(antiMusic) Welcome to Singled Out! where we ask artists to tell us the inside story of their latest single. It has been almost 20 years since New York City boogied to the sounds of funk music legends The Funky Knights. But they are back and today bassist Randy Pratt tells us about "Can't Afford It," a song from their forthcoming CD. "Can't Afford It" was one of the first songs we did in '89. It's part of what I came to refer to as our "inner city suite", a collection of sexy love songs charactered by realistic, druggie low-lifes on the fringe of society and the law(like we were, ourselves) It's about a guy who's just pulled his life together and gotten off drugs. He runs into one of his old "drugs/sex" partners on the street and she tries to pull him back.
It's eerie and dark and the groove is sexy, implying the lurid porno life they had enjoyed. Bill sells it like no one else could. You can feel the tension, but there's a little humor there, too. Bill's a simple keyboard player. He doesn't sit around and practice at home, but he's such a smart, funky guy, that his fills are always amazing. His keys really add to the creepy feel of the song. Paul Latimer, our secret weapon , plays his usual restrained, Jimmy Nolen influenced funk riffing, which weaves magically with my simple, nasty bass part. Paul is super funky on drums and Reids guitar solos hit it out of the stadium. (Yeah, we're cool, I admit it!)
Stay tuned for more to come from the band, but in the meantime keep tabs on their - official site
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