George Porter on his music, The Meters and upcoming show at Jimmy's

I always tell people who venture down the road of talking music with me that the sounds of The Meters are Holy Grail material in my mind. One of the most influential, yet highly overlooked bands in American music history, The Meters were at the forefront of funkifying all our lives. Whether you can name a tune or not, you’ve been exposed to The Meters' influence in one way or another. Mark my words.

It goes without saying that I was extremely happy to speak with founding member George Porter Jr., who will be playing with his band The Runnin’ Pardners at Jimmy’s Jazz & Blues Club on Saturday, Sept. 17. The following is our conversation.

Seacoastonline: I recently saw you play at the Casino Ballroom here in Hampton, N.H., back in June as part of Trombone Shorty’s Voodoo Threauxdown. Man, I’m not sure the smile ever left your face when you sat down to do a set of Meters tunes with Dumpstafunk. Is it fun revisiting music you created some five decades ago?

Porter Jr.: Those were some good gigs (laughs)! Short and sweet!

Seacoastonline: When you were starting out with The Meters, as a kid for all intents and purposes, did you have any idea of the timeless blueprint you’d be leaving on, not only the music of New Orleans, but of music in general? The Meters are Holy Grail, man.

Porter Jr.: (Laughs.) Oh, man, it’s wonderful to see that our music is still bringing smiles to people’s faces after all these years. It’s a true magical feeling when you’re on the stage and everyone in the room is still singing those songs back to ya, y’know? You’re looking out there, and it’s not just one or two people singing all the lyrics, it’s everybody. That’s really something else, yeah. It’s heavy, man. And it’s not only the songs that were hits, it’s the songs that were buried inside of a record that never really saw the day of light. I have an appreciation for everybody that bought the records and listened to all the music.

Seacoastonline: Can you recount the how and why The Meters formed in the first place? I think I read it was 1965. Can you recount the how and the why? Let’s retrace those roots.

Porter Jr.: The band, you know, Art (Neville) had come off a tour with Aaron with the “Tell It Like It Is” project. I guess he wanted to start his own band. There’s a club that was uptown called the Nightcap, and Art went there one night, and Leo was playing with a band led by a gentleman named Sam Henry, a B3 player. I think Gary Brown was in that band, too. I think Art basically went there and stole Sam Henry’s gig, or at least his band… (Laughs.)

I was playing with a man named Irving Banister at the time, and Art came over to the Sidney one night and saw me playing bass. I had played with Art previously, but I was a guitar player then—a year or so earlier. He thought I was the worst guitar player on the planet (laughs). At the end of the night when he was bringing me home, he even said, “Man, you are the worst guitar player I’ve ever seen.” At that point I thought I’d never see Art Neville again (laughs)…

But, you know, yeah, a year or so later I was playing bass with Irving. He had come over from across the street where he and Fats Domino were singing. In fact, what it was, was Fats used to come over to the Sidney Club and sit in and sing on our gigs with Irving at different times.

On this particular night, Art followed Fats across the street. That’s when he heard me playing bass. At the end of the gig, he came up to me and said, “See, that’s the instrument you ought to be playin’!” “You want a gig?” (laughs). So that’s how I got the gig with Art and Leo Nocentelli. There was a different drummer at the time. I can’t remember his name and it’s a shame I can’t ever remember it. But he had to leave due to a medical problem a short time later and Art got Zigaboo to fill in. The guy’s name was Glenn, but I can’t remember what his last name was.

When Glenn was ready to come back, he came to the club to see us with Zigaboo and he leaned into the doorman and said, “Wow, man, I ain’t never gonna get this gig back.” (Laughs.) I never ever seen him again. That was the last time.

So, we did the Nightcap for maybe a year and a half or so before the club went under. Art called us up and said he had a new gig down in the French Quarter. So that’s where we went. Down to the Ivan Ho and started up the five-piece band. So, we were playing the gig, and were due for an hour-long set. We did that for a year and a half, too. During that time Allen Toussaint came by and listened to us play and invited us down to the studio to audition to record some tracks with Lee Dorsey. We passed. Started recording for Lee Dorsey, and after one of those sessions, Allen’s partner at that time Marshall Sehorn, came out and said, “Why don’t y’all record something? Make up something.” So, we did. We recorded four tracks. “Sissy Strut,” “Sophisticated Sissy,” “Here Comes the Meter Man,” and “Sehorn’s Farm.” Those were all originally titled “Band 1,” Band 2,” “Band 3,” and “Band 4” … (laughs).

Seacoastonline: Further looking at your lineage, what led you to the bass? You had me in stitches there for a minute when you mentioned that Art proclaimed you were the worst guitar player in the world. Was that the impetus to get into the bass? What was your first interaction with it, and further, was there a moment or experience that led you to chase the four-string as your life’s work?

Porter Jr.: Well, see, at 8 years old until about age 10, I was playing classical guitar. So, in turn, I was naturally playing bass the whole time. So, I just kinda always said I knew how to play bass because of that. I started playing bass, yeah, because Art told me I was a terrible guitar player. I wasn’t a lead guitar player; I was a rhythm. Lead was more necessary at that time. I didn’t play no solos. The solos I try to play on the guitar are horrifying (laughs). So, you know, it was a natural thing. Vietnam had started taking off and a lot of guys were being drafted and there weren’t a lot of electric bass players in town. So, this guy Herbie (Wink?) and Benjamin Francis—I attribute a lot of my bass playing to Benjamin Frank. He and his grandfather used to just sit on the steps and play. After his grandfather passed away, I kinda started playing with Ben. His nickname was Papi. With Papi, he was a bass in Herbie (Wink’s?) band, and also knew how to play guitar. He knew his way around. He liked to swap between guitar and bass, which is exactly the same thing that was going on with me. So, we swapped around, and had a blast. He taught me so much.

Seacoastonline: In general, why music? Why do you seek it? Why do you create it?

Porter Jr.: The young players that I guess were influenced by The Meters, they keep me going. Around 1980, after the band had broken up, I had kinda gone off the deep end for a bit. Got heavily into alcohol and cocaine. There was a guy by the name of Bruce MacDonald that came to me and suggested that I keep playing music and so we wrote some songs and I kinda got back into it with a band called Joyride. And I’m glad he came to me, ‘cause I was kinda turned off from it all. I would play some gigs from time to time, but it was more jazz music in the French Quarter—a taste of New Orleans for two or three years. More traditional stuff.

The World’s Fair started, and I was working there thanks to Steve Harrington who was a stage manager for the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. He thought I’d make a good stage manager too, so he got me a gig being a stage manager at The World’s Fair, which happened seven days a week and was split between two teams, a red team, and a blue team. I was on the red team. I worked four days a week, and then had four days off. Steve went to Europe with Steps Ahead and I was asked if I could handle it all seven days of the week. I said, “Oh, hell yeah, man, there’s enough cocaine on the planet that I can snort every day, seven days in a row, to keep this thing going.” And that’s what I did (laughs)! I wound up lasting six months, I guess. I was in charge of the jazz and gospel tent.

Music has been a part of me since I was 8 years old. Today I’m still trying to be a good songwriter. I think this most recent record I have out now shows some of my better writing to date. I’m very, very pleased with this particular project, “Crying for Hope.” This particular group of musicians I’m playing with also make me very happy. They’re strong musicians on their own and enjoy playing with me and the like the music I’m writing. That inspires me.

Seacoastonline: If you hadn’t built a life around music, what do you think you would have gotten up to?

Porter Jr.: No. Nothing. I did a small run at being a criminal and that didn’t work. I went to jail and realized that was something I never ever wanted to do again, so that criminal stuff went out the back door. I never ever looked back at being that guy.

I’m having fun being the boss of a band and playing as much as I did 60 years ago … I’ll stick with that! (Laughs.)

Seacoastonline: You started the Runnin’ Pardners back in 1990, and still record and tour with the band today. Your latest record, “Crying for Hope” came out about a year into the pandemic while we were all pretty much in a state of lockdown. I, for one, was super excited to get my mitts on it and frequently tuned in to your livestream sessions. Can you speak about the experience of putting this record together? Obviously, it was a different arrangement given the fact that much of it came together remotely. Yeah, so sound off on that and give us some insight into what your goals were for the album.

Porter Jr.: When the pandemic came down, we were all sitting around trying to figure out what to do. So, naturally, I just went upstairs to the third floor of the house where I have a studio. I just started listening to a folder full of tunes I had found from the early 2000s. I started going through it and was like, oh, man, this is good. I knew we needed to revisit it. So, we did. We started using this cloud thing we had been hearing all about (laughs). So, Michael and I updated our software on our computers and Pro Tools, and we were able to upload stuff to the cloud and collaborate real time on a session. We’d Facetime or text and were genuinely excited about mapping things out and making some music happen. I was a little worried about how it would sound, but I’m very pleased with it! To me, I think it’s the best record I’ve recorded.

Seacoastonline: You guys are heading to Portsmouth for a gig at Jimmy’s Jazz & Blues Club on Sept. 17. What excites you about the show? What can folks expect?

Porter Jr.: I’m still enjoying getting in the van. I just bought brand new tires for my Ford (laughs). I’m happy to be able to travel around with these guys I’m playing with. They keep it fun for me. It’s not grueling as being on the road is if you’re out there on your own. I mean, I can still find days when we’re all pretty beat up, but when we go on stage, we play like we didn’t know we’re beat up (laughs). The music for me is what it’s all about. It heals us.

We don’t play the same stuff every night. It’s a different set every night. We’ll do a handful from the new record, but we jump around real good. I’m hoping I can figure out how to play all these new songs though, man. It’s funny, I don’t play bass and sing at the same time when I record, so when it comes to taking it to the stage, it’s hard! (Laughs.) I gotta figure out what the heck I was doing and try to combine both elements. That part is fun, but also challenging.

Seacoastonline: What do you appreciate about being back on the road after a forced hiatus for a solid year and change?

Porter Jr.: I actually enjoyed two years sitting around at home and working in the studio. I kind of found some real joy in that. I had fun doing the livestream shows. That was a good time. But when it was time to get back in the van and get live feedback from people, from warm bodies, that made a lot of sense to me, and I continue to look forward to bringing these new songs to folks. I’m still very careful out there, though. I take the COVID stuff very seriously and play it safe. But, yeah, man, it’s very comfortable traveling in the van. It’s safe. And I enjoy putting a couple miles on it (laughs).

Seacoastonline: Last question. How on earth are The Meters not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? I’m sure you’re not in it for awards, but, come on, man, you guys have added so much to the collective musical cannon and have influenced so many countless musicians along the way. The time is long overdue.

Porter Jr.: (Laughs!) I don’t know. Somebody must have ticked off somebody somewhere. I have no clue. I have a theory. We never had a record label and/or management that was 100% behind us. I think the people that make it into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame have that. I mean, they got that vote that everyday people can put in their paper for. But that only accounts for 1% of the total vote to get in. So, no matter how many people vote from outside the industry—I’ve heard we’ve gotten good numbers from that vote—when it comes down to the final two cuts of that thing, the academy people do their thing; I don’t think The Meters have no friends in those places. So, here we are. That’s my theory, but I really have no clue how that all works.

Check out georgeporterjr.com and jimmysoncongress.com for more information.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: George Porter Jr. on The Meters, show with Runnin' Pardners at Jimmy's