How did this session go down, and what did it feel like?
We got off just being together in the same room. Incredibly, it felt the same as it ever did. Even though we all have gotten older and are looking crazy, that energy popped back like we had been playing all the time. Nobody was rusty, man. Everybody was on—like we’d just got off the JBs bus!

Did you write your own parts?
We pretty much came up with our own parts once Lyle would strike up the groove, which is pretty much how it was with James Brown. There’s nothing like it when you’re feeling each other, wondering what a guy is going to play next and knowing that whatever it is, you’re going to be right on top of it. People are making great music with computers and so on, but that’s kind of like having a doll in the closet instead of having a real chick, you know?

How does the feel change with either Clyde or Jab’o on drums?
Jab’o has got the swing thing—like on “Sex Machine”—but Clyde is more of a live-on-fire kind of drummer—like on “Get Up, Get Into It, and Get Involved.” I’ve learned to lay with each of them. It’s like having two different girlfriends—you talk one way to one, and another way to the other. One chick will want to jump in the backseat real quick and get it on, and the other might require more foreplay. The end result is the same, so you play with the instruments like that. You have to vibe with Jab’o a little bit, and then he’s there. Clyde doesn’t need any foreplay—you just jump right in with him [laughs].

You steered clear of your famous slap-and-pop chops.
Yeah, that definitely wouldn’t be appropriate. I really developed my two-finger technique with James. It was all about who had the fastest fingers, who could play the most syncopated fingerstyle grooves. They thought I was on fire with that.

Are your fingerstyle chops still as happening?
I don’t know if they’re there like back in the James days, but they’re there. Now I don’t try to play so many things—or so fast. I just concentrate on making sure the groove is there, and that the notes I play feel right. I try to avoid the obvious and put notes where nobody else would. It’s not something I think about—once you start thinking, you’re shot. It just happens, and that difference creates my style.

CAN BE HEARD ON

Various Artists/Lyle Workman, Superbad: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack [Lakeshore, 2007];
ESPN’s Monday Night Football
“I play upright in the MNF band. We do a session and a gig, and they use pieces for each game.”

CURRENTLY SPINNING

Fleetwood Mac, Mystery to Me [Reprise, 1973]
Sergei Rachmaninoff, Greatest Hits [Sony Classical, 1994]
“I’ve been studying great composers. I’m trying to understand what was so great about their work and the direction they took.”

SUPERBAD GEAR

Bass
’69 Fender Jazz Bass

Rig
Ampeg SVT Classic and 8x10 cab

Effects
Electro-Harmonix Big Muff, Musitronics Mu-Tron III, DigiTech Whammy Pedal, Electro-Harmonix Bass Micro Synthesizer, Boss SYB-5 Bass Synthesizer, MXR Digital Delay, Pro Co Rat II, DOD Thrash
“I used the same Jazz Bass I played with James. We went for the old sound—I even played without effects on a couple of tracks to capture the straight JB thing.”