Ludwig or Sonor? ... kidding, sort-of, I know you use YAMAMHA but I am looking for a new set. I have a 1975 Ludwig kit right now, natural finish but looking at a Sonor kit that's a little less "rock" and resinating sounding.

Ok, a real question: Did you do much work with the "Hornheads" other than what we heard through Prince?

POWER! ... That pretty much sums up my listening to your playing. It was your playing that made me go re-purchase all the Zep and Tower of Power records I almost forgot about. Thanks for making a pit stop here on the .org. Best hour read I've spent in quite a while!

Next time your in the south Florida area, I have the best jazz-fusion guys for you to sit in with, if your interested that is.

I was going to work on websites tonight, but now I think I'll go hit the skins instead. Thanks for putting me in the mood.
[Edited 3/27/06 6:24am]

thaCONcept said:

Hello!
Sorry guys I'm a bit late...just wanted to tell that you don't find much on Universal France site.
I think you'd better buy it on Fnac.com, Amazon.fr or Amazon.co.uk...
If you want any help, ask me!

Bye

Myrto

oh, yeah. Any stories you'd like to share about the Madhouse 24 project!
My personal favorite side project.

yamomma said:

i did some work with some of the horn heads before i introduced them to prince. but nothing that ever got released.. i was working on a project with a friend, and we needed three horns. they ended up being mike b. nelson, steve strand, and brian gallagher.. around that time, prince said, out of nowhere, "you should have a horn band that i could come see, and sit in with sometimes..." i ask, "what will we play?" he says, " madhouse, and stuff like that.." i say, "cool. i know three horn players i could get right now.." he says, "get five.." so, mike b. nelson recommends dave and kathy jensen.
we start rehearsing the material. sonny and tommy were in the rhythm section. no guitar player. we worked up probably most of madhouse 8 and 16 in a week, and made a cassette tape of rehearsal for prince, so he could see what we sounded like. he calls me the next day, and says, "the horns sound great!" i say, "thank you." he asks, "tomorrow after your rehearsal, ask them if they could stay later and go into the studio with me.."
they cut the horns for "love 2 the 9's" and "sexy mf" that night. and that was the end of my horn band.. LOL

michael b.

yamomma said:

not much to tell.. it was prince, eric leeds, tommy, sonny, and morris, i believe.

we played at paisley all night, from saturday evening into sunday morning. prince tells us before we leave to take sunday off. then, we get called, at like 10am to the studio..
needless to say, we were a tad pissed off. for me, personally, i took it out on the drums.. specifically, on "asswoop".

michael b.

ebonyrhythmbuddha said:

Pulling "asswoop" up on iTunes ...

HA! I can hear it too! I'm going to envision a pissed off "ebony rhythm budha" everytime I hear that song from now on. lol!

The Hornheads were/are TIGHT! http://www.bone2bwildmusic.com

That's crazy how they were brought in for those two songs. I can't hear either song without those stabs. I saw you guys in Ft. Lauderdale in 92 for the "Act I" show and two more times in Miami before the actual Gold album came out playing those songs.

Completely floored everytime. You guys have some special energy goin' on. "Hamhock in yo cornflakes" funky.

One of my favorite live cuts is "Peak The Technique". Did that ever make it to the studio or was it something you guys just did live. That one is CRAZY!

Michael, since Yomamma asked about Peak The Technique (or is it 'Peep' or 'Keep'?), do you remember if there was ever a studio version of The Glam Slam Boogie, or if not, a 'finished' live version (with or without overdubs)?

wow! great stories RE: The hornheads and Madhouse.
I hear the hornheads were "done dirty" prior 2 scaling back the band in '94. AS the story goes he had them record tons of horn parts and then "let them go" immediately after that. The horn parts recorded were used 4 "live peformances" played via Tommy and Morris through keys and samples. There was bad blood 4 a while. Any truth 2 this or is this 2 gossipy?

7
[Edited 3/28/06 12:46pm]

How much has Prince paid his band members throughout the years? What can an experienced member of his band pull down in a year? How does the pay structure work with gigs, studio sessions, albums, touring, etc?

Not trying to be too personal or rude... just curious how that all works....


And you rocked it out at Paisley following the Tamar show, but I really miss Sons of Almighty!


Thanks.

yamomma said:

there's probably a studio version, somewhere in the vault.

and, BTW, it's called "PEEP the technique".. for future reference.. LOL

michael b.

booyah said:

we never set forth to record a studio version.. but, there are probably a couple of versions that were recorded live.

michael b.

thaCONcept said:

i believe i saw the horn heads on the footage of "rave 2 the year 2000", didn't i?
i don't remember exactly how things went, but whatever way they may have felt about what happened, it was apparently not heavy enough for them to not pick up the phone, then next time prince called.
mpls is a small town where, if you're a professional musician, you learn to choose financial gain over personal vendetta, really fast.. LOL
"done dirty"? i dunno. it'a all a matter of perspective.. sometimes, your clock just runs out, when you least expect it.. ask wally or brooks.. or any of us, for that matter.. LOL
the end is always near, when working for prince. and if you haven't prepared for it, in your head, you can interpret things in a number of ways, i guess.
however, this is just my opinion.

michael b.

ShabasLove said:

it works the same as it works anywhere else.. there's no mysticism.. you make an agreement to perform a certain task for a certain amount of time, for a certain amount of money..
you didn't really expect me to go into dollar amounts, did you?
that would be undignified, wouldn't it?

there are some raging capitalists on prince.org, boy... LOL
i've sorta covered this ground, on this thread, already.. just so you know.

thank you.. i miss sons of almighty, too.. hoping to do something, soon..

michael b.

ShabasLove said:

Dude, this IS rude... can't believe you asked this!

Hi Michael!

I saw u and talk with u at astoria afterparty back in march 1995...this was a cool souvenir... !

Everybody know the song "Empty room"(GREAT SONG..one of my favorite)..so pity that this song did not end on an album....i know that the 1st version from this track has been recorded in 1985.....did u hear the 1985 version and if u did..can u describe this one?

thanx in advance 4 the reply

steph from France

slimongi said:

i've only heard one version, and i don't know which one it was... sorry..

michael b.

Hi Michael,

I doubt if you'll remember this... but I met you breifly at a meet and greet/record signing for Diamonds and Pearls at Glam Slam (now known as the Quest I believe..) in MPLS for a group of Controversy UK Fan Club fans way back in '91. I asked you the question (jokingly) of how's Sheila? (refering to Sheila E)... and you seemed to take offence... I'm just wondering how you rate Sheila as a drummer (and John Blackwell for that matter) and if you're cool with both of them?

For the record I think you are all equally great drummers and bring something different to Prince's party in different ways...
[Edited 3/29/06 9:55am]

Sifi said:

Whatever... it's just information. I didn't ask how much he made, I asked how much someone can make in those circumstances. I asked about the structure of a band member's contract, not how much he made from this album, or this tour.

Nonetheless, I appreciate him addressing the question and understand him answering as he did.

If I told you my job, employer, and work history, you could get a pretty good idea what I make in a year, give or take. This is common information across many industries and professions. How am I to come across this information for such a musician?

Besides, we're on an online forum called "prince.org", what's left to be dignified...

ebonyrhythmbuddha said:

Do you remember the last recording session/rehearsal/performance before you were fired, and what you played? What were the times like "near the end"? You wrote about being mentally prepared to exit at any moment, were you at the time, were you blindsided, or both?


I guess I should apologize for my question last time, I really didn't mean to come at you the wrong way. Sorry for that. It's trés cool that you're willing to chat with us.
[Edited 3/29/06 13:43pm]

Hi Michael,
Your drumming has been a huge inspiration to me since I first heard you play back in the early nineties and your grooves still give me an ache in my face evry'time

I have a couple of questions about the end of your employment with Prince if that's cool?

1. Did you see it coming?

2. How were you told, was it by Prince?

3. Did you later listen to Emancipation and smile at the lack of a live feel or the poor drumming/programming throughout the album?

4. And finally...is there 1 song that that you recorded that has never been released ,that you think back to as being way above what's came out of late, and could you give any details.

Hope to see you back in Scotland one day, tearing up the place like you did that night at the Glasgow Garage aftershow.
Peace
allanb

Hey Michael B! Just wanted to say you rock and thanks for the sweat and muscle. Gold Experience/Exodus/Chaos are classic albums. Also, totally diggn 3121.

Where do I pick up a Sons of Almighty CD? I don't remember that one!!

I know U spoke about it a bit already but I'm still a little curious. The question revolves around being "On Call". Countless band menbers (Ureself included) reference that fact that Prince has U "on call". While I'd much rather be playing in a band and recording music than doing my job, It's still a Job right? When U have been working 4 weeks straight and U R promised a sunday off, and the beeper goes off, describe that feeling. Was your "Asswhoop" example the norm? Is that what U wanted 2 do 2 ure boss (Asswhoop)? I hate meetings on my day off. Was this part of your job understood from the beginning?

Is it different because its music or at the end of the day is a job, a job?

BTW in case U haven't heard....
MICHAEL B is OFFICIALLY on the #1 CD in the country!!!
3121 debuts at #1!!!
cONGRATS

BTW - Re: questions above - I believe the stuff that ended up on "Chaos and Disorder" was the last suff worked on by Maichael and crew in Miami and MPLS.
Don't 4get - Michael B IS ON "EMANCIPATION". U can tell all the trax because the drumz R amazing. "Saviour", "Betcha By Golly Wow" and "One of Us"

7
[Edited 3/29/06 22:55pm]

thaCONcept said:

I know he's on Emancipation, but your talking about 3 songs out of 36!!!!
And thanks for pointing out which ones...I'd never have figured that out.....
Here's me thinking he was tearing up the congas on Soul Sanctuary.

Freedom said:

not sure what my problem was, but it probably had nothing directly to do with your question.. i probably just wasn't in the mood.. it happens..
or, maybe my ego was out of whack.. that can happen too.. LOL

anybody that can hang for over six months is a formidable musician, to me, if you work for prince that long without taking a dirt nap. it's not an easy gig. so, i guess i rate them both high..

michael b.

ShabasLove said:

i would say that we all saw it coming, but we thought it was gonna be a little later on.. yeah, i'd say both blindsided and somewhat prepared.. corpses were being made out of employees all around us.. LOL
it was just a matter of time.

michael b.

allanb said:

1. sorta.. i just answered this question, on this thread, page 8.
2. prince suggested that we start looking for other things to do, in approximately 2 months. by the end of the next week, if i remember correctly, therese stoulil, prince's personal secretary, was handing out pink slips.. i consider her to be the one that gave us the "official" axe..
3. i didn't think it was bad, honestly.. i like kirky j's drum programming as much as i like anybody's.. and some songs on emancipation really got me..
"my computer", "in this bed i scream", and a couple others..
4. nope. working in that environment, we were always experimenting.
i never could gain much objectivity over what we were doing.. so i can't honestly tell you what might be lying around.. alot of great.. alot of not so great.. who knows?

michael b.

Jackeblu said:

go to my site: www.michaelbland.org
go to the merchandise page.. the rest is sorta self explanatory..
the electric fetus will sell you a copy and send it to you, apparently rather quickly..

michael b.

thaCONcept said:

we were on retainer.. which means we were paid a specific amount, while off the road, to be more or less available WHENEVER prince wanted us.
that's the gig. that's basically understood from the moment you start talking about taking the job.

i don't think it's brain surgery.. an elaborate scenario need not be drawn..
if you've ever had to go into work on a day that you were told you didn't have to, then you know what it's like..
the original title of ASSWOOP was EDWARD. eric leeds named it. the song is based on a duke ellington composition.. his first name was edward.
prince renamed it ASSWOOP, for unknown reasons..


in some ways, it's different, because it's music, and i could be working at mcdonald's..
but, the pressure of working most regular jobs can't even begin to approach what we dealt with, some of us, for 7 years..
and to have to produce excellent results at the drop of a dime, IN FRONT OF YOUR BOSS CONSTANTLY, sometimes at 4am with no sleep for 2 days, wouldn't be fun for anyone working anywhere..
it was more than a job, alot of the time.. and sometimes it was just an intrusion..

michael b.
[Edited 3/31/06 3:25am]
[Edited 3/31/06 3:27am]

ebonyrhythmbuddha said:

thanks Michael, I never thought I'd get the chance to speak with you, so that was an honour.
allanb