Soul
Sensations FOR THE ARGUS-COURIER March 30, 2005 They haven't released a studio album of new material since 1977 and perform only a couple of shows a year, reviewers routinely describe them as "the best band you never heard" and their founder, Bill Champlin, spends most of his professional life writing, touring and recording as a member of Chicago, the second-biggest selling Amer-ican band of all time. Yet a worldwide cult of Sons of Champlin fans knows that the secret of this Bay Area band's longevity isn't what they play, it's how they play it. "I think that people who come to see the Sons know that there are no tricks here," says singer, songwriter, and guitarist Champlin, during a phone interview from his home in the L.A. suburb of Woodland Hills. "This is the real deal." No doubt about it, the Sons -- who perform April 2 at the Mystic Theatre -- possess a soul-based sound that is something special. In an age of post-modern rock, it's not easy to appreciate just how innovative the Sons were in the late '60s and '70s. At a time when lengthy instrumental acid-rock jams and self-indulgent progressive rock were standard fare, Champlin parlayed a life-long obsession with R&B into a tight-knit, highly danceable sound driven by stiletto funk-guitar riffs, a beefy B3 organ and a jazzy horn section. "I think we were part of a generation that was more than just image and marketing," Champlin says of the original band, "along the lines of Loading Zone, Cold Blood and Tower of Power." One of the last San Francisco bands to emerge during the heyday of the psychedelic Sixties, the Sons released seven albums in 10 years and garnered more than their share of respect from peers before disappearing for 20 years. The late rock-impresario Bill Graham and members of the Grateful Dead are big fans of the Sons -- both Mickey Hart and Phil Lesh have sung their praises and the reunited Sons released their 1998 album Live on the Dead's record label. "They were breathing fire," Hart once said of the Sons' early shows. "They were the most talented of all the [San Francisco] bands." That incendiary soul continues with the current lineup: Champlin and original members Geoff Palmer (keyboards, vibraphone, and baritone sax), bassist David Schallock and drummer James Preston, plus Tower of Power alumni Mic Gillette (trumpet, trombone, and tuba) and guest artists on alto and tenor saxophone. Gone is original guitarist Terry Haggerty -- he now plays, along with Prairie Prince of the Tubes, Bobby Vega of Zero, and Ray White of the Mothers of Invention, in Don't Push the Clown -- replaced for this tour by guitarist Carmen Grillo, whose credits include stints with Tower of Power, Boz Scaggs, Smokey Robinson, and a host of others. Champlin, who recently got off the road touring with Chicago and Earth, Wind, and Fire (he co-wrote the EW&F Grammy-winning hit "After the Love is Gone"), is enthusiastic about reuniting with his old band mates. "There's something magic that happens with Schallock and Preston once they're up and running and rehearsed," he says of the Sons' drop-dead rhythm section. "It just feels so comfortable. "For me, the Sons are deeper than Chicago -- more R&B based, more message based." That message didn't always sit well with the powers that be in broadcast radio, a fact that helped to usher in the band's demise. While Chicago has enjoyed colossal commercial success (only the Beach Boys have sold more albums and singles in the United States), the Sons languished over the years, thanks at least in part to the Federal Communication Commission's reaction to once popular Sons hippie anthem "Get High." "A lot of underground FM deejays used that song as their opening number," Champlin acknowledges. "A lot of them would put that song on the turntable and then slip out onto the fire escape and smoke a joint, and the FCC got wind of that and shut it down. It's a fun story, but I don't know if it was true or not. All we knew was that the song got a lot of airplay and then suddenly didn't get any." And then there was the recklessness embodied in their song "Freedom" and reflected in the questionable business decisions the band was making, though no one in the band is voicing any regrets these days. "Unfortunately, the Sons missed the beat on a few good career opportunities," Champlin says. "There were times when we made flat-out mistakes or just didn't recognize opportunity when it got up in front of us. But on this level, where I'm coming from these days, financial success doesn't mean all that much. What means something is, how are you playing now? And I don't think there is one person in this band that has stopped growing musically. So we're not trying to catch up to something we left behind. Rather, we've got all this new musical stuff that we're bringing to the table. "Some people might consider that small potatoes, but it's pretty mighty when you stand up front at the shows and listen to it." The Sons of Champlin perform on Saturday, April 2, at 8 p.m., at the Mystic Theatre, 21 Petaluma Blvd. North, Petaluma. Tickets are $22. |