“I can’t fake the funk”: Parliament-Funkadelic guitarist on why he’s often looked so miserable on stage
It’s hard to control your facial expression when you’re lost in the music. From blissfully closed eyes to rock-ready stank-faces, you can see when a musician is really in-tune with their instrument – and when they aren’t. Parliament-Funkadelic’s Michael Hampton in particular has been prone to look quite stone-faced if he isn’t ‘feeling the funk’ on-stage.
In a new interview with Mojo, he laughs about how his power-funk sound might have seemed at odds with his grumpy demeanour. “The way I may have come across on-stage, it might have been like I wasn’t having a good time,” he says. “[I might have looked] a little bit bored… because I can’t fake the funk, if I’m not feeling something.”
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Just as other guitarists can’t contain their excitement, he couldn’t contain his disinterest when he wasn’t in the mood to perform, or when the performance wasn’t feeling particularly magic. “I went as far as I could go and, you know, you get tired,” he explains. “Still to this day I’m not the one dancing around. I like to joke a bit but I’m pretty serious about playing. I just go with the flow and kind of stay in my lane.”
“Nowadays on tour, I’m not as loud as I would like to be, there’s a lot of vocals,” he continues. “I really miss the part of it when we’d crank up the amp all the way and do Cosmic Slop. But it’s another day and time. I’ll play Maggot Brain until I’m told, ‘Okay, it’s time to end it.’”
When the late Eddie Hazel stepped down from his Parliament-Funkadelic duties in 1971, the group quickly sought out his successor. They’d find the perfect guitarist in 17-year-old Michael Hampton, enlisting him to join the collective after witnessing him perform the 10-minute Maggot Brain solo at a Parliament-Funkadelic aftershow party.
Despite worries that he may have appeared “bored” onstage, his work with the band was anything but boring. Plenty of his time performing in Parliament-Funkadelic was electric and “spontaneous”, just like that first solo that convinced the gang to take him on board. “Everything’s pretty much a spontaneous surprise and it’s all inter-changeable,” he explains. “The last time we played [in 2025], it was good, you know?”
Michael Hampton’s Into The Public Domain EP is out now.
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
