InYourBass.com

WHO’S THAT BLACK MAN IN OUR COUCH?

You got in touch with reggae in a natural way. Do you have some early memories about your first riddims?
Y : Music has always been an important part of my life. My parents were responsible for my musical education ; both my father and mother are heavy reggae-addicts. My father was one of the first reggae-dj’s in Antwerp -known as Lui Lucky- and has a big collection from those days. I was dragged to festivals from young age, like Open Tropen in Turnhout. My earliest memory of reggae comes from when I was still a young boy: my parents invited reggae singer Carlton Jackson after a concert to sleep over. When I came down in the morning, I saw him sleeping in the sopha and was frightened as hell: I had never seen such a dark man before!

Was your father’s collection much of an influence, or did you find your own way in the music ?
Y: My father was and still is a big fan of Joe Higgs. I didn’t really like the specific sound of his voice, I was more into singjays like Eek-A-Mouse or Tappa Zukie, and picked up the dubsound quite early. My interest for the true roots music came in stages. Once I’d caught the taste of it, I had a huge collection of treasures to dig in. My father’s collection has been essential for my knowledge about the foundation roots.
 
What age did you have when you fell in love with the music?
Y: Those were my scout years: when I was 13 years old I made a tape with Luciano and Israel Vibration and took it with me on a camp. I haven’t been the same ever since: I jumped on this music like a freak. I never lost this passionate drive since then: after tapes came the real records, and I started to play here and there as a DJ.

SPIRITUAL VIBES AT REGGAE GEEL

Which contacts and experiences made you aware of the soundsystem phenomenon?
Actually this is a very recent awareness: I was already dj-ing for years before I first saw a proper soundsystem. The only one in Antwerp I knew about was Fiji Sound, but they mainly played new roots and dancehall. It’s at the end of the nineties I got to know the proper roots soundsystems, when King Shiloh played in Hof ter Lo. But the most impressive experience was without a doubt Reggae Geel 2000, where I saw King Shiloh clash with Channel One, longside MC’s African Simba and Lyrical Benjie. Later, I crossed the Channel for the Nothing Hill Carnival, a festival in the streets of London where Aba Shanti played with his sound. These experiences converge with the start of my own musical production. The vibes I felt at these places are still a source of inspiration: it’s hard to explain what happens when you hear the bass that loud.

Did this awareness change your relation to music?
Obviously a sound session is a purer musical experience than a regular dj-set on a PA : it’s also got to do with how the music’s being played. The first year I played reggae I was only familiar with the quick transitions from the dancehall sounds. My very first session was one from Soul Remedy, they played every track from start to end with 3 or 4 dubversions. I had never heard anything like that, apart from stories about Jah Shaka who played this way. I liked the approach immediately because it really puts the attention to the music itself. This session also influenced my own dj-ing : from then I built up from roots to hard steppers. 

You’re both selector and producer. How does one relate the other?
I started as a selector, but I don’t play that much anymore these days. I focus on the music itself now : when I select, I play my own tracks. Making music is very different from playing some records. It takes a lot more time: it’s a process of days, weeks or even months to get a track right, while you can make a good selection in one afternoon.

Which activity do you prefer?
Obviously my main focus is on producing my own tracks. I don’t own a soundsystem myself, which doesn’t motivate me to keep playing on a normal PA. Once you heard the difference, standard speakers are just inferior. The steppers I produce are meant to create a certain spiritual vibe, which can't be created when they are being played on inferior speakers. 

RESPECT THE FOUNDATION

How do you work? Which instruments help you creating music?
I fell in love with dub music because of analogue producers like Scientist and King Tubby: to me, they form the foundation of reggae. They reached a level with their sound experiments that has been unequalled ever since. They worked in an analogue studio and built their own mixers: I couldn’t dream of such a workspace. I compose my tracks with Q-Base and Reason. The contemporary dubproducers I admire, like Aba Shanti, King Alpha and Echo Roots, compose their tracks digitally and mix them analogue. I’m always looking for old analogue equipment because of its surplus value.
“Drum and bass” is the foundation of reggae, that’s what you need to start with. Soundsystems inspire me a lot: the day after I always create two or three new tracks, because then I instinctively feel how to put the drum and bass in the track. I build a melody with synths, and that’s how the track grows step by step. I try to use as much live instruments as possible, but I’m not a musician myself. It ain’t easy to play something perfect in just a few takes either: you’ve got to master your instrument. I use Novation synths, melodica, guitar and a panflute. Most of the live percussion is played by Jan Goyens from Ionyouth, guitar, melodica and sax are played by befriended musicians. Sometimes I toast over my own tracks, and I work with other singers regularly, like Sammy Gold. Since one year and a half, I’ve got a mixer and I can mix my tracks analogue, which results in a totally different end product. These typical sounds of thunder are generated by a Tapco spring reverb. You can imitate the delays and echoes from old dub, but it just isn’t the same. I use tape echoes from HHElectronics, they are very desired for their slidertempo. Next to that I use a Roland Space echo: it’s a tape echo with a spring reverb.
The analogue days are definetely over and this has its disadvantages: nobody can ever possibly equal that specific sound of King Tubby’s spring reverb. There are some livebands like Twilight Circus and Ticklah who imitate it quite accurate, but I have no idea how they do it. From a different point of view, the digitalisation has made it much easier to make music: without computer software, I would never have been able to make music. Russ Disciples also needed software to translate his immense knowledge to dub tracks. 

What is the difference bethween reggae on pre-amp or PA? How does the music change the experience?
In Jamaica everybody plays on soundsystem: this is nothing new, it belongs to the foundation. Reggae is bass music, and bass just doesn’t sound the same on all speakers. For example, scoops are made to make this bass sound perfect. Playing reggae on inferior speakers is the same as raping the music. A jazzmusician will also refuse to play a bad sounding instrument: to a soundman, his soundsystem has the same function.

You’re probably one of reggae’s best kept secrets in Belgium. Do you attach to this anonymity?
New digital media like Myspace can have a large impact: my tracks are played in Europe, UK and the USA. According to my modest standards, I already reached far: Soul Remedy, Ionyouth and different English soundsystems play my music. There are some English radio shows that give me airplay: I get a lot of good feedback, while I don’t do a lot of effort to promote myself. As a youth I dreamed about being a hero on a big stage, but these phantasies definitively belong to the past. Times have changed: people aren’t really looking to the artist’s personality. The crowd just wants to hear the music, only the freaks are interested in the person behind it. When I go to a session, what I enjoy it the most is seeing people jump on my tracks. Wether they know that I made this music, is completely incidental.

How important is it to you to get your tracks published?
Obviously, that has been a dream for ages. Vinyl is something so magic ; it’s the carrier of the music that originated my own tracks. It would be the absolute summum to see my own music being published on wax. Slowly but surely, perspectives are growing to make this dream come true: next to some offers from foreign labels, I’m hoping to found a label myself. There is an amazing amount of talent in Belgium, it’s easy to release something without going bankrupt. Actually I don’t really want to make money out of it, publishing music is the main interest.  `

Do you have favourite tracks you cherish, or are you never content and always looking forward?
One of my older tunes is called “Sword of Jah”, and is played by soundsystems worldwide. It’s nice to get that kind of attention, but this track was mixed digitally and doesn’t really satisfy me. In the end I can’t pick one tune above the others, because this would mean I don’t want to grow anymore. I’m always looking forward indeed: my only motivation is to obtain more producing skills.

Do you think the Belgian reggaescene has still a lot of growing potential?
The scene will always grow and remain small at the same time, just like everything in Belgium remains small. I don’t think roots music will ever attract a larger audience than dancehall: it’s just not the kind of music made to go wild. You can skank like a madman on steppers too, but I don’t think a lot of people realise that. Furthermore, in a session arises a vibe that verges on a spiritual trance: it’s something totally different from the relaxed partyvibe that attracts a lot of people. But yet: the last seven years this scene arose out of nowhere and became much bigger. This growth is also preceded by a process of years in Belgium, spreading the roots music. Of course we will never be able to equal what is possible in France and England : we don’t have any Carribean influences here, while there’s a large Jamaican community in these countries.  

 

SPIRITUAL GUIDANCE

“Sword of Jah”, “Free Spirit steppers”... there’s something spiritual to these titles; it seems to be more than a gimmick.
Haile Selassie owns a part of my heart. The fact that I’m not a rasta or not even black, doesn’t change a lot about that. Rastafari is about many more things: the belief we all descend from black ancestors, for example. As a white man, it’s not always evident to bind with the feeling of rasta and black oppression, but since we share a common origin, this is relative. You could summarize Rastafari as the idea of “one blood”: we all come from the same origin; nobody has the right to feel superior onto another. Rasta is guidance in my life and thoughts; is a spiritual light that guides I and I. I’m not rasta myself, but it is the main line in my own spirituality: I just try to be myself. You can’t go on without religion anyway: who lives without a god can’t have empathy for others either. What always caught my eye when dealing with the real rasta’s I met, was the confidence that comes from their positivism: they remain humble and down to earth. On the other hand, the connections of my parents showed me a lot of Jamaican singers don’t stay true to their principles at all when they’re on tour. I can’t really understand how you can sing on stage about positivism when you’re sniffing coke backstage and cheat on your wife. In my opinion, when you say to follow certain principles, you should stick to them. 

More info:

www.myspace.com/crucialalphonsodub
http://dubkey.com/dubkey002.html (link to a free download of their newest release!)

words and images by Andreas