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Taken from Salt Lake Magazine (Mar 31, 2016)
Preview: George Clinton at The Depot
by Christie Marcy
The legendary George Clinton sat down with Salt Lake magazine this week to discuss his new album, single and tour, getting clean and an ongoing lawsuit with his former record label. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame member hits The Depot on April 18. Tickets are a mere $30.00 and are available at depotslc.com.
SLM: “You have been very busy lately. I just read a review of your set at South by Southwest, you just released a track and you're touring. Have you caught a second wind or have you been doing this all along?”
GC: “I've been doing it all along, really. I figured out social media communication, so now I'm able to beam down from the mothership. It's time to do it. We've got a new record out and a video. It's time to up the communication so we're all over the place.”
SLM: “Are you doing all of your social media?”
GC: “It's my wife and my daughter, too. My grandkids started me out, but they haven't been able to stop me. Because I know how that works, in the way of communication. I'm like a kid. I have fun doing it. And you know, YouTube has been my world for the last five years anyway. I figure that's a new way to interact with everyone—I'm just trying to catch up on it now.”
SLM: “And that South by Southwest show that you played, you played a three hour long set?”
GC: “We played a three hour set in one place, a two hour set at another and an hour at another one. And then we did one with Too Short.”
SLM: “My favorite line from that review I read was that there were 18 people on the stage and maybe half were playing instruments, so you have a just a big ol' group of people.”
GC: “Singing, rapping, it's always been that way. It used to be about 25. It's just that those stages are so small there that 18 looks like a lot.”
SLM: “When you were inducted into the hall of fame you were inducted with 16 other people from Parliament—that's a big group.”
GC: “It's always been that way because of the P-Funk mob.”
SLM: “Tell me about the new album.”
GC: “It's called “Shake the Gate.” We actually released it a year ago but we were waiting for the Grammys to take place, we were waiting to perform the stuff. But “Shake the Gate” and “Ain't That Funking Hard On You” is the single, that's the one with Ice Cube and Kendrick Lamar and it's also the title of the book I put out last year.”
Brothers being like, 'George, ain't that funking kinda hard on you?'
I tried to add them all together and make them tight with each other because it takes a long time. I'm 75 years old it's not gonna be easy to get people to believe what I'm doing and that I'm still here. We just tried to go slowly and we knew Kendrick was going to be nominated. Cube was doing Straight Outta Compton. We planned this almost three years ago when my grandkids turned me on to Kendrick and I was researching him. I was talking about him before his record even came out because I could tell when he came and talked to me that the conversation that he was going to have on his records was going to be really serious. So, I just pretty much guessed that he was going to be doing what he's doing, just by this conversation. And he did it. And so I was looking at that, I did one for him, he did one for me. That's how we did it.”
SLM: “So your grandkids turned you on to social media and Kendrick Lamar?”
GC: “Actually, that's my great grandchildren. 'Granddad,' he said, 'You'd like him, he talks like you.' But when he came out, the things he likes to talk about and rap about, I knew sooner or later someone was going to do that. You can only talk about the b*tch so much and f*ck the this so much before it gets to be so outdated. And sure enough, he came along and what I thought someone was going to do and what I thought the people and the system were going to be afraid TuPac was going do. Kendrick did it. He literally did it, for real. I knew someone was going to come along and switch the conversation and I was glad to be a part of that. At the same time I knew that if he was going to do something for me, I had to do something that was relevant to myself staying around because I had to answer that question of, “Why the f*ck are you still around here?” So that was kind of a good chance to do it and and I've been glad to do “Ain't That Funking Hard On You.”
There was all the court stuff and all the copyright and I was like, 'I was hard when I started, sh*t, I ain't finished.' The whole thing is just to be relevant enough to keep the fight going.
But you know the copyright issues—because I'm still having those same problems right now with the Kendrick Lamar record that I just put out. The same people that were changing the stuff before—I went to the copyright office and they found a way to switch my name to their name, like I'd sold it to them. I wouldn't have found it if my wife wasn't suspicious all the time and we check the copyright place. Sure enough, they had switched my name on the record I just got a Grammy for. They switched my name to “Bridgeport Music” from my company. So I'm still doing that. At the same time, these people are suing me for slander because I put it in my book that they were doing it. They've got it held up in appeals court right now trying to kill the book, so it works out that the song is doing good because it's keeping the whole thing alive.”
SLM: “That's a very optimistic way to look at it.”
GC: “I don't think it's easy. You're talking about 30 years of hit records that they've been taking that money from and been able to keep it quiet. But no one talks about it. I've been to congress, I've been to senators, I've been to the FBI, I've been to Obama. It's gonna hit the fan sooner or later, so I need to be at least relevant for people to hear me. People know my history. I was a crackhead, and no one was going to believe me, so I had to clean up and come up with a new image and a new reason to be listened to. And I think we've done a real good job.”
SLM: “You famously called Washington D.C. the chocolate city with vanilla suburbs. What makes you play a place like Salt Lake?”
GC: “We played up at Park City. We've been playing in Salt Lake City for years. We haven't played there for a long time, but we used to be up there all the time.”
SLM: “But we're a very vanilla city, in a lot of different ways...”
GC: “They're funking more than the chocolate city right about now. For the most part for the last several years, it's been basically the vanilla suburbs catching up. There's been more white people at our shows than black people for the last 20 years. Because the R&B stations don't play anything. When you're 75 years old it's hard to get on any station, really. But with this video happening, there's enough hype that the radio stations are picking up on it real fast this time.”
SLM: “Aside from Kendrick, who should people be looking for? Whom are you passing the torch to?”
GC: “Flying Lotus. My grandson had me listen to Alabama Shakes a little over a yer ago and we got to the Grammys and she was one of them. A lot of the things on Youtube I've seen but can't remember the names right now. Flying Lotus is going to be real big.”
SLM: “So funk is not dead?”
GC: “Oh no. Oh no. It is always going to find a way to sneak in. I mean, even EDM— it's got a lot of funk in it now. We did a version of the same song, with Kendrick Lamar and Cube with Louie Vega.”
SLM: “I think that's all the questions I have for you. I'm looking forward to seeing your show when you're here in a couple weeks.”
GC: “Tell everyone I said to bring two booties.”
SLM: “Two booties?”
GC: “One ain't gonna be enough.”
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