When The Commodores take the Coca-Cola Stage at 9:30 tonight at Riverbend band member William King won’t be surprised to see several generations of fans in the audience.
The band’s old-school R&B and funk sounds transcend ages, he said. We talked to King earlier this month.
Q How has your audience changed?
A We have a lot of generations now as opposed to just one. Sometime in the ’60s, music became more melodic, you know, Carole King, The Temptations. As generations went on, we sang those songs to our children. And now, young people are recording and copying it. Like “Brick House,” rappers are doing their own versions of it. We even had a request from a band to do a religious version of it. Haven’t heard it yet, but we asked them to send a copy when they get it ready.
Q Where did The Commodores’ name come from?
A We were actually two bands, all from Tuskegee Institute. Lionel Richie, me and a couple others were The Mystics. And there was another group call The Jays. The two groups married, and we wanted to have a new name. Something kind of crazy like Three Dog Night or something. So they blindfolded me, opened the dictionary and told me to point to a word. I pointed to “commodore.”
Q What was it like, playing with Lionel Richie?
A In the beginning, Richie didn’t sing at all, just played sax. We made him sing. We haven’t played with him since he left in 1982 to go solo. But we had fun back then — six great guys playing music and meeting girls. That’s what we enjoyed.
Q Did you ever think about going solo?
A I never thought about it. I loved the camaraderie of the group and having fun on the road, sharing responsibilities. Even now, we have the best time, even though we’re down to just two original members, Walter Orange and myself. J.D. Nicholas has been with us for the past 24 years. I sing background. They sing co-lead. Then we have five band members. We call them the Mean Machine.
Q What are you working on now?
A We’re in the process of writing songs for a new album. Commodore Records will do the album on a major label because we don’t want to promote it, just make it. It will be a mix of contemporary songs and the ballads we’re known for. And it should be out by the end of the year.
Q How is the songwriting going?
A It’s been fun. When you get the energy up and the juices start to flow, it’s incredible, including the arguing about lyrics and doing them again and again until you get them right. It’s sheer creative joy.
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