and please believe it.
Speaker A:Joe was a lot of haters, if you will.
Speaker A:A lot of people who said it wasn't going to happen and that you think you're doing something.
Speaker A:And I was just.
Speaker A:Oh, my God, it was so much negativity.
Speaker A:It was so much.
Speaker A:Believe me, man, it was a lot of nights that I had, I cried, literally tears, cried to cry myself to sleep, man.
Speaker A:I wake up the next day and I just keep trying to keep trying to keep trying to keep trying and to be told no and to be told that you're not this and you're not coming into my venue, you're not coming into my club, you're not coming into my arena.
Speaker A:It was very, very hard, man.
Speaker A:But I tell you, yeah, God number one, God number one.
Speaker A:And number two, the fans.
Speaker A:And the fans said yes, so.
Speaker A:And I'm gonna tell you for me what I did, Joe.
Speaker A:I.
Speaker A:I had to just tune out all of the negativity that came my way.
Speaker A:And believe me, it was you.
Speaker A:Negativity.
Speaker A:All the negative things that I heard and how.
Speaker A:How I was making a mistake and that I should be doing this and I should be doing that from all kind of people.
Speaker A:And trust me, man, it was.
Speaker A:It was very, very, very, very, very hard.
Speaker A:And hey, again, God, he, He.
Speaker A:It was meant to be, you know, it was.
Speaker A:It was just meant to be.
Speaker A:And I'm.
Speaker A:I'm just honored.
Speaker A:They've been dead, Roger.
Speaker A:Larry have been gone on April 25th in 24 days, of 23 days, forgive my math, 23 days.
Speaker A:It would be 26 years.
Speaker A:26 years and.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker A:To be able to.
Speaker A:In.
Speaker A:In this.
Speaker A:In this.
Speaker A: , we turned dates down and in: Speaker A: In: Speaker A: in: Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker A:It's really.
Speaker A: No, in: Speaker A:We end up.
Speaker A:I mean, supposed to be 25.
Speaker A:We end up doing about 40.
Speaker A:40 shows.
Speaker A: In: Speaker A:And I think we did something like it.
Speaker A:What are we?
Speaker A:Just Japan.
Speaker A:I think we did 16 shows or so.
Speaker A:8, 10 just on one tour.
Speaker A:So we just, you know.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:What'd you say?
Speaker C:You're torn.
Speaker A:More.
Speaker C:Almost more than when you guys were at your.
Speaker C:Your commercial peak, right?
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And the fans, they're just.
Speaker A:The fan base, you know, is growing and growing and growing.
Speaker A:We have the.
Speaker A:We have the opportunity to go to Milan, Italy, a couple of years ago to Fashion Week.
Speaker A:We were sitting there and.
Speaker A:What's his name?
Speaker A:Carhartt.
Speaker A:Car Carhartt.
Speaker A:Cool.
Speaker A:I couldn't say that.
Speaker A:Car.
Speaker A:Heart.
Speaker A:The designer.
Speaker A:We were in their warehouse or in their offices.
Speaker A:We did a concert there.
Speaker A:And then last year.
Speaker A:Well, not last.
Speaker A:Was that four months ago, three months ago, we had the opportunity to go to Australia.
Speaker A:We did Australia for a week and we left after seven days here.
Speaker A:We left.
Speaker A:They got on the plane and flew to Japan for seven days.
Speaker C:So where'd you play in Japan?
Speaker A:Tokyo.
Speaker A:We.
Speaker A:This time we only did.
Speaker A:Yeah, only did six shows.
Speaker A:We did Tokyo and Y.
Speaker A:Yos.
Speaker A:Yokohama.
Speaker C:Yokohama, yeah.
Speaker B:Is that it?
Speaker B:Just two.
Speaker B:We.
Speaker B:We didn't go to Osaka.
Speaker A:Not this time.
Speaker A:No.
Speaker A:We were.
Speaker A:That was a.
Speaker A:The.
Speaker A:Lester didn't want us to.
Speaker A:He just said it was too long.
Speaker A:It's too much.
Speaker A:Too much.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:But that.
Speaker A:And I'm saying that.
Speaker A:I'm just.
Speaker A:You told me to do it quick.
Speaker A:I did as quick as I could, you know, from.
Speaker A:From.
Speaker A:From knowing Bootsy.
Speaker A:And then when Roger and Larry died and then continuing on, keeping the group going to.
Speaker A:To.
Speaker A:Up until I think we were there.
Speaker A:I think January or December or whatever, you know, I think.
Speaker A:I can't remember what it was.
Speaker A:I think it was December.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:Hey, man.
Speaker A:And then we start back up May 2nd.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:And then you're playing Paul Brown Stadium out your way, right?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Last summer, zap about.
Speaker A:We got inducted in the Walk of Fame, you know.
Speaker C:Oh, yeah, I saw that.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And I was just.
Speaker A:That was, man, just, you know, Roger I had Roger's two.
Speaker A:Roger's sons with me.
Speaker A:I was staying with us.
Speaker A:Terry and I from Lester and.
Speaker A:And Larry on stage was it, you know, that man, Roger would just.
Speaker A:Man, I'm.
Speaker A:I'm sure he's just like, just.
Speaker A:I'm sure he was looking down on that event.
Speaker A:Man, that was.
Speaker A:That was wonderful.
Speaker A:That was.
Speaker C:He probably had a good laugh too.
Speaker C:He was a humorous guy, right?
Speaker B:Oh, heck, yeah, man.
Speaker C:Like you guys are.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:He was funnier than us.
Speaker B:You can believe that.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah, right.
Speaker A:And man, that, that I'm.
Speaker A:I'm gonna let.
Speaker A:You can talk your interview you only you already 26 minutes in and you haven't even got to this to the second setup.
Speaker A:The second.
Speaker A:Yeah, he got to the second gold album.
Speaker C:Yeah, that's right.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:I did want to ask you guys, you know, because like in particular, like Dance Floor Heartbreaker, the songs could go on forever.
Speaker C:I mean, they're incredible tracks and like a knee deep with Parliament and stuff like that.
Speaker C:How did you guys.
Speaker C:Who was in charge of mixing it down as far as getting it down that it could fit in the record for the record company?
Speaker C:Are there longer versions that can go on for half.
Speaker C:Half a day of some of those people?
Speaker B:Oh, man.
Speaker B:Hey, man.
Speaker B:Actually.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker B:Let's see.
Speaker B:I don't know.
Speaker B:Okay, I'll tell you what.
Speaker B:We'll see.
Speaker B:Let's start with Dance Floor man, you know.
Speaker B:Well, fifth floor.
Speaker B:Yeah, fifth floor in Cincinnati.
Speaker B:Definitely Roger, man.
Speaker B:You know, and.
Speaker B:Oh, my God, Lester, maybe you can tell him how it came about.
Speaker B:But he didn't ask all of that.
Speaker B:The mix down.
Speaker B:Let's see.
Speaker B:Well, the way this is ironical, Roger Luster and myself mixed it down.
Speaker B:How about that?
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And whoever that.
Speaker A:One of the engineers, the engineer and the way we did it, we was no automation back then, man.
Speaker A:You know, like the guys had the automated boards.
Speaker A:We had.
Speaker A:Look, I had 10, six faders that I was responsible for.
Speaker A:You know, just.
Speaker A:Hey, you know, you might hear something sneak in a loud, simple crash, you know, one of the songs or, you know, and then Zappa had a.
Speaker A:He had a you.
Speaker A:And then Roger, he would sit there and then the fade would come and you know, Roger had some signals, you know.
Speaker A:Yeah, you know, you know what that means?
Speaker A:Turn it up.
Speaker A:Turn that up.
Speaker C:Right, right.
Speaker A:And then that, you know, just to fade, you know, the two track fade out, you know.
Speaker B:Yeah, man.
Speaker A:We would sit there and mix them until we moved to.
Speaker A:We built our.
Speaker A: We built our own Studios and: Speaker A:Studio A, what we call in Staten.
Speaker A:And we bought a neve.
Speaker A:Console.
Speaker A:Automated console.
Speaker A:And I remember.
Speaker A:I'll never forget it.
Speaker A:I had to sit there and train on that thing for six months, man.
Speaker A:And then after that, it was.
Speaker A:That was my job.
Speaker B:Yeah, we.
Speaker B:And basically we.
Speaker B:Yeah, we did our own stuff, you know, we.
Speaker B:We didn't send it to some big, gigantic crack.
Speaker B:We mixed and edited our own stuff.
Speaker A:Mixed our own, mixed edit.
Speaker B:Yeah, all of it.
Speaker A:Leader.
Speaker A:Put all the leader tape on, box it up, liner notes, everything, the album.
Speaker A:And then we would send them to Warner Brothers.
Speaker A:They would send it to the mastering guy, whoever the mastering company was, they would master it, and that's it.
Speaker A:It never touched another engineer's hands.
Speaker B:And yeah, yeah, the mastering sounded just like what we sent them here.
Speaker B:That's what everybody here.
Speaker C:Right, right.
Speaker B:That's.
Speaker B:That's how it happened, man.
Speaker C:So that building we see in one of the Troutman Enterprises, that's where you guys recorded?
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:Studio A was under that.
Speaker A:Studio B was behind it, and across the street from that was Studio C was where we rehearsed.
Speaker A:And then later, Roger.
Speaker A:I built Roger recording studio on his bus and.
Speaker C:Oh, okay.
Speaker A:That's how we record.
Speaker A:When we toured, Roger would record.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's what we recorded at.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And we were.
Speaker A:Again, man, I sit back and think about it, and when I start to talk about it or if we do interview about it, it sounds like a lie.
Speaker A:But it's.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's documented.
Speaker A:Well documented.
Speaker A:And it's.
Speaker B:Yeah, that's right.
Speaker B:I agree.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:It sounds unbelievable, man.
Speaker B:And, you know, if we don't want to be too egotistic, but, yeah, we did a lot of independent things, a lot of great things, and it can be verified, you know, and we.
Speaker B:We're not just talking to fill up the time, man, because I got other stuff to do.
Speaker B:I got to pay my rent tonight.
Speaker B:Oh, that slipped.
Speaker B:I didn't mean that, you know, but, yeah, that's.
Speaker B:That he's still.
Speaker B:He's telling the truth, man.
Speaker B:He's telling the truth.
Speaker B:That mean that that's how it happened.
Speaker B:And, you know, it's beautiful, man.
Speaker B:And, you know, it's just.
Speaker B:It's hard to articulate is what it is.
Speaker B:You know, it's amazing.
Speaker B:And to still be standing here, man.
Speaker C:60S, right?
Speaker B:I'm the youngest brother.
Speaker B:Joe.
Speaker C:Right, right.
Speaker A:Hey, I'm 37.
Speaker C:Yeah, that's.
Speaker A:You know, one thing in all seriousness, yo.
Speaker A:What the one thing that I'm most proud of and most honor honored to say the people that we met throughout the years who were like, you talk about Prince.
Speaker A:Prince was a touring artist and then later he became an icon.
Speaker A:Rick James, the same died way too soon.
Speaker A:But a person to be spoke about in the history books forever.
Speaker A:George Clinton, who's still a living legend, who I.
Speaker A:I know George, you know, I walk up to Georgia, we sit and have a conversation.
Speaker A:Bootsy, you know, I've been to his home and, and he welcomes.
Speaker A:Welcomes us as a friend.
Speaker A:Morris Jelly Bean.
Speaker A:Whose people, People you spoke of.
Speaker A:And then people that came that we recorded projects for and they are not mad at us.
Speaker A:You know, I was listening to this.
Speaker A:I forgot about this project that we did.
Speaker A:Roger and I did, son.
Speaker A:You know, Roger and I did that.
Speaker A:I was like 17 or something, right?
Speaker A:Come Light My Fire, you know, live on Dream on that, that album.
Speaker A:And it was.
Speaker A:We did that.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And then, you know, later I'm gonna jump around Shirley Murdoch and then the group Dayton and then New Horizon and then.
Speaker A:And then on into the.
Speaker A:To the, to the hip hop community and how it went on.
Speaker A:And then the sampling, how people use the sampling.
Speaker A:And the most thing that I'm honored and proud of and I'm.
Speaker A:I believe that my brothers would be honored and proud of that too, is that for the careers that we touched and the people that we touched that used our music, who was able to take what we were trying to do.
Speaker A:I'm take that back.
Speaker A:What we, what we did, what we did, being serious about what we did, to be able to take that foundation or that, that, that body of work and then use it and then launch their careers to be, just to be icons.
Speaker A:It's just, man, that's, that's the thing I'm the most, most proud of.
Speaker A:Even to this day, you know, when we tour Bruno Mars and you know, just.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah, he.
Speaker C:He definitely took a bite out of you guys and put it in some of those hits.
Speaker A:Wrong choice app.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker A:It's not a bite.
Speaker A:It was Creative juices.
Speaker A:It was Creative Juices is like if you're praying, man, when you, you pray a prayer, you say, oh my God, I got inspired from that.
Speaker A:Or, you know, if you go to McDonald's and you eat a hamburger, you say, oh, I got energy from that.
Speaker A:Or you drink a Pepsi Colony.
Speaker A:So, oh, man, this gave me a cup of coffee.
Speaker A:So that's.
Speaker A:It's not a bite.
Speaker A:Hey, listen, Bruno, all who keep, don't stop.
Speaker A:Use it, love it, enjoy it, you know, man, I watched the television show the other night, I forgot what it was.
Speaker A:It was about something about a basketball family or something.
Speaker A:The first words I first sounded came out was California Love, Roger.
Speaker A:It's amazing.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:You know.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah.
Speaker B:Running the point or something.
Speaker A:Yeah, running a point or something.
Speaker C:Oh, okay.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:So, you know, it's, you know, the movies, love in basketball, boys in the hood, and blah, blah, blah.
Speaker A:So that's the thing that I'm most.
Speaker A:I am most proud of and most.
Speaker A:Just.
Speaker A:It's just.
Speaker A:It's just a pure honor, man, for the careers that we touched and the people who we.
Speaker A:We were able to inspire to continue on.
Speaker A:And it's just, you know, me sitting here, I'm 69 years old and I'm in good health and I'm still touring.
Speaker A:I'm still halfway of.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:My half.
Speaker A:My mind is good.
Speaker A:The other half is.
Speaker C:I mean, you're taking no prisoners on the drums, man.
Speaker C:You're going the whole shows laying it out.
Speaker A:Thank you.
Speaker C:The whole band.
Speaker C:I mean, I wanted to ask you before we get into other stuff, but always Zap has.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker C:And also Roger put together an amazing show.
Speaker C:You know, you guys, through the years, different, different, you know, different elements to the show.
Speaker C:You got the steppers coming out in the beginning and all that.
Speaker C:Who.
Speaker C:Who puts that together and makes it so entertaining?
Speaker A:We gotta.
Speaker A:We got.
Speaker A:Our choreographer is.
Speaker A:We use a company out of New York, you know, up in the above.
Speaker A:His cat skills, this guy.
Speaker C:Yeah, that's right.
Speaker A:That's Joe.
Speaker A:Come on, Joe, you had to get your plug in, you know.
Speaker C:Well, my wife.
Speaker C:My wife was a dance champion before I met her.
Speaker C:Ballroom champion, maybe, you know.
Speaker C:Yeah, I got it from her.
Speaker A:It's from Joe's camp.
Speaker A:But, you know, hey, Joe, you know, Roger had his.
Speaker A:His motto even when we were kids, when he and I would go play at the local.
Speaker A:At the bars, at the beer joints, as my dad called them, you know, never bore my fans.
Speaker B:Yeah, we.
Speaker B:So we.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's there again.
Speaker B:We.
Speaker B:We do our own Joe, you know, period.
Speaker B:We.
Speaker B:We do our show, you know, we choreograph it, you know, the whole thing.
Speaker B:But hey, that's the way we were taught.
Speaker B:And it continues to work.
Speaker B:And then, you know, I guess before we go further, gentlemen, I did want to say that Lester, I started to start naming off some of the groups that have sampled our stuff.
Speaker B:I'm going to say primarily Rogers, this data can last an hour.
Speaker B:And then did y'all know that.
Speaker B:That all of that stuff Roger stuff.
Speaker B:Zap stuff.
Speaker B:It's like, I don't know, probably the third most sample body of work, like maybe behind James Brown.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:How the heck does that happen?
Speaker B:And it's.
Speaker B:It's true and it's verifiable.
Speaker B:You know, I'm not just sitting over here whistling Dixie, man.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:You know, like, I gotta pay.
Speaker B:It's the first.
Speaker B:I gotta pay.
Speaker A:My.
Speaker B:My.
Speaker B:My check hasn't come in.
Speaker B:I got stuff to do tonight, so, you know, I don't have time to.
Speaker B:To be just telling you, but.
Speaker B:Yeah, that's true, man.
Speaker B:Where you want to start, man?
Speaker B:Let me see.
Speaker B:I guess Tupac, Dre, you know.
Speaker B:Hey, man, I can't even.
Speaker B:I can't.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:It's hard to even start, man.
Speaker C:You know, credit to Zap.
Speaker C:And you guys, you got the hip hop artist dancing, which is tough to do sometimes.
Speaker B:Yeah, you got them, man.
Speaker B:What a.
Speaker B:I would be remorse, gentlemen, if I didn't bring up one of our good friends in industry.
Speaker B:Snoop.
Speaker B:I just.
Speaker B:Man, there's so much going on.
Speaker B:Y'all got my mind going.
Speaker B:So much.
Speaker B:Snoop.
Speaker B:You know, it's Snoop.
Speaker B:He's friends of ours.
Speaker B:The friends of Lester.
Speaker B:Lester, Sonny.
Speaker B:He.
Speaker B:He is our friend.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker B:You know, and.
Speaker B:And it is.
Speaker B:You know, it's.
Speaker B:It's interesting, man, because you know, the hip hop guys, those some rough guys, man.
Speaker B:But it's all love and respect for my brother and us, secondly.
Speaker B:Us.
Speaker B:You know, and that's.
Speaker B:Where the heck does that happen?
Speaker B:How does that happen?
Speaker C:You guys have just forged.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:You.
Speaker B:So you can have the floor back now.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:I'm just saying, you know, different.
Speaker C:You know, the Minneapolis sound.
Speaker C:Ohio Zap talk box and everything.
Speaker C:I know I've had fans.
Speaker C:We got a lot of Ohio Funk fans.
Speaker C:Funk fans in general.
Speaker C:If I say anything that's not correct or I.
Speaker C:I'm not never diss you guys.
Speaker C:I love the music coming out of there.
Speaker C:I'll hear about it.
Speaker C:People are fierce about protecting Ohio Funk.
Speaker B:Okay, okay.
Speaker C:Yeah, that's good.
Speaker B:That's good.
Speaker A:Some heavy hitters on it.
Speaker A:We had a week.
Speaker A:Yeah, we had heavy hitters to pick from.
Speaker A:You know, we had a.
Speaker A:You know, some blueprint there, man.
Speaker A:You know, the players slave Lakeside going down the line, man.
Speaker A:You know, James, Bootsy, you know, it's just Isley.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:Come on.
Speaker B:Dad's been dance oj.
Speaker C:You know Faizo, right?
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:There you go.
Speaker A:You know, just.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Ohio, man.
Speaker C:When.
Speaker C:When Mark Adams passed away.
Speaker C:We did.
Speaker C:When we were at the radio station down in Connecticut, because we were out of proper station.
Speaker A:This.
Speaker C:This is out of the home.
Speaker C:But we did a big special on that.
Speaker C:The amount of musicians who called in and wanted to pay respect was.
Speaker C:Victor Wooten called in.
Speaker C:Drac.
Speaker C:Drac called in.
Speaker C:He was still.
Speaker C:But he passed a few months after that.
Speaker C:But, yeah, that was.
Speaker C:It was intense, man.
Speaker C:You guys got a lot of love coming out of that state.
Speaker C:Four letters to the state.
Speaker B:That's right.
Speaker B:Man, I love Mark Adams, man.
Speaker B:I love the way that he play.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:Me and.
Speaker B:Me and millions of others I listen to.
Speaker B:I spar with that all the time when I take the bass out, you know?
Speaker B:That's right.
Speaker B:Okay, okay.
Speaker B:Anyway.
Speaker B:Anyway.
Speaker B:Okay, I digress.
Speaker B:I digress.
Speaker C:What was it?
Speaker C:Those Soul Train appearances.
Speaker C:I mean, legendary show.
Speaker C:That's how I got into R B and funk music.
Speaker C:You guys did it a bunch of shows, right?
Speaker C:And Roger, right?
Speaker A:No.
Speaker A:What?
Speaker B:Soul Train.
Speaker B:What's that, Lester?
Speaker A:Yeah, we did it twice.
Speaker C:We did it only twice.
Speaker A:Yeah, only twice.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Our music has been played on there many times.
Speaker C:Oh, yeah.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:We only did it twice.
Speaker A:Computer Love.
Speaker A:And then they did a B cut or a cut.
Speaker C:You did Itching for a twitching.
Speaker B:Itching.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Did we do that, then?
Speaker A:It was three times.
Speaker B:Yeah, we sure did.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:That's one of my favorite songs on the later record.
Speaker A:Yeah, I guess it was here.
Speaker A:My mistake.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker A:Somebody thumbs up.
Speaker A:Somebody was at thumbs up.
Speaker A:That you, Joe?
Speaker C:I got one right on there.
Speaker B:Yep.
Speaker B:And there again, man.
Speaker B:Don Cornelius.
Speaker B:You know, I'll just go back to the two words, man.
Speaker B:To love and respect, man.
Speaker A:That's.
Speaker B:That's what.
Speaker B:That's what he had for us, you know, he.
Speaker B:He seen way more groups than we gonna ever see, man, up close.
Speaker B:And always been a common denominator.
Speaker B:Denominator.
Speaker B:It's love and respect.
Speaker B:You know, That's.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:I mean, you know, this is.
Speaker B:It's a heck of a thing, man.
Speaker B:It's beautiful now.
Speaker B:Yeah, we love Soul Train.
Speaker B:That was fun, man.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:And you do the cruise, too, right?
Speaker C:Soul Train cruise.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:We did it.
Speaker B:You're gonna tell us about Don Cornelius.
Speaker A:That.
Speaker A:That was when we came from Australia.
Speaker A:We went right there, I think that was.
Speaker A:Flew to Mexico about a week later.
Speaker A:I forgot about that.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's right.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's right.
Speaker A:We just did it.
Speaker B:January.
Speaker A:January.
Speaker A:It was January.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Don Cornelius Jr.
Speaker B:Yeah, he just.
Speaker B:He honored us, Joe.
Speaker B:Called Lester up on the stage before he even hit a no hit A note, man.
Speaker B:And it was just.
Speaker B:Hey, you know, he just gave it up, man.
Speaker B:Just like you doing right now, man.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:That's.
Speaker B:It's amazing is what it is, man.
Speaker B:You know?
Speaker C:Yeah, we just had.
Speaker B:It's unbelievable.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:And still, hey, a lot.
Speaker C:A lot of gas left in the tank for you guys, so it's great to see not too many bands still doing it at that level that you guys all.
Speaker C:All they have to do.
Speaker C:Yeah, me too.
Speaker C:I matched.
Speaker C:Lester said bring the.
Speaker C:Bring the big.
Speaker C:My wife said, yeah, there we go.
Speaker B:Oh, hey, you know what?
Speaker C:My.
Speaker B:Mine is black.
Speaker B:What does that.
Speaker B:That mean?
Speaker B:Lester.
Speaker B:Mine is black.
Speaker B:Wait, and Joe.
Speaker A:Drinking te.
Speaker A:That's what that means.
Speaker A:But.
Speaker B:Oh, but you know what?
Speaker B:Get anywhere because Lester's cup is.
Speaker B:His cup is the same as your.
Speaker B:Is it AI.
Speaker B:The same cup or what?
Speaker C:Yeah, we're.
Speaker C:We're messing with people.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:About to say Joe.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:You know.
Speaker C:Oh, I.
Speaker C:I forgot what I was going to say, but I wanted to ask you about.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker C:A big, big festival that you guys did, I believe you did over the summer out in Sofi, out in la.
Speaker C:The fool in love.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Fool in love.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:What was that like?
Speaker C:Were you guys on the revolving stage?
Speaker C:It was like.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:Remember?
Speaker A:Yeah, dude, I had to think about that.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:How do.
Speaker C:How do you condense the catalog of great songs and long funky songs into what, 15, 20 minutes set or so?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:How long do we have?
Speaker B:30.
Speaker B:We had less than that.
Speaker B:Hey, man, we.
Speaker B:We just kept.
Speaker B:Kept out.
Speaker B:They were.
Speaker B:It was in our stage.
Speaker B:What was it less about 10,000, 20,000.
Speaker B:They were happy.
Speaker A:I can't see past the monitor sound.
Speaker B:Yeah, Joe, the audience, you know, they had the big screen, Joe.
Speaker B:They sang every word, right?
Speaker B:And on two, three things happened on Be youe Love and Community Computer Love, they cried.
Speaker B:Oh, those take thousands.
Speaker B:This is my right.
Speaker B:Hey, man, they cry.
Speaker B:And then when we did more bounce, who came on the set at the Fools Fall In Love show?
Speaker B:Lester.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:I want Lesters.
Speaker B:I want my older brother to tell George.
Speaker A:George Clinton came out.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:Is that up on YouTube?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker C:Okay, I'm gonna dig that up.
Speaker B:Yeah, go dig it right up.
Speaker B:He.
Speaker B:He came through the show with guys like Jimmy Jam, Flavor Play, all kinds of people, man.
Speaker B:Cooling the gang.
Speaker B:And we got the more balance.
Speaker B:George couldn't hold.
Speaker B:He just came out on the set, man.
Speaker B:He just came up there, man.
Speaker B:Just came up there.
Speaker A:What was your question, Joe?
Speaker A:You asked was.
Speaker A:You said.
Speaker C:Yeah, because I seen.
Speaker C:We.
Speaker C:We've got we had Howard Hewitt on the show a few days ago, and I know they played.
Speaker C:And a friend of ours is in Heat Wave and Heat Wave.
Speaker C:I saw there were some.
Speaker C:There were a lot of technical problems because you got so many bands.
Speaker C:Did you guys run into any of that?
Speaker A:No, we didn't.
Speaker A:We got.
Speaker A:We have.
Speaker A:Our crew is.
Speaker C:Oh, okay, excellent.
Speaker A:You know, my.
Speaker A:It's my.
Speaker A:My nephews and my wife does wardrobe.
Speaker A:And then our front of the house sound man, Rick, they don't play.
Speaker B:It was.
Speaker B:It was seamless.
Speaker A:Yeah, they don't play.
Speaker A:They got.
Speaker A:We gotta.
Speaker A:We got there the day before and did line checks.
Speaker A:And you know, those guys, they don't mess around.
Speaker A:When we go.
Speaker A:They don't mess around.
Speaker B:We go all over the world, Joe, this is that bad.
Speaker A:I wanted to answer your question.
Speaker A:You asked the question.
Speaker A:You said, how do you condense all of those hits into 30 minutes or 20 minutes?
Speaker A:Is that what you said?
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:I was wondering what goes into kind of scaling it down.
Speaker A:Promoters.
Speaker C:They tell you, here you go, you gotta play.
Speaker B:And on and on, right?
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:I didn't.
Speaker C:I didn't know that because I, you know, Prince was a big supporter of our radio show, and I was asking some of his bandmates how come he's not focusing on the new record as much.
Speaker C:He's got to play a lot.
Speaker C:She go.
Speaker C:She said, sometimes you don't have a choice on exactly what you want to put out there.
Speaker C:So.
Speaker C:And I've heard it more often, and you guys spoke of it right there.
Speaker A:Yeah, you gotta, you know, when, when, when.
Speaker A:Just kind of check and see what your audience feels, you know, what they like, and kind of gotta go for it.
Speaker A:You know, when we.
Speaker A:We go to a lot of shows we do in the States, they said, you got 20 minutes, you got 30 minutes, you got 40 minutes, and you got to condense them down.
Speaker A:And then when we get to.
Speaker A:Like, sometimes we get an evening with.
Speaker A:And we were able to stretch out and branch out a little bit, you know, and we were in Australia, you know, we got to stretch out a little bit on one of the shows.
Speaker A:On a few.
Speaker A:First night we got to str.
Speaker A:Or last night, I think we got to stretch out a little bit.
Speaker A:But, you know, most of the times it's condensed.
Speaker A:You know, they got a.
Speaker A:They got a beginning, they got a middle, and they got an end.
Speaker A:So, you know.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:Any bands you haven't toured or done shows or collaborated with that you would love to spend some time on stage or in the studio.
Speaker C:With.
Speaker A:What was your.
Speaker A:What was the question you cut off again?
Speaker C:I was saying some groups or artists that you would love to maybe do something together with on stage or in the studio.
Speaker C:Do you have some in mind?
Speaker C:Because I'm sure people would love to do with you guys.
Speaker A:You are.
Speaker A:I.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Which spectrum of music?
Speaker A:What was genre of music?
Speaker C:Hey, we love all kinds here.
Speaker A:Yeah, let me see now, Let me see.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Okay, let's see.
Speaker B:Taylor Swift.
Speaker B:We can start right.
Speaker A:There you go.
Speaker A:That would be it.
Speaker C:That'd be interesting.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, we.
Speaker B:Yeah, we.
Speaker B:So older man.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:You know, then like, then I like to go.
Speaker A:I like to.
Speaker A:I would love to perform with.
Speaker A:You know, I like rock music.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Who's.
Speaker A:Any of the guys from yes.
Speaker A:Is still around.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:Let's see here then.
Speaker A:I like to.
Speaker A:Me.
Speaker A:I like to.
Speaker A:Hauling oats.
Speaker A:Let me see.
Speaker A:I would love to just hit it again.
Speaker A:Even though we've done shows with isis, I would love to get on set with them, you know.
Speaker A:Let me see, man.
Speaker A:I could list, man.
Speaker A:I could.
Speaker A:Yeah, I can go on.
Speaker A:I whipped out that old.
Speaker A:That old dusty playlist I got, man.
Speaker A:I like to get out there with all of them.
Speaker B:Exactly.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:If I could, you know.
Speaker B:But yeah, and we've been on with a bunch of them too, man.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah, right.
Speaker A:And the.
Speaker A:The latest.
Speaker A:The.
Speaker A:The.
Speaker A:And I don't mean guys when I say kids.
Speaker A:The newer artists, man, out.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:That is.
Speaker A:You know, because they're the future, man.
Speaker A:And what they hear.
Speaker A:What they hear is different.
Speaker A:You know, the way they.
Speaker A:The way they take stuff in and the way they put it out, that they put that twist, man.
Speaker A:That is.
Speaker A:That stuff is so inspiring to me, man.
Speaker A:I look at YouTube, it's like, what did you hear that?
Speaker A:I love it so lot.
Speaker A:And any of them new guys, man.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:So have you been working in your own.
Speaker C:I mean, you both have home studios and stuff like that.
Speaker C:Have you guys been working on new music in between the dates?
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:I mean, we, you know, we dip.
Speaker A:We working around working on a new project and you know, the interest of a news app album.
Speaker A:You know, we have.
Speaker A:We have.
Speaker A:We'll service our fans and you know, then we're going tour and put out a project.
Speaker A:Tour throughout a project, you know, tour.
Speaker A:And it's, you know, they, they, they.
Speaker A:They are not as noticeable or they don't get the notoriety like that right back there.
Speaker A:That.
Speaker A:See that logo right back there?
Speaker A:You know, they don't quite.
Speaker C:Right, right.
Speaker A:You know, we don't have the juice for the people to hear, you know, some of the latest things that we've done.
Speaker A:You know, we'll get a few hits and it's.
Speaker A:It's good.
Speaker A:It's fine.
Speaker A:You know, we did that thing a couple years ago as a tuxedo, you know, and it's pretty good, man.
Speaker A:It's pretty funky.
Speaker C:Yeah, I got this.
Speaker C:I got the 6 CD.
Speaker C:That was a nice one.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:That was a lot of fun, man.
Speaker A:We had a lot of fun doing that.
Speaker A:A lot of fun.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's pretty, pretty.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:You know, the latest project that I worked on here was Bootsy.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker B:As a brand new record coming out.
Speaker C:Out of Rehab Studios.
Speaker C:Right?
Speaker B:Yeah, but I'm not sure.
Speaker B:Listen, he told us.
Speaker B:He told us to promote.
Speaker B:This is part of our job to tell everybody that Boosie's new record is coming out.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Three minutes in.
Speaker A:We can go ahead.
Speaker A:We go ahead, man.
Speaker B:That's right.
Speaker B:And Lester and I.
Speaker B:Lester and I, we performed on it as well.
Speaker C:You know, Was it like number one funk star or something?
Speaker C:I've seen the logo for it.
Speaker B:Listen.
Speaker B:Right, Go ahead.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Hey, Joe.
Speaker B:You can go first.
Speaker A: This is: Speaker A:They say you get a call, we want you to do this.
Speaker A:We do it, send it back to them.
Speaker A:And, you know, it's not like it used to be in the old days.
Speaker A:You know, you sit down there and rewind the tape and listen to it and.
Speaker A:And watch everybody mix.
Speaker A:And, you know, you touch a fader and that guy pushes.
Speaker A:Not like that.
Speaker A:Say, hey, you send it in and, you know, you know.
Speaker A:Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker A:We did.
Speaker A:We did this with George and Bootsy over the summer.
Speaker A:Was it the summer?
Speaker A:The fall.
Speaker A:We did this when?
Speaker A:During the election.
Speaker A:Before the election.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:And the.
Speaker A:Trump.
Speaker A:President Trump now.
Speaker A:We were, you know, we did a Kamala and we performed.
Speaker A:We did a thing with George and Booy.
Speaker A:That was.
Speaker A:Wow, man.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker C:Oh, you did a fundraiser.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:What was get out and vote thing?
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:Oh, okay.
Speaker A:Yeah, we did a fundraiser in Cincinnati and it was.
Speaker A:It was, man, it was nice.
Speaker A:So, you know, you.
Speaker A:You get it.
Speaker A:You're done.
Speaker A:He said, hey, look, I need this back.
Speaker A:Get it back to me this afternoon or tomorrow, and bam, you get it.
Speaker A:You send it to him and boom.
Speaker A:And he emailed me and said, hey, listen, I want you to do Knee Deep.
Speaker A:Oh, right.
Speaker A:I did a track and sent it to him and I, hey, there it is.
Speaker C:So, you know where it winds up.
Speaker C:I'm sure it's Funky, right?
Speaker B:Yeah, very.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker C:Do you guys know Full.
Speaker C:Do you know Foley?
Speaker C:He's out in Columbus.
Speaker C:He was with George.
Speaker C:Plays drums.
Speaker A:Oh, you say.
Speaker A:See, every time you say something, you'll cat.
Speaker A:The thing cuts off.
Speaker A:So I'm only.
Speaker C:Oh, okay.
Speaker A:Question.
Speaker A:Yes, I know Foley.
Speaker C:Yeah, I got a quick Foley story.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:Plays drums also with pv.
Speaker C:So anyways, he with.
Speaker C:When we're down in Connecticut, he drove like eight hours from Columbus to my studio at the radio station with a.
Speaker C:A drummer who played sticks on a wooden chair, a female background singer, and he brought a 12 string acoustic guitar.
Speaker C:4 hours he played on the show and we spun.
Speaker C:Well, he had a Miles Davis bootleg records.
Speaker B:Oh, oh, wow.
Speaker C:Concerts of it.
Speaker C:And he drove back the same night.
Speaker B:What did he play?
Speaker B:Did he play along with the stuff that, that Miles did or he just did it separately?
Speaker C:He did mostly his solo stuff.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:But yeah, I figured he's one of Chef's friends.
Speaker B:Oh, okay.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So, yeah, he's pretty bad guy, man.
Speaker A:Yeah, I heard about him driving it all those places and pretty, pretty intense, man.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:I was like, you, you don't want to stay down here?
Speaker C:Or he's like, no, we're gonna head back tonight.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:I got a question for Zap about the Talk Box because, you know, you see, I'm sure you guys see all over on Tick tock and, and YouTube, people doing the.
Speaker C:The Talk box to the Zap hits and stuff.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:How difficult was it to learn and to sound just as good as Roger and put your own spin on it?
Speaker B:Very difficult.
Speaker B:Very difficult.
Speaker A:That's one of them.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:Answers.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker C:He's not giving the recipe up.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:Let's see, man.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:It was, it was just like a before and after Roger.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:When he first showed me.
Speaker B:Let's see, I might have been, I think about maybe 18 or something like that.
Speaker B:Maybe 19 years old.
Speaker B:That was, that was in the 70s.
Speaker B:And learning it and getting those sounds, that was hard.
Speaker B:It was hard.
Speaker B:It was, it was.
Speaker B:It was hard as any of those other instruments.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:And then after that, after I kind of got thrust up there, it was a little bit easier.
Speaker B:But yeah, it takes work.
Speaker B:Takes work.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:Has.
Speaker C:Has the.
Speaker C:As far as equipment, as far as the keys and everything.
Speaker C:Has it evolved since Rogers first got into it?
Speaker B:Oh, yeah, man.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:It's several, man.
Speaker B:They got newer, you know, more condensed methods of doing it, you know, different.
Speaker B:They have different types.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's real, man.
Speaker B:You can do this stuff on your cell phone nowadays, man.
Speaker B:It's just like everything else, man.
Speaker A:Are you asking is it the.
Speaker A:Is it change for him or.
Speaker A:You mean in the industry?
Speaker A:What was.
Speaker C:Yeah, kind of man, as far as what you guys play, what do you have played since when first Roger had that?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Has he changed you from what he did?
Speaker B:The.
Speaker B:The gear?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I mean it's.
Speaker B:It evolves slowly.
Speaker B:Slowly.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And you know, in other words, we don't want to just junk that and then come with a totally different look and totally different sound, you know?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:Who.
Speaker C:Who's in the current band?
Speaker C:If you want to name who's in the car.
Speaker C:I know you got.
Speaker C:Looks like you got a crew of like 10 people on stage.
Speaker B:Yeah, Yep, it's me and it's myself.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:And then the greater me, the third person, me.
Speaker B:So that's it.
Speaker B:That's the group.
Speaker B:That's it, man.
Speaker C:That's it.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker C:Mine's are not seeing.
Speaker B:You can tell.
Speaker A:So what is it?
Speaker B:Last you see eight on stage?
Speaker A:Yeah, I think it's.
Speaker A:What is it?
Speaker A:It's Daily Gro.
Speaker A:Shirley Murdoch's husband.
Speaker A:DY Gro.
Speaker A:Then it's Mark Thomas.
Speaker A:Then it's Tony Arrington.
Speaker A:What it go to?
Speaker A:Saxtone.
Speaker A:Then it's brought Bham, as we call him.
Speaker A:And then it's Frost, Peanut.
Speaker A:And then it's.
Speaker A:That's five, right, Right.
Speaker A:That is all right.
Speaker C:Yeah, I think we got it.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:5.
Speaker A:And then it's Zap.
Speaker A:And then it's Myself.
Speaker A:And then we've got a guy.
Speaker A:Guy.
Speaker A:We just brung in.
Speaker A:Manny.
Speaker A:Right, that's it.
Speaker A:I got them all.
Speaker A:That's it.
Speaker A:That's right.
Speaker A:Zap.
Speaker C:2025.
Speaker A: Yeah, that: Speaker A:I got it.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Manny Pendleton.
Speaker A:Is that right?
Speaker A:So Dale D.
Speaker A:Grove, Bart Thomas, Anthony Arrington, Peanut Frost or Ronald Frost.
Speaker A:B.
Speaker A:Ham.
Speaker A:B.
Speaker A:Ham.
Speaker A:Brian.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:Brian Hamilton.
Speaker A:Brian, yeah, Hamilton.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I just.
Speaker A:I just write the checks.
Speaker A:I sign the checks.
Speaker A:I don't write them.
Speaker B:That's it.
Speaker B:And us too.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Terry.
Speaker A:Eugene Cone.
Speaker A:Terry Cone Trotman.
Speaker A:And then Manny the new guy.
Speaker C:Everybody got the proper mention.
Speaker A:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker A:I did.
Speaker A:Somebody shot up balloons.
Speaker A:Was that you who did that?
Speaker C:I didn't do it.
Speaker B:Hey, man, you know.
Speaker B:Yeah, Joe, I don't know how to do that.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker C:No, I was laughing.
Speaker C:I was like.
Speaker C:I didn't see your hands moving or anything.
Speaker C:I said that was cool.
Speaker A:Okay, now.
Speaker A:Yeah, let me see.
Speaker A:Did we cover the hip hop guys?
Speaker A:Yeah, with a hip hop guys.
Speaker A:The Past record.
Speaker C:Hey, I wanted, I wanted to give you guys a compliment on, you know, the demographics of your crowd and the age and, and different races and everything people should go to.
Speaker C:When you.
Speaker C:Last year, you did The Columbus.
Speaker C:The 614 Funk Fest, was it?
Speaker A:Yes, I think that's what it was called.
Speaker A:And forgive us.
Speaker A:Did you.
Speaker C:Did you guys notice that, like, young teenager, white kid was super into the show in the front row?
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker C:Well, yeah, yeah, you gave him a.
Speaker C:He had a drumstick in his hand.
Speaker A:Yeah, I gave.
Speaker A:Yeah, I was my solo.
Speaker A:Yeah, I did.
Speaker A:Of course, I remember.
Speaker C:Yeah, that kid was into it.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:How did you know that?
Speaker A:Was that you?
Speaker C:Oh, yeah, that was me.
Speaker C:I had the.
Speaker C:I had my hair up in a bun like that.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, and we'll be back.
Speaker B:We'll be back at the same place.
Speaker B:August the ninth again.
Speaker B:What is this lesser.
Speaker B:Fourth, fifth time in a row.
Speaker A:Yeah, I think I'm.
Speaker A:Terry knows those dates again.
Speaker A:Look, I see.
Speaker A:He just like.
Speaker A:He knew about Prince and the food fights.
Speaker A:See, after the show, it's back to the bus, a Domino's pizza and Judge Judy.
Speaker A:Okay, okay, that's it for me.
Speaker C:Okay, I.
Speaker C:I got a joke about Radio D.
Speaker C:When it first got into radio, I dated my a.
Speaker C:A girl for two and a half years who phoned into my show with a request, and I always joke with my wife.
Speaker C:I said, I don't get those calls anymore.
Speaker A:Yeah, no, yeah, times have changed.
Speaker B:Understood, understood.
Speaker A:Calls is, hey, the calls that we get now is, hey, what vehicle are you in?
Speaker A:Because I'm ready to deliver this pizza?
Speaker A:Where.
Speaker A:Do you know what, what, where you want this order to go to?
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah, that's right.
Speaker A:But yeah, man, it's it, you know, it is.
Speaker A:Again, as I said, not fear of being redundant.
Speaker A:I'm telling you, being able to, To.
Speaker A:To still be around after all these years and the records that we made, the artists who could, who have, who has built their careers on that music, man, I'm sure Roger and my brother Larry looking down and saying, you know, wow, this is, you know, this is way more than what we thought it would be.
Speaker A:You know, we were trying to make some people dance.
Speaker A:We were trying to get the people to enjoy themselves and forget about the problems just for a few minutes, you know, and when.
Speaker A:Even when we would go to the clubs and play Roger and even way before Larry got in the group, before his way, even before that was born.
Speaker A:But, man, that, that's.
Speaker A:That was our goal.
Speaker A:It's what we.
Speaker A:It's what we tried to do and for anybody to.
Speaker A:Let me rephrase that for the people who took that and was able to sing on top of that or get be inspired by some of the songs, the Teddy Riley's and I mean just go on and on, man.
Speaker A:It's just, it's mind blowing, man.
Speaker A:I'm telling you.
Speaker A:Some morning I wake up and I have to pinch myself and say, wow, you know, if I turn on the TV or watch a movie and then one of the songs I, I, one of the songs are on.
Speaker A:Come on.
Speaker A:I'm like, wow.
Speaker A:I was driving in my car today to had a, I had to come actually get ready to come back here to set up for this.
Speaker A:I was listening to the radio and then one of the Internet shows, one of the Internet stations I want to be your man popped on.
Speaker A:So I mean, you know, I mean that's, you know, like, wow, is this real?
Speaker A:You know, this is amazing.
Speaker A:Even, even as much as the biggest artist of our time and I think the kids still remember him.
Speaker A:Michael Jackson.
Speaker A:Roger even had, he had the honor and the privilege of recording LP with Michael.
Speaker A:You know.
Speaker A:Come on, man.
Speaker A:What is that?
Speaker A:How does that.
Speaker A:Where is that.
Speaker C:Yeah, did, did Prince, did Prince and Roger ever talk about doing some stuff together or.
Speaker A:We had, he was, we were headed to go to Japan and Prince called Roger to come up and to record on the song Forgive me.
Speaker A:I, I'm, I'm might call it wrong to come up and record a guitar solo with him on the one of the songs.
Speaker A:But we had to leave that evening to fly out and when you fly to Japan, you're flying into time, you know.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker A:You know, Saturday you're going to get there Sunday.
Speaker A:So we had to leave and he couldn't do it.
Speaker A:It's same as with Quincy Jones and the Secret Garden album.
Speaker A:Had to call.
Speaker A:We had to, yeah, couldn't, you know, couldn't just the timing.
Speaker A:So the answer to your question, yes, he did ask but it never, never happened.
Speaker A:I'm, you know, hey, but look, I'm talking about the people who we did and we, and then Roger subsequently Roger did get to, to record with.
Speaker A:It's amazing, man.
Speaker A:Dr.
Speaker A:Dre.
Speaker C:Yeah, I mean the, the just, just sounds the motifs in, in zaps music are just so original and they're there forever.
Speaker C:So you guys have done so much for myself and so many of our viewers and listeners so well and you.
Speaker A:Know, Joe, we, even when we do.
Speaker A:Oh, I forgot about this.
Speaker A:You know, so many things that happen in a career, you know, you try to Squeeze them into an hour or two hours.
Speaker A:It's just not, not enough time.
Speaker A:I remember we were, we were in, we were playing in the Village, right?
Speaker A:We were up and we were parked on.
Speaker A:What is that?
Speaker A:Amsterdam Street, I think it's called.
Speaker B:Yeah, something like that.
Speaker A:Bus.
Speaker A:The bus was parked on the side of Amsterdam.
Speaker A:So I think that maybe.
Speaker A:What, I can't have something like that.
Speaker A:And then we were go inside this club.
Speaker A:We were playing inside his club called sobs.
Speaker C:Oh, yeah, I've been there.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Brazil.
Speaker A:Yeah, right.
Speaker A:We playing in it, right?
Speaker A:And we start playing and we look up in the front row, front table, right?
Speaker A:Who's sitting there, you know, enjoying the show, hitting the table, laughing and just jumping.
Speaker A:And Roger said, hey, Roger went into this song.
Speaker A:He said, man, come on up here.
Speaker A:It was George Benson, right?
Speaker A:So, you know, come on, man.
Speaker A:You know, that's, that's.
Speaker A:And it just, just.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:When your peers are there, appreciate.
Speaker C:And that, that's the highest praise, right?
Speaker B:Yes, yes, I think so.
Speaker A:Yes, it is.
Speaker A:Highest praise, man.
Speaker A:Think about that.
Speaker A:And when we were kids, what, you know, we, Roger and I, we took.
Speaker A:Talked about it, man.
Speaker A:Terry was so little, man.
Speaker A:We used to listen.
Speaker A:We had, we had a record player in a basement.
Speaker A:That was me and Roger's room in the basement.
Speaker A:It wasn't fixed up like you think, okay.
Speaker A:You know that cold that wood, man.
Speaker C:Right, right.
Speaker A:Listen to Free Taylor, Cree Taylor, that, that, that, that label cti, you know, Creed Taylor International.
Speaker A:We listen to George Benson back then, maybe said, listen to this guy.
Speaker A:Listen, way he playing, you know, and, and Steve Gad, all those guys, man.
Speaker C:So many great artists, man.
Speaker A:Yeah, man.
Speaker A:And, you know, and, and I was telling the story about George Benson and to have people like that come to your shows, it's, it's an honor, man.
Speaker A:You know, it's a pure honor.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:I think he used to live in Jersey.
Speaker A:Yes, he did.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I, I, I.
Speaker A:And what is that right back there?
Speaker A:That where it is?
Speaker A:Did I knock it down A book?
Speaker A:See that zap right back there?
Speaker A:See that?
Speaker C:Yep.
Speaker C:Yeah, I see it.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:His son, that little, his son gave me that.
Speaker A:We were playing in Phoenix.
Speaker A:It's a book.
Speaker A:His son came to say, hey, Lester, I got something for you.
Speaker A:And he had made a little book for me, George, with pictures, pictures of his.
Speaker A:Roger and his dad.
Speaker C:I, I met, I met his son backstage at BB Kings in New York City at the time show.
Speaker C:Yeah, I remember meeting him.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:Robbie.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:He was a nice guy.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker A:You know, man, you know, you.
Speaker A:You say who you want to perform with.
Speaker A:Oh, my God.
Speaker A:You know, it's just all of them.
Speaker C:Janet, you gotta add him to the mix.
Speaker C:Georgia.
Speaker A:Well, I.
Speaker A:I've had a pleasure of playing with him.
Speaker A:I played with him.
Speaker A:SOBS oh, okay.
Speaker C:There you go.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:All right, so that's, you know, this is.
Speaker A:But it just, you know, man, to have a career that would touch this many people live.
Speaker A:Touch this many people's lives, and having this many people, if you will, eat off of what we did, that is a great, great, great thing, man.
Speaker A:Great thing, man.
Speaker C:I got a question before I let you guys go.
Speaker C:But.
Speaker B:Yes, all night, man.
Speaker B:Let's.
Speaker C:Yeah, we'll stay all night.
Speaker C:We're gonna do an all night affair.
Speaker C:We'll get more coffee brewing.
Speaker C:But, but between Zap and Roger's projects, I mean, it seems like there were interchangeable, as far as, you know, you guys would play on each other's projects.
Speaker C:How did that.
Speaker C:The responsibilities divvy up as far as.
Speaker A:It wasn't like that.
Speaker A:No, it was.
Speaker A:Yeah, we had a.
Speaker A:You know, there were few things that was consistent and they stay consistent.
Speaker A:When we made records, you know, we would go in the studio and certain things.
Speaker A:Again, that was responsible for.
Speaker A:Certain things that I, I was responsible for.
Speaker A:Roger was responsible for.
Speaker A:And then the stuff would get on the tape.
Speaker A:No, no distortion and no noise on the tape.
Speaker A:That was my job, okay?
Speaker A:But cushion the drums and mixing, that was my job, okay?
Speaker A:And I could put on the records, I could throw, tell you every mistake or if you will, every glitch and ping and splice.
Speaker A:I can tell you on every one of them records, man.
Speaker A:Yeah, Anyway, and that was the team.
Speaker A:That's the way we made records.
Speaker A:It wasn't, you know, Bobby Joe Frank.
Speaker A:It wasn't like that.
Speaker A:You know, Roger myself was.
Speaker A:Was in 100 of the records.
Speaker A:And then there was a.
Speaker A:Keep Roger.
Speaker A:Roger did a keyboard part.
Speaker A:Unless he would bring in Billy.
Speaker A:Billy Beck to come and do something, Roger would do it later.
Speaker A:He got Dale to lay a party in and Roger would augment it as well.
Speaker A:But it was that.
Speaker A:It was the story we made the records we were bringing.
Speaker A:We had horns in it.
Speaker A:He would use different guys to play horns where it was, and percussion.
Speaker A:It was either myself or my brother Larry.
Speaker C:Yeah, that's what I meant.
Speaker C:It was like interchangeable.
Speaker C:You said when Roger did the.
Speaker C:The BET mini concert, you saw like a bunch of you guys.
Speaker A:That was the band up there.
Speaker C:What's that?
Speaker A:That was the band.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:Live.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So, yeah, guys.
Speaker A:Some of the guys, we won't get into that.
Speaker A:That they were okay.
Speaker C:That's for another other.
Speaker A:I always, I always acknowledge.
Speaker A:Yeah, think I always thank all of the guys who contribute to this stage of our career because they, you know, they came and they stay with there for short period of time and they did what they did and they had, you know, they played a part.
Speaker A:You know, it was the part of the band.
Speaker A:It's part of land and it's.
Speaker C:Right, it's.
Speaker A:It happened, it was real.
Speaker A:But, you know, we continue and we move on.
Speaker C:We got the core right here.
Speaker A:What can I say, you know, it's not, it's not.
Speaker A:It's not arguable.
Speaker A:They cannot.
Speaker C:That's true.
Speaker A:Again, Joe, you'd be surprised at some of the hate to.
Speaker A:Some of the things that the haters told me.
Speaker A:I.
Speaker A:I just couldn't believe it.
Speaker A:I had to go back.
Speaker A:I had to go back and look at some of the pictures of, you know, of me at seven years, at six years old, at four years old.
Speaker A:I had to look at, you know, I had to listen to some of the records that we made that Roger and I made and I had to.
Speaker A:I had to look at pictures.
Speaker A:I.
Speaker A:I had to go back and sit.
Speaker A:Now, did he really say that?
Speaker A:Does he think that?
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker A:It's not, it's not.
Speaker C:And with the Internet, everybody could be a faceless critique, right?
Speaker A:Oh, my God, of course.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:You know, you know it as well as we do.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah, that's right.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:That's why me, personally, I participate too much.
Speaker A:You know, people are going to say what they say, but bring it to the stage.
Speaker A:Let's go.
Speaker A:Come on.
Speaker C:That's right.
Speaker C:You guys, you guys take it to the stage.
Speaker C:Funky as ever.
Speaker A:Yeah, come on, come on.
Speaker A:Bring it to the stage.
Speaker A:Let's go.
Speaker A:Trust me.
Speaker C:So we gotta.
Speaker C:We gotta talk about Shirley Murdoch, the great vocalist who was in your band.
Speaker C:And how's she doing?
Speaker B:Wonderful.
Speaker B:Wonderfully.
Speaker A:You say a great vocalist?
Speaker A:Is that what you.
Speaker C:Oh, yeah, yeah, Amazing.
Speaker A:Great singer.
Speaker A:Are you kidding me?
Speaker C:She can sing.
Speaker A:Yeah, she could sing.
Speaker A:When she came to.
Speaker A:When she came in, she ripped, man.
Speaker A:Boy, Shirley came and he's like, man, what is this?
Speaker A:And then when we did as we Lay that, that was just.
Speaker A:It was a whole nother level, man.
Speaker A:You know?
Speaker A:It's a whole nother, whole nother level.
Speaker A:I was talking about New York.
Speaker A:She was.
Speaker A:Her first major tour was Luther.
Speaker A:Is that right?
Speaker C:Oh, Luke.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's right.
Speaker A:And we did Madison Square Gardens.
Speaker A:Three nights, you know.
Speaker A:Three nights, man.
Speaker A:So Shirley came in, man, and she's.
Speaker A:She hit the.
Speaker A:Man, she hit the.
Speaker A:She hit the country hard, man.
Speaker A:She hit it hard.
Speaker A:That girl, you know, her voice, just the way she resonated and commanded respect from all of the people who watched her.
Speaker A:You know, they would just feel something.
Speaker A:And then I say this.
Speaker A:How in the world somebody said this to me?
Speaker A:They said, man, how in the world did y'all get?
Speaker A:As we lay out of more bounds.
Speaker C:Hey, yeah, right.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's all that.
Speaker A:Let's just.
Speaker A:No drums.
Speaker A:Come on, man.
Speaker C:But I like that because your albums, of course, the funk, electro and the talk box, everything.
Speaker C:But then you.
Speaker C:Each album would have, you know, to like a.
Speaker C:I wouldn't say acoustic music, but more like a jazzy feel.
Speaker C:And that's right.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah, that was, you know, that's what makes you guys so great.
Speaker C:Still going strong.
Speaker C:What.
Speaker C:What year would you officially say this is?
Speaker C:Zaps year?
Speaker A:Please ask it again, because you broke up again.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker C:What year would you say you guys have been doing zap?
Speaker C:How many.
Speaker C:What year do you think?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:45.
Speaker B:45.
Speaker B:45.
Speaker B:1980-20.
Speaker B:25.
Speaker B:Is it that?
Speaker B:45.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, you said.
Speaker A:And that was the question.
Speaker A:I'm sorry, I didn't understand the question because.
Speaker A:Oh, it just cuts off.
Speaker A:Maybe it's where I'm sitting.
Speaker A:I'm gonna sit now.
Speaker A:Ask the question again.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Do you dispute.
Speaker C:Dispute.
Speaker C:Zaps.
Speaker C:45 year calculation?
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:First.
Speaker A: The first album came out in: Speaker C:Right.
Speaker A:And that was.
Speaker A: That was: Speaker A:We recorded it in the 70s.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:And before that, we were Roger the Human Body.
Speaker C:Did George Clinton have, like, that bag of cassette tapes back then?
Speaker A:Yeah, he had the back.
Speaker A:You mean with us?
Speaker C:Yeah, I just heard, like, legendary stuff that he always carries around a bag of music and tapes are dropping out of it.
Speaker C:Maybe not now, but.
Speaker B:Oh, back.
Speaker B:Yeah, sometimes, you know.
Speaker A:Tapes.
Speaker C:No.
Speaker C:Yeah, demo tape.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, demo.
Speaker A:I'm sure he had a lot of tapes.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:But no, you know.
Speaker A:You know.
Speaker B:Yeah, we all had tapes, man.
Speaker A:Yeah, we all carry tapes, you know, everywhere.
Speaker A:Like in that movie was this Skinny Black.
Speaker A:What movie was his name?
Speaker A:You know.
Speaker A:You know.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:Hustle and Flow.
Speaker A:Everybody.
Speaker B:Everybody had cassette.
Speaker A:But yeah, man.
Speaker A:George.
Speaker A:Yeah, he was.
Speaker A:He was.
Speaker A:It is it.
Speaker A:He's still a bad boy, man.
Speaker A:George Penn, 80 years old.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Still bad boy.
Speaker A:He commands.
Speaker C:I think he's older than that because he was born the same year my.
Speaker C:I saw my dad out in Vegas a couple weeks ago, and they were born the same year.
Speaker C:My dad's gonna be 84 this year.
Speaker A:Point well taken.
Speaker A:George.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:He walked.
Speaker A:Room command respect, man walks on stage and, you know, pandemonium.
Speaker A:So George is.
Speaker A:Back then.
Speaker A:It was even.
Speaker A:It was.
Speaker A:It was.
Speaker A:It was greater than that because.
Speaker A:Greater than now because he was younger, he was energetic and, you know, star child.
Speaker A:I was star child.
Speaker A:Good evening.
Speaker A:Do not attempt to jump, man.
Speaker A:You know?
Speaker A:Yeah, man.
Speaker A:That guy was so working with him and, you know, the things that he put into us, what he taught us, the things that he showed us forever, man.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:It's amazing.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Amazingly on point.
Speaker C:Irreplaceable.
Speaker C:Yep.
Speaker C:So, hey, I gotta thank.
Speaker C:Thanks.
Speaker C:That Troutman, Terry Troutman, Zach Lester Troutman.
Speaker C:You guys are the best, man.
Speaker A:Thank you.
Speaker B:Thank you.
Speaker B:Thank you very much, Joe.
Speaker B:Musicians reveal, man.
Speaker C:It's an honor to have the Talk Box by the authentic player on the show.
Speaker A:So thank you, Joe.
Speaker A:Appreciate you, man.