LET'S MAKE A JOYFUL NOISE, LETS DISTURB THE DEVIL: BOOGIE BROWN BAND I think that is completely useless to try to explain you how Internet get better the worldwide contacts concerning reggae music. Thanks to Internet we got in touch with a people who contributed in doing the true reggae history. Im talking of Clinton Fearon, better known in Jamaica as Basie, great bassman playing for long time in the Kingston recording studios (resident bass player at Studio One and at Black Ark) and member of the Albert Griffiths Gladiators. As a lot of Jamaican artists Clinton left Jamaica to establish in Seattle, USA but his musical history is not ended yet. In the city of grounge, Clinton formed Boogie Brown Band, a project whos giving him a lot of good experiences. In 1997 the band released our second CDMystic Whisper: this work is working well on the US reggae radio and it was #1 on the chart of the very good dutch reggae site Reggae Vibes! I have to say that Mystic Whisper is a very good reggae album, with a sort of old reggae taste. The four-pieces band (without horns) have an essential sound and there is a great attention to the original reggae grove, thanks to the John Roddes great work. The whole mood of the record reminds me Israel Vibration for the strenght of the vibes and the old Studio One sounds, for the good balance of rhythm and melody. The CD has 13 good songs, some with sunny moods and some more conscious. The lyrics are very positive and concerning themes like violence, war or racial injustices. You can read more informations in the following cyber-reasoning that I had with Clinton Fearon. BOOGIE BROWN BAND is available at the following address:http://www.wolfenet.com/~boogie/CF.html Interview by Pier Tosi. Q: What is the story of Boogie Brown Band ? Did the members play in other bands or have other musical experiences? A:Well, we got started four and a half years ago here in Seattle. I had been wanting to pursue my musical career much wider and further than I had been in the past, so I decided to put a group together. We launched out by playing in several clubs, at parties and festivals and then recorded our first CD, "Disturb the Devil". Actually, the band started out with seven members. We had a couple of horns and a lead guitarist, keyboards, rhythm guitar, bass and drums. Horn players dropped out - their main interest was jazz. Then the lead guitarist got married and left us four. Since then, we've formed a tight rhythm section and produced our second CD, "Mystic Whisper" which is creating quite a stir in the reggae world. Yes, all the musicians had previous musical experiences playing with other groups. Barbara Kennedy, the keyboard player, had classical piano training as a child and sang in church. She has played with several other reggae groups as well as a West African high-life group. Lamar Lofton, on bass, studied jazz in his beginning phase and John Rodde, drummer, played jazz, blues, funk and has also played with Joe Higgs, Frank Carroll and Michael Prophet. Together the four of us have been working hard trying to keep that positive stir going. Q:How is "Mystic whisper" working in USA? A:Very good. We've been getting nothing but good responses from the radio stations we've sent it to and the stores that have it are doing well with it - some already re-ordered. We have received some excellent reviews from European countries but as of now, have been unable to get European distribution. I don't know if it is because we are "small fries" or it's because we haven't become a household name yet! Q: A question about "fighting for survival": Boogie Brown Band is an emerging reggae band : are you earning enough for living doing records and playing live with Boogie Brown or do you have another work? (concerning all the members) A:It's right between the line there - whether to go look a job or continue to play music but we manage to be getting by!! One member has a part time job but the rest of us just play music. Q:How many concerts has the band played since his birth? A:That's a big question!! We haven't kept track of all the gigs but we play on a real regular basis here in Seattle, up in Canada and in the Pacific Northwest and thru the Rocky Mountain states. Q:In Italy we heard a lot of things about Seattle as a big rock&roll city (Nirvana etc..): how is the life in Seattle for a reggae addict? A:It's very rough because the music that is widely spread is rock. All the venues and stadiums, etc. only cater for one kind of music. They're seeing the money market. In other words, we don't even have a full fledged reggae club here. But there is potential and I think a reggae club would do well in Seattle. Seattle gets all the major touring acts, same as other US cities, but that's about it. There are very few places where one can go to hear reggae music. Q:Why did you immigrate to the USA? A:Hmmm, to make more music, to just continue to spread the word. My intention wasn't really to live here. Originally I planned to live here six months, go back home for six months, and after doing that a couple of times I realized I needed to stay here and get my green card so I could work. That took years and I'm still here! Q:When you were a youth, how did you get in touch with reggae music? A:I used to listen to sound systems - dances that they have in the country. As a little youth in short pants, I used to dig the music. Sometimes I would even hide and take in some of it and get back before bed time. And sometimes not before bed time, which spelled trouble!!! Q:Do you remember "The harder they come"?: It was a usual thing that youths from all over Jamaica went to Kingston with the dream to became big reggae artists. Was it the same for you when you went there for the first time? A:Most likely. That movie is a good summary of most singers and musicians from the Jamaican countryside. Q: Can you tell me something about that period? A:T'was really rough. The business abroad was hidden from the producers of Jamaica or they didn't understand it well, but even then they knew much more than the artists. So, we were like, way behind. A lot of the reasons for that was that the singers and artists loved the music so much that they weren't paying much attention to the business side of it. All we wanted to do was do a good song and that we would get paid later. It's still later! There are several songs I never collected on. The living situation in Kingston at that time was rough - due to politics and poverty. Survival was the name of the game. Q:What is your memory about Clement Coxsone Dodd and the time you worked at Studio One?? A:Coxsonne Dodd loved the music and, you know, he allowed one to put forth his or her creativity. When the song was finished he would always listen to it and then make his descision whether to put it out or not. We used to lay sometimes ten, fifteen rhythms per day, some times seven days a week. Q:Do you have nice memories to tell about others producers? A:Yes, Yabby You produced some excellent rhythms and songs. Just last December, Barbara (keyboards) and I went up to Vancouver, BC, Canada, to record with Yabby on a new project that has not yet been released. It was really nice doing some music together again after such a long pause. Prince Tony Robinson had good taste for hit songs. Jolly kind of guy, you know! Nice bredren, but he loved money! At Channel One, there was Jo-Jo. We did some rhythms for him and recorded as Gladiators for him - about four or five songs. I don't know what happened to those songs. I don't even remember if they did get released. There are more and the stories go on and on.......... Q:I read that there was a special way to work in Black Ark Studios surely due to crazy genius of Lee Perry. What are your memories? A:Genius he was and probably still is. One time I remember we were doing a session there, Scratch came over and whispered a bass line in my ear and it was one ot the nicest bass lines and right when I thought we were going to record the rhythm, Scratch laughed and came back to me and said, "You know, Basie, they don't ready for this, this is 20th century rhythm." So we didn't record it! He's actually one of the most creative producers I know who doesn't play an instrument except for some percussions. Q:How did you get in touch with Albert Griffiths and join the Gladiators? A:Thru Errol Grandison. He came by my house when I was just hummin' and strummin' on some chords and he joined in and we started to sing a few songs. And he said that Gladiators lost a member and he thought I would be perfect for the position. He went and told Albert about me and we met two weeks later and so, I joined the group from then on. Q:Who are your favourite Jamaican fellow musicians? A:There isn't just one. There are quite a few. The old time Wailers with Peter, Bunny and Bob; the Heptones; Slim Smith and the Techniques; Delroy Wilson; and then musicians - guitarists Earl "Chinna" Smith, Ernie Ranglin, and Clinton Rufus; bassists, Family Man and Lloyd Parks. Those come immediately to mind - there are many many more great musicians from Jamaica. Unfortunately some of the best never get a chance. Q:What do you remember of the period in the 70s when reggae went suddenly worldwide bigger and bigger? A:Well, I was touring during that time with The Gladiators. It was a blast! Really successful. The first time I toured, I realized how much people know of reggae music and love reggae music. I remember though when the producers started to get rich, you know, wearing pretty shoes, driving fancy cars and wearing enough chains. That was a big sign to tell you, hey, there's money being made in the business, but who's gettin it? Then when you tour and realize some of the things that goes down, and how much people really love the music you say, OHHH, that's how these producers have so much money. The bad thing about it, they came home and told us pure lies, like our song had not been released yet, that they went up there to deal with someone else's music, but they failed to mention that your song had been released elsewhere, thus avoiding having to pay the musicians. That was not uncommon. Q:You surely knew Bob Marley. Can you tell us something about Bob?? A:Bob did love to play soccer. When Bob was in a good mood, he was the nicest person to be around. And he really did love music, definitely loved music, and he'd get right in it when he was doing it. =======================================================================