Global Reggae Charts - Issue #21 / February 2019

So when we started out with “Scratch” we were
rotating through different combinations of people;
the core group though, we’ve always included Larry
McDonald on percussion, who has worked with
“Scratch” since back in the days of the Black Ark,
and recorded with, even before him, with Count
Ossie – the original Nyabinghi drum group – the
Skatalites… they recorded with Bob Marley and
Peter Tosh… so it was interesting because the band
was really multi-generational too, now “Scratch”
is coming up on his 83rd birthday, Larry is 81 going
on 82, and both those guys are just a very inspiring
example of how age has nothing to do with your
youthful creative outlook on life.
So having Larry in there from the get-go, we started
out oftentimes with live bass and horns, the tour
that we’re doing now is more horn-related, because
going back and doing an album like Blackboard Jungle
which we’re gonna do on this tour, and before
that we’ve done a Super Ape album, that era of the
70s recordings by Perry, I felt like the horn and percussion
was really a crucial element in that sound,
a real crucial element of the Black Ark studio sound,
his studio where he really came into his own as a
producer.
AM: How much over the years have you immersed
yourself into that Black Ark catalog, how much have
you let the past work of “Scratch” affect your involvement
with him, versus just approaching it with a
fresh vision for current times?
Emch: I mean, to be honest, we kind of went backwards
in time in a way, we started with him and
initially he didn’t really want to be doing a lot of old
music, he wanted to do a lot of new stuff, like I said
he wanted to work with us because of the dubstep
stuff, and that became very popular. At a certain
point, probably with the dawn of Skrillex, it kind of
killed it – because then that sort of left turn for dubstep
really didn’t have anything to do with reggae
anymore.
So we kind of stopped trying to have that associati-
global reggae charts
insight
on to a certain extent, but what we did instead was
instead of having it be like remixes of songs… really
trying to back into that catalog and find songs that
we could – I don’t want to say modernize – but combine
with elements that were newer – I mean just
the whole format of the band, the fact that there’s
electronics and old traditional instruments playing
old original parts – that in itself made it different.
And just figuring out what music of his fit best into
that format and how to make it more seamless…
when we were first playing we’d do what sounded
like dubstep track, and then what sounded like a
jungle or drum-n-bass track, and then something
that sounds like a reggae track – instead we’ve now
kind of made it so in a way it flows seamlessly
through these elements, you kind of hear hints of
different styles come in and out. And to me, it’s really
kind of capturing an evolution of his aesthetic, and
in a way our aesthetic, because it’s been based on,
built on the shoulders of, what he created.
AM: I know with the Super Ape album that you worked
with the track listing, made to have dub versions
at the end as well, to make sure it’s a fresh thing
rather a remix album or something like that…
Emch: Yeah, but we did this whole tour for the 40th
Anniversary of Super Ape, and in the process of
doing the tour – you know the original album is so
sort of meditative and sparse that to bring it live, I
don’t think it would’ve been that compelling as a
live show. There’s a lot of music I love to listen to,
but going and standing in a dark room for an hour
or two listening to it isn’t really the optimal way
to enjoy it – the original album is best enjoyed just
kicking it, relaxing – but we wanted something that
took those same songs and instilled it with more,
just, energy, made it more hype.
And you know, the direction of a lot of reggae, especially
in Europe, is a lot of more of the steppers, Jah
Shaka-inspired beats, where it’s quite high energy.
And I just found that a lot of those songs on that
album lend themselves to that sort of evolution,
global reggae charts | issue 21 / feb 2019
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