Funkscribe & Starrchild
"Funkscribe & Starrchild" features the last recordings of the late Garry "Starrchild" Shider- lead vocalist and vocal architect of Parliament-Funkadelic. Recorded months before his untimely death, Starrchild got one last amazing chance to shine in the studio on NEW and original music. He joined seamlessly with Pfunk veterans Bernie Worrell & Michael "Kidd Funkadelic" Hampton, and a mob of next generation funkateers on Funkscribe's original songs. Starrchild & Funkscribe had met playing w/ George Clinton and the 420 Funk Mob and deemed it necessary that they collaborate and KEEP THE FUNK ALIVE. They partnered and collaborated to create an entire album of boombastic, deep funk, designed to expand minds and blow out speakers.
Garry Shider was a Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame member, Grammy award winner, and composer of dozens of hit songs (Including Atomic Dog, One Nation Under A Groove, and Cosmic Slop ). He was THE vocal coordinator of the PFunk empire that has held strong for over 40 years. Bernie Worrell constructed the gothic-acid-classical keyboard sound of the entire P-Funk empire. He wrote, co-wrote and arranged over 100 different Parliament, Funkadelic, and Bootsy Collins songs (w/ Starrchild too!). He even wrote the million selling bombastic dance floor smash Flashlight. Bernie is also known for his legendary work with Talking Heads- playing his trademark synths on the top ten hit, "Burning Down the House". He has also recorded and toured with Bill Laswell, Les Claypool, Prince Paul, and Buckethead. Michael "Kidd Funkadelic" Hampton also lends his metal-delic guitar solos to the madness. For over 30 years, KIdd Funkadelic has been the master of Parliament Funkadelic's guitar army. His "Maggot Brain" solos are legendary and he stands as one of the most gifted guitarists ever.
Joining these legends is a whole crew of righteously funky and soulful musicians based out of the Pacific NW. This all star crew gathered the baddest of the bad all stars to board the mothership with Garry. Funkscribe plays an arsenal of analog synthesizers, talkbox, vocoder, piano, guitar, and a many other vintage keyboards. The awesome background vocals of Funklove, Wuddha, & Fysah Thomas were directed by Starrchild himself. The mighty electric basses of Lawrence Hightower & Mark Mattrey augment the deep Moog bass of Funkscribe. The down and dirty Stingshark is featured on chicken scratch guitar on half the songs. Saxophone master Mike Theiss arranges and performs the horns on most of the songs. The legendary Marmalade Horns (CD Littlefield & Jon Ryser) lay their magic on two cuts, along with percussionist Ivan Galvez. The West Coast's tightest drummers round out this mob- Davee C, Greg Fields, and David Campbell. This album is truly a family affair.
Funkscribe also has one other independently released album- Synthesized Soul. Garry Shider, Michael "Kidd Funkadelic" Hampton, and P-Funk bassist Lige Cirry all lended a hand in delivering the resurrection of the G-Funk. Featuring classic cuts such as "Iceberg Slim" and "Metro Bus" (w/ a music video)- this album features boombastic hiphop production mixed with the dirtiest of dirty new funk. Cop it here:
