Latest Meters reunion to roll on at least through Voodoo Fest
Published: Wednesday, August 17, 2011, 4:28 PM Updated: Wednesday, August 17, 2011, 5:22 PM
By Keith Spera, The Times-Picayune
When it comes to the original Meters, never say never.
Matt Rose / Times-Picayune Archive
The four original members of seminal New Orleans funk band the Meters -- from left, Art Neville, Zigaboo Modeliste, George Porter Jr. and Leo Nocentelli -- are bound for the 2011 Voodoo Fest in City Park.
Over the past dozen years, the seminal New Orleans funk quartet – keyboardist Art Neville, guitarist Leo Nocentelli, bassist George Porter Jr. and drummer Zigaboo Modeliste – has reunited more than once. Inevitably, each reunion ended with at least one member swearing the Meters would “never” share a stage again.
“Never,” however, isn’t as distant as you might think.
Four years after their previous reunion flamed out, the Meters are back in action. The 2011 revival commenced in earnest at the Bonnaroo Music Festival in Tennessee in June. Neville et al backed Dr. John on a performance of his 1974 album “Desitively Bonnaroo”; they served as the studio band on the original, Allen Toussaint-produced recording, from which the festival took its name.
On Aug. 12, the original Meters shared a bill with Phish, the Shins, MGMT and Erykah Badu on the opening day of the Outside Lands festival in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. Outside Lands, like Bonnaroo, is co-produced by Superfly Presents, a partnership of four young promoters who joined forces in New Orleans to promote concerts during Mardi Gras and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. The Superfly principals apparently possess the diplomatic skills necessary to align the four distinct personalities, mindsets and agendas that make up the Meters.
On Tuesday came word that the original Meters had joined the lineup of the Voodoo Experience in City Park, Oct. 28-30. Voodoo producer Stephen Rehage is also well versed in Meters-speak: The quartet performed at the ’06 Voodoo, a performance that made clear that particular reunion likely would not last. It didn’t.
The Meters first joined forces under Neville’s auspices in the mid-1960s. Toussaint recruited them to serve as the house band at his SeaSaint studio. Even as they backed scores of other artists, the quartet laid down dozens of slinky, super-funky singles of its own, including “Cissy Strut,” “Sophisticated Cissy,” “Look-ka Py Py” and “Pungee.” In the ‘70s, Art’s younger brother Cyril joined the band in advance of a tour with the Rolling Stones.
They disbanded in 1979 amid business and personal turmoil, even as alternate lineups continued to perform sporadically. In 1989, Neville, Nocentelli and Porter installed Russell Batiste on drums and resurrected the Meters name. After Nocentelli’s departure in 1994, they continued as the Funky Meters with former Neville Brothers guitarist Brian Stoltz.
The original Meters set aside their differences for a single show in San Francisco in 2000. In 2005, they came together again to perform at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival presented by Shell, which led to additional concerts. Young fans knew the decades-old riffs and rhythms via jam band tributes and scores of Meters samples on rap records.
By early 2007, the reunion had run out of steam; among other issues was a disagreement about whether to accept an offer to play at that year’s Bonnaroo. Neville and Nocentelli, at least, figured the Meters were finished.
But attitudes softened and, by early this year, they were ready to give it another try. “Something that’s worthwhile, we should be able to not throw it aside,” Nocentelli said in February. “If it’s still alive and you still feel it, learn from what you did.”
Neville was also eager to bury the hatchet: “It’s time everybody go to talkin’ again, before we go to dyin’. I don’t want to die with nothing on my conscience.”
And so, come October, the Meters will have an opportunity to atone for their less-than-stellar set at the 2006 Voodoo. Inviting the Meters back to Voodoo is in keeping with the festival’s philosophy.
Starting with the inaugural event in 1999, Voodoo has aimed to be two festivals in one: A New Orleans music festival and a “mainstream” festival of major rock, rap and, more recently, electronic music acts. The 2011 roster, which the Rehage team has unveiled, piecemeal, over several weeks, sticks to that formula.
Headliners Soundgarden and Blink-182, like numerous Voodoo headliners of old, are modern rock heavyweights reunited after a lengthy layoff.
They’re joined by the Raconteurs, one of contemporary guitar hero Jack White’s various projects; rapper Snoop Dogg, another Voodoo veteran; rave fave Fatboy Slim, dance party deejay Girl Talk, and mix-master Z-Trip; Cheap Trick, X and Social Distortion, all of whose histories reach back at least 30 years; TV on the Radio, My Chemical Romance and Ozomatli, rockers of more recent vintage; the Sheepdogs, the hairy Canadian blues ‘n’ boogie quartet that won a contest to appear on the current cover of Rolling Stone; and Kinks frontman Ray Davies, who frequently haunted the French Quarter until taking a bullet in the leg during an armed robbery. More names will likely be forthcoming.
Representing the local contingent are adopted New Orleanian Ani DiFranco, paired with keyboardist Ivan Neville and local drum master Herlin Riley; Bonerama, augmented by former Radiators guitarist Dave Malone; Dr. John & the Lower 911; the Soul Rebels Brass Band; former New Orleans street singer Jeremy Lyons, paired with former members of Morphine; and Morning 40 Federation, the boozy, garage rock-and-saxophone ensemble that seems to reunite for Voodoo every year.
And, of course, the ever-so-funky Meters. Reunited, once again.
Keith Spera can be reached at
[email protected] or 504.826.3470. Read him online at nola.com/music
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