"Sex Machine" and a lot of the things you did with James were part of really history, part of the change in music. Did you know at the time what they were doing. Did you know how big this was?

I had no idea. You know, like I say, I was just, I was just glad that I was there. I wasn't even thinking about what the heck I was doing. You know, it was just like when um, when I hooked up with Bernie, man, I didn't know what the heck I was doing. I was just glad to be there. And uh, I don't know, that's just, I always kind of carried that one, you know, and that one's been my guide. You know, I'm just glad to be there. Because you know, to be with George Clinton, to be with James Brown, you know, to be with Bernie, you know, and I'm right off the street looking real crazy, you know? So I don't know I kept those things, those were the things that kept me motivated. Fred Welsey, Maceo Parker, you know, those were kind of like, those were like the cats, so that kept me motivated.

In terms of the bass instrument, what did Larry Graham bring to it.

Um, probably, um, almost all of it.

Name.

Oh, uh, Larry Graham, yeah. Larry Graham, um, we used to go out to his house Bernie and myself.

Yeah, yeah.

And you know, just jam with him. You know, when we used to play Oakland, San Francisco. I mean, you know, everybody kinda started trying to take the credit, but no, it was Larry Graham. It was definitely Larry Graham. He was doing with the bass what, uh, at that particular time, nobody else was evening thinking about. And once everybody --

…

Well, popping, and. You know, that kind of plucking style. I would say, I would have to say he was the first one I heard doing it, you know. And I would have to even go as far as to say, he was probably the only one that was doing it, so uh, between him and Sly, Sly kind of was doing it a little bit. But Larry was more, you know, long. So yeah, I would have to give that one to Larry, yeah, definitely.

Are there any other especially at the time funky bass players that you could ...

At that time? Um, at that time, I think Louis probably came up at about the same time I was coming up?

Who?

Louis Johnson of the Brothers Johnson. And they were kind of touring with us, so, I would, I would have to give it to Larry, because Larry was the first one, you know, and all of us that came up after that was like, um, did with it what we did with it. But I would have to give it to Larry. I mean Louis was bad too, but Larry was the one, Larry was the first one, I think. So I would have to give it all to Larry.

Larry was the trunk of the tree and then came --

Yeah, everybody else came after that.

In terms of the other groups, like, Kool and the Gang, what did you of think of.

Oh, I thought it was cool for them. I mean, you know, it was a space for that. I mean, you know, we wasn't trying to hog, you know, like, if it wasn't what we was doing, or it ain't happening. You know, everybody kind of had a space at that time, and I think it all played a major role. Kool used to do shows with us all the time.

Yeah, we'd do tours together.

You know, so it wasn't like, just because we were doing this your stuff don't mean nothing. You know, no, everybody had their space. You know, we just knew there wasn't nobody doing what we were doing, you know, and uh, and we just left it like that. Because you know, we, we loved our space, you know, and we gave everybody else theirs. So it wasn't no thing.

In terms of their place in the history of this music, where would you put the Isley Brothers?

Oh man, the Isley Brothers. Yeah, yeah, well, you know, they were, they were from Cincinnati, Ohio.

And they also, Jimi Hendrix also played with the Isley Brothers.

Right, right, right. As a matter of fact they used to, they used to record over at Kings also. That's probably where I first ran into them.

What was special about their sound?

I don't know, it was just, they sung, I mean, Ronnie Isley, that boy can sing his head off, you know, and, you know, even today, I would think that he's probably the ma-, one of the major ones of the old school that still got his, I mean, he's still got it going on.

They just sold out, um, the Beacon Theater in New York. It's quiet, because Ron, Ronnie's, you know, doesn't need a lot of volume. The mix is quiet but the audience loved it. There was, they're over in England now, or they just left.

When I say the Ohio Players, what do you think?

Hey.

Oh, yes.

Sugar! All of them, we was all a big family.

It was like, God, the Ohio Players, see, they were really close, because there were like, they were right there too, you know, Cincinnati, Ohio. And it was like, uh, they played this club called Babe's. And you know, we were just coming on the scene. I mean the Ohio Players were like hitting. It wasn't even like, we knew the Ohio Players before they started getting records, and before they, the people say they were happening. We knew them when they were really happening. And this is when they would come to the shows and all the bands from all around, forget, I mean, there's like the normal people, no, the front rows were lined with nothing but musicians, okay, sitting there, doing this.

Checking it out.

Checking the show, you know, checking the show, because them boys was so bad, so bad. They had Marshall playing the bass like uh-oh, whoops, wow, sorry. Marshall was playing the bass like this, and they was all styling. You know, as a matter of fact I forgot about Mar-, I'm sorry, Marshall, I'm sorry, brother. Um, Marshall was another one, you know, I got a good idea, like a style. I mean the ma-, they way they used to stand, Marshall would, Marshall would stand and he would take his bass, I mean, you know, the mother, we used to stand, and they, he would play like this, and I mean it was like, man. And then Sugar had his thing. You know, um, those cats were so stylish. You know, and then Dutch Robinson, he was like the singer.

Phenomenal voice.

I mean, and this was before the record. See, the people never got to see them the way I seen them. But them mothers were so bad. But when they got the records, you know, it started getting a whole 'nother thing. But I could understand why there were happening with the records. But the people never got the chance to see the real Ohio Players. Because the Ohio Players, wooo, they had everybody like, couldn't believe it man. Right next to James Brown, they were, they were the ones. Yeah, yeah. So, I don't know, it got kinda hyped when you say the Ohio Players. Because, you know, uh, Sugarfoot spent a lot of time with me, you know, because, uh, when you're a kid coming up, you know, the like, the older dudes are like, oh, get that boy outta here, you know? And my brother did me the same way, you know, love him to death. But everybody would, would, um, when you're young, you know, and you're trying, you're really trying to get something going on, always give you that thing, you know. But to me it made me more determined, you know, and the ones that I could lock in on like Sugarfoot, he would drag me in, you know, check this out Boots. You know, spend a little time with me. I'd say thanks man, I really, and he'd, yeah, kid, rub me on the head, you know, and it'd be cool, you know?

Speak about your persona and how that developed. I mean who is the Starchild?

Well, the Starchild is actually, George came up with that one, I would say, wouldn't you?

Yeah.

The Starchild, yeah, I guess --

You talk about Casper.

Yeah, yeah, Casper and Bootzilla. Well, Starchild I think evolved from, uh, uh, you know me wearing the glasses and coming in with the stars and, and you know, one thing led to another. I think uh, Starchild kinda evolved from that. You know, and --

But I remember reading that when you left James, you had your own band… Could you tell us the story about that?

No, it was, um, um, after we left James. Yeah, yeah, after we left James, you know, um, we really didn't know what the heck we were doing, what we were going to do, because after two weeks, you know, we ran out of money. And it was like, okay, all right, Mr. Boots, since you're on it and everything, what are we going to do now? So we were looking pretty crazy. Then we start, uh, doing gigs, and trying to get gigs, and you know promoting our own gigs and going to different towns, telling them, you know, we're the House Guests, formerly James Brown band, and you know, everybody was excited because they knew we were with James Brown, because they had seen us and they had heard about us and we were fresh kids, and so it was like, yeah, yeah. So everybody would give us a shot, you know. But they would always give us the door because then nobody actually wanted to pay us. So we would take the door, we're selling out, you know, looking good, looking groovy and the people were getting blown away because we were wearing stuff that we found out, by being over in Europe with James, we kind of brought back like hot pants, and fur, chains, and long boots, and you know, we didn't, we didn't figure nobody was doing this in the states, because we didn't know, we had, we didn't know nothing about Funkadelic. You know, and then we started doing road gigs, and we kept hearing this thing about, man, you all should see Funkadelic, you know, because you all look like Funkadelic. You all should play on the same stage with Funkadelic. Then they kept saying it to us, it's like, yeah, okay, where is Funkadelic. We want to get, we want to get on the stage with them. Who is Funkadelic? So we kept hearing this everywhere we played. Y'all just missed Funkadelic. They was here last week. It was like, God, we're getting closer and closer, so we kept getting closer and closer. We're saying in a minute we're going to catch up with these mothers, and then we're going to see who the real band is, right?

We were just missing Bernie. Bernie, I was seeing his coattails fly out the door as we were coming in. It was like, God, doctor, we missed him again. So um, you know, something happened, and we got up in Detroit. Um, because people were telling us to just go to Detroit, Funkadelic pretty much stay there, and you'll get a chance to meet them and maybe you could all hook up and do some records or do something. You know, so we got excited about that. We go to Detroit, and you know, couldn't find them, couldn't find them nowhere. So uh, um, somebody was telling us about going over to Motown Records, to see about getting a record deal or talk to somebody about, you know, getting a record or something. So, by us, we didn't know nobody over at Motown. All I knew was James Jameson, I wanted to meet James Jameson, you know. So it was like, okay, so all of us crazy looking dudes, right, would go over to Motown, all right, we'd walk in, and they got this doorway where you walk in and they got a camera on you. You don't get let in unless you know, somebody you're coming to see, you got an appointment, but we walk in, see, we don't know none of this. All we know is I want to meet James Jameson and we got a idea for a record, right? So we walk in. They say, all right, uh, who would y'all like to see. We hear this over the loudspeaker. We ain't seen nobody yet, you're just standing in this hallway, and they got the camera on you, you know, going back at forth, like, okay, all right. So they say, who you want to see. And then we're looking at each other, like Jameson! You know, Jameson, yeah, you know, I'd like to meet him, because we got this record and da-da-da, and as I was saying it and explaining it to him, security guards came us, and escorted us right the heck out of there, and said, boys, if you all don't get out of here. Okay? We were hurt. We were very, very hurt.

Made him very sad.

Made me very sad. But at the same time, I said, thank you, Lord, whatever's happening, you know, it's for the best, you know? So we just, every time something like that happened to us, we'd kick our boots off, go try something else. We found a gig at this club called the Love Club, it was a new club there, and they were trying the new stuff with the new kids. You know, they weren't selling alcohol, it was like Kool-aid, fruit juice, and you know, it had all the kids in there. So we wanted to play in there, there was a bunch of bands playing in there. We said goddogit, hopefully Funkadelic will be down there. We'll get a chance to -- you know, no Funkadelic. Funkadelic was too big for that. It was like uh, because they were playing like colleges and they were getting paid, you know, and you know, we wasn't doing nothing. We were just, so we said, we gotta find Funkadelic. So we played this club, we was hoping that the word would get around that we were there. And uh, and that maybe these, you know, these cats here, like these heroes of ours would be around and say, yeah, well, c'mon, you know. You know, we were hoping about that but nobody never showed up. We started getting the rap around Detroit that, you know, the House Guests, these boys are bad, we started getting that rap, we started getting gigs. but as far as record companies and as far as Funkadelic, none of that. So we finally ran into this girl, Malie (?) Franklin.

Yes.

Yes, yes, and she is the one I think that really set things rolling. Because you know, she let us stay over her house, 'cause we didn't have no, they had to start throwing us out of the hotels, all of us in one room, there was about eight of us staying in one room, and then the hotel bill would get ready to paid, we'd have to run. So, you know, it was kind of deep. And you know, she let us stay with her and her mama. They let us stay up over the storefront. So we stayed there a few weeks trying to get it going. Finally she said, yeah, I got to take you all to meet George Clinton, you know, that's pretty much, you know, that is, that did it. So I said, yeah, take me over there I got to meet this mug, you know, 'cause he had like the bald head and the stars. I got to meet this mug. Everybody had been telling me about him, you know. So you know finally she took us over there and sure enough, George was sitting over in the corner, had his white sheet on, had feet …

Bare feet.

Bare feet, he's sitting in his, ah, what do you call that position.

Lotus position?

With his legs crossed and, you know, that, that kind of thing. He's sitting there, had his head down, he's probably, he wasn't home up here, he was definitely no home. So and, ah, I think I probably wasn't home either come to think of it. But, ahm, you know, it was good though 'cause as soon as I seen him it was like love at first bite, right. It was like, I know, ...

We were home.

Yeah, we were definitely home, it was like I know I can do what I want to do and he'd seen it too so it was like, yeah, yeah. And then after we talked and hooked up then I got a chance to meet Bernie, you know, and that was like ..

At the club, the Georgia ...

At the club, Psychedelic Gray, you know, and then that was love at first bite so it was like, you know, whatever we got to do this is it, you know. So that's pretty much the way it worked, you know.

Bootsy was always Bootsy. You didn't just become another P Funk. You kept your own identity. How did you do that?

Well I think that kind of started just in school anyway, I always, you know if people were laughing at me and I, I think I grew up with a immunity to, to criticisms that, you know, you should look everybody else. You know I learned early that I'm going to dress the way I want to dress and I don't care what you think, you start laughing, I'm going to start laughing too, you know. So I learnt early that it didn't matter what you thought, the way I looked or, I got some cheap shoes on 'cause that's all I could afford, you know, I mean that's all my mama got me, you know. And if you laughing then, you know, I mean you know I got, you know I got in a few fights at first about it but after I learned that that was what was going to be happening it kind of stuck with me that, you know ...

Strength.

Yeah, yeah.

How would you compare the atmosphere around P Funk with the atmosphere of James Brown and the?

Oh, oh ho. It's a total dif., you know, it's, what would you say?

James was, what's the word?

…

Or., organized, disciplined, disciplined, we was, wild and crazy guys.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was too different, one, you know, one ...

A variation thereof like I was telling everybody.

Everybody hears about how strict James was. What was it like?

You know as far as James being strict and everything, I kind of welcomed it 'cause I needed it because where I came from, I only had my mama there and I needed a daddy figure, you know, a father figure and I knew it, you know, and, ah, I was getting away with murder, you know, and I knew it, you know, so when I got with James I was kind of welcoming it, whatever he had to discipline me on I was kind of welcome it. And everybody else was talking about, man, that mother, man. But I was kind of, you know 'cause I knew I needed something. I didn't know what it was.

You looked at him and it was help him do what he's been doing since ...

Yeah, since then, you know, you know and I didn't know what the heck was happening but I knew I needed whatever he was saying and whatever he was doing I needed it, you know, 'cause I didn't, I didn't, you know mama did what she could do but, you know, I needed that man thing, you know, and it's a, it's a big difference, you know. So when I got with James that, that, ah, and plus he treated like a son, he called me, he called me his son. You know so all of that helped, you know, it helped build, you know, build my moral and I guess what you call your . ..

Preparing you for, for what he's doing for us today.

So, you know, it was, it was all good, you know it was all good.

We got to go play.

One last question then I need you to say your names for the camera.... young people.

When I think about Bootsy's Rubber Band I think that was probably more of my personal, more of where I was really at. And at that time, you know, the generation that I was dealing with was, that was where I was at, you know. And I loved it because what I was doing was, you know, it's just, it's just like any other ...

Something they could relate to.

Yeah, something they could relate to, you know.

That radio DJ... controversy…

Ah, I don't know, I, you know, I can't say where it came from but it's, you know it's just, ah, I don't know you pick up different things and, you know, you know, it's just, it's kind of built in there.