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The Greyboy Allstars

What Happened to Television?

The quintessential sound of the West Coast has returned as The Greyboy Allstars emerge with a new studio album and live performances. Last year marked a return to the stage after a six-year hiatus from touring, reenergizing the San Diego-based five-piece and motivating the creation of What Happened to Television?

“It was really liberating to be in the room with so many talented people and just have a good time again,” says Elgin Park of reuniting with the group in the studio. Park (also known as Mike Andrews) is illustrative of how busy the individual members of The Greyboy Allstars have been during its relative hibernation. Andrews scored the hip cult films Me and You and Everyone We Know and Donnie Darko, the latter generating a number one hit in the UK for his cover of Tears For Fears’ “Mad World” with singer Gary Jules, as well as the acclaimed television program Freaks & Geeks. Andrews has also produced albums by Brendan Benson, Inara George, and Metric. But The Greyboy Allstars offer Andrews something unique; the opportunity to be Elgin Park. “In this band I’m a completely different player than in almost any other circumstance,” he explains. “I am normally not a blues or jazz player. So this band has really opened up a new world for me creatively.”

Music by The Greyboy Allstars have been a popular staple on television (ESPN), in films (such as Zero Effect), and even extreme sports videos, reflecting the culture of some of the group’s most devoted fans. This wide and varied exposure has garnered one of the broadest, multi-generational fan bases a group could possibly ask for, mirroring the diverse ethnic and artistic makeup of their native Southern California. What Happened to Television? marks the first studio release in almost 10 years for The Greyboy Allstars, and the first since 1995’s debut West Coast Boogaloo (which featured former James Brown musical director Fred Wesley) where they have reunited with producer and namesake DJ Greyboy.

If any of this sounds a bit confusing, it’s time to press pause and hit rewind for a minute.

The Greyboy Allstars were formed in December 1993 by Greyboy (aka Andreas Stevens) and Karl Denson as an extension of Greyboy’s classic soul and funk DJ sets at a weekly residency at the now defunct Green Circle Bar in downtown San Diego. The hand-picked players performed both classics from the catalogs of labels like Blue Note and Prestige as well as new material, much of which emerged on Greyboy’s debut Freestylin’, an album which label Ubiquity Records still considers one of its cornerstones and launching pad to international success.

Despite the diverse, bustling music scene in San Diego, nothing could contain the force of the players that Greyboy put together into some sort of local secret. That’s a fact that has only become more apparent in the years that the members have spent pursuing various musical endeavors. Karl Denson spent four years as lead sax player for Lenny Kravitz in the early years of the Allstars, has recorded with artists including the Blind Boys of Alabama, Guster and Miles Davis cohorts Jack Dejohnette and Dave Holland, and still leads successful touring mainstays Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe. In addition to recording solo, Robert Walter leads many successful touring groups and tickles the keys for the legendary Headhunters. The unstoppable rhythm section of Chris Stillwell and Zak Najor have been playing together since their early days as part of San Diego group Motherlode and have gigged with artists including Inara George, Ozomatli and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band.  After a few years and word spread of the group around the world, it became clear that Greyboy was not interested in the touring life in the way that the others were. And so retaining the name and spirit, The Greyboy Allstars and DJ Greyboy moved in different physical directions.

“He’s our mentor from the beginning,” clarifies Robert Walter. “We continued on and developed a chemistry amongst ourselves outside of that, but we always had him in mind when making music.”  The Allstars continued on outside its initial intentions, but ties were never completely severed. This is particularly so in the case of Elgin Park, who has continued to work with and produce DJ Greyboy on and off over the years. To this day, DJ Greyboy is still the trusted friend who will give the Allstars the most honest feedback, good or bad. And after almost a dozen years, it’s a role he officially assumed as a producer along with the band on What Happened to Television?. He made suggestions ranging from style to tempo to that intangible feel that makes music work. Sometimes the suggestions themselves are slightly intangible, too; a buoyant head-nod, or maybe a sincere smile.

“He’s the taste,” says Walter.

“He’s the ears,” echoes Park.

What Happened to Television? was written and recorded in about a week’s time. The creation process was lead by a somewhat unique self-imposed rule. “No one was allowed to bring any ideas that they had in. We had to sit down and all create together,” explains Park.  Capturing the sounds when truly fresh could in part be viewed as a nod to the freedom of the band’s live sets. The album was recorded totally live without the use of computers. What few edits were made were done by the old-fashioned technique of cutting tape by hand.

But it was also a simple case of the music feeling good to everyone right away that allowed both the conception and the recording process to be so brief. “It could have gone either way,” says Walter. “It was possible that we’d go in there and not come up with anything and be sort of stuck with a bunch of material that wasn’t really developed. But it flowed along real good. It was much easier than we thought, and that way the music really is a product of the group rather than trying to perform somebody else’s song. We’re trying to be more composition minded and work on songwriting and song craft.” Even for these well-seasoned musicians, the catalytic force that seems to take hold when they collaborate with each other seems to pleasantly surprise them. Karl Denson puts this accelerated pace of creation into astonishing perspective. “What we did in one week would take me two months to do of the same quality in any other situation,” he reasons.

From the smoldering raw urgency of “Still Waiting” and the jaunty bounce of the title track, to the laid back West Coast shuffle of “Deck Shoes,” What Happened to Television? is much more than a pleasant distraction from the banality of the boob tube. “Old School Cylons” is a flat out homage to the purity of early rap jams and their funk antecedents, a breath of fresh air in contrast to stale mainstream hip-hop. “How Glad I Am” hearkens back to the ‘40’s sass of the Andrews Sisters, but instead the vocals are provided by the current harmonies of the Living Sisters, a group helmed by Blue Note Records artist Inara George (daughter of the late Lowell George and member of The Bird and the Bee). The finale is a rousing cover of the Kings’ classic “Give the Drummer Some,” highlighting all the members individually and collectively. DJ Greyboy even gets some as well, thanking the accolades with lively cuts and scratches of vinyl records. Elgin Park’s take on The Greyboy Allstars and its singular feel-good energy sums up a feeling that not only radiates amongst band members when they take time out of their individually busy schedules to work together. It also resonates with its diverse range of appreciators.

“It really is a musical vacation,” he says

But don’t just take his word for it.

Elgin Park (guitar, vocals)
Karl Denson (saxophone, flute, vocals, percussion)
Robert Walter (keyboards)
Chris Stillwell (bass, vocals)
Zak Najor (drums, percussion, vocals)