CHICAGO MEMBER
BILL CHAMPLIN STILL FINDS TIME FOR HIS OLD GROUP, THE SONS Posted on Tue, Jan. 13, 2004 A man for
two bands:
But he still has a soft spot in his heart for his old Marin County band, the Sons of Champlin, which never had a hit record and couldn't pay the rent. "It's a weird little spot,'' says Champlin, 56. "It's hard to have a band that good -- and people have never heard of it. The band has the goods. It's just a matter of finding the time. "Something about the band has kept it alive. Musically, it's always been there.'' The Sons -- a mainstay of the Bay Area scene in the '60s and '70s -- rise again today with the release of "Secret,'' a DVD and CD recorded during a concert last year at Emeryville's Ex'pression Center for New Media. Such band mainstays as "Hold On,'' "Rooftop'' and "Get High'' will warm the hearts of longtime fans and leave newcomers wondering, "How come I've never heard of these guys?'' The DVD extras include interviews with band members reminiscing about the band's history. Fans will have to wait a little longer to hear the Sons' first new studio album in 25 years. That album, recorded over the past 2 1/2 years and mixed by Champlin when he's not busy with Chicago, sounds great. Champlin has just begun looking for a distributor. "The music speaks for itself,'' he says. "It's still just as good as it was.'' Anyone who heard the band knows how good that was -- Champlin's soulful voice mixed with funky horns, deep grooves, incendiary solos and great ensemble playing. But it never quite worked out. The Sons were the horn band at the center of psychedelia. Champlin was a white guy who sounded black. They smoked too much dope. They ran into bad luck and made bad decisions. "We made more bad career moves than Suzanne Somers,'' says Champlin, who's now sober, and philosophical about the good old days. "We were probably quite stupid in a lot of ways. Every time opportunity knocked, we answered the phone.'' How bad did it get? At one point, the band jammed under the name Yogi Phlegm. It was too expensive to take a horn band on the road, so the band was playing the same West Coast clubs over and over. In order to get hired back, they had to get the crowd to dance and drink. "We were playing more Commodores songs than Sons songs,'' Champlin recalls. After a 12-year run, the Sons disbanded in 1977, and Champlin moved -- shudder -- to Los Angeles. "I just couldn't raise my kids,'' he says. "Marin County rents had gone through the roofs.'' Champlin fit right into the thriving L.A. scene. He can play keyboards, guitar, sax, even drums. And he could always sing. He found he had talent as a vocal arranger. Those skills landed him in the studio with everyone -- Al Jarreau, Tom Scott, Herbie Hancock, Bette Midler, Barry Manilow, Elton John, Eric Clapton. He also made solo albums, including "Runaway'' with its hits "Sara'' and "Tonight Tonight.'' And he co-wrote those Grammy winners -- "Turn Your Love Around'' for Benson and "After the Love Has Gone'' for Earth, Wind & Fire. In 1981, he got the call asking him to join rock's best-known horn band, Chicago. For some Bay Area fans, it was as if Willie Mays had joined the Dodgers. Champlin shrugs it off. "Anybody who's raising kids knows exactly why I did what I did.'' After 22 years, Chicago still pays the bills. Champlin has been with the band since "Chicago 16'' (it's currently at "Chicago XXVI''). The band tours constantly. Next week, it's Las Vegas; after that, New Zealand and Australia. During a break, Champlin is home in L.A., trying to figure out how to hook up an Xbox for his grandson. But he takes an hour or so to chat on the phone. On Chicago: "For guys like us, the Doobies, Hall and Oates, we just keep working steady. You hit the stage with nothing but hits. Audiences go there to remember songs. "It's a wine-and-cheese crowd. I have no problem with that. But it doesn't feel like the Fillmore in 1968.'' On success: "The industry is all about tattoos and body piercings right now. It's not youth. It's about `edgy.' Edgy is not a human adjective; it's a marketing term. If you look at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, they are giving people prizes for great marketing performances now.'' On the music industry: "When you really get down to it, we're in the same business as Pia Zadora.'' On L.A.: "Musicians are still second-class citizens of the entertainment world. `He may be rich, but he's still a musician. He's not in movies.' Music is sort of used as a stepping stone to the big time, which is movies. If you want fame, there's nothing like being 50 feet tall in front of a room full of people.'' On switching careers: "I've got a great face for radio. It's never been my desire to do anything other than music.'' On videos: "Video has made it real hard for real music to get heard.'' On being big in Japan: "I look at Japan as an American patron of the arts.'' On his influences: "Lou Rawls, first. Donny Hathaway. Stevie Wonder. "I listen to Ella Fitzgerald, but I listen to the Beatles, too. I listen to James Brown and Duke Ellington.'' On younger musicians he likes: "D'Angelo -- watch out for that guy; he knows his way around a studio. Brian McKnight -- really an educated musician. Norah Jones. The Dave Matthews Band, the new generation's Grateful Dead. . . . When Take 6 came out, it really changed my life. . . . Look at John Mayer; he's a great musician.'' On old bands who can still play: "Toto -- it's just awesome what they are doing now. Earth, Wind & Fire -- still better than anything else that's going on tonight. Steely Dan back on the road is a great thing.'' On the new studio album: "It's going to tear people's heads off, if they hear it.'' |