"They Record in a City That the Only on Vacation."

throughout their work-most notably onBlow Your Whistle,more subtly in the guitar pattern on the more recentCome on In.It adds a flavor rather like that of the Meters' New Orleans Creole music. Latinisms are also abundant:Shake Your Bootyhas a strong feel of clave,the offbeat two -barturn, turn -turn,turn -turn rhythm basic to Cuban music. AndThat's the Way builds as much like a salsa number as an r&b one, with an inexorable midtempo beat kicked on by contrast- ing riffs from vocalists, brass, and saxes. The fact that they record for a small company in a city that the heavy hit -hunters visit only on vacation has also contributed to their success, since it protects them from the formulas of high-powered producers. KC does their own production and-Finch having learned the ropes at TK's studio-their own engineer- ing. Their recording technique is of the standard piecemeal sort. "When Rick and I come up with a song, we go into the studio with the guitarist and the drummer," says Casey. "We do the rhythm section first," adds Finch, "and everything else is overdubbed. KC at Sunshine's cutting lathe Then we spend lots of time mixing...." "It depends how it all flows," continues Casey. by guitar, drums, and piano. Those were the last tracks "Sometimes we might do it all in one day, and other cut for "Part 1" and, according to Finch, "they times we might take a long time. We don't like to rush weren't transferred from 16- to 24 -track like the oth- into it-we like to sit back and think." ers. because they were cut on 24 -track. Finch says he mixes vocals, brass, and percussion "We cut most of the tracks at TK's studio, and pretty equally. If anything predominates, it's usually overdubbed the horns, voices, and percussion here [at the percussion. "I try to make the sound as real and as Sunshine]. This next album will all come from our stu- lively as possible. It's very important to make music dio, and we have our own mastering facilities, which sound exciting. But there are things you can and can- enables us to experiment a bit further." not do [in the mix]. Sometimes you can help it, and That new LP, "Who Do Ya' Love?," breaks away sometimes you can't." a little from the band's almost entirely "up" reputa- All those fat hits have brought the pair enough tion. "This is a little bit different," says Casey, "though money to set up their own 24 -track facilities, Sunshine it's still in the dance vein. We're adding different in- Studios. But their slogan remains, "Keep it simple." struments, trying different tempos. We put a number "We felt that a small studio fit our needs better," Ca- in there calledThe Same Old Songthat was originally sey says. "You're able to get a closeness. It's a better done by the Four Tops. And there's a song that's kind feeling." of islandlike-it's reggae-calledHow About a Little The hardware, Finch adds, is "all very basic- Love?,"which, he says, is quite different from anything very few gadgets. The most outrageous thing we have they've done on past albums. here is a DDL-digital delay line-and that hasn't Simplicity-be it ever so subtly skillful. But that wasn't all that turned this group of relative unknowns, out of a city peripheral to the music biz, into the right band in the right place at the right time. Behind that "They record in a city that the lies the mass "mainstream" audience acquired by heavy hit -hunters visit rhythm and blues over the past fifteen years. As soul was gradually taken over by money and the rise of the only on vacation." funk sound. it became more of a Vegas -and -TV pop style and lost the mix of simplicity, joy, and truth that was its strength. Albeit the music of the big -city been used sinceGet Down Tonight." funkmasters, from James Brown on down, was simple Finch's sound isn't squeaky clean, though it does and truthful, but it was also disquieting. with a vaguely always get its points across. Despite the vocals' rela- threatening edge: it was tight and driving, but tive lack of weight in the mix, for instance, their mean- alarmingly heeaavee. ing is never lost. He also plays things almost entirely KC and the Sunshine Band are funky and tight, straight in the editing. His first noticeable doctoring but they are exhilarating rather than overtly exciting, shows up on the last tracks of "KC ... Part 3" where light rather than heeaavee. Yet not too light: Those I'mYour Boogie Mansegues intoKeep It Comin' Love hooks are more than merely catchy, they're emphat- inan abrupt jump-cut-the first piece of fancy in four ically compelling. And that seems to be the combina- albums. It's a typically simple yet effective flick from a tion that grabs black audiences and white, teenybop- heavy full -band riff into an identical pattern played pers and country clubbers alike. APRIL 1978 125.

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