Photo: Kofi Allen
"Eight to 80, blind, crippled or crazy" is how George Clinton describes the diverse collection of fans he sees in the audience whenever he performs as frontman for Funkadelic and Parliament.
At 73, Clinton is in arguably the best form of his life: he's playing Glastonbury, appearing on Later...with Jools Holland, has seen his beloved Mothership installed in the Smithsonian, has finally quit smoking crack and last year released a revelatory memoir (brilliantly entitled Brothas Be, Yo Like George, Ain't That Funkin' Kinda Hard on You?).
This week also sees the release of a special new 40th anniversary version of Chocolate City held at Metropolis studios that is being released this week as a supremely lavish vinyl boxset. To mark the release he talks about working with Kendrick Lamar, befriending Snoop Dogg and his thoughts on Kanye West coming to Worthy Farm.
Gigwise: You're playing Glastonbury this year. What do you remember about playing the festival previously?
George Clinton: I remember one time there was lots of mud! [Laughs] But the fact there is so many good people on that show I remember that. I was glad to be a part of it this year.
What do you make of the controversy around Kanye West headlining it?
He's big enough! It'll work. You'll have people who want to wear him out for his style but rock and roll should take all kinda styles. They've had all kinda people in rock and roll, so he's just one of the money ones. He makes a lot of money - you can't hold that against him. And he got a beautiful wife...
We think Kanye's going to win people over.
He'll surprise people. I saw his show - him and Rihanna - it blew my mind. He wasn't one of my favourite artists but I saw his [Glow In The Dark] show in Seattle, Washington: it reminded me of The Mothership! The production was so big and all the computers. I was really surprised. He's much better live than he is on record.
You featured on To Pimp A Butterfly and Kendrick Lamar came to your studio in Tallahassee. You said you 'talked about nothing'...
We weren't talking about "nothing" in particular: he talks about "everything". He's like an old soul and has conversations that you don't find in kids his age. Even when he's talking about the funk and wanting to do the funk, he didn't sound like he had come to rescue the funk - which is what usually happens when you get to be a real star. Your ego usually leads you. You don't mean no harm but you just think so much of yourself, that you're so hot you think you can do anything! He's pretty much aware of how easy to go up and down [over a career] it is but he's so set on doing his version of funk, that it came out beautiful.
That album is as precious: it could have been there when they came out with Public Enemy. On a day when hip-hop is soft sounding for most people he's still got the funk voice but he's talking some hardcore shit. His metaphors are so good you don't even have to know what he's talking about!
When people say "Do you feel me?", that's how you have to listen to his records. Let your feelings hear it and don't try and analyse what it is he's saying because words don't live up to current messages anymore. There's too many ways to manipulate slang or words or anything in print. You can manipulate interpretations anyway you want to. But you have to feel him. And he says some things that will make you put your feelings out!
Smokey Robinson taught you a great songwriter captures a range of emotions. Kendrick certainly does that.
Kendrick stretches it out: he talks about everything! And he does a lot of it in the third person which allows him to get away with things. Eminem did it real good too: you talk about yourself, from your inner self point of view. You can rag on yourself, diss yourself and still get along with people too.
Did Kendrick ask you for any advice?
No, I think we're getting ready to do something like that now - he's going to end up giving me advice and I'm going to give him. You have to be open to young artists: they're going to kick your ass if you don't. Kids love to see their parents and their older artists get out of the way.
These days, if you stay around long enough they call you "old school" don't you? Snoop called me "Unc". Now they call him "Unc".
What has surprised you most about your friendship with Snoop Dogg?
He's such a cool dude from the get go. Him and Cube. Most of them are bubbelgum cancers: they're musicians, they're not gangsters for real. Although a lot of people thought they were gangsters! They didn't mind being family people they've still got their family and their kids, still football coachin'. That's a good thing to be. It helps you stay around: you know you're just a movie star and don't really have to be that person that's on the record. It's a lot to live up to when you become that big.
In your memoir you talk about going to Motown's offices...
Martha Revees interviewed us. She were struck by the fact that she was the secretary and she just got her first hit record... and she was still a secretary. You see her, then you see all the others (the Temptations, the Miracles) everybody else walking around. Everyone else was on a high, they just got those hit records that year and they were all becoming stars. Martha was just so nice and she stayed friends with us forever. She was on that record Free Your Mind and Your Ass Will Follow.
At one point you say of one of your friend: "In the record industry worked by talent, he would be the biggest stars around." Is that still the case?
It certainly is. But it's probably getting better because of Youtube where you can put your records out yourself. As a business the music industry is only one step above drug dealing. They couldn't care less about the career, the person's emotional state or whatever. It's about a dollar. And that's it.
Before you had people like Clive Davis who would actually take interest in somebodies career and would follow you through your career. You don't have too many of those nowadays. You have a few people who stick with somebody because they sold a lot of records - and they are the ones on top who get to stay in that clique. If you're a new artist, the only way you can get in nowadays is to go through Youtube and put your stuff out.
The vinyl for 40th anniversary Chocolate City looks amazing. Why do you think vinyl is still so important?
That warm sound from vinyl: you can't capture that on the digital.You can do good sound and good clean records on digital but that warm: for funk and r&b, jazz and blues and some rock and roll - that Jimi Hendrix stuff just sounds better on vinyl. The needle makes it hot and the warmth when you hear the music on the vinyl. I'm glad that that sound is appealing to kids nowadays.
There's a great take on 'Atomic Dog' on the new record. What do you learn playing it for the 14,000 time?
That it can be done a thousand different ways! Because of the different styles that come and go, you're still playing to the people for that era. You play the funk that's been around for a long time. With 'Atomic Dog' and 'Flashlight' was done so far futuristic when they were done, they fit right in with the electronic music of today without a problem. Some of the other songs [end up] becoming nostaligic and you have to find different ways of doing them. But 'Atomic Dog' and 'Flashlight'? If you do em like the record you still way ahead of your time.
On the recording of 'Mr Wiggles' you can hear the audience heckling in the background. Was it quite strange to play an intimate gig?
People were screaming out the songs they want to hear. They become part of the show. That was the way we played in the early days of Funkadelic. Sometimes we used to ournumber the crowd!
You now travel with 22 people but at one point you toured with over 50. What was the biggest challenge back then?
Some people getting lost! At home you can just catch a plane or car and ride to the next gig. When you're in another country you've got passports and things. When we came over to the UK in '78 with the Mothership we brought part of Bootsy's band, the Brides Of Funkenstein and Parliament. They weren't even on tour but we had travelled together so long I just couldn't see sending them home. Over 55 people!
You also brought your pet pig Dibbles along on one tour...
That was '68. Officer Dibbles. The air hostesses were waiting when he came on the plane. I was ready to put him in the enclosure, like they do cats and dogs. But Dibbles is such a ham: he had a diamond bracelet round his neck. He was a showoff! So everybody thought he was a little cute: I had to keep people from feeding him.
You met David Bowie on one of your early UK trips...
At The Speakseasy. Back then you thought everyone was a freak! When we got over here The Small faces were just getting started. I didn't realise who they were then. I got to know everybody. We played the Roundhouse and met him and I met a lot of people there. We met David, Cream. It was like 'Wow these are all young kid rockstars'. We were already 25.
What was your toughest gig?
Playing Madison Square Garden when we did the Motor Booty Affair, the underwater show? And the water didn't show up. Somebody rerouted our equipment to Milwaki and sabotaged our show. We had to play with little small Fender Amps, no water and half of the band missing. We had to make a makeshift band between Brides band, Parliament, Funkadelic and Booty's guys. And we pulled it off! People were saying 'Anyone else wouldn't have played.' We told them 'If you want the money back - the only water that's going to be there is if you sweat.' And they liked the joke, people jammed and we played all night long at Madison Square Garden. That was scary.
When were you last starstruck?
Denzel Washington. He's so p-funked out of his mind! It surprise you when they start quoting all these lyrics for songs that are not the singles. Him, Jamie Foxx and Quentin Tarantino: We were on the set of Django and they were all arguing about who knows the most about p-funk. Jamie Foxx had his little Lord Fauntleroy suit on, on a horse in the cotton field. And they're playing 'Aqua Boogie' out in New Orleans in the country with all the slaves. That was the funniest shit in the world. But you don't have time to be starstruck because there's so many of them now who are into the funk. I had met Quentin before - him and RZA. Both of em are straight a p-funk fan.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Pay attention to your copyrights and all the business part of the music. That part helps you not be frustrated with the music itself later when you realise that people are out to steal it on a high level. Not just the money from it - the copyright from your ears! That part of it I would have fought a little harder.
The money itself: I was spending the money on motherships, on shows, on drugs whatever. I always put the music and the production first so I don't feel bad about money I spent on it. But the fact that I wasn't pay enough attention to let them steal the copyrights - that's why I'm fighting so hard for that particular thing now.
You've had to be give up using drugs in order to be clean to fight your copyright court case.
Yes - people don't give a fuck about you if you're out here - if you're going to be on drugs, alcoholic - people just ain't going to pay no attention to you if you've got a problem. I'm now able to focus and stay on course with what I'm doing on the book and the copyright issue.
Was it very different performing clean?
Nah, I've done that before. I've done that back when 'Atomic Dog' was out. I knew that I could do that but I didn't feel like I had any reason to do it. I was being stubborn... until I realised I was messing up my ability to keep the music out. When I couldn't put out a record and couldn't find no place to get it played. I realised: they don't play old folks records that easy!
Then I realised: Oh, it's Youtube! I gotta go to go to what the kids do. I gotta to go to what the underground in the sixties, FM radio was where you went when you wanted strange music. Today you go on Youtube and put it out. Forget the record companies because the record companies don't exist no more for the most part. You've got to find out how many hits you got on your Youtube site then all of your tweeting and all of that. And the only way you can do that is with a clear head to figure out what's up and what are they don't these days.
What skill do you believe should everyone have?
Learn how to take a joke. If you can do that and not be freaked out every time something happens to you. You waste so much time thinking "Why did they do that?" When you get rid of that, that's a whole lot of weight off your mind.
Chocolate City: London P-Funk Live at Metropolis Studios is out now (Metropolis). George Clinton plays Glastonbury Festival in June.
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