The Whatnauts and the Whatnaut Band – Message From A Black Man from the A & I Records 45

As we roll into the last offical weekend of Summer, I wanted to shout out to a bunch of people who have been giving me props on my mixes, and FMF in general. A huge shout out to Scholar once again at Souled On , Larry at Funky 16 Corners, Vincent at FuFu Stew, Heavy Soul Brutha Dave at Heavy Soul Brutha, Colin over at In Dangerous Rhythm, and the stacks of people who have stopped by and gave some love. I do have some news, as I have started to dig through the Hip Hop collection and put together some records for the first FMF Hip Hop mix. I spoke with NJ’s premier turntablist (even if he doesn’t think so) and serious crate digger/ beatmaker, DJ Skills, who is ready to collaborate on a mix as well. It’s gonna be a good collaboration. I will keep you informed on that. One last guy I want to put on positive blast: my man Sean from The Offside Rules, who is a bigger football (I’m talking soccer here people) nutter than I am. If you’re even vaguely interested in the game, check him out, his perspective on the World game will keep you glued to the computer screen. Ok, on with the program.

I am still digging out finds in that goldmine box I uncovered a few weeks ago, and this here record would be one of them. Not particularly in the greatest shape, but pretty damn Soulful none the less. I always try to pick up anything I see from this band, mostly on the Stang Label, so when I uncovered The Whatnauts and the Whatnaut Band “Message from a Black Man” on Stang subsidiary A & I Records, I knew I was on to something sweet. Now both sides of this record bang, and the flip is a cover of Sly Stone’s “Dance to the Music”. Unfortunately the damn thing skips so “Message” will have to do. It’s been covered a bunch of times, but I’m finding this non Reggae version (the Heptones version is kinda hot too) is slowly taking over as one of my favorites.

Natives of Baltimore, MD, The Whatnauts consisted of lead vocalist Billy Herndon, Garrett Jones, and Gerald Pinkney. They did not write their own tunes. The Whatnauts were produced by George Kerr, whose other projects included the O’Jays, Linda Jones (N.J.’s all time Queen of Soul), and a small band on the GSF label called, ahem, Skull Snaps. Not that anyone has heard of them or even sampled their drums. Just playing, you know what drums I speak of. Some say overused, played out, but I digress. Focus grasshopper, and get back to the Whatnauts. Not using the original All Platinum house band, Kerr opted for Michael Watson (guitar), Curtis McTeer (bass) and Donald McCoy (drums), to smoke the tunes on stage live, and to flex their studio skills on record. The Whatnaut Band made up for the guys themselves not being able to play instruments, and were a more than decent backing band. Singing mostly of heartache and pain, this trio had a few hits, including “Girls”, with The Moments (which I picked up here in the States and also in Quebec as well), “I’ll Erase Your Pain Away”, and this single. They went on to chart in the 80’s as well with “Help Is On the Way. A mighty fine 12” if you can get your hands on it, and I think you can.

Written by Norman Whitfield, this political song echoes out the times as the Whatnauts call out: “No matter how hard you try, you can’t stop me now…..”. You can’t stop these guys. Who cares if they couldn’t play instruments or write their own songs. It doesn’t matter, because these boys could sing their collective asses off. Add one of the best unknown backing bands and well, you’ve got a recipe for good music. I know they were not that successful on the charts, but in a music sense, the Whatnauts were some bad ass dudes, putting out music that some 30+ years later still means something. I’ll be back over the weekend with some more goodies for you to savor. Keep Diggin’!

PS: Larry Grogan, DJ Honeydripper, and Sport Casual will be holding it down at the LuckyCat on Grand St. in Brooklyn, NY tonight. They will be opening up and spinning in between one of today’s greatest Afro Soul bands, the Budos Band from Staten Island. It’s only $5, it’s their record release, and if I wasn’t DJing in Asbury Park tonight, I’d be there. Have a great holiday weekend.