AVERAGE WHITE BAND Picking up the pieces

The Scottish funksters are on the rise again, thanks to rappers' extensive sampling of their music.
By JOHN PATRICK GATTA
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
IT'S NOT JUST YOUNG BANDS THAT HAVE developed a do-it-yourself approach to their career. Average White Band, which hasn't had a hit single in decades, has watched its profile rise again over the past five years thanks to extensive touring and a show that keeps audiences not only satisfied but wanting more.
"I don't know exactly how we fit in. It's a mystery," said guitarist/vocalist Onnie McIntyre during a phone interview from his New York home. "We have a solid core fan base. We have a lot of kids come to our music via samples. And the kids that do come are blown away to see a band playing with real music. It's not a deejay. It's not samples. It's what you get."
McIntyre is referring to the more than 200 rap and R & amp;B songs by artists such as Janet Jackson, TLC and P. Diddy that have used samples of AWB's recordings. Besides live dates and the band's music included in films ("Swingers," "Blue Streak," "Undercover Brother"), it's the best possible promotion of the funk act that's been performing and recording since the early 1970s.
At home in Youngstown
He mentioned a kinship between the group's upbringing to its upcoming performance in the area. "Youngstown has always been a good venue for us. Working class town. A lot of us from Scotland were from working class towns and the steel mills."
Like other artists of his generation, McIntyre can rely only on radio to play the group's past hits. It ignores new material. In AWB's case, that includes its first studio album in seven years, "Living in Colour." It's the band's fourth release since re-forming in 1989 after a seven-year hiatus.
McIntyre and Alan Gorrie (bass/keyboard/vocals) are original members in a lineup that's rounded out by longtime saxophonist Fred Vigdor, drummer Brian Dunne and the newest addition, guitarist/bassist/vocalist Klyde Jones.
Looking back
Creatively, what drives McIntyre and company on the new album and in concert is what inspired him as a teenager back in the '60s -- American R & amp;B and jazz. He cites specific artists as Marvin Gaye, Sam and Dave, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderly and the Motown roster as having a profound effect on him and future AWB bandmates.
"I was 16 or 17, come home from school and someone played me James Brown 'Live at the Apollo.' I'd never heard anything like that and I've never been the same since. The whole approach to music was revolutionary to me. I mean everyone in the band in their own way did the same thing. We really got together via common love of the same kind of music," he said.
"Although we formed in London, being Scottish, talking the same language, most of us knew each other from Scotland one way or another. We kept turning up at the same gigs. Al Green was in town, we would all be there. If James Brown was in town, we were all there. Finally, we said, 'Well why don't we form a band then? See what happens.'"
At that time, Great Britain was enamored with the glam rock sounds of David Bowie, T. Rex and Gary Glitter as well as the progressive rock provided by Yes and Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Despite going against the grain of fashion, Average White Band found a small but formidable group of followers. As McIntyre put it, club owners loved the band because all the dancing would increase beer sales.
'Pick Up the Pieces'
In what he described as a bit of youthful naivet & eacute;, the band members packed their gear and moved to Los Angeles to record their second album on their own with no label support. It was there that former member Hamish Stuart came up with the melody line that would become "Pick Up the Pieces," the group's smash hit single in 1975 and its signature track.
"We just thought it was going to be a great song to do live. Couldn't wait to get back to London to the Marquee [Club] and play it live. It was very much like a James Brown tribute. We listened a lot to the J.B.'s (Brown's backing band who cut their own albums) and they had a record out called 'Pass the Peas.' So the part 'pick up the pieces' came from that. It was an afterthought, just stuck it in half way through."
He admitted that because of its funky sound, American audiences were surprised to find who was actually performing it onstage.
"Everything was sent out on a white label without a picture of the band. Radio stations played it 'cause they liked it, mainly on R & amp;B stations. When the audiences came to shows, they had no idea we were white, never mind from Scotland. So, it was the strangest thing for us touring because the audience was looking at us with their arms folded. 'Where's the band?' Of course, they realized that we were the band and some amazing scenes followed."