The Meters can still funk it up The Los Angeles Times When George Porter, Jr. looks out into the audience, things don't look much different than they did three decades ago. His crowds are generally in their 20s. "It's funny,'' said the bassist for the seminal funk band the Meters. "We are probably playing to the same age group we played to 30 years ago. That is something that is very intriguing.'' Since 1966, Porter, along with Art Neville, has served the group that became to New Orleans what Booker T. and MGs were to Memphis: They defined a sound for generations to come. The Meters originally grew out of Art Neville and the Neville Sounds, a group that included Porter, guitarist Leo Nocentelli and drummer Joseph "Zigaboo'' Modeliste as well as Aaron, Art and Cyril Neville. The group dropped vocalists Cyril and Aaron Neville in 1968 and the newly christened Meters became the house band for Allen Toussaint and Marshall Sehorn's Sansu label. They also played a regular gig at the Ivanhoe Bar in New Orleans. In the late 60s, the Meters drafted the blueprint for New Orleans funk through slinky instrumentals propelled by the powerhouse rhythm section of Porter and Modeliste - whose use of the high-hat cymbal changed modern drumming - and complemented by Neville's understated keyboard melodies and Nocentelli's rhythmic and assertive guitar playing. "Cissy Strut,'' "Sophisticated Cissy'' and "Look-Ka Py Py'' were the Meters' highest-charting instrumentals, but the influence of their early years turned many musicians inside out. To this day, musicians spanning a variety of styles often cite the Meters among their primary inspirations. The Meters were also key in modernizing the Crescent City's sounds after the city's great R&B era subsided. Other than James Brown and Parliament/Funkadelic, it's doubtful there's a more sampled group in hip-hop. The early 70s coincided with a shift in the band's focus that put vocal tracks to their already muscular grooves, making them more accessible but no less potent. Cyril Neville reemerged in 1975, lending vocals and percussion. "In the 1970s, when both Zig and Leo felt that we were losing the battle of competing with the other bands that were out there, that were at one time opening acts for some of our shows, who now had big record deals they wanted to compete in that musical market,'' Porter said. "They were starting to write songs at home and bringing them to the sessions.'' During this era, the Meters began incorporating psychedelic rock influences into the second-line funk sounds. "Hey Pocky A-Way,'' "Fire on the Bayou'' and "Talkin' 'Bout New Orleans'' have become anthems in their home town, but the quartet was never limited to a certain style or sound. In 1977, the Meters broke up. Speculation has been flying about an original-member Meters reunion since the 1999 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, when Porter jammed with Modeliste's band. The rumors intensified in early December when Art Neville joined Porter, Modeliste and other musicians in a "Superjam'' concert. Not just yet, though. "I never say 'never' to anything, but at this point there's not really anything that could be conceivable as 'we're doing this' or 'we're doing that' to make any moves like that,'' Porter said. "But I never close doors on the potential of anything happening. If we live long enough, we'll play again.'' Originally on page 8A in the 1-31-2000 issue of the Daily.