Chip Py - DC Go-Go: Ten Years Backstage

FOREWORD

I grew up just a little ways down the road from DC in Bryans Road, Maryland. I took to music at an early age. In junior high, I became a classically trained tuba player and could play just about any instrument by the time I was in high school. While in high school, I set out playing gigs in the local DC music scene. By that time, I had settled on the trombone for my axe.

In 1978, when I was nineteen years, old I joined George Clintons Parliament Funkadelic and became a full-time funk musician, joining section mates Bennie Cowan and Greg Thomas. I toured the entire world with Parliament Funkadelic for eighteen years. I have spent eight years as a member of Princes NPG band and am a member of Maceo Parkers band.

The first go-go band I heard live was Trouble Funk. It was just called Trouble back in those days. I might have already been a part of Parliament Funkadelic by then, so I could easily have been considered a funk snob. I wasnt a huge fan, but that didnt stop me from dancing to the pounding pulse that was their thing. Not long after, I gained respect for that brand of funk and quickly aimed to grasp the nuances.

I moved back to DC from Los Angeles in 1988, partly due to the urging of my P-Funk horns section mates Bennie and Greg, who also live in the DMV (District, Maryland and Virginia, for those who dont know). I started out with the go-go band Slug-Go and then moved on to Little Benny & the Masters. Chuck heard us P-Funk horns with Lil Benny and said how much he liked the horns. Then he said, I want yall to play with my band, and Im the only one in town qualified to pay you. We took him up on his offer in 1989, while simultaneously touring with the aforementioned funk bands. Im in Chucks band to this day.

Ive played for numerous crowds damn near everywhere you can imagine. They dance, sweat, sing along and all the things that make a live audience great. But theres something in the way that a DMV audience throws right back at you what you throw on them. Its always the feeling that not all of the band members are on the stage with you; they are also in front of you. Theyre participants of the music being played, not just listeners.

And go-go does not go unnoticed. From George Clinton to Prince to Maceo Parker, they know the unstoppable pulse when they hear it.