Michael Bland Brings People Together in Service of Prince’s Music

 

This interview originally aired on The Afternoon Cruise on 04/16/25

READ THE COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT BELOW:

Sean McPherson (Jazz88) 

It’s the afternoon cruise. I’m chatting with Michael bland, a musical powerhouse who calls the Twin Cities home. He’s best known for his tenure as the drummer with Prince, but he’s been a part of so many great moments in music and in Twin Cities, music in particular. And in addition to running many of his own projects, Michael bland also serves as the drummer for soul asylum. This Saturday, bland will be diving back into the music of Prince for a show titled new power generation, a tribute to Prince. The show is this Saturday at the Hopkins Center for the Arts at 8pm Michael bland, good to talk to you again, and thank you for connecting with jazz 88 Absolutely.

Michael Bland (New Power Generation) 

Sean, it’s great, great to Great to be here, man. I don’t, you know they don’t. They don’t get much of me on on your end of the dial. They don’t. They don’t care for me too much. I’m a little loud.

 

Sean McPherson (Jazz88) 

It’s a lot of floor toms for a jazz station. I’ll be Yeah,

 

Michael Bland (New Power Generation) 

it’s still too much. This is what. Who am I? Gene Krupa.

 

Sean McPherson (Jazz88) 

I want to talk a little bit about Prince’s music and also the importance of folks who actually played with Prince celebrating that music. I think it’s very clear. It was clear decades ago that Prince’s music is going to be studied and even gain relevance for decades and centuries beyond today, but compared to that, there’s only a small window for the players who were actually shoulder to shoulder with Prince on the bandstand to perform and celebrate his music. What prompted you to step back into the role of doing that this Saturday, along with some other distinguished alums from the new power generation, we’re family,

 

Michael Bland (New Power Generation) 

essentially. I mean, we’re in a very elite club of people who, I mean, I beat myself up for a while after Prince passed, thinking to myself, could I have been a better friend to him while he was here, you know? And the reality is that a close friend of mine said you were in the studio with him more than any other musician like I guess I’m the most recorded side man in the vault. And if you wanted to intimacy with Prince, was really making music with him. You know, I really was at his service in the best way possible, you know, I helped him to facilitate his vision, you know. And I don’t think you can be much more of a friend than that. So I let myself off the hook, because really, Prince was a difficult person to really know, because, I mean, like most of us, we show the parts of ourselves that we choose to, you know, but he was like that times 100 you know, you really didn’t know who was walking into rehearsal.

 

Sean McPherson (Jazz88) 

I’m chatting with our man, Michael Bland, who’s getting ready for a big show this Saturday at Hopkins Center for the Arts. It’s titled new power generation, a tribute to Prince. Long time ago, Michael, I had a conversation with Tommy Barbarella, and he posited that there’s maybe no better business card in the music world than having played with Prince, that it was this shorthand where somebody said, Hey, can you handle this gig? You go, Well, I handled Prince. And obviously a lot of that comes from Prince’s raw musical talent, but he also was a great leader and a he demanded a lot out of the people he worked with, and clearly he enjoyed working with you and worked with you for a long time now, you’re wearing the musical director hat. Are you having an internal monolog about I know I’m world class at drums, but am I pushing this band in the right way? Am I bringing this performance up to the standard that would be the approval of Prince?

Michael Bland (New Power Generation) 

always, oh, I’m always thinking about where we came from. I mean, it’s impossible to recreate with I mean, he’s not going to be there, you know, he will be, but not he won’t be playing no instruments, you know. So it’s, it’s, yeah, there’s kind of a thing. Because actually, the other night, I don’t think Homer Odell would mind me sharing this story, but he started Purple Rain, and he couldn’t remember the fingering for the second chord. And he’s played that song probably 1000 times, you know, and he just kind of had a brain. I don’t know if it was a brain thing or whatever, but and I lean over said, Homer, he’s not here. And he’s like, the heck, he ain’t he’s in this room right now, you know what I mean? So, you know? And Prince never really liked it too much when people covered his material, yeah, so, but my, when I used to play with Dr mambos combo, back in the day, he would, he would, he wouldn’t leave when we start, I want to be your lover. He would hang out, you know, sometimes he’d sit in, you know, so, you know, I feel like I have his approval, like I can, I can, I can pull this off. And he knows, you know, wherever he is, he knows that I’m doing everything I can to ensure that this show is going to be spectacular.

 

Sean McPherson (Jazz88) 

Michael Bland, there’s few people as talented at their instrument as you are, but you are also one of the great thinkers about music. Anytime I’ve heard you in any sort of recording or times I’ve gone to talk to you, I’m I really love the way you think about music, so I want to go on a little tangent with you about your generation of musicians, and if it goes sideways, but we’ll figure it out. But um, Tommy Barbarella, you Stokley, and a lot of players in this world, I feel like you are incredibly proficient, incredibly capable in many different styles of music, and maybe not with as many idiosyncrasies as the generation before. Of like, Oh, he’s great, but he can’t handle Basa or Oh, she’s amazing, but don’t put her on a ballot. You seem to be really chameleonic, but also with your own personality, but capable of doing a lot. And the reason I’m asking you is that I think y’all created a gold standard for musicianship here that has become internationally regarded. And I don’t, I don’t, frankly, mean the entirety of Prince’s ensembles. I mean kind of your class, new power generation, that world, to me, there’s a starting point of a level of versatility and musicianship. And I know it. I think of it as starting with y’all, but it didn’t. It started with people beforehand, and I’m trying to figure out what was your, your and Tommy’s inspiration to go. This is where we got to get to be, what we’re going to be. Who are the people that you walked in the footsteps of?

 

Michael Bland (New Power Generation) 

versatility. I think it seems to be present in in in all of in all of my peers, like, we can all like, I learned how to play a shot ish when I was probably 1010, years old, like my drum instructor Floyd Thompson, was like, Listen, if you’re going to be a drummer, you better know how to play, you know. You better know how to play all these styles so you don’t miss no money, you know. So I learned how to play a Polka. I learned how to play a schottische. I learned how to do it all. Sean and I’ve done it all professionally. If you go talk about versatility, then we’re talking about the beer bearer polka. Listen, play a mean beer barrel polka. I

 

Sean McPherson (Jazz88) 

Don’t have this one written down. Michael Bland, what the heck is a schottische? I got no idea what you’re talking about.

 

Michael Bland (New Power Generation) 

It’s like, it’s like a it’s a Polka, but it’s a waltz. It’s like a like, like, when you hear the the Swedish Chef, like smorgasborg and smorgas, smorgas, smorgas, borgen born like that kind of music.

 

Sean McPherson (Jazz88) 

I am chatting with Michael Bland as always, it is an absolute joy to have these conversations, because Michael, you you ooze musical knowledge and enthusiasm and very cool that you’re performing at Hopkins Center for the Arts. The show is New Power Generation, a tribute to Prince. We’ve already touched on the fact of how how wide open prince’s ears were, and how much he connected with many different styles of music. It’s no secret for especially for Twin Cities residents, that Prince was a lifelong fan of jazz and also a performer of jazz. And when you think back on your times talking or playing jazz with him or just traveling with him, what do you remember about his connection to jazz music?

 

Michael Bland (New Power Generation) 

What jazz was for him was a different level of expression. I think, you know, because there’s rules with, like, you know, conventional music, there’s rules with rock and roll, there’s rules with funk, like certain notes you don’t play, you know, certain things you don’t do. And with jazz, I mean, I think for that, I think that’s the thing, is that some musicians, Prince enjoyed it all. I’m not as much of a jazzer, because I really am a what I enjoy about music is composition and not the Jazz is not composition. But I enjoy form. I enjoy put me in a box and let me figure out. You know, what to do there. I don’t need the universe. I don’t need to bring vibrations in from Saturn to get to get my, you know, my musical situation on. And also, I don’t think so much of my own playing that I feel like I’m hitting you to my personal journey, man, like I’m not that guy. Some people are. I’m not a virtuosic musician. I’m a team player, rhythm section, first play simple, set the music up for better things, though, that’s my that’s my area. That’s where I excel. So, you know, but with Prince, he could do it all. He could hear it all. I mean, it’s, it’s, he was like a leak, like a leaky faucet that just wouldn’t turn off. He was just music all day, every day. He’d leave rehearsal, even the middle rehearsal, he you’d see the like the lightning bolt happen. He put his guitar down and go to the studio. It, you know, it just was constantly happening for him. So I’m sure jazz as a thing, gave him the. The capacity, or the well, the medium, to express himself in His entirety.

 

Sean McPherson (Jazz88) 

I can’t let you say you’re not a virtuosic musician. Michael, I have some sort of journalistic responsibility, which I’m under. I understand everything else you said in that. And I don’t think you are a sort of self indulgent player. I think you were a very giving player, but Michael, you are a virtuoso. Like, defend, defend this statement, because it just seems patently false. As a man who’s listened to you play drums since I was probably in, I don’t know, seventh grade, sixth grade, maybe before. Like, what are you talking about?

 

Michael Bland (New Power Generation) 

Let me ask you something. Okay. Well, you know what you you’re being fair. But I mean, because I came up on the same drummers that every other Midwestern drummer came up on, you know, mostly the Rock and Roll dudes, Bonham pierret, you know Bruford, you know, if you knew who you were listening to, yeah, you know. So a lot of that, but also Billy Cobham, you know, I met Tony Williams. I thought I was going to, you know, be on myself, but he was actually really, really cool and liked my playing. So I, you know, I play for the glory of the music. I don’t play for the glory of me. So I guess maybe that’s what I have to say, whatever the music says. I had as much fun the other night, playing Seventh Street entry with soul asylum, playing money with Curtis A singing as as I have overseas, playing jazz with any French artist, or, you know, it’s, it’s, it’s all fun to me. But I think the thing, the thing that I that makes me different is that I really enjoy listening. It’s not so much about what I’m playing, it’s about what I’m hearing.

 

Sean McPherson (Jazz88) 

Maybe we can agree you don’t have a virtuosic agenda. Can we go with that?

 

Michael Bland (New Power Generation) 

Okay, it’s your house, man, you can call it Sean. This is your show. You can say what it is. I’m just saying I don’t like to take drum solos. And you know, I don’t, I don’t like the spotlight to be necessarily on me, not for doing some circus trick. But if somebody goes, Wow, that drummer’s pocket is really happening. That’s much more of a feather in my cap. I understand the feel is there that the music is doing what it’s supposed to. You know what I mean? Yeah,

 

Sean McPherson (Jazz88) 

I’m with you. We know.

 

Michael Bland (New Power Generation) 

You know what I mean. You’re a bass player and you’re and you’re a very good one. So you you know exactly what I’m saying.

 

Sean McPherson (Jazz88) 

Michael Bland is performing this Saturday, new power generation, a tribute to Prince Michael, you talk about it being like a family. My last question for you is, what does it feel like to be back with your family? I’m sure sola Simon’s family at this point. You’ve been playing with them for 20 years almost now, but this is their family from the age that you were with. The new power generation is a certain type of family. What does it feel like to be back with that family?

 

Michael Bland (New Power Generation) 

Well, I mean, with Barbarella, he and I, we work together all the time. I have my band, Urban Classic, and he’s basically the co director of that group. Like, we conspire and arrange and do all this together. So Tommy and I, we’re like, we’re like, we’re like, red beans and rice, bro. We go together wherever I’m going. I’m taking Tommy Barbarella, the sexy enchilada wherever I go, man, all right, so he and I, we’ve never lost momentum. But you know, Sonny has been back and forth and you know, but always, always circling, Sunny is Sunny is all and Sunny is ever present. I wish I could have had him for this show, but he’s supposed to be in Italy. Gotcha. Uh, Rick rock from in condition is no slouch. Odell, he knows how to stroke a little bit man. So what I’ve noticed is there’s this whole other crowd, like popping up on Instagram, going, Whoa. Just two guys from in condition playing here, like this is, it’s that’s big for some people, you know. So it’s, we’re coming as hardcore as we can come. You know, we’re playing mostly the favorites. Last year we played a lot of like, off cuts, like blood on the sheets and, like, we did some stuff from, like, the NPG Exodus album. But this is a little more of a family venue, you know, we got Fink, so I really want to kind of run the cavalcade of, like, some of the 80s stuff. We’ll we’ll jump around some, but I really wanted to make sure I had fake I’m getting my money’s worth out of Dr Fink. So, you know, a lot of we’ll be playing more more of the hits this year. But, um, well, we’re celebrating the transition of a true master. Is what it is. Prince was a true master. That’s what it is, man. It’s all about that. And I hear sometimes about like young people who don’t even know who Prince was, or, you know, or they’re not familiar with his music and that, you know, I think that motivates me to keep performing and staying out there and doing podcasts. US and interviews like this, and you know, because I don’t really think the world understood how much he could do, how much he did, you know. I mean, he was a self made artist, like in every way you know. And I think that you know, certain people caught a glimpse when he played the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with you know that my guitar, and you know what I got to say this so Sean and I know we’re running out of time here, but I watched that performance. I was in LA doing something, and it came on, and I’ve heard him play 100 times better on any given day at rehearsal like that. That thing was kind of a, I felt like it was kind of a, it was like Prince was gonna get his dig in because, you know, Rolling Stone had been snubbing him every, every year they come out with 100 best guitar players, and he was never anywhere in sight. But Kirk Kurt Cobain is, like in the top five. You know, I mean, Prince had to feel some kind of way about that man. So, you know, it’s a, I don’t know, really know where this is all headed, but I’m just saying some people didn’t even realize he was that good of guitar player till they saw that. Let’s say, Are you kidding me? Prince has been bad since his first record, right? You know, like people don’t really understand the depth of his work and the genius. And the best thing I can figure to do on my own is to keep bringing people together, you know, in his name and in service to the music, because it’s it’ll die if we don’t.

 

Sean McPherson (Jazz88) 

You got it right? Michael, that’s it. You got it right. And I Tim, my hat to you for the work you’re doing. The performance is on Saturday night. It is called new power generation, a tribute to Prince under the musical direction of Michael bland Hopkins, Center for the Arts. 8pm Michael, good luck on the performance. Say hello to everybody, and thank you for taking time out of a busy week to chat with jazz 88

 

Michael Bland (New Power Generation) 

thank you so much, Sean, anytime. Man, if you and I, we got to play together. Man, we ain’t played yet.

 

Sean McPherson (Jazz88) 

We’re gonna do that. I an April resolution.

 

Michael Bland (New Power Generation) 

I’m gonna book you for a game, and I don’t want you to say no.

 

Sean McPherson (Jazz88) 

All right, I’m with him. Michael, you have a good One, my friend. All right.

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