Bootsy Collins On James Brown, George Clinton

There are few people in the history of music as colorful and entertaining as the supreme funk bassist Bootsy Collins.

As the bassist in Parliament/Funkadelic Collins became a star in his own right in the ‘70s, developing such memorable alter egos as Casper the Funky Ghost and Bootzilla. But underneath his persona as an alien rock star was one of the greatest bass players of all time, a guy who came up with unforgettable basslines again and again.

Collins just released his new album, Album of The Year #1 Funketeer. It is vintage Bootsy — fun, playful, entertaining, trippy and musically brilliant. I spoke with Collins about the new album, AI, George Clinton and doing LSD with James Brown.

Steve Baltin: You say you’re going to record stores. How much fun is that for you still to have the new album out on Friday and get to go interact with people? Especially in that setting where it’s so intimate and they could tell you their favorite songs and everything.

Bootsy Collins: I actually love that setting. It’s like what you don’t get at live shows because you don’t really have time to mingle with people. So, it’s a different kind of ball game when you get a chance to be that close and intimate with fans that love you and want to be around you, want to meet you, so it is good. It’s different than the live shows cause you get up there and play for a couple of hours or whatever. And the fans might get a chance to see you up close and personal, but the record store is definitely the spot for that.

Baltin: You and I are old enough to remember like the aura of the record store.

Collins: Yeah, it means so much to people I run into nowadays. They tell me about those good old days, when they met me in the record store and they had a certain conversation with me. They remember all of that stuff. It’s a beautiful thing. The kids won’t miss it cause they don’t know what the experience was, but I’m missing that. And I look forward to going to those places because the way it’s going one of them might not be there the next day. So get it while you can.

Baltin: It makes sense for you to do the record store tour for the moment because it’s such a great album, but Album of the Year #1 Funketeer has so many guests on it. This is a way for you to go out and promote it because I imagine doing it live is going to be difficult with all the guests on it.

Collins: I thought about that after doing something that I really wanted to do and doing so many different styles that I wanted to do on this album. So, I wanted to just go with it because that’s the way I felt and usually the way I feel about music is, I wouldn’t say it’s right or wrong, it’s just that it’s my call whether to do that journey or not and that’s a good thing.

Baltin: I imagine it’s fun for you because you know everybody, and everybody wants to work with you. Why not have fun with it and collaborate with your friends?

Collins: Yeah, that, to me, is what brings the excitement along with what’s going on now. You’re getting older and how do you keep the buzz going. Especially you cut down on getting high, the girl thing, you cut back on that, those would have liked the motivations to get out on the road when you don’t have that, what are you going to do? All the fun reasons we had to go out are being eliminated, so there has to be some kind of substitute. My substitute is dealing with any and everybody that’s into it, that really loves it, that really wants it and learning from them, they learn whatever they learn from me and I learn whatever I learned from them.

Baltin: Does the girl thing ever go away as a guy?

Collins: It never goes away. If anything, it probably gets stronger. It never goes away, and we never get smarter than that. I bet you know about that (laughs).

Baltin: Oh yeah, doesn’t matter how old you get. The right woman turns you into an idiot (laughs).

Collins: Absolutely (laughs).

Baltin: You have Dave Stewart on this album. Dave’s worked with Jagger with everyone. You guys put all that experience together and all of a sudden, you’ve got what it’s like to work with James Brown and Jagger when the two of you get together.

Collins: We just talked to him today. We’ve had a relationship for a lot of years now and it’s amazing because when you really look at it this cat is just so plugged in and at any moment, he can spark out with something that’s pretty incredible. We did the song that’s actually not on the album, but he claims that it’s an anthem and when he said that, I was like, “Wow, when I listen to it, it does sound like an anthem.” So, we might put it out as a bonus track.

Baltin: Take me through some of the people you worked with on this record because it’s such a fun record. What were you looking for in people you collaborated with?

Collins: It was, let’s see, Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg, The Dogg Pound, and some of the new artists, Myra Washington, Phantasma, she’s from over in Germany. She’s just an incredible singer and rapper and lyricist. This guy named Baby Triggie, Wiz Khalifa. It’s just everybody that came on board, and we just started collaborating with each other. This is what we came up with.

Baltin: Was “I Am AI” made with AI?

Collins: Yeah, actually it was. I just wanted to have something relating to that as original as I could get it with the old era and what’s happening now involved with the recording of it. People were saying you shouldn’t do anything about AI. Well, for me, it’s like a lot of times you can’t stop what’s coming. I know it’s coming. I know it’s already here and people either embrace it or learn and learn how to work with it, then to work around it, because it’s coming, it’s here.

Baltin: Was it fun for you to work with AI?

Collins: Oh, yeah. I had a blast. I think AI had a blast too. They were winking at me and a few of the girly AI’s was pretty on it. I had to catch myself a few times (cracks up).

Baltin: When you put all these artists together did you have any idea what would happen?

Collins: The combination of people don’t necessarily do music together. Like Barbie T., she closes out the record as a tribute to Buckethead. I actually cut his very first record, Buckethead Land, the album. We cut it here out here on the farm in the barn. And we’ve been friends since 1991. Last week he came and played, he had a gig in town and we started on his new record, Buckethead Land 3. It’s incredible what’s going on. This universal force is bringing things together. Things looking like they falling apart, but there are things coming together too.

Baltin: Who was your longest relationship in music? How long did you work with James?

Collins: We just did about 11 months with James, and it was non -stop. But our relationship didn’t end. I just couldn’t take it, plus we would take LSD and all that. It just didn’t match up. How would you feel playing with James Brown and you take LSD?

Baltin: I interviewed James Brown, not on LSD. And it was f**king tough. It might have been easier on LSD. I’m not going to lie.

Collins: (Cracking up) Oh, man, to be a fly on the wall. He was so serious. It’s like, “Why are you freaking serious?” That’s when we really start taking LSD because he kept saying that I was loaded anyway. The truth was I didn’t want to be loaded on his set because we had too much responsibility to be on it, to watch his hands and watch his feet and every little move he makes. We had to be on it and couldn’t do that on LSD, tripping like a mug.

Baltin: How long did you work with George?

Collins: We actually just got back together, working in the studio together. That’s funny you brought that up. He’s probably the longest person that I’ve ever worked with. Yeah, George would be the longest one, everybody else is like we still stand communicate and everything, but working together that’s a little different.

Baltin: I’ve interviewed George many times over the years, and he seems to be in a great place now. So how much fun is it when you guys are both in a good place and you can just enjoy the friendship?

Collins: It’s a good place to be really. Because first of all, you made it through all the real hard times being together. Then when you come back around, you got another kind of appreciation. And I think that’s coming from both of us without even without even having to say it. So, yeah, it’s a beautiful thing.