John Smith & Valerie Day, 1986

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Its drizzling rain as I load up my Volvo with
records, a computer and a boom microphone.
Winding up the evergreen lanes of outer-
Southwest Portland, the trip itself has an aura
of antiquity; a pleasant Sunday drive to the
citys fringe.

My destination is the home studio of John Smith
& Valerie Day an unassuming husband and
wife duo who happen to be 80s pop stars.
Smith grew up in San Pedro in the early 70s,
tuning in to local jazz-funk station KBCA for
extended listens along the Mahavishnu-
Coltrane continuum. Day is a fourth-generation
Oregonian. She graduated from Portlands
Caitlin Gabel High School in 1977. Her early
studies include rumba & ballet.

The couple met on February 14, 1975 at The
Cosmic Bank of Divine Economy. Smith had
landed at the Portland-area commune after a
hitchiking sojourn in Washington state. As the



















two grew closer, Nu Shooz formed. In June of
1979, the band held its first show in Portlands
Colonel Summers Park.

In 1985, Dutch producer Pieder Slaghuis cut an
unsolicited mix of the couples feel-good
synthesizer tune, I Cant Wait. The resulting
success of the mix granted international
visibility for Nu Shooz, a gold record & tacit
pride amongst Pacific Northwest residents. The
group continued to release records throughout
the 80s. Smith would go on to score
commercials after the groups demise in 1992.
Day has since taught jazz vocal studies at
Portland State University and has championed
local arts education programs. Her lips appear
on Portland company Hot Lips pizza boxes.

This Invisible Jukebox began in conversation
with John Smith under natural light in his
upstairs studio. Valerie Day would later join us
for selected listening tests.


Roy Ayers
The Ri ver Ni ger
From Africa, Center of the World (Polydor) 1981

JS: Did he get Maurice White to play kalimba
on this?

I t mi ght be. Thi s i s al so ri ght around t he
t i me he made a record wi t h Fel a.

The first 12 remix I ever heard was Fela. It
was called Ja Funmi. It was so exciting. They
did tape cutting, made a breakdown and cut it
in so theres this abrupt change that you could
never do live because the cymbal would ring
over.

Ah, so youre t hi nki ng about i t i n t he
way a DJ does.

Oh I always think about it. [Back then] the job
description was different. It was likefill the
dance floor. Thats it. And that we could do. To
make a living here in town wed play
weddings, proms, five nights at Elis

I dont know t hat spot .

Oh, its gone now. All the clubs [from back
then] are gone. I wanna make a map of where
all the clubs were.

You coul d do an overl ay on Googl e
Maps or somet hi ng l i ke t hat .

Oh yeah. Right? I would love to see that. And
then you could fill it in with other people cause
we werent in the punk scene.

An homage to The Wires flagship interview
format, we play musicians a series of records
which they are asked to identify and comment
on with no prior knowledge of what they are
about to hear. This time its the turn of
Nu Shooz
Tested by Bobby Smith.
Transcription by John Smith.

Sure. There coul d be addi t i onal
overl ays generat ed by t he guy f rom t he
Wi pers or l i kewhomever el se.

Yeah, there was Urban Noize. We were
actually the anti-punk band.

You woul dnt pl ay t o t he punk crowd?
Or you j ust werent i nt erest ed i n punk?

No, no. Valerie and I started out in Latin
bands. Before I could even arrange horns they
let me do it. So I went to New York in 78 and
thought I was this hot jazz guitarist who was
into Latin musicand you go there the first time
and you get your ass kicked. There were
fifteen-year-old kids there that played better
than I would ever play in my life! So I came to
this realization that (A) Im not

Lat i n?

Im not Puerto Rican. And (B) with the jazz
thing, you could be a famous jazz guy and
youd just be playing for fifty bucks at some
club with ten people in it. So I got home and I
said, Im gonna do something American. Im
gonna do a soul band with horns. I loved
horns. I couldnt live without em after being in
a Latin horn band.


Eart h, Wi nd & Fi re
Let s Groove
From 12 single (ARC, Columbia) 1981

We played this song! This was a great era for
us. The best Nu Shooz band was late 80 to
the middle of 82. We had four horns. We had
two guitarists. Valerie was the percussionist.

So were t al ki ng Cant Turn I t Off era?

Yeah, Cant Turn It Off era.

Do you know Toshiko Akiyoshi and the
Akiyoshi Tabakin Big Band?

No. Way over my head.

Well in 75 I just decided I was gonna be an
arranger. I got turned onto arranging through
Latin Music but then I heard Toshiko Akiyoshi
and the Akiyoshi Tabakin Big Band, which was
modern. So a lot of Cant Turn It Off is just
stolen from them. That kind of horn arranging
was just my imitation of Toshiko. And I met her.
She hardly spoke English.

I t s st range t o hear t he l i neage of
Japanese f unk t o Nu Shooz.

Well, its not funk.

What woul d you cal l i t ?

Its modern big band. Around 1980, I was in
The Walter Bridges Big Band; this old guy. He
claimed he was the first black member of the
Portland Musicians Union, Local 99. And he
claimed that he played with Count Basie at one
timehe ran this Sunday Night rehearsal band
at the Musicians Union.

Thi s i s t he one i n Sout heast t hat s st i l l
t here?

Yeah. The Sunday Night rehearsal band. I tried
to write one arrangement for them and it was a
disaster! I didnt understand the architecture of
Big Band arranging - that you have sections
playing against each other.
How many pi eces were you wri t i ng f or?

Seventeen.

Many more t han t he t hree or f our horn
max t hat you woul d have had i n Nu
Shooz.

It was a disaster. And then someone gave me
this arrangement of So Very Hard to Go, the
Tower of Power song, and I looked at it and I
thoughthmmThese are the same chord
voicings that youd use on guitar.

So you were abl e t o t ranspose?

Theres no fifth. Its like 5-3-7 or 6-3-7 going
from top to bottom. I looked at it and instantly
the Tower of Power style was decoded for me.

I nt erest i ng!

Just by looking at it
Poolside Studios, 1985


But Earth, Wind & Firethey were like getting
a new Cadillac. Every time one of their records
came out it was the finest of the finest. You just
looked up to them. It was like this elegance!

Ri ght , and t hei r sense of I mpressi oni sm
as wel l - wi t h t he cost umes, and t he
cosmi c vi deos.t heres a l ot t o aspi re
t o wi t h t hem.

Im sorry. Dont anybody get offended but we
called it the Egyptian Space Negro thing!

At t he t i me

At the time. It took me [a while] to figure out
that I wanted a horn band. That I wanted to
play funk. The polyrhythms of James Brown;
thats what attracted me. Like hitting a horn hit
on TWOonePOW! Thats the stuff I get off
on.

So I can see why Nu Shooz wasnt
necessari l y a f ol k band or a rock band.

Thats also why Cant Turn It Off was too
complicated. It was all these things that didnt
quite gel because they had to be simplified.
There were maybe too many ideas in there.


Shock
Let s Get Cracki n
From Shock (Fantasy) 1981

Is this P-Funk?

No. Somet hi ng a l i t t l e more regi onal .

Holy Mackarel! Is this Pleasure?

Cl ose.

Shock?

Yes.

Our drummer is Johnny Riley. He was in the
band in 89/90. We did a short tour and
really hit it off. Hes a great songwriter, too.
Hes written a bunch of songs I wish I had
written.

One thing I want to say is that we didnt have
every record available [back then]. Now we
live in an era where you can access everything.
I used to have to go down to L.A. and tape the
radio. There was no funk radio in Portland.

[That said,] Nu Shooz was based on about six
records! One was Grandmaster Flashs The
Message - that whole album. You can hear all
our kick and snare patterns came from that.

I ve heard you descri be Port l and i n t he
earl y 80s as a gol den era f or R&B
musi c. I m t ryi ng t o get an i dea of what
t hat l ooked l i ke. Di d you f i nd t hat you
werent real l y i nt ersect i ng wi t h say, t he
guys f rom Pl easure or Shock, or any of
t he ot her R&B bands?

No. We were working so much - playing five
nights a week plus weddings and funerals.
Although I would go down to
Coolr gigs at the Last Hurrah
and sit there and write hooks
and bass lines while they were playing. Not
that I was stealing but it was because I didnt
have a drum machine.

Di d t hey empl oy drum machi nes?

No.

So i t was most l y j ust Bruce Cart er. And
you di dnt need anyt hi ng el se wi t h t hat
guy pl ayi ng drums.

No.

At t hat t i me, what part s of t own were
you pl ayi ng shows at ? Were you i n
Nort heast ?

Oh no. It was all downtown. The Last Hurrah
was on Sixth and Alder. Elis was on Fourth,
half a block North of Alder. Then there was
Louie La Bambas which was more of a punk
club. Those werent really our people, but we
would do nights in there.

Poolside Studios,
Portland, 1985
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Nu Shooz, 1982

Nu Shooz
Make Your Mi nd Up
From Goin Too Far 7 (Poolside) 1985

Thi s one i s my f avori t e. I t sounds l i ke a
l ot of out si der pri vat e- press st uf f t hat
came out of Cal i f orni a around t he same
t i me. To me i t f eel s real l y raw and
unf i ni shed.

Like not slick.

Yeah. But t hat s what makes i t
i nt erest i ng. Theres vi braphone
experi ment s, wet synt hesi zer
st uf f happeni ng and t hese
conversat i ons i n t he
background. I t s not your
t radi t i onal Nu Shooz
recordi ng.

The synth is a Roland JX-3P. It had
eight patches in it. You can hear
them all over [that record]the
chime sound on I Cant Wait.

You mean t he Ameri can mi x of I Cant
Wai t .

Yeah. Not that Emulator stuff that the Dutch
guy did.

So, what s goi ng on at t he begi nni ng?
Theres voi ces i n t he background. I t
sounds l i ke a l i vel y st udi o envi ronment .

We had a dozen people in there to do the
Hey! Make your mind up, vocal. I forget
who all was there. Andy Stokes might have
been there. Calvin Walker. Caton Lyles.

I s Nat e Phi l l i ps on t hi s one?

Yeah, he played on the whole record for like
75 bucks. And he owned a Minimoog, too.

Hes what s bri ngi ng t hat sound i n many
waysf or t he bass.

They were all my bass lines but eventually I just
felt like he would lean into it more. And he
really did.



Theres a l ot of nuance and i nf l ect i ons.

The way he dialed in the patches...Ive never
been able to [recreate] the sound that he got.

So around 1982 t heres a sea change i n
t he group?

Well, we had this great band but horns were
falling out of style. Cameo and
everybodythey were all getting rid of their
horn sections. I was starting to get bored with
our audiences insistence on mid-tempo funk
and the band had split into factions. A third of
the band wanted to play new wave. We got
offered a tour of Idaho, Montana, and
Washington. Six weeks. And the wars between
the mid-tempo funk people and the new wave
people really intensified [within the group].

We got back to Portland at the end of this and
Coolr had taken over our spot at the Last
Hurrah. All of a sudden they were the hot
band. We got knocked off our throne and right
after that all the funk people quit. We went
through this awkward period, like 83/84 and
thats when a lot of this stuff was written:
Make Your Mind Up and especially I Cant
Wait. I was trying to take my band back from
the new wavers and just write the funkiest thing
that I could write! I think that my
belief in it was never stronger than
right then. I was really just fighting to
turn it back into something that I
likedand then it kind of gelled. At
the beginning of 85, we got some
new people in and it turned back into
a funk band. We got on the radio
right away!

I nt erest i ng. Once you get i nt o
85/86 i t seems t hat pop musi c st art s
t o become over- produced. Theres of t en
t oo much goi ng on. The t hi ng t hat s cool
about t hose 82/83 boogi e records i s
t hat t he product i on i s pret t y basi c and
sl eek. You l ook at a guy l i ke Kashi f or
Evel yn Ki ng

Nobody was syncing up two 24-track machines
[then]. I Cant Wait was recorded on a 2
sixteen track which is the most robust, beautiful
sounding format. The tracks are a little wider. I
swear, if I would have had eight more tracks I
would have ruined it. I would have put more
crap on it.

Larry Levan probably made our
career. He was playing the heck
out of our stuff at the Paradise
Garage and the Palladium.

So t hat l i mi t at i on was hel pf ul .

Totally. So now you get to 85. Theyre syncing
up two Studers and having 48 tracks of stuff. It
just got to be too much.



The Whi spers
Cont agi ous
from 12 single (Solar)1984

[Enter Valerie Day]

John Smith: What is this. Atlantic Starr?

Cl ose. I t s t he Whi spers. I read
somewhere t hat t hi s was your f i rst
l i kebi gger show.

Valerie Day: Yeah. The Paramount. We have a
picture of the marquee.

Apparent l y, a l arge chunk of t hei r f an
base were pi mps. What was your
experi ence wi t h t hem l i ke?

JS: Well, at that show, people would dress up.
Pimp clotheswith the big hats.

The Whi spers seem t o be one of t hose
groups t hat crossed- over f rom havi ng a
modern soul sound i n t he 70s. They
began t o use synt hesi zerski nd of l i ke
Nu Shooz.

JS: Well you know, we couldnt even afford
keyboards.

VD: Thats where economics informs art.

Li ke when a $2,000 synt hesi zer comes
out on t he market , i t s not t he f i rst t hi ng
youre gonna be abl e t o pi ck up.

JS: Yeah, just like the JX-3P and the DX-7 that
came out shortly after that. Those were like
$1,200! That was a lot of money back then.
We had a couple band members who bought
them and thats the only reason those [early]
records sound like they do. We would have
said, Oh, just put a wah-wah guitar on itand
piano.


Kenny G
Hel p Yoursel f t o My Love
From G Force (Arista) 1983

JS: Is this George Benson?

No, t hi s i s one of Kenny Gs f i rst
records.

VD: No kidding.

I m surpri sed t hat Kenny G never
appeared on a Nu Shooz recordi ng. As
I m readi ng i nt o your cat al og, I see Jef f
Lorber f eat ured very consi st ent l y. He
seemed t o be a promi nent f i gure i n
Kenny Gs earl y career.

JS: Lorber said that no one worked as hard as
Kenny G. He got there early. He practiced all
day. He just worked and worked and
workedwe heard him speak at Bruce Carters
funeral. He was a really impressive guy.

Af ri ka Bambaat aa & t he Jazzy Fi ve
Jazzy Sensat i on
From 12 single (Tommy Boy) 1981

Di d you guys spend much t i me wi t h guys
l i ke Larry Levan, Shep Pet t i bone or John
Moral es?

JS: Larry Levan more than Shep. Larry Levan
probably made our career. He was playing the
heck out of [our] stuff at the Paradise Garage
and the Palladium.

Di d you al l ever set f oot i n t he Paradi se
Garage?

JS: Sure. It was an amazing sub-culture; sort of
like discovering black radio in the 60s. It was
like this window into a whole world you had no
idea existed. These people would dance from
two in the morning till eight in the morning and
then go buy a bunch of records. Larry Levan
had keyboards and he had an 808. He didnt
John Smith & Valerie Day, 1987

just have a DJ rig. He had instruments up there
and they would play over the stuff as they
were spinning it, and do echo things..

Shep was a lot of fun. He had five rooms going
at Arthur Bakers place. He had a little room
where hed program his 808. And then hed
run into another room and some engineer
would be sitting in there with another record he
was working on. So when I went to see him,
hes just running around. I didnt even talk to
him that much. Hed say, You should come to
the session tonight. But I wouldnt go because
I knew that Id inhibit him or something.

Loose Joi nt s
I s I t Al l Over My Face?
From 12single (West End) 1980

VD: What is this? Turn it up a little
bit.

JS: God, I recognize that guitar part.
This is exactly what the Paradise
Garage sounded like.

The st ory behi nd t hi s Levan mi x real l y
remi nds me of t he Pi eder Sl aghui s re-
i nt erpret at i on of I Cant Wai t . Di d
you f eel t he ori gi nal mi x was superi or?
I mean, i t s Pi eders Dut ch Mi x t hat
j ump- st art ed your career.

JS: The first time I ever heard his mix we were
on the road. Our manager called us up and
played it over the phone. And I said, I like
that because I never would have thought of it
in a million years. The barking seal [synth
sound] was spiritually out of tune. It was almost
a quarter step flat. When we got a deal on
Atlantic they said, Do you wanna do that
over? And I said, No way! Im not touching
that.

Pieder was really innovative. And really
cleverstuff that you never would have thought
of. He was working on a couple other songs
for us and it was amazing! The reels
disappeared somehow. I thought we had em
but they turned out to be M&M mixes.

Oh, f rom John Moral es.

JS: Yeah.

Do you st i l l have a coupl e of t hose t hat
are unrel eased?

JS: Somewhere, yeah. But it wasnt anything
like what Pieder was doing.

When was t he l ast t i me you had cont act
wi t h Pi eder Sl aghui s? Was t hat i t ?

VD: He died.

JS: That was it. He died in a car wreck.

VD: Not that long after. About two years after
the record came out. I mean, it was really early
on.

JS: He was 21 when he did our record.

Youre ki ddi ng me!



Bi l l y Ocean
Cal ypso Funki n
From 12 single (Epic)1982

JS: Sounds like Con-Funk-Shun.

I t s cl ose. Thi s i s Bi l l y Ocean.

VD: Really?!?

JS: No Way! We toured with him quite a
bit.

What was t hat l i ke?

VD: He was very warm, very
approachable. We opened for a lot of
different artists and some of them were
[stand-offish.] He wasnt like that at all.

Li ke t he Poi nt er Si st ers or Ti na Turner?

JS: Tina Turner was nice!

VD: She was great.

JS: In Eugene, we were playing at some hotel
and there was a dispute so everything was put
on hold while they worked it out. And [Tina]
ended up taking our sound mans eight-year-
old daughter out for ice cream!

Oh my God

Whenever something gets into a bad
stylistic period I call it Michael Jackson
Pants. And I think that were coming
out of a sort of Michael Jackson Pants
period.

VD: They were arguing in front of her and I
think she just thought, You know, this kid
doesnt need to be around this. And she took
Heather out for ice cream. Of course, Heather
didnt know who she was.

What a wonderf ul mat ernal f i gure. So
what about Bi l l y Ocean? What t i me
peri od were you t ouri ng wi t h hi m?

JS: 86.

VD: He was wearing a red suit I think. Thats
all I remember.

JS: He had thislike a Key-tar? But it was a
percussion controller. It was this weird guitar-
shaped percussion controller, and he would
take thisdrum solo.

Wel l t hat s t hi s ri ght hereCal ypso
Funki n. And you get t he Vocoder i n
t here, t oo

JS: Youre 29, you shouldnt have these
records.


Li sa Li sa and Cul t Jam wi t h Ful l Force
I Wonder I f I t ake You Home
From 12 single (Columbia) 1984

JS: Nobody else in the world programs beats
like these guys! And they had a nice family-
type feeling. Lisa Lisa, who were touring with
on the FREESTYLE EXPLOSION tour is a
sweetheart. For funk production, they and
Jimmy Jam/Terry Lewis are it for me.

What does f reest yl e mean t o Nu
Shooz?
VD: Actually, when we went on the tour, the
first date was in Fresno. The promoter, his
names Alan Beckhes a radio guy. It was the
first show and wed done our sound check. We
met him for the first time and I said to him, Im
gonna ask a really dumb question. I have no
idea. What is freestyle and what are we
doing on this tour?

We didnt know what to expect exactly. We
thought if we ever went out to play these songs
again it would be to a bunch of grey-haired
older people that are our age or older. And it
wasnt that at all. There were all these young
people and theyd come up to us and say, Oh
my God! My mom was so into you guys. Can
we have an autograph for her? She played
your record when I was just a baby in my
crib.


Daf t Punk
Get Lucky
From 12 single (Columbia) 2013

Was Ni l e Rogers ever someone you
came i nt o cont act wi t h?

JS: No, we never met him but a lot of our style
was based on that. Especially the way my
rhythm guitar style happened.

Wel l , you do a l ot of chucki ng t hat s
si mi l ar t o Chi c.

And also the vocal phrasing of Nu Shooz was
a lot like Chic. Its short, you know?

There are numerous Top 40 hi t s comi ng
out t hese days (l i ke Get Lucky) t hat
seem t o be ref erenci ng an earl i er t i me.
JS: This is an old Nu Shooz trope. Around 82
youd go out shopping for pants and you
couldnt find pants without Michael Jackson
zippers all over em. And so, whenever
something gets into a bad stylistic period, I call
it Michael Jackson Pants. And I think that
were coming out of a sort of Michael Jackson
Pants period.

Its like, theres these new soul bands
happening and I feel at home again. I gotta
sayI like Pharrell. That stuff is so good! There
was this bad period that went on forever,
though. Have we not heard enough angry
gangsters talking over music? Have we not
heard enough whiney white guys with ukeleles?

I agree. [Pharrel l s] pl ayi ng out of
everyones car as t heyre dri vi ng by
t hese days.

JS: I get weepy every time I hear that song
[Happy]. It makes me feel like our style has
come back around! Theyre doing a new thing
with it.

So why do you t hi nk t hat i s? Why do
you t hi nk t he musi c i s rel evant agai n?

JS: Because whatevers the most neglected
thing is the next hip thing.

That s Post - Moderni sm f or you.

That is Post-Modernism. And theyre doing
something I was hearing in my head for a long
time, which is soul music over surf beats. !