Papa Grows Funk grease lightning-fast guitars
by Wayne Gabel • The International Herald/The Asahi Shimbun • August 5, 2005
Put 10 of Japan’s best axmen on the same stage and you’re either going to have one heck of a “cuttin’ contest” or one big bloody mess.
Jusy which way it goes depends on the guys in the background who forgo the glory for the greater good of the groove. On the Lightning Blues Guitar ’05 Tour, which kicked off last weekend’s Fuji Rock Festival, that job falls to some of the finest musician’s have to offer: Papa Grows Funk.
Led by keyboardist John Gros and featuring Kyoto born Junshi “June” Yamagishi, a veteran of Japan’s pioneering West Road Blues Band, the group liken their music to gumbo. They take a little of this, a little of that and throw it all together. The tasty results can be heard on their 2001 debut, “Doin’ It,” and its follow-up, “Shakin’” available here through Buffalo Records.
John and June tell us what Papa Grows Funk are cookin’ up as the “house band” behind guitarists like Char and Makoto Ayukawa.
You don’t rehearse, which makes you a good choice to back people you’re meeting for the first time. How do you get a feel for so many different players in so little time?
John: Spend as much time telling stories, laughing and drinking as we can.
Music might be the universal language, but sometimes there’s no substitute for words. Which ones do you have for the guitarists you’re playing with?
June: Sex!
To hear your peers, it seems you’re a musical Ichiro. What’s your advice to young players who pick up a guitar instead of a bat and dream of the big leagues?
June: You should play baseball, because Ichiro makes lots more money.
In a few short years, Papa Grows Funk has grown from a part-time gig to an international touring act. Just what sort of fertilizer have you been using?
John: Mississippi River water, fried chicken, and yakiniku sauce.
Regional music, like regional cuisine, is threatened by forces of homogenization in the United States. Why has New Orleans retained its distinctive sound and food?
John: New Orleans culture is based in the neighborhoods, and New Orleanians take great pride in their neighborhood restaurants, shops and bars.
“Shakin’” features a track called “Yakiniku” and a recipe to go with it. Could you write a song about natto?
June: Of course. I also wrote a song called “Okonomi.”
For lots of folks, funk means James Brown or George Clinton. What makes New Orleans-style funk different from what they do?
John: The grease we use allows us to slip something extra between the beats.
The Hammond B3 organ isn’t exactly the height of high-tech.
What keeps that sound around?
John: The wood demands respect. There is something magical about a note being thrown out of a Leslie rotating speaker and slapping you across the face.