A Prince Tribute: The night formerly known as the Slap Shack
Reported on Thursday, Sep 02, 2004. 11:25 by Tellall

Prince stands as the most influential pop artist of all time, inspiring everyone from Tricky to Andre 3000 to Green Velvet. It's 20 years - yes, 20 years - since Prince unleashed his blockbuster Purple Rain and this weekend the Slap Shack is painted purple with DJs playing props to the purple royal.

This will be a very different approach in regards to “Tributes” as the first selector of the night Cyclone, will revisit purple proteges - Prince classics recorded by anyone from Vanity 6 (Nasty Girl) to Apollonia (Sex Shooter) to Sheena Easton (Sugar Walls, whoa, baby) to Sheila E (The Glamourous Life) to Carmen Electra (say wha?) to rare remixes of all your Prince favourites. Sasha Perera will then get into the spirit with all the Prince hits including the raunchy ones that Tipper Gore got stickered. Ant J Steep will reinvent Prince with sneaky mash-ups and Angela Maison gives it up to the artists inspired by Prince - from Moodymann to Pharrell to Amp Fiddler.

ITM catches up with a few of the cats to learn more about their Prince infatuation.

There have been a few Prince tribute nights in Melbourne. What makes this different?
Cyclone: There have been a few parties, yes, but a lot of them with 'retro' themes. Bourgie has one some especially cool cult Prince parties. Sasha (Perera) is no doubt the original champion of R&B/soul in Australia and he had the idea to do a Prince party to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Purple Rain and we all thought it would be fun. I used to be involved in the Prince fan community so everyone knew I would be mad if I was not in on it. At the same time Ang, Ant and I thought it would be interesting to recontextualise Prince, so we take a different approach to a traditional tribute so every DJ will have their take. Prince's influence is so pervasive that you can have a night devoted to him, which is actually incredibly diverse musically. I mean, this is a guy who has influenced everyone from Tricky to Andre 3000 to Moodymann!

Ant J Steep: Because it is the tribute to end all tributes.

Sasha: This is gonna be FUN (as in "D.S.M.R." - dance, music, sex, romance)....with
a lesser focus on the too-obvious crossover cuts, whilst at the same time also avoiding the trainspotting, Prince-freak osbcurities that'll bore you shitless if you're not a big fan. It's all about the KILLER party-anthems, primarily focussed on his creatively-funky and raw funk sex-appeal between 1978-1991. May U Live to C The Dawn!

How do you think Prince has influenced contemporary dance music?
Cyclone: His influence is so profound in dance and urban (R&B/hip-hop) music because he himself is so diverse - different artists pick up on different things. Tricky took the experimental ethos, and the gender play, Andre 3000 took the eccentricity, as did Felix Da Housecat and Green Velvet, and Moodymann is heavily into the early disco Prince recorded (which you can hear!). Pharrell has Prince's versatility and has brought back the falsetto! D'Angelo has cultivated the mystique. Lenny Kravitz has the musicality. Carl Craig's Innerzone Orchestra is like his answer to Prince's jazz combo Madhouse. Alicia Keys is like a girl Prince...

Ant J Steep: Well, before Prince I guess we had Stevie Wonder. They are multi instrumentalists, songwriters, bandleaders, producers and performers. Prince came along and raised the bar from where Stevie left it. Prince was an entry point for many people in to the world of funk and r&b music, who would not normally get exposed to it.

Sasha: Punk funk - plain and simple; the real deal. Black urban music, and white
rock music hasnt been the same since his fluent fusion of the two together
in the early 80's (his most productive period). As for contemporary dance
music..... No Prince = no funk = no house = no soul-in-dance.
Angela Maison: How hot is the Sun?

What will you be playing?
Cyclone: Long before The Neptunes Prince was THE songwriter/producer of the day and he gave away some amazing songs to artists like Vanity 6 (Nasty Girl), Sheena Easton (the controversial hit Sugar Walls) and Sheila E (The Glamourous Life). He also built up a great label in Paisley Park with albums from The Time, Sheila E and George Clinton (which featured Amp Fiddler). Sheila E had big hits with The Glamourous Life and A Love Bizarre. Paisley Park put out one of the first 'neo-soul' albums by Ingrid Chavez who later married David Sylvian of Japan. It's a lost classic! Prince even produced a rap album for Carmen Electra which is not as bad as you'd think! I wanna play some of those classics by associated artists and also some of the great remixes Prince had done, just some different things. The remixes of Gett Off were dope!

Ant J Steep: I guess a heap of tunes that would not have existed without Prince. So, many tunes that sample his music, bootlegs etc

Sasha: Prince classics - underground and overground - mixed together with protege
production-pieces (ie. The Family, Vanity 6, Sheila E, Bootsy Collins), and associated artists (ie. Jesse Johnson, The Time etc). I don't claim to be a quick-handed, clever-mix, club-DJ, so if you're coming to check out the mixing..... don't bother, fuck off. If, however you just wanna feel some sweaty funk-euphoria.... this is the space for it.

Angela Maison: With myself.

What is your favourite Prince album and why?
Cyclone: I love Sign Of The Times as it was so experimental and the songs were wonderful - it was cool, sophisticated and free. After that I adored the Love Sexy album.

Ant J Steep: Self tiltled one I guess. It was one of the first I owned. He looks so cool on that horse.
Sasha: Nope - cant answer this one sorry. Not possible. "Controversy" and "Dirty
Mind" are the albums where I started to really get into Prince, so for sentimental reasons, I love 'em - that, and the fact that they are pure sex on wax! However, I also got a lotta love for "Purple Rain" and "Parade" (The Revolution was the best band he ever had, and he did these albums with them).

Angela Maison: I just like his cream.

Your favourite song?
Cyclone: I love most of the hits - and b-sides like Erotic City - but Pink Cashmere is a favourite of mine. Prince wrote a song called Open Book for Martika which was later cut by Jevetta Steele and I think that is a treasure. I love the song Alphabet Street.

Ant J Steep: When doves cry. I know it is obvious, but it was a big song for a reason. It was one of the first records I forced my parents to buy me. It is one of my favourite songs by anyone, ever. 'Head' is always a strong dancefloor hit that I play often too.

Sasha: Does any Prince fan have ONE favourite song?????!?!??!!? Not possible. Here's my dozen favourites .....(not in any order):
"Head"
"I Wanna Be Your Lover"
"Uptown"
"Private Joy"
"Controversy"
"Girls & Boys"
"When You Were Mine"
"I Would Die For You"
"17 Days"
"If I Was Your Girlfriend"
"I Feel For You"
"Anotherloverholenyohead"

Whilst 5 his best ballads would surely include:
"Do Me Baby"
"The Beautiful One"
"Purple Rain"
"Adore"
"How Come U Dont Call Me Anymore"

Angela Maison: Who cares what he is singing and playing.
What has Prince got that no one else has?
Cyclone: One thing is he comes up with original melodies, so you can't necessarily guess how the tune will go when you first hear it, strange as that sounds! Everything is unique. His ballads are first rate. Today's R&B producers tend to rely on grooves and many are incapable of coming up with compelling melodies for a great ballad (without sampling an old song and building on that). That's why a lot of contemporary soul ballads are so corny - they layer them with strings to compensate for the lack of melody. And the singers oversing...
Ant J Steep: Paisley Park studios.

Sasha: He's got it all.... except his sanity, and a much needed edit-button for his
recent work output.

Angela Maison: Too much funk. You seen that bulge in the press photo??

How did you get into Prince?
Cyclone: I was taken by the song Controversy as I was getting into New Romantic music - 80s bling-bling - and Prince was a New Romantic for me with his image and the synthesizers and theatricality. A lot the New Romantic music was very soul/funk-based - eg ABC - and, as a Black American artist, he came at it from a different angle. It opened up new worlds for me. I already loved Marvin Gaye. I also nicked the family copy of Purple Rain for myself. Years later I started collecting his other stuff. After the Diamonds and Pearl tour I got heavily into it!!!

Ant J Steep: I guess Countdown had alot to do with it. I watched that show all the time. I did myself a favour and went to see Purple rain because Molly said so. I was really into Michael Jackson, but when I saw Prince I thought he was so much cooler because he played instruments and rode a motorbike.

Sasha: A higher-power guided me.
Angela Maison: I bought a ticket.

The Slap Shack @ Honkytonks plays tribute to Prince this Saturday 4th September.

Bummer, i missed it! Sounds like it would've been interesting! How'd it go MamaLisa?