The Poets of Rhythm's J.J. Whitefield Speaks On The Soul-Saints Orchestra's 1994 "Santa's Got A Bag of Soul" 7-inch (The Witzard Interview)
"I can't believe these guys are from Germany and speak with thick German accents when not singing. Also can't believe it's a relatively new recording. They nailed it," Peanut Butter Wolf wrote within the liner notes to PEANUT BUTTER WOLF PRESENTS - BADD SANTA: A STONES THROW RECORDS XMAS. The Soul-Saints Orchestra's "Santa's Got A Bag of Soul" is featured along with a slew of festive favorites and lesser-known holiday classics hand-selected by Wolf himself. BADD SANTA additionally boasts selections from James Pants, Free Design, 69 Boys & Quad City DJ's, Bruce Haack, James Brown, and Baron Zen. The Soul-Saints Orchestra (or The Soul-Saints) was, actually, a short-lived side-project of The Poets of Rhythm; featuring Boris Geiger AKA Bo Baral, Jan "Curly" Krause, Jan Weissenfeldt AKA J.J. Whitefield, Malte Müller-Egloff AKA Wolf Schlick, Max "Muggy" Weissenfeldt, and Michael "Treetop" Voss. Over the years, J.J. Whitefield has either performed as or with JOHNNY! Karl Hector & The Malcouns/Funk-Pilots, Soul Sliders, Space Clique, The Mercy Sl*ts, The Woo Woo's, Rodinia, and The Whitefield Brothers. I think, I heard "Santa's Got A Bag of Soul" from Stones Throw's 2008 comp. first, but didn't really connect the dots it was a J.J. Whitefield-affiliated group until I heard JOHNNY!'s string of three 7-inch releases on Now-Again Records in 2016. This holiday season, I reached out to Whitefield, whom I've been communicating with for a number of years, in an effort to learn a bit more about The Soul-Saints Orchestra. Below, you will find a quick, yet thorough, Q&A about The Soul-Saints Orchestra's lone 1994 7-inch single released on The Poets of Rhymth's own Hotpie & Candy Records. Merry Christmas to all, Happy New Years, and, of course, "a Festivus for the rest of us!"
Sincerely,
Matt "The Witzard" Horowitz
Happy Holidays from Our Family to Yours
I. What, in your opinion, differentiates Soul-Saints Orchestra from The Soul-Saints/Poets of Rhythm?
[The] Soul-Saints was Bo Baral's and my production team... we gave all the spin-off bands different names for these 45-only releases... the musicians playing on these are the same as The Poets of Rhythm... for this Christmas 45, we chose The Soul-Saints Orchestra name.
II. Who played on Soul-Saints Orchestra's most well-known festive 1994 7-inch single, "Santa's Got A Bag of Soul" B/W "Working On The Line?"
Bo Baral - Vocals, Production
J.J. Whitefield - Guitar, Production
Wolf Schlick - Saxophone
Muggy Whitefield - Drums
Curly Krause - Bass
Flip side, "Working On The Line," adds Treetop Voss on Trumpet.
III. How did "Santa's Got A Bag of Soul" initially come to fruition? What were some of the circumstances surrounding its creation?
I was still heavily collecting James Brown records in those days and he has a bunch of Christmas records... we had this unused rhythm track and I figured it was time to do our own Christmas song... initially, it was made for our record company as a holiday give-away... I came up with a title, then, we fooled around a little and Bo came up with the rest of the lyrics. We did vocal, guitar, and saxophone overdubs and 20 minutes later, the song was finished...
IV. BADD SANTA: A Stones Throw Records Christmas was the first place I heard "Santa's Got A Bag of Soul," but when did you first realize it was a certified holiday hit?
Every year, there are [licensing] requests and that started in the early 2000's already... people really seem to dig it, as it's one of the heaviest Funky Christmas-themed songs out there... one for the Deep Funk nerds...
V. What were some of your greatest sources of inspiration and influence when creating "Santa's Got A Bag of Soul?"
As stated above, all the James Brown Christmas records were the initial inspiration to make a Christmas record... the musical influences came from all the obscure Funk 45's I was collecting back then...