The Meters

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Biography

The Meters are an United States|American funk band based in New Orleans, Louisiana . The Meters performed and recorded their own music from the late 1960s until 1977. The band played an influential role as backing musicians for other artists, including Lee Dorsey , Robert Palmer (singer)|Robert Palmer , and Dr John .

While The Meters rarely enjoyed significant mainstream success, they are considered, along with artists like James Brown , one of the progenitors of funk music and their work is highly influential on many other bands, both their contemporaries and modern musicians working in the funk idiom.

The Meters' sound is defined by an earthy combination of tight melodic grooves and highly syncopated New Orleans "second-line" rhythms under highly charged guitar and keyboard riffing. Their songs "Cissy Strut" and " Look-Ka Py Py " are considered funk classics.

The 1960s and 1970s

Art Neville , the group's frontman , launched a solo career around the New Orleans area in the mid-1950s while still in high school. The Meters formed in 1965 with a line-up of keyboardist and vocalist Art Neville, guitarist Leo Nocentelli , bassist George Porter Jr. and drummer Zigaboo Modeliste|Joseph "Zigaboo" Modeliste . They were later joined by percussionist/vocalist Cyril Neville . The Meters became the house band for Allen Toussaint and his record label , Sansu Enterprises.

In 1969 the Meters released "Sophisticated Cissy" and "Cissy Strut", both major R& B chart hits. "Look-Ka Py Py" and "Chicken Strut" were their hits the following year. After a label shift in 1972, the Meters had difficulty returning to the charts, but they worked with Dr. John , Paul McCartney , King Biscuit Boy , Labelle , Robert Palmer (singer)|Robert Palmer and others. on Allmusic Among those others was Paul Howrilla (personal manager for Dr. John ) an accomplished photographer, with management skills. Art Neville and Paul Howrilla forged a deep, and long lasting relationship to the present day relationship which resulted in quite a few album cover assignments, as well as personal management expertise. Paul Howrilla worked closely with the road management, and when the final world tour with The Rolling Stones ended, he took over via Art Neville’s request, forming The Neville Brothers .

In 1974 Paul McCartney invited the Meters to play at the release party for his Venus and Mars album aboard the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California ; Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones was in attendance at the event and was greatly taken with the Meters and their sound. The Rolling Stones invited the band to open for them on their Rolling Stones Tour of the Americas '75|Tour of the Americas '75 and Rolling Stones Tour of Europe '76|Tour of Europe '76 . That same year, the Meters recorded one of their most successful albums, Fire On The Bayou . From 1976 to '77 they played in The Wild Tchoupitoulas with George & Amos Landry and the Neville Brothers .

They appeared on Saturday Night Live on March 19, 1977, during the Saturday Night Live (season 2)|show's second season . The band broke up later that year.

After the break-up, Neville gained fame as part of The Neville Brothers , Modeliste toured with Keith Richards and Ron Wood , while Nocentelli and Porter "became in-demand session players and formed new bands."

1980s and 1990s

When Hip hop and rap emerged it created a need for sampling. Their music has been sampled by musicians around the world, including rap artists Heavy D, LL Cool J and Queen Latifah, Musiq, Big Daddy Kane, Run DMC, NWA, Ice Cube, Salt N’ Pepa, Cypress Hill, EPMD, Public Enemy, A Tribe Called Quest, Beastie Boys, Naughty by Nature, and Tweet. The Red Hot Chili Peppers pay homage to them in one of their hit songs, and bands such as the Grateful Dead, KVHW, Steve Kimock Band, Widespread Panic, Rebirth Brass Band, Galactic and String Cheese perform The Meters in their concert rotations.
The Meters songs have also graced such movies as “Two Can Play That Game,” “Jackie Brown,” “Drum Line,” “8 Mile,” “Hancock,” and "Red".

2000s

In 2000, a "big offer" enticed all four original Meters to reunite for a one-night stand at the The Warfield|Warfield in San Francisco; by this time Modeliste wanted to make the reunion a permanent one, but the other members and their management teams objected. It wasn't until Quint Davis , producer and director of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival , got them to "put aside their differences and hammer out the details" and headline the Festival in 2005.
The original Meters continue to perform at various one-off concerts such as the 2011 Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival in San Francisco, California .

In June 2011 The Original Meters along with Allan Touissant and Dr. John played the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee. The six men performed Dr. John's album "Desitively Bonnaroo" which was originally recorded with the Meters, to a sold out crowd.
On May 5, 2012 The Meters will return to New Orleans for a performance at the Howlin' Wolf. Tickets went on sale and sold out in one and a half hours.

Discography

The Meters (album)|The Meters (1969), Josie

Look-Ka Py Py (1970), Josie

'' Struttin' (1970), Josie

Cabbage Alley (1972), Reprise

Rejuvenation (The Meters album)|Rejuvenation (1974), Reprise

Cissy Strut (1974), Island

Fire On The Bayou (1975), Reprise

The Best of The Meters (1975), Mardi Gras, Virgo

Trick Bag (1976), Reprise

New Directions (The Meters album)|New Directions (1977), Warner Bros.

Good Old Funky Music (1990), Rounder Records|Rounder Containing previously unreleased material from the Meters' records for Josie Records in the 1960s and 1970s. See Bill Dahl, www.allmusic.com.

Funky Miracle (1991), Charly

Uptown Rulers: The Meters live on the Queen Mary (1992), Rhino

Live At The Moonwalker (1993), Lakeside

Fundamentally Funky (1994), Charly

Funkify Your Life: The Meters Anthology (1995), Rhino

Kickback (album)|Kickback (2001), Sundazed

Fiyo at the Fillmore, Volume 1 (2003), Too Funky

Zony Mash (2003), Sundazed

Copyright Citations

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