One hour before show time, Gnarls Barkley’s Cee-Lo Green and Danger Mouse duck into an abandoned backstage sitting room for a free-ranging chat with two founding members of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
It’s a rare lull in the hectic itineraries of the urban-alternative sensation and veteran funk-rock band, who launched a double bill Jan. 13 on the heels of spectacular sales and airplay in 2006. At Nashville’s Gaylord Entertainment Center, the tour’s third stop, the four shoot the breeze about being famous, being funny and that pile of Grammy nominations.
“What do you call what you do?” Cee-Lo, aka Thomas Callaway, asks Anthony Kiedis and Flea, both 44. “The Grammy board may categorize us both, but we don’t categorize ourselves, and I don’t think you do. There’s a signature sound that is the Peppers.
“What is it?”
The question stumps the singer. “I don’t know,” Kiedis says. I’m way too deep in that forest.”
The same question could confound Gnarls Barkley. The duo’s mix of styles encompasses everything from classic soul to spaghetti-Western scores, and its hit Crazy defined crossover last year, spreading from modern-rock radio to contemporary jazz stations.
However you peg them, they’re two of pop music’s hottest acts. They collectively bagged 11 Grammy nominations — six for the Peppers, five for Gnarls Barkley. The Chili Peppers’ Stadium Arcadium and Gnarls’ St. Elsewhere, both released May 9, are up for album of the year. The groups took top honors in Rolling Stone’s readers poll for best album (Stadium) and single (Crazy) of 2006.
“Both groups bring different styles,” says Brian “Danger Mouse” Burton, 29. “Me and Cee-Lo definitely overlapped. We knew similar people in high schools and in our neighborhoods. We listened to the same stuff without even trying.”
Says Kiedis: “That’s specifically one thing I admire about Gnarls Barkley: Cee-Lo’s voice, that’s very classic soul. It’s a missing thing for me, these days, people who can sing the way he does. It reminds me of a ’60s Motown voice. Then it’s placed in a very modern, almost futuristic musical landscape. And the two things are so beautiful together. It’s still on the cutting edge, but it’s also got something warm.”
Kiedis and Flea, known from their earliest days for being outrageous and unpredictable, also admire Gnarls’ sense of humor. (When Burton and Callaway, 32, take the stage, their 10-piece band is dressed as characters from the Austin Powers movies.)
“There’s a lot of room for good melodic comedy in music,” Kiedis says. “It’s cool when a band has a sense of what is funny.”
“You guys would know a little bit about that,” Burton says.
“It’s like an artist can’t be taken seriously if they make a joke,” Flea says. “A joke can be one of the most soulful things.”
Burton, who was born in New York and schooled in Georgia, resides in Los Angeles in part because of the Peppers.
“I was living in London and came out to California to do some recording,” Burton recalls. “I rented a car and somebody had left their By the Way CD in the car. I put that CD in and had it in there for the whole week. When I got back to London, it was freezing and raining. I put that record in and knew it was time to move to California.”
Flea bought the Gnarls album immediately, but Kiedis hesitated.
“When I first heard about Gnarls Barkley, the hype was so loud I couldn’t really hear the music,” he says. “I have a really bad habit of avoiding whatever’s popular. Eventually, after the hype had quieted a little bit, I started listening to the music, and I was like, ‘Wow, they made a very cool record, and wouldn’t it be great if we could go on tour with them?’ ”
Their thoughts on going head-to-head in Grammy’s best album category? No contest.
“No, (we’re) not competing,” Flea insists. “Music is way too beautiful to be put into a competition. When you do something beautiful and you want people to hear it, it’s great that it’s acknowledged and that people are appreciating it. But there’s no competition at all.”
Good luck getting any of them to say who deserves the trophy.
“I don’t necessarily think we should win album of the year,” Kiedis says. “It is an album, of that year, but, man, I have not heard all of the albums of the year. ”
Burton expresses a similar sentiment. “We’re going to sit here and sound humble and all, but I haven’t heard all the albums, either. I don’t know what constitutes being that.”
“That’s like comparing gods: ‘Allah is better than Jesus,’ ” Flea says. “Everyone’s just trying to make something beautiful.”
They’re even less forthcoming on competing nominees. The Dixie Chicks’ Taking the Long Way?
“Our drummer played on that record,” Flea notes.
“I don’t know anything about the Dixie Chicks,” Burton says.
None of them are familiar with John Mayer’s Continuum, but Justin Timberlake’s FutureSex/LoveSounds gets Callaway’s nod of approval.
“Justin’s cool with me,” he says. “If we won, it would be fun,” Flea says. “Our moms, they’ll all be going, ‘Woo-hoo!’ They’ll all have a good time. If we don’t, I wouldn’t feel like I’m missing anything.”
Both acts give higher priority to their performances on the telecast (Feb. 11, 8 p.m. ET/PT on CBS).
“I just don’t want to look stupid on TV,” Burton says. “If we don’t screw up the live performance, we’ll be fine. Then you just make sure whenever the camera looks at you, you’re not picking your nose.”
That’s always a wise goal and, in this case, an ironically timed one, considering that Burton makes the statement just yards from where Faith Hill uttered her “What?!” heard around the world when Carrie Underwood was anointed female vocalist at the Country Music Association show in November.
“I don’t really want to go, anyway,” Burton adds.
“It’s a nice time to get dressed up and have a real reason to go somewhere,” Flea counters.
Kiedis says he has been trying to persuade Rick Rubin, a best-producer contender who worked on Stadium and two other best-album nominees, to attend.
“I feel like it will be a better experience if he’s in the house,” Kiedis says, “like it will give it a little bit of meaning.”
“Has he been against it in the past?” Callaway asks.
“He’s not even against it,” Kiedis replies. “He lives out in the countryside. It’s hard to get him into the city for anything.”
Though both acts are at the top of their game, they’re at very different points on the arc of fame. The Peppers released their first album in 1984 and won their only Grammy 14 years ago (for Give It Away). They’ve seen dramatic career highs and devastating lows.
Gnarls’ success has been sudden, though Burton and Callaway both enjoyed solo success before. They’re having to rethink their future, as what once might have looked like a one-off project seems to have long-term prospects.
“It does have a great deal of potential now,” Callaway says.
Burton adds, “Whereas before, we never thought about it happening again.”
Kiedis and Flea are reluctant to give advice on sustaining success, but Flea offers perspective.
“The first time, when we put out (BloodSugarSexMagik) in ‘91, I didn’t enjoy the success at all,” he says. “It was all pressure and stress. It made me crazy. I didn’t know how to deal with it.
“This time, having this kind of attention, I like it. Not in a weird way, like, ‘Look at me.’ I just feel like it’s really nice. It’s like a sign in the media that people like you. It doesn’t really change our lives. We’re still going on tour, doing what we do. But I was asking Brian, have you been able to relax and just enjoy this huge success? He was like, ‘Well, sometimes.’ ”
“I’m just starting to be able to,” Burton says.
“Please do,” Kiedis tells him. “Please feel free to enjoy it. I gave up stress recently, and it’s been a very good deal.”
“If we would’ve had what we have right now — playing arenas and Grammys and all that stuff — 24 years ago, it would’ve been a disaster. We were messing up enough without that.
“It is particularly sweet when you’re doing something just for the fun of it, for the freeness of it,” Kiedis says, “just to express yourself and to do something cool with somebody you want to work with.
“Then it blows up. It wasn’t like there was a machine behind you going, ‘We’re going to shove this down their throats and make it the next big thing.’ It’s not deliberate,” Kiedis says. That’s what makes it so special.”
Source: USA Today
