Busty and the Bass and George Clinton Premiere 'Baggy Eyed Dopeman'

Montreal’s Busty and the Bass loves its funk. So the octet is, not surprisingly, over the moon about having one of the gods of funk, George Clinton, guesting on its new single, “Baggy Eyed Dopeman,” premiering exclusively below.

“It was pretty cool,” singer-saxophonist Nick Ferraro tells Billboard with acknowledged understatement. “We sent it to him and we had the vocals kind of set. He sent his shit back and I was like, ‘Oh shit — I’ve got to redo everything I did!’ So I went back in and was trying to close my eyes and pretend we were in there together — which was easy, ’cause he’s such a strong presence on the record. I was happy we did that, ’cause we all felt like we had to take it to another level with him on there.”

The Busty crew has yet to meet Clinton, in fact; The appearance was arranged by producer Neal Pogue. “It seems very removed, but at the same time it seems close,” noted keyboardist Alistair Blu, who wrote the track. “We’ve seen videos of him playing the song and painting to it (on Instagram). It’s a funny relationship.”

“Baggy Eyed Dopeman” will be part of Busty’s next “collection of music that will be released at some point,” according to Blu, following 2017’s Uncommon Good. The group did most of the tracking during mid-2018 and has been adding more touches since then (Macy Gray also guests), while also assembling a more thorough team — including a new deal with Arts & Crafts Productions — and a more involved strategy than it had for Uncommon Good. “Even though it’s our second album, the whole team agrees it’s our debut record, really,” Ferraro says. “Before we had a lot of things that came out of jamming, which was really, really fun. But on this we took a little time to make it right.” And the proof, Ferraro and Blu promise, will be heard in the grooves — whenever the album surfaces.

“We feel like the difference between this record and (Uncommon Good) is how we’ve evolved as a collective, as well as independently,” Blu says, to which Ferraro adds, “When we came in everyone had really concrete ideas. I was bringing in finished songs. We weren’t playing catch-up like we did before. Some songs came together in the studio, but most of it was more prepared and thought-out and coming from a greater place of intent — especially the lyrics. We’ve been sitting on it for so long now,” he adds. “We’re just excited to put it out and let people hear how much we’ve grown.”