RICK
SYMZER: Good afternoon.ROB CONYERS: Good afternoon.
BYRD: How you doin'?
SYMZER: Fine.
CONYERS: Okay.
BYRD: All right, now they tryin' to sit here and look nervous and stuff. You do a good job too, right. After that performance last week, you got some nerve comin' here, tryin' to look nervous. You cats are fantastic.
SYMZER: Thank you very much.
BYRD: Really good. Let's talk a bit about the group and let people know how many members there are in it, first of all, before we get into some of the specifics. How many people totally?
CONYERS: Seven members.
BYRD: Okay, who are they? Let's give them some proper credits here.
SYMZER: We have Robert Parducci on keyboards. Tim "Bimp" Jones on guitar. William Cintron on vocals. We have Thomas "Khalife" Brown on vocals, Sherman Braddox on vocals, Robert on drums, myself on bass, and that is about it.
BYRD: Now, what surprised me about the group -- I guess I wasn't surprised that you were talented because I'd never seen you before, so it wasn't that. But I was surprised to see that not only was it a vocal group, but that it was a band too. That was surprising, because you don't seem to see that too often these days. Tell me about the decision to do that.
CONYERS: Well, we realized that groups nowadays are sort of becoming obsolete. A lot of things are just based on either soul acts or rap artists. We realized that maybe if we keep the old traditional style of groups and vocals and you got the
instrumentation as well as the vocals as a unit, that maybe people'll realize that it can still work, besides just having rap artists and so forth.
BYRD: And then playing, really basically, I guess, to tracks, as opposed to live musicians.
CONYERS: Exactly.
BYRD: I guess the one thing about a decision like that, though, that is a difficult one, is that there are some serious economics that have been involved over the years that have made some artists almost happy to see the band go its way because of the overhead. Have you dealt with that problem? You're both nodding, so I guess you have. What about that problem of having to split the monies, ultimately, down the line? How have you dealt with that?
SYMZER: Well, we deal with everything on a equal basis and it kind of keeps the harmony together. And so far it's worked out very well like that.
BYRD: So it's equal membership. A band member is not just second team because he's a band member.
SYMZER: No. We are all a unit -- LEGEND.
(Laughter.)
BYRD: Goin' for it, huh. Well, let's talk about what happened last week at the Apollo Theatre. I mentioned, a moment ago, that it was not just a standing ovation, it was several standing ovations that were happening throughout different portions of the song. I felt like it was a kind of a "Terminator" performance. You know, like you think that the Terminator is dead and he keeps coming back again, you know. Because as soon as it looked like you had the audience going, you came back again and they were applauding. And as soon as they did that, you came back again, and then you came back again. I said, "whoa." Is that part of the group's concept, I mean, to just give it all?
SYMZER: Most definitely 110 percent.
CONYERS: We have to maintain that.
(Laughter.)
BYRD: When you name your group LEGEND, that ties you in, of course, I guess automatically, listening to you this afternoon, to "Legends". Is that some of the idea behind the name? How did you come about it?
CONYERS: We wanted to have a name that's gonna express our identity and our personality. As far as really going for it, and not just being here as contemporary musicians, but going down from generation to generation. Being legendary.
BYRD: So there's a concept here, to be sure. For those of you who are listening, the Show Offs are happening tonight, and Rick and Robert are here this afternoon, and probably on their way up to the theater because the Show Offs, of course, are the opportunity for the talent that's been winning in these last weeks, many of whom you've heard here inside of The Experience, to get together for some very serious competition. And that competition is going to be happening this evening. Now, I should mention to you that the Apollo Theatre is sold out. There is not a ticket left at the Apollo. Now, I mean, I just got the word a few minutes ago that I should be mentioning this, and I'm gonna mention it and I'm gonna ask all of you to pass the word. The show is sold out. I'm gonna tell you how sold out it was, right. It was sold out that I almost couldn't get tickets. Now I want you to understand now, right. I mean, I was beggin'. 'Please, I got to have some tickets,' right. And that, of course, I mean, is a tribute, I think, to the "amateurs," because I certainly, after seeing acts like the gentlemen who are here with us and some of the other acts, male and female, think it's almost a misnomer to call them amateurs, they are that talented. But also, of course, with the Apollo Theatre presentation that went out this past weekend over NBC television, combining the two together, some people are saying, 'wait a minute, I gotta go up to the Apollo.' What was it like for you, performing at the Apollo? I gotta ask you that. I mean, was it your first performance there, and if so, you know, what was the energy around it?
CONYERS: It was our second performance, and much more enthusiasm. Because we performed there once before, but with sort of a jazz-oriented group (Plexibus) and we weren't too successful. We didn't get booed, but we didn't make first place.
BYRD: Like they say, "you ain't the one."
(Laughter.)
CONYERS: So being there and being around all this excitement and people really being satisfied with what we're doing, and with the sound, it's a pleasure. You know, it's really great.
BYRD: When you were about to come out, did you have any idea of whether or not you were going to win? I mean, sometimes people say, 'Well, I felt like we were going to win.' Did you feel that?
SYMZER: Yes. We have had confidence all along, and we even said a little prayer in the dressing room, and it seemed like there's gonna be magic.
BYRD: You could feel it.
SYMZER: Yes, most definitely, there was something in the air.
BYRD: Well actually, when you hit the stage, and this was another, I guess, part of what you put together, your imaging was really classy too. And it seemed as if the audience appreciated that before you started. What about that part of your
concept?
SYMZER: Well, in a way, that was a shock also. Like you said, when we came out, it seemed like we had just finished performing.
(Laughter.)
SYMZER: I'd like to thank all of our friends and fans that came. The musicians and the singers put on a hell of a performance, but our fans, if it wasn't for them, maybe none of this would've taken place. So I'd really like to thank them also.
BYRD: Where're you from? Where're your members actually originally from?
CONYERS: We're from all over the tri-state area. I'm from the Bronx, personally. We have basically members from Manhattan and Brooklyn, and that's about it. So basically, Bronx, Brooklyn and Manhattan.
BYRD: No Queens?
SYMZER: No, no Queens in this outfit.
CONYERS: Unfortunately.
(Laughter.)
BYRD: I mean, I'm not gonna blow your Queens groove now, you understand. Run-DMC territory, you understand what I'm sayin'. What do you look to do? I guess with the kind of impetus that the Apollo victory has given you, I mean, what was it like for you and how does it change or affect your enthusiasm about what you're doing?
SYMZER: Well, it made us realize our potential, and I think it's just going to make us stronger, hold together even tighter and just go on for bigger and better things. We hope we do very successful tonight and we also write and produce our own songs, and we hope to get a record deal and to just go on to enormous success.
BYRD: Now, what's the song that you're gonna perform in tonight's competition?
CONYERS: "Here I Go Again."
BYRD: So you're going to do "Here I Go Again."
CONYERS: One more time.
BYRD: Oh, yeah, yeah. It was very serious. I notice that there was something else happening with the group that I observed in that particular performance. I mentioned before how you sort of were using a lot of, I guess one might think of as the soul techniques, you know, the 1960's groups and so forth. But you also seem to have some very serious choreography. That was a part of that too. Talk to me a bit about the whole choreography concept that you put together.
SYMZER: Okay, well, that's one thing. A visual thing. We feel that people, they don't wanna come just to see a group or a singer, for that matter, just stand there and sing. They could sit home and watch MTV for that matter. So what it is, we work hard on our steps and our visual thing, our contact with the audience. And we feel that will also help with our success.
CONYERS: To us one cannot exist without the other. I mean, you can have great sound, but if you don't have good coordination or movement along with the music, as far as the members of the band, it just doesn't make sense. It'd be like just a waste of time.
BYRD: You mentioned MTV a moment ago. In looking at the record charts, how do you feel about where you belong in that mix, and I'm thinking, you mentioned a few moments ago rap music, Prince-oriented kind of things, dominating the charts, certainly. How do you see yourselves in terms of where you fit in all of this? I mean, do you feel comfortable about the place that you're going to occupy in popular music?
CONYERS: Most definitely.
BYRD: You do see a place for yourselves.
SYMZER: Yes, we definitely want to cross over and reach everybody, because that's where our original music comes from. It's very versatile.
BYRD: World objectives? Do you want to sort of do a world kind of thing?
CONYERS: Sure, definitely, sky's the limit. I mean, like, the more people that we can engrasp and we can convince that we are serious about our music and what we want to do, I think that it'll be a great accomplishment.
BYRD: Talk to me about what happens behind the scenes. In terms of show business, we often talk about the fact that it's two words. It's "show" and "business." How are you approaching the business side of the show? Let's talk a bit about how often you rehearse and how often you get together to talk about the business of the group.
SYMZER: We get together, basically, twice a week, and sometimes the vocals, they get together on their own, just to get that unity together. 'Cause we're a team, but, then also, the vocals must perform as like a machine -- a well-oiled
machine.
BYRD: Like the front line of a football team.
SYMZER: Yes, exactly. And we get together and in between rehearsals, we discuss business and whatever. Anything anyone wants to discuss, we usually settle that during the rehearsals.
BYRD: Okay, now I'm gonna ask you this, this is just me and y'all talkin', okay. Take me into your business meeting after you won at the Apollo. What did you say? What happened at the business meeting?
SYMZER: It's on you, Bob.
CONYERS: Well . . . .
SYMZER: First we hi-fived all over the place.
(Laughter.)
BYRD: I know that's right.
CONYERS: I guess we said, "Hey, what we gonna do, are we gonna do it?" And everybody said, "Sure, we gonna do it." And people just seemed so interested and so overwhelmed. "You guys ready to work?" "Sure, we ready to work." So it was like, now is the time. That's the bottom line.
BYRD: Now is the time. So in other words, you sat down and recognized that there's a moment here.
CONYERS: Yes, most definitely.
BYRD: Yeah, yeah, that's on time. Important aspects of meetings like this, though, because you can't really get so excited about what just happened, that you don't realize what you've gotta do.
SYMZER: Yes, right. And you mentioned before, with the Motown thing coming on this past weekend, watching that also made the accomplishment that we achieved, it even made it that much greater 'cause there has been some heavyweights at the Apollo.
BYRD: And you realized that you had performed on that stage and had won.
SYMZER: Yeah, yeah. Most definitely.
(Laughter.)
BYRD: Well, the group is called LEGEND. You are hearing two of the members, Rick Symzer and Robert Conyers. They'll be performing tonight at the Show Offs, and you are out of luck if you don't have your tickets already, but certainly, you'll make it a point, I'm sure, to be attending the Apollo Theatre world famous Amateur Night each and every week, each and every Wednesday. I will be at the Show Offs tonight. I have got my tickets that I had to sort of beg for, and like, you know, say, hey look, somebody's got to come up with some tickets, you know. Frances has hooked me up so I'll be there with the family and checking them all out tonight. And, and really, there was a fantastic lady, young lady, whose name I don't recall. It's not written down here, but she will be there this evening.
SYMZER: El Gilkes, I believe it is. El is her first name.
BYRD: Well she won first place with both of you, it's a tie, right?
SYMZER: Yes, yes.
BYRD: It was amazing because the audience clearly could not make up its mind, both of you were so good, you know. And of course, both of you will compete tonight.
SYMZER: Yes.
BYRD: We wish you luck.
SYMZER: Thank you, Gary.
CONYERS: Thank you very much.
GARY BYRD: Thank you for being with us. Again, Rick Symzer and Robert Conyers here from the group, LEGEND, and they'll be there tonight at the world famous Apollo Theatre. Since you didn't get your tickets, I'll have to tell you about it tomorrow. It's WLIB, 1190 Radio in the Key of Life, and I'm Gary Byrd inside of the GBE. Well, I'm gonna go out, have myself a nice dinner tonight, and then I am headed to the Apollo Theatre. I feel good about that. I do want to pass the word again. I don't wanna sound too happy about this. I'm happy about the fact that the show is sold out, but I'm not happy that you can't go. You know what I mean. Fellas, take care. Again, say good-bye to Robert and to Rick. They are guests from the group, LEGEND. They're on their way to the Apollo sound check and all that and they will be live tonight. But I do again emphasize the fact that the show tonight is sold out, and we certainly want to thank all of you for making tonight's Show Off competition a sell- out. There are no additional tickets available for tonight's show. But remember this, you can still purchase tickets in advance for all upcoming amateur night performances at the Apollo Theatre box office and all Ticketmaster ticket centers. Make it a point to do it right away, 'cause they have got some serious talent happening there.