Filmmaker Trevor Banks’ mission to put Clyde Stubblefield into the R&R Hall Of Fame

Welcome to Wisconsin's local music scene.

This is Max Inc. Radio.

We are local music.

Give the drummer some.

It is a phrase we actually heard James Brown say about Clyde Stubblefield.

And I am going to dive into this topic now with Trevor Banks.

Trevor is a video and music creator.

He is originally from Madison, Wisconsin.

And the whole idea, Trevor, about Clyde Stubblefield,

what is your drive in trying to bring Clyde's story to the people

so that we can, I guess, pay it forward for him as well.

It is about paying it forward.

Clyde's imprint on music, as we know it, is so vast.

And we've consumed it.

We've recycled it.

We've digested it and regurgitated it in Xeroxton,

spit it out and danced to it in its purest form.

And my motivation in getting Clyde's story out is to maintain that legacy that he deserves.

To preserve his iconicness and his contributions to not just funk,

not just hip-hop, the global landscape of music.

It's the reality, like that's what Clyde contributed to the world.

You have documented this very well in a film about Clyde.

But now it seems your newest mission is to try to get Clyde Stubblefield,

the funky drummer, into the rock and roll hall of fame.

Tell me about your effort.

You touched on the film, which is a project that's still in progress.

But I realized through the process of the filmmaking that one,

I'm learning more about Clyde's impact on music every time we do an interview,

every time we speak to somebody new.

So it became pretty clear, actually, early on,

but more affirming as we went through the process that his impact

and his fingerprint on music is so vast and he's the foundation for so much.

It's a crime that he's not enshrined in an institution like the rock and roll hall of fame.

And so I realized through filmmaking process that I was in a position

with all of these interviews from all of these prominent figures in the music industry,

speaking so highly of Clyde, that there was some power behind all that.

And I held all of this content and all of these interviews and all of these great musicians advocating for Clyde,

providing these testimonials that I was in a position to present a case for Clyde

and his induction in the rock and roll hall of fame.

So that's where we're at now.

And I think the film in that sense has served this call for his induction in the hall of fame.

And ideally, the attention that it brings to Clyde in this serves the purpose of the film.

And people who want to get him inducted into the hall of fame will also be interested in seeing

a really cool and informative film about him as well.

The petition has been going pretty strong and it accompanied it with all of these interviews that we did for the film,

including Questlove, Bootsy Collins, Anderson Park, Christian McBride, George Clinton, Dennis Chambers, Nate Smith,

some of the best drummers, some of my favorite drummers.

Happy hitters!

Big time, I mean, to say the least, Hank Shockley of Public Enemy, I think it's pretty obvious, you know, his influence.

We want to hold the rock hall accountable for what they represent and honor the man who I think represents what they stand for by definition.

The rock and roll hall of fame in Cleveland has some of Clyde's drumsticks on display.

The irony, right? Yeah.

You can come to your own conclusion about that scenario, but I think it speaks volumes.

His sticks wouldn't be in there if they didn't represent something, but those are just a tangible item.

Any sticks could be in there. It's the man who used the sticks that created the magic we all love.

Hopefully they can come to their senses and realize there's a disconnect there.

There's another little ironic kind of twists and fate when it comes to Clyde's connection to the rock hall that's sort of poetic.

But if you go to James Brown's induction page on the website of the rock and roll hall of fame and you see the photo that they use,

there is a very familiar face of someone on the drums behind Mr. Brown.

So I think that's kind of funny and poetic that this man who backed Brown and laid the foundation for so much,

helped lay the foundation of funk is back there in the background supporting quietly, you know, kind of in the shadows.

But you know, it's also funny that the rock hall chose that photo of all the photos, whether purposeful or not, it's pretty ironic.

And let me ask this to be clear, it is not the band and James Brown that's in the rock and roll hall of fame. It's just James Brown.

Correct. The JB's aren't in there, although they were on the ballot in 2015. The James Brown Orchestra are not inducted.

So, you know, that includes not just Clyde, but Jabba Starks, Fred Wesley, P.V. Ellis, Macio Parker, Melvin Parker, the list goes on and on.

There's so many pieces to that machine and that whole wheel, that universe of James Brown that made history and made what we love.

And so, yeah, if they wanted to induct the whole band, they all deserve it. That would be a win. From my perspective, obviously got a little bias.

And I have this motivation with the film in and of itself to tell Clyde's story. So like, I don't think it's far fetched or like out of line to say that Clyde's impact is a little bit separated from, you know,

I think the average band member in terms of what he contributed. You'd be hard pressed to like argue against Clyde, deserving a little bit more.

But again, that's not to take away anything from any of the other band members. Like they all deserve to be in there. If the rock hall was smart, they would just put them all in because they all deserve it.

And they all played a pivotal role in literally the creation of funk music that transcended into hip hop, which is also popular music and, you know, dance music.

A part of the story, I think by now people know Clyde called Madison Wisconsin home for a really long time. That was something that tied your family to Clyde.

Tell us a little bit about that for people who don't know why this is such a big deal to you.

For those who don't know my father is a musician in Madison. He's a drummer. His name is Joey Banks. He's been on the scene for my whole life.

So naturally him and Clyde crossed paths and developed a friendship, you know, I was a kid and Clyde would call the house and I'd answer the phone and he'd be asking for my dad.

And it would be a normal thing, even before I realized how iconic Clyde was.

The impression that he made on me was always prevalent. As I developed into an emerging filmmaker, I realized there's no one's really told this story to the extent that I think it can go.

There's so many nuances to Clyde's story, not just his musical contributions, but just who he was as a person, which directly reflected how he was as a musician and how he was as a musician directly reflected who he was as a person.

The term marching to their own beat is like literally Clyde to a tee. His story needed to be told and him being a figure in our lives was a blessing and afforded me the access to be able to do this, you know, having his blessing to just have the autonomy to tell the story the way it should be and the trust was definitely a privilege.

I've taken the ball and I haven't fumbled it yet, hopefully, and I'm planning to take it all the way to the end zone.

What can we do to help? Have we done enough to give Clyde all the accolades he deserves? What else can we do?

We can champion him. We can tell people about him. I think the Madison community has done a good job of championing him, put Clyde up on the pedestal that he deserves to be on.

He's called Madison his home for the majority of his life. So for all intents and purposes, he's a Madisonian named a street after him, but paint a giant mural, get a statue.

He deserves it. There should be a Clyde, some type of monument to him to make sure his legacy is like planted and cemented in the city.

But in terms of this project, obviously sign the petition, share the petition, spread the word. In terms of the film, we're planning another crowdfunding campaign.

That hasn't been officially announced yet, probably in the summer at a launch. And so that can directly help support the filmmaking production process.

Thus further helping solidify Clyde's legacy, right? Have something that's attribute to him that it'll stand the test of time.

We all want to see both of these things happen. So me too. Me too. Yeah. Yeah. I appreciate it. You for that. You are right there as a Clyde advocate. One of his disciples.