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George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic
Free Your Mind And Your Ass Will Follow

How old are your parents? George Clinton’s older than mine by something like 14-years. But the 60-something legend, after decades spent on the road, in the studio and a couple stints behind bars, continues to push forward like a kid who just landed his big break. He’s a true phenom. Nothing short of inspiring, the Funk Doctor is a true innovator, an inter-galactic force to be reckoned with, and might go down in history as being responsible for shaking more asses across the Earth than any other man in history — taking into consideration all the samples found in hip-hop’s discography.

There’s a lot I could say about George Clinton, but it’s all been said before. The man is a genius and his live show is equally brilliant and frenetic. Playing just blocks away from where he got his start at Hitsville, his appearance at Comerica Cityfest couldn’t be more appropriate as the festival's closing show on the main stage. RDW caught up with Uncle Jam to talk about Sly Stone, Motown and OutKast.

George, what are you up to today?
Man, I’m just taking a minute from the new record we’re putting together.

Always good to hear — who are you working with for this one?
Oh man, we got Santana, Sly Stone —

How’s Sly doing?
He’s doing really good, he’s got all his stuff together and he just did a tour. We’re trying to do a lot of things together, we might even do a reality show — that’d be funny as hell. Me and Sly, we talk about a lot of different things. Sure, we bullshit with each other, but we like to reminisce on all the different music that was around and the people that was making it. You know, Sly was a DJ and we both have that same sorta doo-wop background.

You always have crazy album names, what are you going to call the new one?
We’re calling this one George Clinton and The Gangsters of Love. We’re doing some doo-wop, love songs and just some cool stuff. I mentioned Sly Stone, Santana and Kim Burrell, but we also got El DeBarge and Chico DeBarge on this record.

What comes to mind when you think of Detroit?
Immediately — Hitsville and Motown. As far as I’m concerned, it’s still hard to beat Motown, that’s an era that will influence music forever. As a matter of fact, I really believe that it’s about to make a comeback. Seriously, I’m just waiting on the Europeans to have an influx of Motown and P-Funk, I’m out there lookin’ for those white funk bands from Europe. Over there they call it Northern soul and over there they really get into the B-sides of the Motown records from the ‘60s, the songs that were just hits in the ‘hood that we used to make at Ric-Tic and Golden World studios.

Do you still have some Detroit connections?
Yeah, man — you know I’m doing a lot of work with The Bass Brothers. In fact, Mark will be here tomorrow. I do some work with the guys from D12 and, of course, I’m still close with those from the Motown crew.

What was the catalyst for changing the Motown style and going into crazy funk?
We had just done “Testify,” which was a hit record, but the music was getting ready to change again and The Temptations was starting to get down on The Ink Spots, so we were late. Even Motown as a whole was having to change, so I knew we had to change, too. When I saw what Cream did with Robert Johnson’s “Crossroads” and saw how that psychedelic was getting ready to be the next music. I could always tell when music was starting to change whenever I heard my parents say, “I hate that.” The blues was my mother’s music and now we had some white guys doing it and it was a little corny, but I thought that if that was going to be the new hot music and it was a little corny, we better get a little corny, too.

The track you did with OutKast, “Synthesizer,” is one of my favorite songs. Can you tell me a bit about that song and some of your favorite collaborations?
Well, of course, the Chili Peppers was a good one, but that OutKast song was great. As a matter of fact, I just did one with Big Boi just the other day. Digital Underground was fun, as was Thomas Dolby, but the Chili Peppers stands out because they came and stayed with me for a long time. The “Synthesizer” track with Cyber Sexy Wendy and all that was originally written for an album that I, unfortunately, never got a chance to put out — it was really digital and was going to be a double album, and Cyber Sexy Wendy was a whole song.

Is it hard to be so recognizable?
No way, man — I’m a ham. With marketing and advertising, if I don’t have a record on the radio I gotta stay up on being in pop culture without having to get on someone’s jock — so the look is part of it. I forget sometimes what I look like, then I have the nerve to say someone else looks funny, then I look in the mirror and say, "Man, what the fuck you laughin’ at?” To me, looks don’t mean much. With Rastafarians and hippies, I think they got beautiful hair, but their head be lookin’ like shit to everybody else.

Do people still bring up PCU?
I saw Jeremy Piven just the other day. They were filming Entourage in L.A. right across the street from Sly’s house. I got out of the car and he and I caught up for a second — it was fun, but we interrupted their whole scene, man.

What’s it like playing in Detroit?
Well, last year we played in Royal Oak, and since there’s no Electrifying Mojo anymore we’re not plugged into the ears of the inner city so they didn’t know that we’re coming through — it’s weird. We’re a city band; we got to play somewhere in the ‘hood, on Warren or some shit.

Next Sunday you’ll be right down the street from Hitsville, playin’ on the Boulevard, man!
What?! Really?! Aww, hell, man we’re going to have a fuckin’ ball. I just stayed at the St. Regis the other week. This is gonna be good, like a homecoming, we might have to play some Motown stuff. Shit, you better get ready for this one.  | RDW

George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic • 7/6 • Comerica Cityfest, Motor City Casino Stage, 5:30

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