"Later, when I was fourteen, I was in a group called Al Lewis and the Modernistics. I was playing lead guitar and this guy used to make me stand back behind the amplifier, and he would act like he was doing the playing -- he'd be out in front with the guitar behind his head, scootin' on the floor, putting on a show and going crazy, but it was me playing. (Laughs). Then my mother and I started working together as a duo, and because we didn't have any drums I developed my thumb-slapping style to compensate. And this lady who used to come in all the time, she was a big fan of ours but she was also a big fan of Sly Stone because he was a DJ, and she found out that he was gonna be starting a band and she just took it upon herself to constantly call him and say, "You gotta come hear this bass player!" And he finally came over to the club, which was right on the corner of Haight and Ashbury, heard me playing my stuff and asked me to join his band."

https://web.archive.org/web/20061205210528/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/larrygraham/articles/story/5920205/bass_legend_graham_lays_down_the_millennial_funk