| The Meters | |
|---|---|
Art Neville & George Porter, Jr. of the Funky Meters, 2004 |
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| Background information | |
| Also known as | The Original Meters |
| Origin | New Orleans, Louisiana |
| Genres | New Orleans R&B, funk |
| Years active | 1965–1977, 1989- |
| Labels | Josie, Reprise, Mardi Gras, Virgo, Warner Bros., Rounder, Charly, Rhino, Lakeside, Sundazed, Too Funky |
| Associated acts | The Funky Meters, Porter Batiste Stoltz |
| Members | |
| Art Neville George Porter, Jr. Zigaboo Modeliste Leo Nocentelli Cyril Neville |
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The Meters are an American funk band based in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Meters performed and recorded their own music from the late 1960s until 1977. The band played an influential role as backing musicians for other artists, including Lee Dorsey, Robert Palmer, and Dr John.
While The Meters rarely enjoyed significant mainstream success, they are considered, along with artists like James Brown, one of the progenitors of funk music and their work is highly influential on many other bands, both their contemporaries and modern musicians working in the funk idiom.
The Meters' sound is defined by an earthy combination of tight melodic grooves and highly syncopated New Orleans "second-line" rhythms under highly charged guitar and keyboard riffing. Their songs "Cissy Strut" and "Look-Ka Py Py" are considered funk classics.[1]
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Art Neville, the group's frontman, launched a solo career around the New Orleans area in the mid-1950s while still in high school. The Meters formed in 1965 with a line-up of keyboardist and vocalist Art Neville, guitarist Leo Nocentelli, bassist George Porter Jr. and drummer Joseph "Zigaboo" Modeliste. They were later joined by percussionist/vocalist Cyril Neville. The Meters became the house band for Allen Toussaint and his record label, Sansu Enterprises.
In 1969 the Meters released "Sophisticated Cissy" and "Cissy Strut", both major R&B chart hits. "Look-Ka Py Py" and "Chicken Strut" were their hits the following year. After a label shift in 1972, the Meters had difficulty returning to the charts, but they worked with Dr. John, Paul McCartney, King Biscuit Boy, Labelle, Robert Palmer and others.[2]
In 1974 Paul McCartney invited the Meters to play at the release party for his Venus and Mars album aboard the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California; Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones was in attendance at the event and was greatly taken with the Meters and their sound. The Rolling Stones invited the band to open for them on their Tour of the Americas '75 and Tour of Europe '76.[2] That same year, the Meters recorded one of their most successful albums, Fire On The Bayou. From 1976 to '77 they played in The Wild Tchoupitoulas with George & Amos Landry and the Neville Brothers.
They appeared on Saturday Night Live on March 19, 1977, during the show's second season. The band broke up later that year.
| “ | When I found out how we was pillaged, how we was misused and abused, I couldn't get over it. I just completely put the drums in the closet. | ” |
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—Zigaboo Modeliste, in a 2005 interview, referring to The Meters original contract.[3] |
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After the break-up, Neville gained fame as part of The Neville Brothers, Modeliste toured with Keith Richards and Ron Wood, while Nocentelli and Porter "became in-demand session players and formed new bands."[3] After touring with Richards and Wood, Modeliste gave up playing drums for several years, disgusted (in retrospect) with the terms of the contract the Meters had signed with producers Toussaint and Marshall Sehorn.[3]
In 1984, Modeliste convinced his fellow bandmates to join him in a lawsuit against Toussaint and Sehorn; by 1989, all but Modeliste had settled out of court "winning back some of their publishing rights and masters, and received a small cash amount."[3] Modeliste didn't settle, and as of March 2010, his lawsuit continues (though a 1996 sale by Sehorn meant the defendant became Bug Music).[4]
Around the time that the suit was partially settled, Porter created the Funky Meters with drummer Russell Batiste and guitarist Brian Stoltz "to play and update the band's music"; they were joined by Neville and Nocentelli for some dates, though not by Modeliste.[3]
In 2000, a "big offer" enticed all four original Meters to reunite for a one-night stand at the Warfield in San Francisco; by this time Modeliste wanted to make the reunion a permanent one, but the other members and their management teams objected.[3] It wasn't until Quint Davis, producer and director of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, got them to "put aside their differences and hammer out the details" and headline the Festival in 2005. Modeliste prepared for a return to New Orleans, buying property there in June so he could be closer to the rest of the group; about two months later, Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, the band members dispersed, and no permanent reunion was achieved.
The original Meters continue to perform at various one-off concerts[5] such as the 2011 Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival in San Francisco, California.[6]
After Neville's return to the Neville Brothers, Porter and the other Funky Meters members formed Porter Batiste Stoltz.[7]
In 2010 and 2011 Modeliste visited Europe to play at Scandinavian Festivals, and other special concerts with European bands such as The COALMINERS, who specialise in New Orleans influenced music.
In June 2011 The Original Meters along with Allan Touissant and Dr. John played the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee. The six men performed Dr. John's album "Desitively Bonnaroo".