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Thread started 04/09/15 1:27pm

OldFriends4Sal
e

BrownMark talks Prince & the Revolution, the bass in Purple Music & the Minneapolis scene/sound

2.1.2015

This is an exclusive interview with Mark “Brown Mark” Brown from The Five Count radio show in Mankato, Minn.

Brown Mark

Yeah um the Minn Sound was interesting in how it developed we really didn't have a lot of access to RnB Rhythm and Blues music or Black music as they say They had comm supported radio stations

I remember way way back what was it called... KULX it was sun powered, so you couldn't hear the radio unless the sun was out
And so um I think we grew up listening to alot of modern Rock at the time ACDC groups such as that Journey you name it Boston
And that was our influence,and then with the little bit of RnB and little bit of funk that we could get in

the Minneapolis Sound arrived from a mixure a melting pot of that

.

Not really, See Andre, Andre is a really cool dude man, I have a lot of respect for him
I didn't really know him personally, but I knew his style, I would watch him with Prince

and so what I did, I didn't come in and try take his place, what I did I tried to find my own nitch

and created my own world BM nation

... and with that came my own bass style
once I developed my own bass style that fit with what we were doing it was all over
and I think a lot of the Revolution sound from say 80/83 onward I mean we, you could hear those types of bass rhythms , rhythmic pattern of bass playing, very percussion driven, that I had developed with the help of Prince, dude himself is an amazing bass player, and um I was able to mold the style together and it became a part of the Revolution
Andre Cymone it ws a very diff experience from what he brought to the table

he was a great bass player too, but it was very different

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Reply #1 posted 04/10/15 6:17am

OldFriends4Sal
e

Yeah, you know the thing about the Rolling Stones, I don't talk to journalist too much because they... I was always reluctant to give interviews throught my career. And one thing about the Rolling Stones concert and just an example It wasn't as bad as what a lot of the press made it.
If you go to any Rolling Stones concert IDK if you've ever been to one, but u have a hostile audience, you had 94.000 people packed into a stadium, festival seating so everyone was standing it was hot fire hoses spraying the people down like cattle, and with that kind of an atmosphere you're going to get an very irritable crowd. And they wanted to see the Rolling Stones.
So here we come out and where somebody knew and we're a new group, they didn't know who were were. There were a handful of fans that knew who were were and they worked their way up to the front. But for the most part that was a Rolling Stones crowd so when we got up there it wasn't that they were booing us or didn't not like Prince, it was a typical reaction from a Rolling Stones crowd. One persons starts throwing food from one side of the stage next thing you know we are in the middle of a food fight, it was pretty amazing because it looked like clouds of debris flying from one end of the stadium to the other. lol and we just got caught in the crossfire. It was just a typical reaction of Rolling Stones audiences, I've seen it many times before. And what happened is the announcer went out and he kind of barked at the people "You guys are being disrespectful blah blah blah" Next thing you know they were booing, they weren't booing at us, they were booing what he was saying. The papers took that a whole different way. But the Rolling Stones, man what an awesome gig. When I went out there and I saw all those people I was like WOW so this is the big time.


.

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Reply #2 posted 04/10/15 6:22am

Milty2

OldFriends4Sale said:

Yeah, you know the thing about the Rolling Stones, I don't talk to journalist too much because they... I was always reluctant to give interviews throught my career. And one thing about the Rolling Stones concert and just an example It wasn't as bad as what a lot of the press made it.
If you go to any Rolling Stones concert IDK if you've ever been to one, but u have a hostile audience, you had 94.000 people packed into a stadium, festival seating so everyone was standing it was hot fire hoses spraying the people down like cattle, and with that kind of an atmosphere you're going to get an very irritable crowd. And they wanted to see the Rolling Stones.
So here we come out and where somebody knew and we're a new group, they didn't know who were were. There were a handful of fans that knew who were were and they worked their way up to the front. But for the most part that was a Rolling Stones crowd so when we got up there it wasn't that they were booing us or didn't not like Prince, it was a typical reaction from a Rolling Stones crowd. One persons starts throwing food from one side of the stage next thing you know we are in the middle of a food fight, it was pretty amazing because it looked like clouds of debris flying from one end of the stadium to the other. lol and we just got caught in the crossfire. It was just a typical reaction of Rolling Stones audiences, I've seen it many times before. And what happened is the announcer went out and he kind of barked at the people "You guys are being disrespectful blah blah blah" Next thing you know they were booing, they weren't booing at us, they were booing what he was saying. The papers took that a whole different way. But the Rolling Stones, man what an awesome gig. When I went out there and I saw all those people I was like WOW so this is the big time.


.

Did Prince actually say on a bootleg "I once opened up for the Rolling Stones....I got booed off the stage". Then launches in to Honky Tonk Woman.

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Reply #3 posted 04/10/15 8:20am

OldFriends4Sal
e

Milty2 said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

Yeah, you know the thing about the Rolling Stones, I don't talk to journalist too much because they... I was always reluctant to give interviews throught my career. And one thing about the Rolling Stones concert and just an example It wasn't as bad as what a lot of the press made it.
If you go to any Rolling Stones concert IDK if you've ever been to one, but u have a hostile audience, you had 94.000 people packed into a stadium, festival seating so everyone was standing it was hot fire hoses spraying the people down like cattle, and with that kind of an atmosphere you're going to get an very irritable crowd. And they wanted to see the Rolling Stones.
So here we come out and where somebody knew and we're a new group, they didn't know who were were. There were a handful of fans that knew who were were and they worked their way up to the front. But for the most part that was a Rolling Stones crowd so when we got up there it wasn't that they were booing us or didn't not like Prince, it was a typical reaction from a Rolling Stones crowd. One persons starts throwing food from one side of the stage next thing you know we are in the middle of a food fight, it was pretty amazing because it looked like clouds of debris flying from one end of the stadium to the other. lol and we just got caught in the crossfire. It was just a typical reaction of Rolling Stones audiences, I've seen it many times before. And what happened is the announcer went out and he kind of barked at the people "You guys are being disrespectful blah blah blah" Next thing you know they were booing, they weren't booing at us, they were booing what he was saying. The papers took that a whole different way. But the Rolling Stones, man what an awesome gig. When I went out there and I saw all those people I was like WOW so this is the big time.


.

Did Prince actually say on a bootleg "I once opened up for the Rolling Stones....I got booed off the stage". Then launches in to Honky Tonk Woman.

wasn't that on his 21Nights disc?

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Reply #4 posted 04/10/15 10:34am

OldFriends4Sal
e

Yeah um It was a lot of fun, a lot of people like to say did you collaborated with Prince in the studio
I don't say we collaborated as much as the Revolution tried to live out his dream, we got into the mind of Prince we learned what it was he was trying to accomplish. So I think that was more the collaboration, us learning 'what is it you're looking for?'
and once we could see his direction, we would jam so much, we would sometimes jam from 10 o'clock in the morning to 10 o'clock at night. I remember sometimes eating lunch while I'm still playing. I would walk to the lunchroom with my bass because it was on a wireless rig and then I would go into the refrigerator grab food and come back and I'd still be playing with one hand while eating. That's how intense we were, and I think from that we helped Prince create not only a style and energy but it was almost like a freight train, it was so heavy that even when other musicians would come and stand up with us they didn't even know where to begin, it was very difficult for them to hang with us because the style that we developed was so powerful and was so rhythmic that uh they didn't know how to jam with us. It was a very interesting time period, but I think I think a lot of music came from that type of grooving and jamming together

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Reply #5 posted 04/10/15 12:46pm

mynameisnotsus
an

OldFriends4Sale said:



Milty2 said:




OldFriends4Sale said:





Yeah, you know the thing about the Rolling Stones, I don't talk to journalist too much because they... I was always reluctant to give interviews throught my career. And one thing about the Rolling Stones concert and just an example It wasn't as bad as what a lot of the press made it.
If you go to any Rolling Stones concert IDK if you've ever been to one, but u have a hostile audience, you had 94.000 people packed into a stadium, festival seating so everyone was standing it was hot fire hoses spraying the people down like cattle, and with that kind of an atmosphere you're going to get an very irritable crowd. And they wanted to see the Rolling Stones.
So here we come out and where somebody knew and we're a new group, they didn't know who were were. There were a handful of fans that knew who were were and they worked their way up to the front. But for the most part that was a Rolling Stones crowd so when we got up there it wasn't that they were booing us or didn't not like Prince, it was a typical reaction from a Rolling Stones crowd. One persons starts throwing food from one side of the stage next thing you know we are in the middle of a food fight, it was pretty amazing because it looked like clouds of debris flying from one end of the stadium to the other. lol and we just got caught in the crossfire. It was just a typical reaction of Rolling Stones audiences, I've seen it many times before. And what happened is the announcer went out and he kind of barked at the people "You guys are being disrespectful blah blah blah" Next thing you know they were booing, they weren't booing at us, they were booing what he was saying. The papers took that a whole different way. But the Rolling Stones, man what an awesome gig. When I went out there and I saw all those people I was like WOW so this is the big time.




.






Did Prince actually say on a bootleg "I once opened up for the Rolling Stones....I got booed off the stage". Then launches in to Honky Tonk Woman.




wasn't that on his 21Nights disc?





I think that's a Gold Era aftershow at the Astoria - except he says it after he plays Honky Tonk Women and then says "perhaps I shoulda played that shit. Or perhaps I shoulda played this" and then plays Bambi. Which is wierd because on the boot from the Stones show he DOES play Bambi!
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Reply #6 posted 04/13/15 10:06am

OldFriends4Sal
e

I enjoy his piece on their rehearsals and jam sessions

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Reply #7 posted 05/28/15 8:13pm

OldFriends4Sal
e

It's cool to focus in on a musician when you can especially a live show.
I was just watching a Baby I'm A Star performance and did that with BrownMark

He is mean on that bass, and definately a distinct sound

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Reply #8 posted 05/28/15 9:33pm

Milty2

mynameisnotsusan said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

wasn't that on his 21Nights disc?

I think that's a Gold Era aftershow at the Astoria - except he says it after he plays Honky Tonk Women and then says "perhaps I shoulda played that shit. Or perhaps I shoulda played this" and then plays Bambi. Which is wierd because on the boot from the Stones show he DOES play Bambi!

There's a bootleg of Prince opening for the Riolling Stones!?

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Reply #9 posted 05/29/15 1:40am

LOGIC

avatar

@Milty2: The show where he mentioned having been booed off the stage was at Emporium, London 1995. I was there both nights & loved it. It’s documented on the triple CD "Emporium". (By the way, one thing I never saw at a Prince aftershow before or after was some Afro-American receiving a blow job from his girlfriend before the gig, sitting there among the comparably small audience at the club … as if this was the most common thing to do when you’re anticipating the Purple One’s appearance. smile

+

And @Milty2 again: That Prince support act for The Rolling Stones from the Memorial Coliseum, L.A., 11 October 1981 is included as the final bonus on the last disc of SAB’s "City Lights Remastered Vol. 1". He opened for The Stones twice that week in L.A., though, and the crowd reactions were terrible on both events. The only known recording dates from 11 October. It’s sounding rather poor, but still this is the best sounding version around.

Free the music.
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