The 420FM
Super Meltdown TripFest was the brainchild of Funkadelic Mike "Clipadelic"
Payne who wanted to create a scene where musicians from different
styles and disciplines could get together and play some of the music
they love.
The TripFest started to take shape at the when Clip began incorporating
members of West Woody Posse, his friends from his new home into
the mix. Then what began as
an annual party mushroomed into the
A Festival that
brings funkateers, jam band, hip/hop and rock-n-roll fans together.
A musical journey that touches everything from funk to hip/hop to
Rock-n-Roll. Where everything and anything is possible. Performances
include; originals, solo material, seldom played Parliament/Funkadelic
rarities, and odd covers like Black Sabbath's Sweet Leaf, and Hendrix's
Freedom.
A Haze of smoke filled the club as fans packed into Woodstock's
Joyous Lake to catch the 420 Funk Mob and their special guests Belita
Woods, Shonda Clinton, Dr. Know and Daryl Jenifer from Bad Brains
and Zach Alford from B-52's take it to the stage. That was just
the beginning. The TRIPFEST scene began to grow. Crowds packed into
New York's WETLANDS, the Knitting Factory and Jersey's Stone Pony
to be part of the scene. Word spread quickly and it was on to colleges
in the Northeast and Festival crowds across the United States and
Europe.
The Tripfest has featured a host of guest performers and bands
from all across the musical spectrum, that has led fans to declare,
"You never know who's gonna show up or what's gonna happen
but its always something special." Past Special Guests have
included:
George Clinton, Fred Wesley, Billy Bass Nelson, Cordell "Boogie"
Mosson, Belita Woods, Rodney "Skeet" Curtis, Shonda Clinton,
Shelia Horn, Mike "Kidd Funkadelic" Hampton, Stozo, Dr
Know, Daryl Jenifer of BAD BRAINS, Zack Alford of Gwen Stefani,
Lige Curry, Toshi Reagon, The Flash, Jazzman Stanley Jordan, Garry
Shider, Bluegrass virtuoso Eric McFadden, Star Cullars, Funkin,
Enemy Squad, Rock Attack -10 of TRACK ADDICTS, Amp Fiddler, Angela
Workman from RAY CHARLES, Ras T, Chuck Treace, Andre Foxxe, DRUGS,
Blak Neks, Defiant Ones, Cacophonic FM,Ted Orr, Ron Priest Smith,
Chicken Burke, Adam Widoff, Stephanie Mckay of Mos Def, Jen Leigh
of KELIS, Joe Eppard from 3, Wooden, Jen Durkin & Bomb Squad,
Scott Taylor, Dave CasT, Mike Birnbaum, Matthew M Chedid, Mudbone
Cooper, Gael Barbieri, Nowell Haskins, Wooden, 3, Kidd Funkadelic
Experience, Peter Keys, G. Pace, Lonnie Motley and a host of others.
420
FM Live on the Off Days was the first release from the Wefunk Ad2k
Live Entertainment Archives. This two disc set contains material
from the very first 420 Funk Mob show in 1997 through 2001's two
sold out 420FM Tripfests at New York City's Wetlands. Rare Funkadelic
and Parliament tracks, many performed, recorded and released LIVE
for the first time anywhere! Performances by: George Clinton, Drugs,
Cacophonic FM, Flash & the Blak Neks w/ Rock Attack Ten, Toshi
Reagan, Stanley Jordan and of course the 420 Funk Mob .
JUST
RELEASED the 420 Funk Mob's second concert recording"Alive
in Spain", a 3 cd set from the bands headline event at the
Chillin' Drone Festival. The 25th Anniversary of Spanish National
Radio 3. 6500 people jammed the Zaragoza Symphony Hall for a show
fans have hailed as "classic funkadelic....off the hook....a
funk fans dream" Also included is the bands first DVD release,
WHAT TIME IS IT? Which includes the bands historic 4/20/04 Performance
at the FREEBIRD CAFE in Jacksonville Florida, and The Universal
Church of Love & Music's Freedom Fest July 3 2004! Don't miss
this chance to own the 3cd/ and bonus dvd package critics call "an
essential for any true funk fan, and some of the best live music
of the year," jambase called it, "a return to the Pedro
Bell era of Funkadelic glory..a band determined to carry on the
legacy of George Clinton."
In
Feb. 2005 the TRIPFEST made a stealth appearance at Super Bowl 38
in Jacksonville. Under the banner WEFUNK FM we took our party to
worlds biggest party as the ESPN/NFL TAILGATE PARTY. 420 Funk Mob
and DRUGS combined to form one SUPERGROUP, and brought George CLinton,
Sativa, Kendra Foster, Kidd Funkadelic and the Muzik Mafia's Jon
Nicholson & Jerry Navarro. Anyone entering the stadium had to
past the stage that the bands performed on. 420FM and DRUGS are
the only unsigned bands to ever take part in a Superbowl event.
On the bill with them was Alicia Keys, Gretchen Wilson with Charlie
Daniels and Paul McCartney.
In July the TRIPFEST returned to Pennsylvania as DRUGS: The Mis-Americans
and the 420 Funk Mob with Special Guests headlined the Church of
Universal Love and Music's Freedom Fest July 3rd. The posse then
ventured overseas to Heidelberg Germany with Fred Wesley and George
Clinton in tow to bring the TRIPFEST to the AUDIOSOUL FESTIVAL.
A new music and media festival held in the ruins of a 1200 year
old castle.
The Heidelberg Press stated "The
fans, mostly below 30, went fully into ecstasy. Everyone in the
Castle Courtyard was dancing .People were jumping up and down, throwing
their hands in the air with the funk sign salute.The driving sound
of the Funk Mob with special guest Fred Wesley, had the entire crowd
swaying to the Seductive Psychedelic Funky Rhythms."
..... Heidelberg Press
On Halloween 2006 the TRIPFEST was broadcast around the world on
Sirius Satellite Radio. It was Sirius's first day of World Wide
Internet Broadcasting and they celebrated it on the Jam On station
by a performance of DRUGS and 420 Funk Mob with Special Guest George
Clinton. Clip Payne, Mike Hampton, Gabe Gonzalez, Lige Curry, Chicken
Burke and George were interviewed by Jam ON Dj Stef Scarmado. Both
bands did an hour long performance that has been braodcast on the
Jam ON, Shady 45, and Heart and Soul stations.
In
November the TRIPFEST was a featured event at the 2006 CMJ Conference.
During the week Clip Payne, Georg CLinton, Barbarella Bishop and
Archie Ivy spoke on various panels at this venerated college music
symposium. The week ended with a Showcase event at CRASH MANSION
featuring 420 Funk Mob with special guest George CLinton and Kendra
Foster and DRUGS. The show sold out and the block of CMJ participants
waiting to get into the event went down the block and around the
corner onto Rivington Street
Plans are in the works to bring the TripFest back to Europe and
then to Japan and Austrialia the Summer of 2007.
420FM
Super Meltdown TripFest
Dedicated to the Preservation and the Motivation of Hips!
Live on the Off Days MPEG Video Clip: Dr.Funkenstein.mpeg
2003 TripFest
Universal Church of Love and Music's ROCKTOBER FUNKFEST Acme, Pennsylvania
& The HAUNT, Ithaca, NY
The 420FM Super Meltdown
TripFest took to the road again in October with weekend hits in
Pennsylvania and Upstate New York. The First event was the Universal
Church of Love and Music's Rocktober Funkfest. The last of their
outdoor concert "services" for the year. "The 420
Funk Mob and their counterpart Drugs" got a mention on The
Daily Show with Jon Stewart, the emmy winning Comedy Central Television
program, as part of a feature on the Church. Despite the freezing
temperatures the 420FM took it to another level with a 3 hour set.
Not only was the sound incredible up to a half a mile away from
the stage, but the psychedlic light show was incredible.
Taking their "OFF
DAYS" party another step this year, the band made use of
off days on the Parliament/Funkadelic tour to fly across the country
to headline a weekend of shows, then hook back up with the band
for their Boston gig at the Roxy. After being on tour for a month,
George Clinton decided that rather than take a day off in Texas,
it would be more fun to sit in with the 420FM when the TRIPFEST
landed at the Haunt, the legendary bar in Upstate New York.
2003 Meltdown in Miami:
420 Funk Mob at the 10th Annual Marley Festival.
The band escaped the snowy Northeast to fly down to Miami
and co-headline the festival with the Marley Family. It was a party
weekend. Lige Curry's birthday and hooking up with old Detroit friend
Ras Kente. Clip, Amp, and Gabe from 420fm had been in Ras's band
ONYX back in Detroit along with fellow P-Funk member Paul Hill,
so it was old home week. George Clinton flew in the morning of the
show to be our special guest. We were originally scheduled to perform
at 420 in the afternoon but we had to move things up so GC could
catch an early flight back to LA to record with the Rolling Stones
Ron Wood. The band opened the festival with an hour long set that
included The Goose, Cosmic Slop, Up for the Downstroke/Bounce to
This, Mothership Connection and Red Hot Mama.!
2002 TripFest
The Stone Pony, Asbury Park NJ, The Haunt, Ithaca, NY, Vasser and
Bard Colleges
Four shows in three days. SOLD OUT
club shows at The Haunt, Ithaca NY and the New Jersey landmark The
Stone Pony! Then two shows on Saturday. An afternoon TRIPFEST at
Bard and another at Vassar College later that night. On Sunday we
loaded up the bus for a quick trip to NYC where George and members
of the 420 FM made a special appearance at the third annual HIGH
TIMES Stony Awards!
The Clinton that Did Inhale: Funk Festival at
Haunt Brings Legend to Ithaca
By Andrew Gilman
Last Thursday night, over 500 people gathered for a sold-out funk
festival at the Haunt, put on by Parliament-Funkadelic off-shoots
DRUGS, Kidd Funkadelic, and 420 FM with special guest George Clinton.
Throughout the night, concert-goers packed shoulder to shoulder
and shook the small, hot, upstate-backward space of the Haunt as
they got down to each of the three conglomerate bands' slightly
different take on the classic P-Funk style.
The mighty father of all Funkadelia, George Clinton, presided
over the celebrations and performed with the headlining act, 420
FM. Although Clinton's electric and legendary stage presence was
the high point of the concert, DRUGS and Kidd Funkadelic played
their individual blends of earthy jam-rock, also inciting a fury
of dance from the audience. From about 9:30 until past 2:00 in the
morning, the three bands played glorious funk, which inspired a
tremendous amount of energy from the audience.
Taking the stage first, DRUGS set a high standard of funkability
for the other two bands to follow. After a few minutes of asking
the house DJ to turn down the lights and the background music, DRUGS
began their set with their personal introductions and a gradually
building jam that led into the boisterous groove of the song "Deep
Down in the Dumps," from their only album, The Prescription
for Mis-America (www.420Tripfest.com). DRUGS consists of three P-Funk
members -- Clip Payne (vocals), Lige Curry (bass), and the often
diaper-clad Gary "Star Child" Shider (rhythm guitar) --
and four Woodstock musicians -- Adam Widoff (lead guitar), Robert
"Chicken" Burke (drums), and Jeremy Bernstein (guitar).
To top it off, the Philadelphia-born Stephanie McKay provided her
proud, sweet voice as the hook on most the songs. From the mellow
lows of sweet funk jams, such as "Strung Out," to the
excited highs of boastful funk-rock ("Never Ever"), this
mix of Parliament-Funkadelic members and upstate New York talent
played with great cohesion and skill. As DRUGS left the stage, the
sweating guy with the eccentric dance behind me exclaimed, "Man,
if that's just the opening band, I can't wait to hear the rest!"
Next, Kidd Funkadelic took the stage. A three-man ensemble, they
fused metal and funk in a rock-out performance. Michael Hampton,
a.k.a. Kidd Funkadelic, played blazing guitar riffs in his personal
amalgam of psychedelic, Hendrix-influenced rock and the early, heavy
funk of Funkadelic. Gabe Gonzalez (drums) and Eli Ward (bass) joined
Hampton in funk-metal jams, including "Maggot Brain" and
a compelling cover of Hendrix's "Machine Gun." While Ward
played bass and sang into a Frampton-like voice modifier, and Gonzalez
aggressively beat hard-rock rhythms, Hampton shook his long, braided
hair in time with his guitar solos. Although Kidd Funkadelic funked
hard, they did not play for long, and 420FM with George Clinton
would take the stage soon.
As a small mob of musicians and roadies prepared for the performance
of 420 FM, the audience eagerly awaited George Clinton's appearance.
Minutes later, 420 FM ran onstage to begin their first song "Nuthin'
Before Me But Thang." As a massive group, including members
of DRUGS and Kidd Funkadelic, 420 FM quickly created a deeply woven
fabric of funk layers. Clip Payne (the MC/vocalist) explained that
"this [420] is the off-days from touring with Parliament-Funkadelic,
these days are the days we play with out friends." The band
is fleshed out by Lige Curry, Kidd Funkadelic, Gabe Gonzalez, Amp
Fiddler (keyboard), and Gary Shider just, to name a few. Just when
420 settled into their first groove, George Clinton emerged onstage
with an overwhelming, ecstatic explosion from the audience. Clinton,
surrounded in his aura of pure, unadulterated funk, held the audience
in the palm of his hand through call and response jams, P-Funk cheers,
and ridiculous dances.
The concert-goers went wild to Clinton's voice and constant gestures,
as 420 funked through the ages of Parliament-Funkadelic songs. Singing
along with George Clinton and Clip Payne, through the choruses of
"Dr. Funkenstein," "Swing Down Sweet Chariot,"
and "P-Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)," the audience poured
out their energy to the 420 grooves. George Clinton walked hurriedly
about the stage, encouraging the 420 performers and the audience
alike with his cheers of "Shit! God Damn! Get off your ass
and Jam!" and "If you ain't gonna get it on, take your
dead ass home!"