Bayou Beats: BADD BOYS

WACHA GONNA DO WHEN THEY FUNK WITH YOU? LOCAL MUSIC LEGEND, DOUG DUFFEY, TEAMS UP WITH ADAM RYLAND, DAN SUMNER AND BEN FORD TO RELEASE THEIR BAND’S NEWEST ALBUM, FUNKIFY YA-SELF

ARTICLE BY VANELIS RIVERA AND PHOTOS BY ANDREW BAILEY

“WE WERE WAITING FOR HIM for-ever,” says local music legend Doug Duffey. With a gritty voice and prolonged soulful syllables, Duffey narrates glimpses of his way-back-then experience with the unprecedented music collective Parliament-Funk or “P-Funk,” his training ground in Los Angeles. Duffey finishes one of his eye-raising stories with a sly chuckle but unapologetic tone. A man of his caliber has no time for public opinion. In 2001, Duffey was inducted into the Louisiana Hall of Fame, and in 2009, he was inducted into the National Blues Hall of Fame and not long after named a “Louisiana Ambassador of the Blues.” His talent, dedication to music and artistic expression are the most important aspects of both his life and his character. “You have to understand, I’m 68. I’ve been rolling with the times the whole time,” says Duffey. A poet and lyricist, Duffey’s songs are intelligent, sophisticated and, of course, soulful. He’s written songs for or recorded with Marcia Ball, George Clinton, Bernie Worell, Keith Richards, Herbie Hancock and Beverly Jo Scott, among other notables.

When Dan Sumner, a guitarist, producer, “Benedetto Artist,” and owner of Fort Sumner Studio, met Duffey at a gig, he asked Duffey to form the band that would become known as the Louisiana Soul Revival, a multi-generational mishmash of talented local musicians that range from seven to twelve members at any given performance. Before evolving into this grander entity, the band began as a quartet, and it is now the rhythm section of Soul Revival, transforming in 2017 to BADD. The name of the band is a witty and true-to-form acronym of the first initial of each member: Ben Ford (bassist, vocalist), Adam Ryland (drummer), Dan Sumner (guitarist, vocalist, percussionist, engineer, band psychologist), and Doug Duffey (keyboardist, vocalist, songwriter, producer). The boys of BADD have been dishing “hundreds of hours” of music at Fort Sumner, creating their first album, Funkify Ya-Self, now ready for public consumption.

Reminiscent of James Brown, Memphis Soul, and sixties psychedelic instrumental, their new album, which is co-produced by Duffey and Sumner, has distinct musical influences and, as a whole, is a dance record. “This is the first album that we’ve done new songs that are written by Doug,” says Sumner. Duffey jumps in to clarify, “When he says brand new, he’s talking about new songs that I’ve written for either of our new projects. ‘Cuz I’m writing songs all the time. It’s just what I do.”

Born from semi-structured jams that were later artfully-crafted into cohesive musical works, Sumner claims the majority of the album is random “if not all of it.” Half the tracks recorded were with Sumner and Duffey tinkering with an old school drum machine where Ford and Ryland would then play over what was already done, creating a synchronicitous building process. The other half of the tracks were made with the whole band just “jamming and improvising,” says Duffey. “And there was no structure. We just went where we went. Where we naturally felt it should go.” Sumner follows up with, “We were sitting here painting it; we started to see what the songs were going to be like.” Duffey claims he never really knew where the other musicians would take the music, nor did they know where the others would lead; Duffey just provided some trashy sixties psychedelic piano sound.
Thematically, Funkify Ya-Self responds to living in the modern world. Laced with subtle socio-political commentary, the majority of the tracks are set to uplifting, energetic and funky sounds. Even then, Duffey initially did not want to set any lyrics to the groovy tunes, and he still considers releasing a fully instrumental version of the album. “One of the things about the album is that the songs really take their time to develop within themselves,” says Sumner. Duffey ques in, “Well, yeah, it’s called production.” “I’m saying, they’re not three minute songs, they’re seven minute songs,” follows Sumner, unphased by the friendly banter. BADD isn’t serving up cookie-cutter songs just to make records or to fit in the social standard. In fact, Duffey has songs in experimental albums that last for 17-20 minutes. “I’m not going to write shit I don’t believe in. Not going to make up stuff to be making up stuff to be making a story. Almost everything I do comes from life experience,” says Duffey, suggesting that experience can’t be expressed in three minutes.

A spacey, electronic instrumental track opens the album. “Introfunktion” was initially a longer track, but Duffey fought for it to be divided into two tracks. “Yeah, we fought about that for a long time,” recalls Sumner, who now agrees with Duffey. The second half, titled “Outrofunktion,” closes out the album. Both tracks are film score-esque, very Ocean’s Eleven meets Jackie Brown. Rolled within foxy instrumental tracks are some commanding lyrical songs just as introspective as they are dance-inducing. “Everybody needs to hush instead of blowing hot air,” sings Duffey with an inimitable soulful voice in the ensemble-style song “Livin’ in the Modern World.” A response to fast-paced and stressful living, the song offers an alternative approach to the human experience. It challenges listeners to shed their worries and find the spirit of funk that presumably lives inside all of humanity. In the same line as “Livin’ in the Modern World,” “Shut Up and Dance” asks us to put things behind us— “Shut up and dance. Instead of working your mouth, work up a sweat. You can’t change a damn thing anyhow.”

“For me, there’s always got to be a low point to bring you back to the high point,” says Duffey, referring to the carefully constructed progression of the songs in Funkify Ya-Self. “Petition for Peace” is one of those songs and probably one of the most musically impacting songs of the bunch. It’s a 9 minute and 4 second electric guitar solo that acts like a call to action or a rebellious cry. It began as an homage to Eddie Hazel’s infamous guitar solo in “Maggot Brain”—first recorded live in the Civic Center in Monroe, Louisiana. “One of the most famous and beautiful guitar solos ever,” says Sumner. “Doug was [onstage] at the show.” Also joining the deeper cuts of the album is “Swamp of Tears,” a song about unrequited love that starts with Duffey’s vocals, thick with yearning. Hints of gospel and blues pair with a stronghold of funk, delivering wrenching lyrics like “I got drunk on a dream that I knew couldn’t last.”

Keeping in the seventies throwback, Duffey incorporates what he calls “gang sing,” which is an ode to P-Funk where the vocals are sung in unison. Guest appearances on this vocal approach include Joel Jordan from Astro Motel, who Duffey, commanded into the studio. “He was over here talking to Dan about something and I was like, ‘Get [in here] and sing,’” recalls Duffey. Also joining in vocals are Ben Ford, Austin George from the Bearded Ladies, and the emblematic Sugar Jones, one of Duffey’s best kept secrets. Clearly, Sumner’s Fort has become a type of central hub for local and out of town musicians. There are non-stop projects walking through his doors every month. Ryland and Ford can testify to the 24/7 mode of the studio. Even though they play in several local bands, also serving as the in-house rhythm section for Fort Sumner, BADD has been their primary project for the last three years. This includes Funkify Ya-Self, as well as a second BADD album of all original blues, currently in the works.

“Everything I do gonh be funky, from now on,” says Duffey quoting Lee Dorsey in order to describe BADD. “We let it all hang out. We are freaking freely,” continues Duffey with a peevish grin. Funk lives forever to him. Humoring BayouLife, he finishes with: “Them all them sixties terms, girl.” Addressing the album, Sumner concludes that it’s a “positive response to a negative world.” Frustrations are recognized and responded to with music. The lyrics, Sumner says, came second. As musicians, their petition for peace is inspired, but in Funkify Ya-Self, it’s also something you can “shake your baby maker” to.
Funkify Ya-Self can be found on all streaming services, namely iTunes and Spotify.

MEMBERS OF BADD

Ben Ford (bassist, vocalist), Adam Ryland (drummer), Dan Sumner (guitarist, vocalist, percussionist, engineer, band psychologist), and Doug Duffey (keyboardist, vocalist, songwriter, producer)