The Original 7ven (The Time) Talk Name Change & Purple Rain Sequel

(interview by Dr.Funkenberry)

Morris Day, DrFunk, & Jerome Benton. Photo: Drfunkenberry.com

When I ran into the Time in August, there was no mention of a name change. All they told me is that everything is coming together and its time, for them, to return.

In mid-September, it is announced they are now called The Original 7ven (The band Formerly Known As The Time) and have a new album, "Condensate" which is out now. The Original 7ven consists of all the original members of The Time, Morris Day, Jimmy Jam. Terry Lewis, Jesse Johnson, Monte Moir, Jellybean Johnson, and Jerome Benton.

A member of The Time calls me about the name change. "Ahh. We got you on that, didn't we? We were able to keep it a secret until we wanted it out there."

Jerome Benton, Jimmy Jam, & Terry Lewis. Photo: Jeremiah Freed

So, I am thinking before we have this conversation about the name change. About how dirty it is going to get between Prince (who owns the name The Time) and members of the group formerly called The Time. I'm expecting a few curse words about their old boss and touring buddy. What I was not expecting was what they actually said.

"So why the name change? What happened"

"Doc, we love Prince. Love. We are friends. Been friends since we were 11 years old. He told us that he did not want us using the name. That he owns it. We were not going to fight him. Friends do not fight over business. We decided to come up with a new name and move on."

"OK, but why The Original 7ven? Why not Flyte Time? What made you use that name?"

"We could have easily used Flyte Time but we decided to go where people did not expect us to go. This is a name we can call all our own."

"But you guys have been touring underneath the name for 30 years. Why the problem over the name now?"

"Doc, in the past few years, when you have went to see The Time, who was playing? Was it all 7 of the original members? No. Now, when you see the name The Original 7ven, you know it is us. All of us. Not just a part here and there."

Jesse Johnson, Monte Moir, Jellybean Johnson's Hand. Photo: Jeremiah Freed

Their new song "#Trendin" was released as a 40 second sample and at first, people were slamming it, saying it was not funky.

"How can people judge from a 40 second sample if a song is bad? They need to wait and we are sure they will be satisfied with the new single and the new record."

The talk came back to Prince and the band.

"Prince feared us even back then. We were the only band that he was afraid of. What does that say about us? All of us have been fired by Prince at one time or another. We still love him though. It was business to him and we understand that."

Terry Lewis & Jesse Johnson. Photo: Jeremiah Freed

A month passes by and I talk to the band during rehearsals for their upcoming show in Los Angeles at Club Nokia and they tell me they will be also be playing in Minneapolis and New York shortly.

The band sounds tight as they run through new songs and classic favorites.

"We had so many songs to choose from that we recorded. We were waiting for the right deal to come along and we feel we have it. We feel real fans of The Time are going to love it."

But will the name change stick?

"We are the Original 7ven. We always have been. You can call us The Time but we are going to call ourselves The Original 7ven."

They are proud of the new album and cannot wait to tour with it and are looking forward to being on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno on October 27th.

The Original 7ven are legends. Although not all of them were in "Purple Rain" the greatest rock and roll movie ever made, it solidified them and made them achieve cult status, being mentioned and featured in "Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back" by Kevin Smith, a huge Time and Prince fan.

When the talk of Purple Rain came up, they had this to say;

"Prince still looks good. He still plays amazing. We look and sound great too. Prince still has Paisley Park. There is no reason we shouldn't give the people what they want. Let's hire some writers and make a sequel to "Purple Rain" because there is no reason why we can't."

Seriously?

"Yes. Let's use his studios and get it done. He can do it. We can do it. Let's do it."

Interesting. Although they may be called The Original 7ven now, there is no reason to believe they are still not on Time. The new record is a slice of funk for those that remember the Minneapolis Sound and allow it to be updated and not just stuck in the 80's.-DocFB

Yehhhhhhhhsssssssssss, to the new album and a tour! Naaaaaaaawwwwwwwww! To a new Purple Rain sequel! :shudder:

Unless they are putting on their game face I say there was no love lost for Prince. Seems like they still love and respect each other, and I for one would LOVE a Purple Rain II movie if and only if it is written and directed very well.

See this thread link in the sticky above for continued discussion http://prince.org/msg/5/369082

Will use sticky to discuss (with links included) to the interview, tracks etc - stay tuned - luv4u.

hopefully this will shut people the hell up saying that prince has beef wit them or whatever been friends too long for drama

It really does look a bunch of guys who've been mates for years just kickin' back. Cool.

I PRAY they do NOT do a PR sequel!!!

I'm goin 2 snap up the CD tomorrow. Can't wait 2 hear it!!

Ah so THAT'S who Funkenberry looks like!

Interesting dude didn't mention which TIME member. I think it's obvious though who Unfunkenberry was interviewing when "the member" said "we've been friends since we were 11". Who else but Morris?!

SHOCKADELICA1 said:

I PRAY they do NOT do a PR sequel!!!

I'm goin 2 snap up the CD tomorrow. Can't wait 2 hear it!!

I'm in the other corner on this one. I've been wanting a new movie for a long time. There is no reason they couldn't do something extremely successful and possibly TOP Purple Rain. None. I love Terry for not being afraid to WIN.

Timmy84 said:

Ah so THAT'S who Funkenberry looks like!

Looks like he's missing the big brim cowboy hat, high-heeled cowboy boots, a long-necked Bud, and a ride on the bull at Mickey Guilley's...

purplethunder3121 said:

Timmy84 said:

Ah so THAT'S who Funkenberry looks like!

Looks like he's missing the big brim cowboy hat, high-heeled cowboy boots, a long-necked Bud, and a ride on the bull at Mickey Guilley's...

I was thinking the same thing.

I seen that picture small at first and thought, "oh my God Morris and Jerome are chillin with John Goodman". lol My bad

Surprised to see that he would bring up the "slamming" of Trendin, tacky really but understandable since he's not a seasoned professional by any means.

WonderU said:

I seen that picture small at first and thought, "oh my God Morris and Jerome are chillin with John Goodman". lol My bad

Surprised to see that he would bring up the "slamming" of Trendin, tacky really but understandable since he's not a seasoned professional by any means.

What was wrong with asking that question? There was nothing wrong with it, and I'm glad he asked it, to be honest. It wasn't a COMPLETE ass-kissing fest.

Is it pronounced sevenven ...or seven ?

serenade said:

Is it pronounced sevenven ...or seven ?

is that a REAL qustion? If you think real hard the answer wil come.

alexnvrmnd777 said:

WonderU said:

I seen that picture small at first and thought, "oh my God Morris and Jerome are chillin with John Goodman". lol My bad

Surprised to see that he would bring up the "slamming" of Trendin, tacky really but understandable since he's not a seasoned professional by any means.

What was wrong with asking that question? There was nothing wrong with it, and I'm glad he asked it, to be honest. It wasn't a COMPLETE ass-kissing fest.

It's not like there was this huge public backlash from a SAMPLE that they had heard so why even bring that up? There's a billion other better questions that could have been asked. This interview came off more like something Chris Farley would do.."uh...remember when you were in the Beatles Paul...yeah...that was cool."

WonderU said:

alexnvrmnd777 said:

What was wrong with asking that question? There was nothing wrong with it, and I'm glad he asked it, to be honest. It wasn't a COMPLETE ass-kissing fest.

It's not like there was this huge public backlash from a SAMPLE that they had heard so why even bring that up? There's a billion other better questions that could have been asked. This interview came off more like something Chris Farley would do.."uh...remember when you were in the Beatles Paul...yeah...that was cool."

It did!

Zannaloaf said:

serenade said:

Is it pronounced sevenven ...or seven ?

is that a REAL qustion? If you think real hard the answer wil come.

I think in sounds... and this sounds like seven with an echo ..

Very melodic I must say

purplethunder3121 said:

Timmy84 said:

Ah so THAT'S who Funkenberry looks like!

Looks like he's missing the big brim cowboy hat, high-heeled cowboy boots, a long-necked Bud, and a ride on the bull at Mickey Guilley's...

I think he's hot.

Spinlight said:

purplethunder3121 said:

Looks like he's missing the big brim cowboy hat, high-heeled cowboy boots, a long-necked Bud, and a ride on the bull at Mickey Guilley's...

I think he's hot.

go get him tiger

Spinlight said:

purplethunder3121 said:

Looks like he's missing the big brim cowboy hat, high-heeled cowboy boots, a long-necked Bud, and a ride on the bull at Mickey Guilley's...

I think he's hot.

Chubby guys can be handsome lol

Timmy84 said:

Spinlight said:

I think he's hot.

Chubby guys can be handsome lol

I googled some other pics of his...

This is the most flattering.

Spinlight said:

Timmy84 said:

Chubby guys can be handsome lol

I googled some other pics of his...

This is the most flattering.

I figured it was too good to be true.

Timmy84 said:

Spinlight said:

I think he's hot.

Chubby guys can be handsome lol

Fat is the right word.

Funklov said:

interesting that they dont consider Grafitti Bridge a sequel to Purple Rain. i wish Dr FB would have called them on that to see what they would say about that

That movie is best forgotten If a new movie is made,it should just ignore 'GB' and pick up exactly where 'Purple Rain' left off.

WonderU said:

alexnvrmnd777 said:

What was wrong with asking that question? There was nothing wrong with it, and I'm glad he asked it, to be honest. It wasn't a COMPLETE ass-kissing fest.

It's not like there was this huge public backlash from a SAMPLE that they had heard so why even bring that up? There's a billion other better questions that could have been asked. This interview came off more like something Chris Farley would do.."uh...remember when you were in the Beatles Paul...yeah...that was cool."

No, it wasn't a huge PUBLIC backlash, but there was one online (mainly here), which is what an online blogger would sometimes focus on. And it's not like they didn't know what he was talking about, either. So, they obviously caught wind of it too.

It's not like he had a 5-minute time limit to ask questions and asked that one. It was just a small one, and they answered it and moved on.

alexnvrmnd777 said:

WonderU said:

It's not like there was this huge public backlash from a SAMPLE that they had heard so why even bring that up? There's a billion other better questions that could have been asked. This interview came off more like something Chris Farley would do.."uh...remember when you were in the Beatles Paul...yeah...that was cool."

No, it wasn't a huge PUBLIC backlash, but there was one online (mainly here), which is what an online blogger would sometimes focus on. And it's not like they didn't know what he was talking about, either. So, they obviously caught wind of it too.

It's not like he had a 5-minute time limit to ask questions and asked that one. It was just a small one, and they answered it and moved on.

Still a bad question no matter how you slice it

I wish I could interview them