  George Clinton. (Handout) |
Two weeks after his 50-year-old son, George Clinton Jr., passed away from liver failure, funk maestro George Clinton is on the road again.
The colourful 68-year-old band leader of Parliament-Funkadelic performs Sunday at the Phoenix Concert Theatre — the only Canadian date on a two-week tour of clubs. In a telephone interview on Thursday night from his tour bus in Indianapolis, he said it never occurred to him not to tour, given his son’s recent passing.
“He’d been sick for a while, his kidneys and liver. He’s probably resting now,” said the hard-to-understand Clinton, whose habit of mumbling leads to him being asked to repeat himself several times during a 15-minute chat.
“He was sick a long time, so we had a chance to prepare for it. I lost my mother a little over a month ago. I don’t go to funerals.”
The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer is about to enter one of the more prolific times of his career. He has at least two albums in the works — one of Motown covers, the other with fellow funk innovator Sly Stone next year — and plans to follow them with a major tour, and a headlining gig at an outdoor funk festival.
“It’s brand new, good stuff with Sly himself, and a lot of it is me and him together jamming,” Clinton said of the album he recorded with the reclusive Stone in Detroit and in L.A.
When asked which contemporary music stars he likes, one of the most sampled artists in hip-hop cited Eminem, in particular.
“Funk is the DNA for hip-hop,” Clinton said. “Eminem is one of my favourites. His producer and I worked together for years — Mark Bass.”
Clinton has been performing in Canada since 1969 and actually lived in Mississauga for a couple of years in the early ’70s. He said he likes playing to Canadian audiences because “they appreciate the funk.”
Clinton will have an army of 22 musicians on stage with him on Sunday. They’ve been known to play anywhere from two-and-a-half to three hours. Sometimes more.
“We sometimes play four or five (hours) — if it’s in New Orleans or something. They always have to pull the plug on us,” Clinton said. “We’ve been doing a lot of old Funkadelic records, Maggot Brain, Testify, and all of that. So it’s always evolving and never comes to a boring end.”
Clinton, who began his musical career as a doo-wop singer at age 15, says he has no plans to retire.
“If I think about it, I hurry up and forget it,” said Clinton, who attributes his far-out hairdo of multi-coloured dreadlocks, braids and extensions to the fact that he worked as a hairdresser before he pursued music.
Playing live keeps him young, he insists. “It gives me more energy.
“Funk is its own reward. And girls. I can get some Viagara.”
Clinton says the Valentine’s Day gig has no special significance for him, what with no current Valentine in his life. “Not right now.”
jane.stevenson@sunmedia.ca
