So what the funk is going on?

Members of James Brown is Annie explain why Scotland is one nation under a groove

THE question today is one that Bootsy Collins and George Clinton would approve of. Do you have the funk? And for once in my life I can say undeniably, categorically say that today, yes, yes, I do. I do have the funk.

In fact, it’s possible that I have access to most, if not all, of the funk in Scotland right now, all gathered in a back room of the National Museum of Scotland. It comes in the shape of seven men sitting around a table.

They range from their late twenties to late sixties and most of them go by the collective name of James Brown is Annie. Edinburgh’s premier funk band are in the building. And they’re not alone.

But, first, let’s make some introductions. Going counter-clockwise around the table we have Barry Gordon, 41, rhythm guitarist, originally from Thurso (“And when you’re old enough to afford a bus ticket out, you go”). Scott Jamieson, drummer, just turned 28 (and a man who can dislocate his thumb at will), Eddie Miller, keyboard player, 38, a man who has broken every bone in his body, he tells me. Three times.

Then there’s Brett Allan, bass player, 39, originally from Fife, Jonny White, 27-year-old sax player and the youngest member of the band, who in his teens played rugby for Edinburgh Under-16s and Under-18s.

And finally there’s Aki Remally, lead guitar, lead vocal, 35 years old, who manages the Jazz Bar in the city’s Chambers Street when he’s not playing.

Is that everyone? Ah, not quite. To my left there is the non-band member. Some guy, “age unknown,” he says, who one or two of you might have heard of before.

His name is Hamish Stuart. A man who in his time has played with Paul McCartney and Chaka Khan and once played in a Scottish outfit called the Average White Band. In short, he is the father of Scottish funk.

He is also the man who produced – or “reduced,” as he says – the band’s new album, JBiA II. Their second, as the title might suggest, and as crisp a thing as a conveyor belt in the Golden Wonder factory; 11 tracks that now and again play with pastiche (Five Up High with its shout-outs to CB radio), but are mostly defiantly contemporary.

It’s a confident, self-assured record that takes the band up a level, inspired by Stuart, who they call their “funky umpire”. The Average White Band link has long been established. AWB member Molly Duncan produced the band’s first album. And now Stuart has pitched in for the second.

What did Stuart bring to the party? “I guess a sensibility, a bit of discipline to make the focus more about the songs,” suggests Remally.

“Crack that whip,” Stuart jokes.

“I still have the scars,” says Remally.

“I think he made us a more rounded group,” says Gordon, the band’s natural mouthpiece. “When we played with Molly he helped us find the groove. Eddie and Aki share lead vocals on a lot of songs. Hamish is, in my opinion, one of the greatest soul singers of all time, so to have him come in and be able to harness both voices made a big difference to us vocally.”

More than that, he adds, “there’s more space in the group, everybody knows their jobs better and vocally and instrumentally we are so much tighter and together”.

Why did Stuart want to produce the record in the first place? “I was immediately excited because we’d done a couple of gigs together. It was the kind of music I know, and I don’t get asked to produce a lot of records, so I was flattered.

“I love making records and making music is what I’ve done one way or another for the last 50 years. The music the guys were playing I recognised as something I could get my teeth into. And then, when they started demo-ing songs early last year, hearing the raw material took me back to the way the Average White Band did things.”

“He just fitted into the rest of the band,” suggests Allan. “Hamish was first in and last out of the studio,” adds Gordon. “That tells you everything.”

That dedication can be seen in the group too. JBiA II, after all, represents their dogged determination and stick-at-itness. Half the band are