H.B. Concept’s Henri Brown was more into basketball when his cousin Jimi Hendrix took flight

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON SEPT. 30, 1983

By Steve Newton

In one of the songs from his latest album, Eddy Grant sings “Forget your troubles in dancing, singing and playing funky rock and roll.” It would appear that bassist/vocalist Henri Brown of H.B. Concept has taken that message to heart. At a recent local gig the good vibes were rolling off the stage like dry ice as H.B.C. got down with some of the funkiest rockin’ R&B in the city.

The excitement and originality of H.B. Concept is fast making itself evident to Vancouverites. The band enjoyed a week-long engagement at the prestigious Plazazz! Showroom last month, and just before that won top prize out of 18 Lower Mainland acts in the CBC Fame Game television competition. Part of their winnings, a half-hour TV special, will air December 26.

Accompanying Brown in the band are singer Lovena Fox, guitarist Corey Phillips, drummer Gianco Fucito, and keyboardist Paul McIntosh.

“Lovena and me are cousins,” says Brown, “so we’ve been trying to get bands together since we were eight years old. At least twice a year I’d come up to her and say, ‘Listen Lovena, I’m putting a band together and I want you to be in it.’ But for some reason or other it would never come off right.

“And it was funny, because when I finally started putting this band together she said, ‘Well, naa, I don’t think I want to join.’ She was working at Grantree Furniture then, she wasn’t even singing. But I knew she could sing and I knew she loved music a lot. So I kind of fooled her. I said ‘Just come and try it for a week,’ and she loved it so much that right after the first gig she said, ‘You guys are never getting ird of me.’ ”

Brown’s move to lure his cousin into H.B. Concept was certainly a smart one, for–as well as being a great singer–she’s a major contributor to the band’s visual appeal. With magnetic, Donna Summer-ish good looks and plenty of stage presence, Fox is a commanding performer. And the chemistry between her and Brown leaves never a dull moment.

Guitarist Phillips’ recruitment into H.B. Concept was much more spontaneous than Fox’s. It came as the result of an impulsive offer when Brown wss rushing around, getting ready to do a European tour with his former band, Freshwood.

“I walked into Long & McQuade,” recalls Brown, “and I saw this fellow who was playing rock guitar. And you don’t see too many Black guys playing rock guitar–except for Jimi maybe. And I thought, ‘Wait a minute. That is so hot!‘ Because with the influence that I have of R&B and funk music I thought that would be a nice combination.

“But I was in a rush, so I didn’t really get a chance to explain to him what I wanted to do. I just said, ‘Listen, give me your phone number and I’ll call you when I get back from Switzerland.’ And I figured ‘This guy probably thinks I’m nuts or something.’ ”

But Brown did call him–from New York on his return home. And while in Switzerland, he also acquired the services of Naples-born Fucito, who was running his own drum school there.

“I hadn’t even listened to anybody really play yet,” says Brown. “I just more or less put the band together by the thought and the feel about the way everybody was. And it was kinda weird because when I phoned Corey I asked him, ‘Can you play?’ And most people say, ‘Well, I’m getting good’ or whatever. But he said, ‘Yeah, I can play’. The confidence just made me say, ‘Okay, let’s do it.’ ”

Confidence is one thing H.B. Concept have no shortage of. Whether it’s Lovena’s teasing, provocative gestures or Henry’s loony Rick James imitation, there’s always something coming across to grab the audience’s attention. And Brown is no stranger to the spotlight–comedy and acting are right up there with music as his favourite pursuits.

“I love doing movies,” he claims. “I’ve done four already this year. I played a state trooper in First Blood. I did some walk-in stuff on a movie called The Haunting Passion, and some more crazy stuff on a movie called Space Hunter with Peter Strauss. That was wild.”

The personal demands of being in front of a camera are not totally unlike those Brown experiences fronting H.B. Concept itself. Most of the band’s original material–which makes up half of their live set–are his own compositions. And the overall effect of the group is radically different from that of most club acts in town.

“There’s a lot of pressure being in a band like this,” says Brown. “Because it’s not like a Top 40 band–you can’t go play everywhere.

“And it’s not so much that the club owners don’t like the band, but the music we play isn’t familiar to their clientele Most of the clubs in Vancouver are rock clubs, so we’re kind of standing out there all by ourselves.”

But being different–and making a success of it–is something that, you might say, runs in the family for Brown. The Spokane-born singer is a younger cousin of Jimi Hendrix. And who knows–if he’d been born a little earlier maybe Henry Brown would have made the bass-playing connection with his cousin that brought Noel Redding world-wide fame in the Jimi Hendrix Experience.

As it turned out, says Brown with a laugh, “I was not even into music then, I wanted to be a [Harlem] Globetrotter at that time.”

But rubbing shoulders with big names in the music business is still a reality for Henry Brown. When asked whether H.B. Concept has plans to record he burst out with enthusiastic joy.

“I got a phone call the other day from Maurice White of Earth, Wind and Fire. I had left a few messages for him to call me back, and everybody was starting to discourage me, saying, ‘I don’t know if he’ll call back.’ But myself, I said, ‘Well shoot–it doesn’t hurt.’

“So he called me back a day later, and I started explaining to him what we’re doing up here and about how we’re having a hard time because there’s not a very big market for Black music in Canada. I told him we’d like to bring him up here to do some producing for us. And he said, ‘Yeah, I love Canada, and I’d love to come up there, but if I’m going to produce you guys I’d probably bring you down here and do it in my studio in L.A.’

“So he asked us to send him a tape of originals and said he’d call back as soon as he’s heard them. He said that if they have potential then he’ll do it with us. And you can’t ask for more than that, man.”

You sure can’t. And at last report Brown was on his way to California with the videotape of their appearance on The Fame Game, part of their prize for winning it. And the chances are good that White and Brown will hit it off musically, since H.B. cites Earth, Wind and Fire as one of his main influences.

“What they try to portray and come across with is nice because, to me, everything that you say in your songs is going to reflect on somebody. So if you can get a hit song that’s saying something, then you can go somewhere.

“Like we’ve got tunes that say, ‘You’ve got to believe, believe in love, there’s nothing I can do until I get close to you.’ It’s hard to say something like that, unless you can get out there with the music.”

To read over 100 of my other interviews with local Vancouver musicians since 1983, go here.