The Time is older and wiser and still can jam

By Ryan Pearson

LOS ANGELES

Inside a red brick Hollywood rehearsal studio The Time keep on ticking.

The seven-man funk band from Minneapolis has reunited once again, 18 years after its last studio album, and sounds crisp as can be as they jam through "Cool" from the 1981 debut album.

"I'm so cool! Ain't nobody bad like me!" Morris Day calls out. "What time is it?"

Band members made room in their schedules this summer for a series of concerts at the Flamingo hotel-casino in Las Vegas, running through Aug. 2, as well as some concert dates that include a Friday performance in Virginia Beach for the American Music Festival. They'll perform hits like "Jungle Love," "The Stick" and "The Bird" and hope to rejoin after the shows to record another studio album.

Gathered on chairs and a peeling studio couch to talk with The Associated Press, the fellas are dressed in dapper suits and share an easy cameraderie. Guitarist and songwriter Jesse Johnson comes off as the most thoughtful, with Day interjecting one-liners that crack up the group.

"We haven't had the opportunity that we're having right now to do it together," Johnson says. "Because of everybody's schedules, everybody's different locations,... we want to make the best of this. Because we don't know when and if we'll get the chance to do this again."

Day tees off.

"Let's just say that the stars are in alignment," he says, gesturing to his bandmates. "You see the stars lined up? In a line!"

Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, who left The Time to become superstar R&B producers in the 1980s and early '90s, lend a focus and seriousness to the conversation. They take care of business.

It was Lewis who pushed for a surprise get-together at the last Grammy Awards, where the band dusted off old dance moves surprisingly well. Keyboardist Jimmy Jam is now chairman of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, which runs the Grammys. That leaves him with precious little time for practicing.

"I'm a little rusty, but we going to knock the rust off," Jimmy Jam says. "Because you know, sitting in a recording studio is simple. Playing with these guys, I've got to bring my game up.... I had it easy for 18 years."

Prince, who brought the group together, recently turned 50, and time is also catching up with The Time. Day, who still tours, is 51 now.

"I don't dance quite as hard, but a little smoother, a little sexier. It's efficient. What do they call it, green something? You know, I'm trying to work environmentally."

Jimmy Jam chimes in: "Trying to conserve. Conservation! Yes."

A new album - the band's fifth - is in the works. It would be the first since 1990's "Pandemonium."

"We always write about the things that make us laugh, the stuff that we talk about, the stuff that comes out of our just everyday life on the more light side," Day says.

"Girls," Jimmy Jam intones.

"Sex," Morris smiles.

There had been numerous efforts to reunite the band in the past, including a pop-in by several members at the last Coachella festival, before Prince's set. But this reunion stuck after the joy of rehearsing for the Grammys, Johnson says.

"When you're in a studio... you can sometimes forget why you got into this," Johnson says. "We didn't even know what we were playing. We were just jamming. It hits you almost - not to sound so corny - but like an epiphany. I'm like, 'Oh my God, this is why I started this.' I've got my ax in my hand, turning my amp on, and it's loud."

Day, wincing a bit at showing his age, interjects: "It is loud!"