Tuesday, March 19, 2024

HOUSE BANDS: The Sai Whatt Band Has Been Throwing Down for Over 40 Years! (Watch/Listen)

*We’ve always known of their existence. They are the ones who get the party started and keep it going. They are relentless performers who play hard, take short breaks and best of all, perform all the songs that we hear on the radio… LIVE. They are amongst the most underrepresented musicians in the music industry. Who are they?

HOUSE BANDS. 

EURweb is proud to introduce this new series to recognize and salute HOUSE BANDS. And according to Lee Bailey, a former broadcaster who knows his stuff, who better to kick this off than Los Angeles’ premier group, The Sai Whatt?? Band.

38 years running and still going strong!!
38 years running and still going strong!!

*As house bands go, The Sai Whatt Band can make a claim that few other bands can match. They have stood the test of time, For over 40 years these brothers have been doing their thing around Los Angeles. EURweb’s Lee Bailey sat with the fellas to catch up on how they have managed to consistently work in the business and stay relevant to their fan base.

Sai Whatt Band founder, Jimmy Hamilton plays keyboards, vocals and even bass at times.
Sai Whatt Band founder, Jimmy Hamilton plays keyboards, vocals and even bass at times.

No doubt you’ve heard members of Sai Whatt at some point individually. They have worked with hitmakers such as Stevie Wonder, The Gap Band, Yolanda Adams, James Brown, Brian McKnight and dozens more. Formed by singer-musician Jimmy Hamilton in 1973 as The Jimmy Hamilton Trio, the band expanded in 1975 and today  includes members Dale Hightower (vocals), Cliff Brown (Guitar), Warren H. “Hamm” Hagood II (Drums and vocals), and Frankie “Babe” Moore (lead and background vocals); along with Hamilton.

But first things first. How on earth did they get the name Sai Whatt?? and who decided to spell it this way?

“There was a guy named Aubrey Taylor who said why don’t you guys call yourselves “Jimmy Hamilton and The What” ‘cause there was a group around called ‘The Who’ founder Jimmy Hamilton laughs as he shares this revelation with Lee Bailey. But then the guys said ‘Oh, that sounds corny.’”

He says the group continued to kick names around for a bit and in the interim, needing clarification at times, someone would ask, ‘Say what?’ Eventually, they realized that simple question wouldn’t be a bad name to call the group. Thus, Jimmy Hamilton and The “Say What” Band had a name and out of that name – thanks to lead vocalist Frankie “Babe” Moore, came the very creative spelling, … Sai Whatt??

Frankie "Babe" Moore has been with the band since day one.
Frankie “Babe” Moore has been with the band since day one.

Moore, originally from Alabama, has been with the band since day one and there’s a story behind how he got his stage name, “Frankie Babe.”

Previous to joining Sai Whatt, he had been playing in clubs and was not allowed out front because of his age. The group he played with (“The Louis Brothers Trio) would always say, “The babe gotta stay in the back”  and pretty soon his mother started referring to him as “Frankie Babe” and the name stuck.

Initially, the Sai Whatt band recorded under the name Prime Time, and in 1982 they signed with Total Experience Records to record “Flying High”  in 1984 and “Confessed Baby” in 1985; and though they had no slam dunk hits, the albums did make the charts.

While on Total Experience, they were labelmates with Charlie Wilson, The Gap Band, and Yarbrough and Peoples, each of whom went on to experience chart-topping success. LB asks them to share their thoughts on why they feel their band didn’t garner the same main stream success.

“We had a record label behind us, but…they did not push us,” says Frankie Babe. “The record I Owe It To Myself made #1 in Europe and #19 in the country with no promotion. I think that is what killed Prime Time, because we didn’t really get pushed out there.”

Prime Time or any group under a recording contract (at that time, at least), was not allowed to perform in clubs using their brand name. It was seen by the record companies as a conflict of interest. So while the group recorded under Prime Time, and were free to do gigs, they had to do them under the name Sai Whatt Band. Babe tries to explain this logic, which he admittedly did not necessarily agree with.

“You come to see us basically free under the Sai Whatt Band, but then they say ‘why would we pay for the Sai Whatt Band if we can go here to see them free’ so that’s why they decided to go with Prime Time.”

Needless to say, Sai Whatt recognizes that their brand did indeed suffer because only a few people know the two bands are one in the same.

All in all, the band says that at the time Total Experience (then operating under the Polygram/Mercury brands) was trying to build their own record company and basically used the Prime Time/Sai Whatt Band members for their songwriting abilities. The guys ended up writing hit songs for both The Gap Band and Yarbrough and Peoples, who were actually on Polygram.

“So, the original idea wasn’t to really promote us,” says Jimmy. “I got 3 or 4 songs on The Gap Band [and]…a #2 hit on Yarbrough & Peoples called ‘Guilty: I wouldn’t Lie to You.’”

To add insult to injury, Hamilton says some of their best songs were taken from them and given to other acts.

Warren "Hamm" Hagood
Warren “Hamm” Hagood

While some groups may have a problem with the label, “House Band,” this is not the case with The Sai Whatt Band. It’s a title they wear proudly.

“Not at all, we earned it I think,” Frankie Babe responds as Lee Bailey asks if they mind being referred to in this way. “We have such longevity…We perform so often and have been going for so long…we rarely need rehearsals now. We’ve been together that long. We can come up with shows and Jimmy does a lot of creations away from us and then we come together and decide what songs we want to do and next thing you know we’re performing it onstage. We do it a couple of times and then it’s perfected!”

LB, who has listened to the band for at least 10 years, expresses how impressed he is with their ability to nail a well-known song “every time” and questions how they manage to execute this.

“That’s because we have such a critical audience,” says Hamilton about the African American crowd that frequents clubs such as La Louisianne in Los Angeles to hear them play. “They are hard, playing [in front of] the same people all the time. So if you don’t come up with perfection you’re gone. So that’s our motivation,” he chuckles.

Are there other songs that you don’t do because you can’t get it absolutely right, asks Bailey.

Absolutely! If we feel we can’t do a song justice, we leave it alone. It’s very few that don’t fit our capabilities because we’re diverse in singing,” says Hamilton.

They laugh when Jimmy starts reminiscing on how Frankie Babe “used to have the greatest falsetto in the world!” And, though the memory is bittersweet, Babe admits he used to fancy patterning himself after Earth, Wind & Fire’s Philip Bailey.

“It’ll never come back,” Babe says longingly about his former falsetto adding, “If it don’t sound right, I won’t do it at all…It comes from being a constant perfectionist…If it’s a song that we can take…from a falsetto and bring it into a natural and it still has the same effect, we will do that.”

And this is interesting. Do we ever really consider the hazards our behavior or actions in these clubs may cause to the performers? Of course we realize that a stray bullet can hit anyone; or flying glass can end up anywhere. But what about smoke? Remember when we were allowed to smoke in clubs? How many performers out there today, who never smoked a day in their lives, are suffering because of it? Hear what Babe feels is the reason he can no longer hit those high notes.

“I’m going to tell you, personally, what I think it was,” Babe confesses when LB asks why his falsetto is gone. “It was before they stopped allowing people [to] smoke in the clubs. I think the smoke got into me. Killed my vocals as far as falsetto and I noticed once they ­­­­­­­­­­­stopped people from smoking inside clubs it was too far gone and I couldn’t get it back.”

Damn!

Babe says he never smoked nor drank. But adds he didn’t suffer any setbacks such as depression or anger as a result of losing his ability to sing high. He just went to a more natural singing voice and basically kept it moving. The band chooses songs and who will sing them based on what best suits a person’s voice.

Sai Whatt feels fortunate to book consistently; and the group says although they may not get the financial rewards of the more popular bands, they get a great deal of “ego boosting” from their loyal fan base.

This band, who never brings in substitute vocals even in the event of an emergency, loves working so much they actually force themselves to take vacations. Because some of them also have day jobs, if an emergency arises and a musician can’t perform a drummer or guitarist will step in.

“When it comes to vocals its kind of hard to get somebody to come in to play to a song we’ve already been doing forever,” says Frankie.

Dale Hightower
Dale Hightower

If you haven’t heard this awesome band, they want you to see exactly what they’re workin’ with!

“We’ll go wherever a party or organization would like to bring us,” Hamilton says in response to LB’s inquiry as to their interest in traveling outside of southern California. “We’re not restricted on anything. They’ll have to get us there but we don’t have no handicaps about going anywhere.”

To learn more about the band, where they are performing, or to book them at your club or event, visit their website here or call 310 864-9974. Frankie Babe also invites you to email him (now you know this is a real treat! Who does that??) at: [email protected]

Check out The Sai Whatt Band performing (and their fans diggin’) the Frankie Beverly and Maze hit, “Happy Feeling” below. Cliff is killin’ that guitar!

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