Funk music is no longer a genre limited to record-store-crate-diggers and those who who were introduced the the sound via underground routes. Over the past decade funk has blossomed and established firm roots deep in our musical fabric, and one of the fruits of the now fertile fields of funk is the band Lettuce. Offbeat recently caught up with the band’s lead guitar player and producer Eric Krasno while he was in New Orleans putting his finger on the funk in many different ways. In just the past few months Krasno has been in New Orleans producing The Motet’s new album, producing Aaron Neville’s new album, working on Soulive’s new album and playing Buku with the Pretty Lights live band. Although a Brooklyn resident, Krasno is an integral part of the funk explosion in New Orleans.
Krasno’s route to funk was not a direct one, but came through artists like Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson and The Grateful Dead. Even though those names don’t necessarily make you think of funk, Krasno gravitated towards certain songs that had funk elements in them and later on identified the common thread. “I don’t know how I found the Herbie Hancock and The Headhunters “Thrust” album, but I am so happy I did.” Shared Krasno. “I was just finding that album when I went to a Berklee summer program in 1992 and met the guys that would make up Lettuce.” Shortly after the Berklee summer program, one of Krasno’s friends in Vermont played him The Meters for the first time and it seems to have changed the game for him. Krasno shared, “I think I listened to The Meters non-stop for three months after first hearing them.”
Now, almost twenty-five years after first hearing The Meters as a teenager, Krasno has joined their ranks as a musician who has helped foster the funk, and he has become a friend and peer of members of the band that changed it all for him. “Even though The Meters are forefathers of the funk sound, it’s members are still very active in the scene, especially at home in New Orleans.”
Krasno and George Porter Jr. have built a friendship over the years, and when they get together to play, that camaraderie shows. According to Krasno, “I actually talk to George Porter Jr. more than some members of my family, which is insane, considering that I am still his biggest fan.”
Krasno and Porter will be playing together at Fool’s Paradise, a new funk-flavored festival in Florida, in The Chris Robinson Soul Revue, which features Chris Robinson (Black Crowes, Chris Robinson Brotherhood), Eric Krasno (Lettuce, Soulive) George Porter Jr. (The Meters), Ivan Neville (Dumpstaphunk), Nikki Glaspie (The Nth Power), Neal Casal (Chris Robinson Brotherhood) and The Shady Horns . Krasno stated he was Porter’s biggest fan, but it sure sounds like Chris Robinson is excited to be playing with Porter as well. Krasno shared, “Chris Robinson is a huge fan of all kinds of music, and a really big fan of The Meters and George Porter Jr. Chris is an encyclopedia of music and a record collector, and he knows everything The Meters have done.”
Krasno and the other members of Lettuce are acting as the curators of Fool’s Paradise and have built the experience around the band. “We just invited all our friends and we are going to have a good time. It’s really as basic as that.” Krasno simply put. According to Kunj Shah of Live For Live Music, “It is more of a destination event than a festival-with some of your favorite funk bands from all over the spectrum. Since Lettuce is curating the festival they will be involved and present with a lot of different acts.”
The foundations of funk were laid by Porter, and he is still showing “young guns” like Krasno how to build upward. Both stewards of an under-appreciated unique form of American music, and agents in furthering it forward, Krasno and Porter help build the bridge between funk’s past and it’s present. The quest to find the funk is different for everyone, but right now, it looks like all lanes lead to New Orleans.
