Average White Band Interview with Mason & Starr
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FunTranscript
00:00average white band is coming our way that's gonna be good
00:06come on that's classic i call that that classic funk
00:12you can pick up the pieces and cut the cake for real well pick up the pieces was like the first
00:22song i roller skated on they used to play that at northland back in my day i'm telling you i've
00:27been i grew up with the average white man that's my that's that's that's that's my music yeah we've
00:33got uh the lead singer alan alan hold on let me get him there he is yeah i'm here yes you are and
00:41good morning alan how are you today i'm well thank you for this time of the morning not maybe the
00:46musicians perfect time of day but for you guys i know you're halfway through your shift there we go
00:52and and i got a feeling just from listening you're on you are you still on uk time no no i'm over in
00:59the states right now because we're coming your way next week beautiful that's right yeah november 3rd
01:05music hall listen it's already lunchtime in the uk they're finishing up lunch no they're they're
01:11already in the pub alan you you've been rolling with awb since what 1989 is it uh no let's go back
01:24a little further than that 72 so you're the original lead singer yeah i'm the original bass player singer
01:32and founder member to myself and arnie are both still with the uh the machine and yeah 51 years
01:39we've been doing this uh so you know it's uh we're we're approaching our farewell tour here
01:45no don't say that please that's that's that's quite an achievement so let's go back and talk about
01:57the name how did the name average white band come upon well it was a thing of a friend of ours who was
02:05with the british diplomatic corps and he had been in places like thailand and uganda and and so on and
02:13so forth and and one of his things was uh we say well what's it like there and he said oh it's it's
02:18too hot for the average white man and that that's i guess that's a good way of saying it's way too hot
02:26for a british person and um we just kind of turned that phrase around into well we what's the what should
02:33we call ourselves and the thing is that the last the last thing we did was what you would call
02:39white music of the kind that say david bowie or the stones or uh any of the british bands were making
02:46so we thought it was tongue-in-cheek if we just turned it around to the average white band
02:51i love it that is that is i'd never heard that before that's great though yeah it's a little it's a
02:58little more lengthy than john lennon's experience
03:00and he said the beatles got the name from a man on a flaming pie damn no kidding
03:11alan i actually met you for like and and and i'm not nowhere near asking you to remember him
03:20but it was uh just just for the sake of the group that that's that i'm working with
03:25so i'm a bus boy in a restaurant in cleveland yeah and and you guys come in and and have dinner
03:33that night and you were performing i guess maybe for two days or the next day but uh people you set
03:41that place on fire by just walking in i'll never forget that as long as i live like they walk it's
03:49like my managers that's that's the group go go see what they'd want so but yeah well i'm i'm glad
03:56you said we set the place on fire i was hoping you weren't going to say we like wrecked the place
03:59no you were very polite and and and very nice and gracious that day so well thank you that's good
04:08to hear that we we still carry our uh diplomacy around with us you know we do represent our country
04:14after all that's right that's right so listen so alan you you guys are performing uh yeah november
04:21they're going to be uh in detroit november 3rd wait uh the music hall i gotta ask you how do you like
04:28performing in the states and have you ever been to detroit yes he's been here yeah i don't okay
04:33well uh we were at the aretha last year okay um a couple of years back before that we did the um
04:42oh now let me get this right uh we we've done the we've done the gig that the hollywood casino runs
04:49before it was the other theater in in the center of town near campus marshes park we've done campus
04:55marshes park twice um and we go back to uh 1974 we played at the original masonic we we were the
05:08opening band for bb king wow that was our first experience of detroit 1974 so this is where the
05:17legend this is where the legend came from there was a a group of guys who ran on this stage uh while
05:26you were performing oh oh that was at coble hall i was at coble you know something you know the body
05:34has no memory of pain and and that was a night that was ruined by uh an ongoing gang fracas that
05:43started started in the afternoon it had something to do with a protest at detroit's mayor cutting the
05:51amount of police blah blah blah and the thing spilled over in the evening into a concert with
05:58us and cool and the gang right right but yeah alan the the from from the chaos of that and by the way
06:09for those who may not remember or even know the legend of this the gang that went up on stage that
06:15night were the earl flynn's okay from that alan two things emerged in light of awb one that gang
06:26there was a dance that hit the country called the earl flynn wow that was first but wait a minute
06:35the signature song to do the dance the earl flynn was school boy crush period okay oh my gosh oh my
06:46this swept the country in black communities around the world like in six months when when school boy
06:57crush was played everybody started doing the earl flynn dance it was an amazing thing from a chaotic
07:05situation wow i've always wanted to say that to you and that's what happened school boy you've just
07:13you've blown me away completely but it explains a huge amount of things when we play school boy
07:20it it happens every night it's there's a whole bunch of people now in their mature years they get up
07:30and they do this thing and we thought it was something to do with like maybe our our appearances
07:36on soul train or something we had no idea that there was a connection to the incident in detroit
07:41the gang etc etc amen that is amazing that is exactly what that is about that's what that's about
07:49and that's why that one song people will stand and start to do the earl flynn it is an amazing thing
07:57yes so that is amazing that that's you you floored me today honestly you really have i i i can only say
08:04what we'll do next week when we when we start that tune we're gonna say this is for the earl flynn
08:09gang yeah they're gonna go crazy when you do that they're the whole house i promise you
08:13i know that i know yeah so listen i i gotta tell you um like i said i grew up school boy crush
08:20that's when i was crushing falling in love like so you are my playlist for life and i go to a spot
08:28called teresa's place and teresa's place we get to put our money in the jukebox and play whatever
08:33music we want and i'm playing like four or five of your songs every time and i'm gonna tell you
08:39everybody in this spot is always dancing singing along and they never ever ever get tired you you
08:46are just that you're the kind of music that i say is ageless it's just good music so thank you for
08:51that creation because i love it i can listen to your music anytime i am so excited about this concert
08:58yeah it's always fun i can't wait well thank you for the compliment you know you've you've actually
09:04made my day my week um it's how rare do i get a chance to start a day off with uh with news like
09:11this yeah and how rare do we get a chance to talk to uh a master a music pioneer you guys you guys just
09:21stayed right in the pocket all those years uh one last question alan how'd you come up with cut the
09:28cake oh no that was just basically one of these things that after you know you had pick up the
09:35pieces it had a the the thumb a v in the middle and um i just thought that um that the name cut the
09:43cake was was kind of it was easy to get a groove to that cut the cake give me a little piece let me
09:50lick up the cream you know it was it was a simple kind of rhythmic thing and it followed on nicely
09:56from cut there from uh pick up the pieces because it had that instrument instrumental section in the
10:01middle which allowed the horns to go nuts and um it's uh it's still because every night that becomes
10:08a dance party no kidding man once upon a time i'm telling you so that's it alan we can't wait to see
10:15i can't wait we go party i can't wait i can't wait one one week and two days to go
10:21that's right we can't wait either we'll we're going to come into town the night before just so we can
10:26savor the city for a minute or two always a nice thing to do and just uh get our get our feet on the
10:32ground so uh yeah we're really looking forward to it at the the music hall theater yeah that's right
10:37well blessings and safe travels and bonjour thank you have a great day y'all period all right hey let's go