{"id":6016,"date":"2012-04-23T11:03:26","date_gmt":"2012-04-23T18:03:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/?p=6016"},"modified":"2022-06-28T19:30:58","modified_gmt":"2022-06-29T02:30:58","slug":"confunkshun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/2012\/04\/23\/confunkshun\/","title":{"rendered":"ConFunkShun Records First Record in Over 25 Years"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>An Interview with Michael Cooper of ConFunkShun<\/h2>\n<p><strong>by Casey Pukl<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>With some interviews, it&#8217;s just appropriate to start off with a little mood music; this is one of those interviews. Please enjoy a little slice of the funkiest slow jam in the universe, &#8220;Love&#8217;s Train&#8221; by ConFunkShun, and enjoy my chat with Michael Cooper about the group&#8217;s first record in over 25 years, why he says they&#8217;ll never stop recording, and how young audiences are keeping the group alive!<\/p>\n<p><center><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Uf86HkUZoyU\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\"><\/iframe><\/center><em><strong>CP:<\/strong> I know you guys have a new record coming out, \u201cSound of Grown Men\u201d! Tell me all about it!<!--more--><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>MC:<\/strong> Yeah, we keep moving back the release date because we\u2019re having such a great time recording it and getting it ready (laughs)!<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>CP:<\/strong> (Laughs) I guess that\u2019s a good problem to have! Where are you guys at with it at this point?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>MC:<\/strong> Yeah, we\u2019re still recording. Our engineer got a little ill on us there for a bit, and then I got a cold which kept me from singing, so we\u2019re just now getting back in the studio as of last week. I\u2019d say we\u2019re about 90% done with the album. I was hoping to actually announce everything at Anthology as far as the release date, having some samples, stuff like that. We\u2019re slowly trying to just get the most impact out of releasing this record.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>CP:<\/strong> Tell me a little bit about the record. This is the first one in quite some time, no?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>MC:<\/strong> Yeah, I mean, it\u2019s been 25 plus years since ConFunkShun did anything, and closer to really 30 years since the Polygram days. Our last record with Polygram was in 1985, so yeah, we\u2019re looking at 27 years since we\u2019ve done anything new.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>CP:<\/strong> What was it like getting back into the studio this time?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>MC:<\/strong> The studio is totally different to start off because now there are just so many new electronics involved. You\u2019ve got the whole ProTools, Logic, and midi scene right now, so we really decided to mix some of the old school with the new school. Some things are being done over the internet, we\u2019ve done some vocals over the internet, but for the most part we\u2019re all coming together at a place called Soundfarm Studios in Northern California. We\u2019re recording some of the live stuff there where we\u2019re setting up the live drums, live bass, and all that. Then we\u2019re doing some of the new school stuff where people are sending us tracks over the internet and we\u2019re sending then back to do overdubs and stuff. It\u2019s a mixture of the two recording techniques, which we\u2019re very excited about!<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Then of course, the mixing is also now done all via the internet. That\u2019s really different now as well. It\u2019s exciting! You can literally send an entire file over to a mixer, and in three or four days, he can send you back a mix to approve, and you can quickly send your changes back. It has been very exciting. Not everybody has to be in one city anymore to make this album. This album has been recorded all over the country. Different people have studios in their homes!<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>CP:<\/strong> Sure, it\u2019s a totally different world now! It\u2019s also kind of funny though that recording live to tape is making a little bit of a come back now.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>MC:<\/strong> Yeah, and our idea for doing this album is very simple. We can make it, we\u2019re alive, we\u2019re well, and that\u2019s a blessing to be reaching our ages and still having our voices, and still being sought after by people. If you\u2019ve got the ability, the creative mind, the juices are flowing, and we\u2019re just able to do something new. A lot of people know our hits from the past, \u201cLove\u2019s Train\u201d, \u201cShake and Dance\u201d, all that stuff from the past. But that\u2019s all why we\u2019re giving you a phone call today. We\u2019re not giving you a phone call because of anything new. Leave that to the younger guys to do the new stuff and get out there. Like Simon Cowell said with Susan Boyle, if you\u2019re able to record, go record! There\u2019s always someone out there that wants to buy it. That\u2019s what we\u2019re doing! We\u2019re having fun.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>I\u2019ve already got plans for a \u201cBest of Michael Cooper\u201d, \u201cBest of ConFunkShun\u201d, \u201cHave a ConFunkShun Christmas\u201d is coming in 2013. We\u2019ll actually go into the studio and record that this Christmas. And then the next new ConFunkShun album is already in the works for January or February of 2014.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>CP:<\/strong> Holy cow! You really don\u2019t plan on slowing down AT ALL in the next 2 years!<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>MC:<\/strong> Nope. I\u2019m way out ahead of myself (laughs)! But I\u2019ll never stop recording. As soon as we\u2019re done with this one, we\u2019ll just keep right on recording with the Christmas album, and then in 2013, we\u2019ll be in the studio working on the record for 2014. We\u2019ll never stop recording.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-6022 alignright\" style=\"border-image: initial; margin-top: 1px; margin-bottom: 1px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; border-width: 2px; border-color: black; border-style: solid;\" title=\"CFSNEWPIC-1\" src=\"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/CFSNEWPIC-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"464\" height=\"293\" srcset=\"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/CFSNEWPIC-1.png 663w, https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/CFSNEWPIC-1-300x189.png 300w, https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/CFSNEWPIC-1-285x180.png 285w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 464px) 100vw, 464px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>CP:<\/strong> I am SO excited about all of this. I cannot wait for this ConFunkShun Christmas album already! Get funky for Christmas!<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>MC:<\/strong> Oh yeah! We\u2019re going to have a great Christmas album. We\u2019ve already got two songs done, and we\u2019re going to get a couple of original things done that we wrote ourselves. But we\u2019ll also be doing standards and our take on them. Imagine \u201cFun Fun Fun\u201d and \u201cShake and Dance With Me\u201d and all these ConFunkShun hits; we\u2019re going to borrow from those, and I\u2019m basically going to change the lyrics to Christmas stuff!<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>CP:<\/strong> So excited right now (laughs)!<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>MC:<\/strong> (Laughs) It\u2019s going to be great! I can\u2019t wait to hear it. I\u2019m just so excited about it. I can\u2019t wait to hear a Christmas \u201cShake and Dance With Me\u201d (laughs)!<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>CP:<\/strong> (Laughs) You can\u2019t wait to hear it? Are you serious? I can\u2019t wait to hear it! Best Christmas ever!<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>MC:<\/strong> (Laughs) Oh yeah. It\u2019ll be good!<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>CP:<\/strong> Over the years, I feel like your audience has gotten a lot younger. Would you agree?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>MC:<\/strong> Yeah! Yeah! They are! I mean really, it\u2019s kind of scary (laughs). The radio stations have pretty much put our music out there and still put it out there! My grandson is 18 years old, and he\u2019s a connoisseur of the 70\u2019s and 80\u2019s music; he just loves it! He listens on his iPod, and his phone is just full of old school music. He loves that sound of Philadelphia, and that Chicago sound. He\u2019s just now getting into Motown, and he tells me it\u2019s all he listens to! He loves that stuff!<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>CP:<\/strong> I thought I was one of the only ones, but it turns out there are tons of other young people with good taste (laughs). I mean, the Dazz Band crowd in December was shockingly young!<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>MC:<\/strong> Yeah, it\u2019s pretty amazing! But now my job is to go to the gym as much as possible\u00a0 and just keep myself healthy. We\u2019re all just trying to stay healthy and head off any of the illnesses that plague our age group at this time. We\u2019re going to prolong it as long as we can, count our blessings, get down on our knees, and just be thankful.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Just like any other group, we\u2019ve had our ups and downs and bridges to cross, but we keep on going.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Special thanks to Michael for his time! Be sure to come on out at catch one of the funkiest shows around this Friday night!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/open.spotify.com\/artist\/1xTpObHa0EmXGkAkdNFyOJ\" target=\"new\" rel=\"noopener\">ConFunkShun on Spotify<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"font-style: italic;\"><em>WHAT: <\/em><em><strong>Confunkshun<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\">WHEN: <\/span><em><strong>Friday, April 27, 7:30 &amp; 9:30pm<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\">TICKETS: $16-$38 <\/span><em><a title=\"Buy Tickets\" href=\"http:\/\/artists.anthologysd.com\/funk\/confunkshun-april-27-2012\/\">Buy Tickets<\/a><\/em><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\">MORE INFO: <\/span><em><a title=\"Artist Profile\" href=\"http:\/\/artists.anthologysd.com\/funk\/confunkshun-april-27-2012\/\">Artist Profile<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An Interview with Michael Cooper of ConFunkShun by Casey Pukl With some interviews, it&#8217;s just appropriate to start off with a little mood music; this is one of those interviews. Please enjoy a little slice of the funkiest slow jam in the universe, &#8220;Love&#8217;s Train&#8221; by ConFunkShun, and enjoy my chat with Michael Cooper about [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1442],"tags":[11512],"class_list":["post-6016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-artists","tag-artist-interviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6016"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6016\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32916,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6016\/revisions\/32916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}