| Black Merda |
Black Merda in 1969 (clockwise from left: Anthony Hawkins, VC L. Veasey, Charles Hawkins, Tyrone Hite)
|
| Background information |
| Origin |
Detroit, Michigan |
| Genres |
Rock, Funk, Psychedelic Soul |
| Years active |
Mid 1960s-Early 1970s, 2005-present |
| Website |
www.blackmerda.com |
| Members |
Anthony Hawkins
VC L. Veasey
Charles Hawkins
|
| Former members |
| Tyrone Hite |
Black Merda (pronounced “Black Murder”) is an American rock band from Detroit, Michigan, active from the mid 1960s to the early 1970s and reuniting in 2005. They consider themselves to be "the first all black rock band". The core band members are guitarist Anthony Hawkins (aka Wolf), bassist VC L. Veasey (aka Veesee, aka The Mighty V!), and guitarist Charles Hawkins (aka Charlie Hawk), plus original drummer Tyrone Hite. All were born in Mississippi (except Hite, born in Detroit) but came of age in Detroit.
History
Early Session and Backup Work
Anthony Hawkins, and VC L. Veasey (born Roosevelt Veasey), met in elementary school. Hawkins and Tyrone Hite met in high school in Detroit in the early 1960s, and all worked as session and backup musicians in the Detroit scene in the following years. Hawkins and Veasey worked frequently as session musicians for companies such as Fortune Records and Golden World Studios, while Hite worked in sessions originally as a singer before taking up the drums.
Hawkins, Veasey, and Hite eventually teamed up as the Impacts, providing backing for Gene Chandler, Wilson Pickett, The Spinners, The Artistics, Billy Butler, The Chi-Lites, and other soul/R&B acts affiliated with Motown and Brunswick Records. The Impacts were hired as the backing band for the 1965 single "Agent Double-O Soul" by Edwin Starr. Starr took them on as his permanent backing unit and dubbed them the Soul Agents, with a horn section added temporarily. By 1967 the Soul Agents had appeared on the subsequent Starr singles "Twenty Five Miles" and the seminal "War". Hawkins and Veasey (who had been writing songs together since they were 14 years old) also scored as songwriters in 1967 with "I Will Fear No Evil" by Robert Ward, the B-side of his hit "My Love Is Strictly Reserved For You."
Hawkins, Veasey, and Hite (while working with Starr) began to move away from the standard R&B sounds of the period and became heavily influenced by the hard rock sounds of Cream, The Who, and especially Jimi Hendrix. Veasey had first learned of Hendrix from a Seattle newspaper story in 1966 while stationed with the military in Washington State. Veasey introduced Hawkins and Hite to the album Are You Experienced, and the three were inspired to refashion themselves as a rock power trio in the mold of The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Still known as the Soul Agents, in 1967 the trio cut what is believed to be the first cover of a Hendrix song on record, a rendition of "Foxy Lady" that has become a rare collector's item.
During this period, Charles Hawkins (younger brother of Anthony) was added on second guitar to broaden the group’s sound. Another influence on the group’s new musical interests was the general shift in the R&B scene toward harder-edged soul and funk with socially-conscious lyrics.
As Black Merda
Now a quartet with the addition of Charles Hawkins, the band continued working with Edwin Starr as the Soul Agents, with Starr approving of the change in sound to guitar-based psychedelic rock and funk. But in 1968 they decided to craft a new identity as a self-contained rock band. After considering the name Murder Incorporated after a notorious criminal organization, the band settled on Black Murder (suggested by Veasey) as a comment on the rampant inner-city violence experienced by many African Americans during that period. Considering that many young black people were at that time being killed by the police and the Ku Klux Klan in Detroit and in the south, Veasey wanted to choose a name that would be a shocking reminder to the public of how bad the situation was. The spelling was later changed to Black Merda to soften the connotations of the word "murder" while retaining the original theme.
Black Merda continued with Starr for a brief period, as well as backing The Temptations in 1969, but began to view the R&B scene as passé compared to the experimental rock and funk music of Hendrix and other young artists. Regardless, Eddie Kendricks of the Temptations expressed interest in producing Black Merda, and introduced them to like-minded singer Ellington "Fuji" Jordan. Fuji utilized them as the backing band for his psychedelic funk song "Mary Don't Take Me on No Bad Trip," which became a popular single in Detroit (though Black Merda did not receive credit on the record). A full album of songs by Fuji with backing by Black Merda was recorded but never released. Fuji also introduced the band to Marshall Chess of Chess Records, who was interested in broadening the label's well-known dedication to blues, soul, and jazz with more rock and experimental acts. Marshall Chess signed Black Merda to the label on Fuji's recommendation alone.
Chess released Black Merda’s debut album in 1970, and the band briefly became known as leaders among the burgeoning black rock and heavy funk scene that also included up-and-comers Funkadelic and The Bar-Kays. The album suffered from a lack of promotion due to management changes at Chess Records. Disillusioned, the band moved to California to back Fuji once more, as well as Eric Burdon and War. The band later returned to Detroit, but without Tyrone Hite, who decided to stay in California.
Black Merda began work on their second album without an official drummer, with session drummer Bob Crowder being hired just before recording. The album Long Burn the Fire was released in 1972 by Chess subsidiary Janus Records, with only Veasey and the Hawkins brothers pictured on the sleeve. The band's name was changed to Mer-Da on the front cover of the album in an attempt at greater accessibility. The second album also suffered from poor promotion, and the band members later broke up and returned to more orthodox session work in soul and R&B.
Reunion
The reunited Black Merda in 2005 (l-r: Anthony Hawkins, VC L. Veasey, Charles Hawkins)
In 2005, the Funky Delicacies label released the compilation disc The Folks From Mother's Mixer, collecting all the songs from the two original albums, Black Merda and Long Burn the Fire. Thanks to the new attention brought by this compilation and a cult following that showed a growing interest in the obscure black rock of the early 1970s, the Hawkins brothers and Veasey reunited in 2005. (Hite had died in 2004). The reformed Black Merda has played at several festivals in Detroit and the surrounding region as well as New York's Central Park SummerStage concerts series and The Ottawa Blues Festival in 2006.
A compilation of rarities titled The Psych-funk of Black Merda was released in 2006. The band has since released the albums Renaissance (2006) and Force of Nature (2009).
The long-delayed appreciation for Black Merda's influence was further reflected in 2005 when Ja Rule sampled their 1972 track "Lying" as the backing track for "Exodus Intro" on his Exodus album. And again in 2007, when The Detroit MetroTimes named the 1970 track "Cynthy-Ruth" as one of "The 100 Greatest Detroit Songs Ever!" Further recognition was garnered when "Cynthy-Ruth" was featured in the HBO documentary "The Nine Lives Of Marion Barry" which aired in August 2009. Kanye West sampled "Cynthy-Ruth" for use in the track "Teriya King" on the 2009 album Serious Japanese that he produced for Japanese rappers The Teriyaki Boyz.
Discography
References
- Aarstad, Paul. "Black Merda, The Folks From Mother's Mixer" Lost In The Grooves webpage accessed on the internet Aug, 2006. http://www.lostinthegrooves.com/merda
- Barton,G. "Very Ancient, Very ‘Eavy, Very Obscure Dept Black Merda" Classic Rock Magazine. Accessed on the internet Feb, 2007. http://www.classicrockmagazine.com/blog/hard_rock_gets_you_laid/very_ancient_very_eavy_very3/
- Bauer, Matt " The God Fathers Of Black Rock" Exclaim.ca accessed on the internet, July 1, 2009. http://www.exclaim.ca/musicreviews/latestsub.aspx?csid1=134&csid2=870&fid1=39514
- Brown, Geoffrey. "Force Of Nature" Hour.com 2009
- Bush, John, Huey, Steve. "Black Merda Biography" All Music Guide 2006
- Coulon, Sylvain."An interview with VC L. Veasey From Black Merda: The first black rock band!" Digi Fanzine 2006
- Digs, A. "In celebration of Black History Month, I would like to recognize the first black rock group, Black Merda." Digs Daily Online. Accessed on the internet, Feb 2009. http://www.digsdaily.com/2009/02/black-merda.html
- Edmond, Ben. "70s Psych-Funk Outfit Black Merda Will Take Detroit Stage For The First Time in 30 Years" Detroit Free Press, Page 1E, Jan 21 2005
- Edmonds, Ben. "My Soul's Been Psychedelicised. Section about Black Merda" Mojo Magazine, Page 110, Feb 15 2005
- Familton, Chris. " Force Of Nature by the The First All Black Rock Band!" The Dwarf.com.au. Accessed on the internet, June 29 2009. http://www.thedwarf.com.au/nd/albumreviews/force_of_nature_black_merda
- Farber, JIm. " Merda Revisited Black rock band blazed a trail marked by funk and fury" New York Daily News, July 14, 2006.
- Flor, Dana, Oppenheimer, Toby. "The Nine Lives Of Marion Barry" HBO, August 10, 2009, 9am est.
- Fricke, David. Review of Black Merda's The Folks from Mother's Mixer. Rolling Stone Magazine, Page 152, November 28, 2005.
- Heron, W. Kim. Gallert, Jim. Holdship, Bill. Hurtt, Michael. Smith, Brian. Turner, Khary kimani. Waller, Don. Wasacz, Wallter."The 100 Greatest Detroit Songs Ever!" Featuring Black Merda's song Cynthy-Ruth, as number 100The Detroit Metrotimes, Page 32, November 21-27, 2007.
- Mills, Fred. "Black Merda: It's a Detroit Rock Thing". Harp Magazine, Page 68, November 2005.
- Mills, Fred. "The Merda Files". The Detroit Metro Times, Page 10, 2004.
- Niesel, Jeff "A Funkadelic Relic: Black Merda's First Show Outside Detroit In 30 Years" The Cleveland Freetimes, January 18 2006
- Nishimoto, Dan. "Back In Black: A Twist Of Fate For Pioneers Black Merda". Wax Poetics Magazine, Page 67, August/September, 2008.
- Porter, James and Nishimoto, Dan. Liner notes to The Folks from Mother’s Mixer, 2004.
- Rule, Ja. Exodus, 2005
- Tompkins, Dave. "Fugi Wonderland. Featuring Black Merda." Mojo Magazine Page 22, April 2002
- Weisbard, Eric. "The Guide" Review of Black Merda's "The Folks From Mother's Mixer" Blender Magazine, Page 119, March, 2006.
External links
