(Photos by S. Alt at Paradiso, 2010) Michael "Clip" Payne is the lead vocalist of "Susie Saxophone". (Backing vocals by himself, Tracey Lewis and Bianca Boom; E1 Ten does the other part of the lead vocals). The title was originally "Suzy Saxophone", dedicated to th daughter of a friend called "Suzy", but I had to change it because still too many people write Susanne with "z"... and this would be too confusing.
I met Clip for the first time in 2007, when he performed with George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic at Hilversum Alive. All of a sudden, this charismatic man with the big warm smile stood next to me in the audience, greeting my friends who have been knowing him for a long time. It can be challenging to capture him onstage because he's always "hiding", since his role is diverse; often doubling the lead vocals, leading the backing vocals and commenting/echoing the lead vocals. Sometimes on stage, sometimes singing from backstage or in the audience.
Why is he called Clip? He used to wear a paper clip as a nose piercing. He has a spade tattoo on his left cheek. It was done by famous tattoo artist Henk Schiffmacher. Clip's friend E1 Ten has the same tattoo. E1 Ten and Clip are credited together as "spade brothers" on "Saxify". (left: Susanne+Clip, right: Greg Thomas, Susanne, Clip. Photos by R. Glass; taken 22-07-2016 after George Clinton's 75-Birthday concert at Paradiso)
What I found about him on Wikipedia: Michael "Clip" Payne (born William Michael Payne on September 25, 1958 in Detroit, Michigan) is an American musician. He has been a member of the Parliament-Funkadelic collective since 1977. First credited on Parliament's 1979 release "Gloryhallastoopid" with "Choir Chours", he has appeared on over 20 Parliament-Funkadelic collective recordings primarily as a vocalist and keyboardist. Payne, who is sometimes called "The Man in the Box", typically acts as an on-stage commentator during Parliament-Funkadelic's live performances.
Payne's first professional work was the recording of Edwin Starr's "Twenty-Five Miles" with producer Norman Whitfield. In addition to his work with George Clinton and P-Funk, Payne has performed with DRUGS, Cadillac Heights, The 420 Funk Mob, Stoney Clove Lane, and Cacophonic FM.
Payne founded WEFUNK International in the late 80's as a vehicle for his solo projects which became WEFUNK AD2k Records and Filmworks in 1999. Payne is listed as the CEO of the company which is based in Woodstock, NY. Currently associated with label are the groups DRUGS, 420 Funk Mob, and Cacophony FM, all of which are led by Payne, as well as Stefanie Keys, Joey Eppard, and Stoney Clove Lane. There is no stated relationship between WEFUNK AD2k Records and Filmworks and WEFUNK Radio featured on Montreal's CKUT.
This is the title track called Dark Horse. Just as in the album version it features sax and piano solos. It's a pretty wild performance, matching today's start of the Chinese New Year: THE YEAR OF THE FIRE HORSE!Live at Bimhuis, we added a drum solo. Afterwards, I decided to seperate it from the song and post it as an extra video below. Why not in one video?Because the video would become very very long and experience shows that people will not stick around for longer that 6-7 minutes. Yoràn's free drum solo is actually really great and in this seperate video, the true drum lovers can watch and learn from his drum story telling. Sometimes people ask me; What are drummers doing in their solos? To give you an idea of what Yoràn is doing in his solo: He starts with a pattern, an idea. He keeps the pattern going and plays variations over it. Then he combines it with soloing over it with call and reponse phrases and slides in new patterns. Technically it's interesting because he demonstrates a lot of independence and speed, as well as dynamics and sound colours, while telling a story, which means in musical context that the solo has certain elements which can be recognized by the (trained) listener. Many people in the Western part of the world miss the melodic and harmonic context during a free drum solo. It's fair to say a free drum solo without any accompaniment is like an abstract painting. Within the given context you can hear and see what you can manage, depending on your own frame of reference and expectations. In the end, it's about: does it resonate with you? Because both, the painting and the free drum solo, they lack a clear subject (no lyrics, no recognizable image), both forms are highly subjective and open to the interpretation of the audience. They function as a conversation between the artist's feeling and the viewer's/listener's perception.But you also can listen to it with a pure analytical drum ear and try to follow the patterns and phrases. As a musician and human I (try to) do both :-) Enjoy!More info:Susanne Alt: sax, Matthijs Geerts and Ike van Bergen: keys, Thomas Pol: bass, Yoràn Vroom: drums, Helene Jank: percussion Performed at 16th of January 2026 at Bimhuis, Amsterdam, Recorded by Onno Prillwitz Filmed by Robert Glass and Albert Nooij. - (Photos by S. Alt at Paradiso, 2010)Michael Clip Payne is the lead vocalist of Susie Saxophone. (Backing vocals by himself, Tracey Lewis and Bianca Boom; E1 Ten does the other part of the lead vocals). The title was originally Suzy Saxophone, dedicated to th daughter of a friend called Suzy, but I had to change it because still too many people write Susanne with z... and this would be too confusing.I met Clip for the first time in 2007, when he performed with George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic at Hilversum Alive. All of a sudden, this charismatic man with the big warm smile stood next to me in the audience, greeting my friends who have been knowing him for a long time.It can be challenging to capture him onstage because he's always hiding, since his role is diverse; often doubling the lead vocals, leading the backing vocals and commenting/echoing the lead vocals. Sometimes on stage, sometimes singing from backstage or in the audience. Why is he called Clip? He used to wear a paper clip as a nose piercing. He has a spade tattoo on his left cheek. It was done by famous tattoo artist Henk Schiffmacher. Clip's friend E1 Ten has the same tattoo. E1 Ten and Clip are credited together as spade brothers on Saxify. (left: Susanne+Clip, right: Greg Thomas, Susanne, Clip. Photos by R. Glass; taken 22-07-2016 after George Clinton's 75-Birthday concert at Paradiso)What I found about him on Wikipedia:Michael Clip Payne (born William Michael Payne on September 25, 1958 in Detroit, Michigan) is an American musician. He has been a member of the Parliament-Funkadelic collective since 1977. First credited on Parliament's 1979 release Gloryhallastoopid with Choir Chours, he has appeared on over 20 Parliament-Funkadelic collective recordings primarily as a vocalist and keyboardist. Payne, who is sometimes called The Man in the Box, typically acts as an on-stage commentator during Parliament-Funkadelic's live performances.Payne's first professional work was the recording of Edwin Starr's Twenty-Five Miles with producer Norman Whitfield. In addition to his work with George Clinton and P-Funk, Payne has performed with DRUGS, Cadillac Heights, The 420 Funk Mob, Stoney Clove Lane, and Cacophonic FM.Payne founded WEFUNK International in the late 80's as a vehicle for his solo projects which became WEFUNK AD2k Records and Filmworks in 1999. Payne is listed as the CEO of the company which is based in Woodstock, NY. Currently associated with label are the groups DRUGS, 420 Funk Mob, and Cacophony FM, all of which are led by Payne, as well as Stefanie Keys, Joey Eppard, and Stoney Clove Lane. There is no stated relationship between WEFUNK AD2k Records and Filmworks and WEFUNK Radio featured on Montreal's CKUT.Here's a bit of Clip on lead vocals:Opolopo's remix of Susie Saxophone:Michael Clip Payne Links:Discography Wikipedia Official Facebook Page Twitter
