Following up on the hugely successful reggae tribute albums of Dub Side of the Moon (2003), Radiodread (2006) and Easy Star's Lonely Hearts Dub Band (2009), Easy Star All-Stars is poised to release a reggae adaptation of the greatest selling record of all time – Michael Jackson's "Thriller".
The album, titled "Easy Star's Thrillah" will be released August 28, 2012 (a day before what would have been Jackson's 53rd birthday). The album brings back several reggae stars from previous Easy Star albums, including vocalists Michael Rose (Black Uhuru), Steel Pulse, Luciano and Mojo Morgan (Morgan Heritage). The album will be preceded by the July 10th digital release of the Billie Jean EP, which includes two album tracks, along with non-album remixes and a dub version.
Pauline Black's memoir 'Black By Design: A 2-Tone Memoir' is officially available on bookstore shelves throughout the U.S. today and for sale online from Amazon in the U.S.
While the book provides a insiders view of the birth of The Selecter and 2-Tone in Coventry, its really more a tome about the search for identity. The book pulls no punches when it comes to painting a picture of the trials and tribulations Black faced as the adopted bi-racial child of white parents living in the suburbs of London. More importantly, it examines issues of racial identity during a time that the U.K. was struggling to confront its own racism and the challenges of assimilating Black and Asian immigrants into British society and culture.
Black was interviewed yesterday on the NPR radio show Weekend Edition by Scott Simon about the release of her book. Listen to the whole interview here.
I asked Black about the process of writing her book during an interview I conducted with her two summers ago. Here is what she shared with me about the difficult questions and topics related to race and identity that she explores:
I have been writing short stories and opinion pieces for BBC Radio 4 in the UK for years, since the early 90’s. I also wrote a novel in the mid 90’s “The Goldfinches” which picked up publishing interest, but then the recession hit and money was scarce and the interest evaporated. Therefore I did not approach my book as a novice. I knew that I wanted to write my own memoir. When a “ghost writer” is used it is usually obvious. The main difference between my first outing into the book world and now, is that I got a literary agent. Without a literary agent it is almost impossible these days for a writer to be taken seriously by publishers. Publishing interest in my memoir was there from the beginning, largely because I was the only female among the bands that did the legendary “2-tone tour” in 1979 and also because I have extended my repertoire over the past 30 years to include, acting, presenting, radio broadcasting & writing, while still remaining active as a musician throughout the 90’s and Noughties. Therefore my story covered a wider brief. I didn’t want my memoir to be just about the brief period of the 2-tone years. Fortunately my literary agent and publisher agreed with my approach. For the book to have been signed by influential, maverick publisher “Serpent’s Tail” is very much a dream come true. They have a great publishing history reflecting many of the books that have influenced me throughout my life, most notably many of the “Harlem Renaissance” writers like Langston Hughes and Nella Larsen.
Primarily, “Black By Design” is about my search for my cultural and racial heritage, which, I discovered, had surprisingly original beginnings. It vigorously discusses the twin evils of “racism” and “sexism”, which gave me the motivation to join a 2-tone band in 1979 and enter the ongoing musical polemic offered by that inclusion.
I wanted my book to be “ideas driven”, to ask some difficult questions about what it meant to grow up black in a predominantly racist Britain in the 50’s and 60’s and how being adopted into a white working class family influenced my decision to choose music as a career path. I didn’t want to write some dishonest potted history of my private life or just a scrupulously kept diary. Hopefully I have achieved my goal.
'Black By Design' is witty and eminently readable, but pulls no punches when it comes to painting a picture of the trials and tribulations Black and other mixed race Britons faced as the adopted bi-racial child of a white family in the suburbs of London. For instance, here is Black's first memory as recounted in the book:
“My earliest memory is of vomiting the breakfast contents of my stomach onto a pile of starched white sheets that my Mother had just finished ironing. I succeeded in Jackson Pollocking all of them. She was not amused, but then again it was her own fault: she shouldn’t have told me that I had been adopted.”
The long wait is over! The man who wrote ’3 Minute Hero,’ ‘Missing Words,’ ‘Celebrate The Bullet,’ ‘On My Radio,’ and the track that started it all, "The Selecter," (the flip side to The Specials "Gangsters") has finally released new music. As one of 2 Tone Records greatest musicians, songwriters and founder of The Selecter, Neol Davies is back with a superb new single ‘Dolla Fe Dolla’ which was recorded exclusively for The London International Ska Festival 2012 and is now finally available on vinyl from Phoenix City Records and from iTunes.
I've been meaning to post about Davies (who I interviewed a few years back) for some time now and his new music in particular. I have a very soft spot in my heart for him and for Pauline Black. The first real tour my band Bigger Thomas ever did was during the summer of 1991 as support for The Selecter when they re-formed for tour the U.S. They were both very kind to us and it was surreal at times to be standing off stage and watching two of my musical heroes perform songs that formed the soundtrack to my musical education. As such, I was excited to finally hear a recorded version of some of the new material Davies has been writing of late.
According to an interview Davies recently did with M Magazine explaining the stories behind many of classics he wrote for The Selecter, the new song is built on a hypnotic chord change that builds towards a tension that is released when he slides into one of his memorable solos.
"Dolla Fe Dolla is a new song I’m very happy with. It’s going to be on a 7” record exclusive to the International Ska Festival. Everybody I’ve played it to really likes it, it’s a song about the current times of financial mess-around and how money just drives everything and again, commenting on hypocrisy – all my favourite subjects!
The way writing usually works for me is finding a groove or a few chords on my guitar and the best times are when that happens and a hook phrase comes too. This is one of those songs where that happened.
I started messing about with a really simple chord change: G, B-flat, back to C and after a few dozen times of doing that I started to sing the main line ‘Dolla, Dolla, fe Dolla, Dollar’, just like I got the hook for On My Radio. There was space for a little melodic hook between the main refrain and so I put a little line ‘Buy Everything’ in between.
Straight away I could see it was a great way to split voices – the backing singers doing the main hook and the lead voice singing the phrase in between, which is a thing I like doing, part of my style perhaps. The verse needed a bit of work but I like to keep the groove simple without it sounding too simple and I got a little bit of blues in there with the bassline. It has one of those chord sequences where it’s crucial to get the tempo just right – if it’s too slow or too fast it sounds a bit awkward and we spent a lot of time just getting the rhythm guitar – the off beat -against the main beat to make it really danceable."
Davies and his band headlined the London International Ska Festival in early May. Below are a selection of live songs performed at the festival including a mix of new songs (Dolla Fe Dolla, Shake The World), old songs (Too Much Pressure, Three Minute Hero) and a cover. Based on what I can gather, Davies had a special guest on organ. That's right, Jerry Dammers of The Specials, sat in with the band and you can hear his handiwork on The Skatalites classic "Reburial" below. Look for Dammers on the left side of the stage.
Reggae legend Jimmy Cliff will kick off his U.S. tour at the Celebrate Brooklyn summertime concert series with a free concert at the Prospect Park Bandshell this coming Tuesday June 5th. Noted for classics like 'Sitting in Limbo' and 'You Can Get It If You Really Want,' Cliff is touring with Tim Armstrong of Rancid and a new backing band (featuring J. Bonner, Scott Abels (Aggrolites, Hepcat) and Dan Boer (Sandollars, Dynamic Pressure), behind his recently released EP 'Sacred Fire.' Cliff and his band played two inspired sets at the Coachella festival this past April.
Cliff is an inspired choice by the organizers, as 2012 marks the 50th anniversary of Jamaican independence and Cliff’s performance will pay tribute, not only to his origins, but to the large West Indian population that calls Brooklyn home. Cliff started recording as a child in the early 1960s with producer Leslie Kong. In the late 1960s, he moved to Britain where he enjoyed considerable success with the song 'Wonderful World, Beautiful People'. He became a massive star after starring in 'The Harder They Come', the 1972 low-budget movie based on the exploits of Ivanhoe 'Ryghin' Martin, a gunman who terrorized sections of west Kingston in 1948. The film's soundtrack contains songs that are Cliff standards, including the title track, and 'You Can Get It If You Really Want'.
New York's own Deadly Dragon Sound System will be spinning at an after party immediately following the show. Formed in Chicago over fifteen years ago as a way to share an appreciation of Jamaican music, Deadly Dragon Sound System has become a well-respected force in the reggae community nationwide. As collectors and curators of Jamaican music, their love is reflected in the diversity of their projects including a radio show and a Manhattan-based record store.
Before the free show, Celebrate Brooklyn's organizers will hold their annual fundraising gala, so if you've got $325 (or more) to burn, step right this way. (Proceeds go to fund the annual lineup of free events.) And for $50, you can get a season-long membership, which gets you a reserved seat up in front of the stage, and access to the after party.
Here is Cliff's full tour schedule:
June 5 Celebrate Brooklyn! Opening Night Gala & Concert Brooklyn, NY
June 7 9:30 Club Washington, DC
June 8 The Klein Memorial Auditorium Bridgeport, CT
June 9 Burlington Discover Jazz Festival, Waterfront Park Burlington, VT
June 10 Reggae In The Park Philadelphia, PA
June 12 Simon Estes Riverfront Amphitheare Des Moines, IA
June 13 Frederik Meijer Gardens Grand Rapids, MI
June 15 Crossroads KC Kansas City, MO
June 16 Minnesota Zoo Amphitheater Apple Valley, MN
June 17 Ravinia Highland Park, IL
June 19 Ogden Theatre Denver, CO
June 21 Hard Rock Hotel & Casino – Sound Waves Pool Stage Las Vegas, NV
June 22 Hollywood Park Inglewood, CA
June 23 Sierra Nevada World Music Festival Boonville, CA
June 24 Oregon Zoo Portland, OR
June 26 Red Butte Garden Amphitheatre Salt Lake City, UT
June 29 Summerfest Milwaukee, WI
Check out video of Cliff and his band performing at Coachella earlier this spring.
Greetings to all Marco On The Bass blog readers. Apologies that I have been quiet for a few weeks. Life has been a bit hectic of late, but I have lots of ska and reggae goodness to share so stay tuned as more posts will be on line this week!
I'm also excited to announce that I'm partnering with my good friend and Gotham City ska blogger Duff Guide To Ska to launch a series of live ska shows each month here in New York City! Stay tuned for more details.
The passing of Lloyd Brevett, bassist for The Skatalites, earlier this month marks the end of an era for the band at exactly the same time that Jamaica is gearing up to celebrate its 50th anniversary of independence. His contribution to the canon of bass playing and ska, reggae and rocksteady remains unmeasurable. There is an excellent piece in The Jamaican Gleaner written by Herbie Miller, director/curator of the Jamaica Music Museum about the recently passed Lloyd Brevett's bass playing style. It celebrates his self taught inventiveness and his enduring influence on multiple generations of bassists and musicians. If you are a fan of ska, then it is a must read.
I had the honor to meet Brevett, on the few occasions that my band opened for The Skatalites. It was a thrill to shake his hand, and he was a easy going man who was happy to chat about anything, including his bass playing style. Though known for his many inventive and innovative bass lines, Brevett was self taught and did not read music. This was always an added inspiration to me, as I picked up the bass with no training and learned to play completely by ear and through trial and error. According to The Gleaner story:
"An intuitive rather than a schooled musician, Brevett's playing was no less authoritative in terms of Jamaican bass attitudes than that of his counterpart Wilbur Ware's in American jazz. Discussing the origins of the Skatalites, McCook once told me: "Ya know, Brevett didn't read, he played by ear. But he was so talented. He was just a born musician.
All you had to do was play the tune, he would just pick up from there and give it that feel."
I also asked Brevett about his inability to deal with notated music. In his straight-talking manner he lamented his shortcomings, saying he was overlooked for gigs with the jazz guys because of this even though he didn't think any of those other bassists with all their orthodoxy, had the beat or spirit to match his."
Just listen to "Downbeat Burial" to experience the full weight of Brevett's deft melodic and rhythmic playing. On songs like Roll on Sweet Don and Man in the Street (which still sends a shiver down my spine each time I hear its amazing opening), his walking bass lass lines introduce the songs and hold them in place throughout as the other band members solo and weave in and out of the steady foundation he constructed.
The article provides a touching and wholly appropriate coda to Brevett and the impact of his bass playing style:
Ex-Fishbone member Christopher Dowd has launched a new ska-influenced project titled The Ultrainfidels. The band, which at the moment appears to be a partnership between Dowd and bassist, guitarist and programmer Daniel Seeff, has released two songs via their Facebook page. Both songs, "Cubicle" and "Walking Dead" recall the hyper-ska and punky reggae of early era Fishbone as well as the more soulful side of Dowd penned songs like "Everday Sunshine" and "Change." The two songs are a taste of what promises to be full album from The Ultrainfidels that is expected some time this summer. Read an interview with Dowd about The Ultrainfidels.
As a singer and multi-instrumentalist, Dowd brought a different perspective to Fishbone. He was the sensitive soulster in a troupe of ska/punk/thrash/funksters. Dowd left the band after their "Give a Monkey a Brain and he'll Swear He's the Center of the Universe" album in 1994. After landing in New York City following his departure from Fishbone, Dowd connected with a collective of local New York City-based ska musicians (including King Django) and rocker Jeff Buckley to form The Seedy Arkhestra and released "Puzzle" in 1997. It remains a criminally overlooked ska album. Have a listen to 'A Thousand Tears" below:
The Ultrainfidels track "Cubcile: which sounds like it could have been on the first Fishbone EP, was included on the movis soundtrack of the excellent "Hot Tub Time Machine" and has slowly been going viral among the vast online network of Fishbone fans. That said, The Ultrainfidels is a grassroots band. Dowd himself has said, "This is a new band and we are literally starting from scratch. It’s really like starting over for me." With his musical pedigree and Fishbone credentials, I look forward to hearing more.
And so, without further ado I present for your listening pleasure...The Ultrainfidels!
