RockOm

Psychedelic country-rock with a Kingston-inspired Reggae groove accompanying mystic Celtic chant and flute. It's how we roll at RockOm and we're rolling at you with three new RockOm Featured interviews today. Though different cultures separate them, each of these artists are creating music with a united purpose: to spread love, peace and some "righteous" joy.

The New Riders of The Purple Sage, California's psychedelic cowboys of 70's country-rock, have released their first album in 20 years. The New Riders' Buddy Cage joined RockOm for a revealing discussion on the new CD and band, and how it makes all the difference when you "play it in your own spirit."

The Wailers, led now by Aston "Family Man" Barrett continue spreading the message that "we're all Jah people." The band's reggae groove has been the soundtrack to the lives of hundreds of millions across the planet. Family Man joined RockOm before a recent performance to talk about the soul of Rastafari, the legacy of Bob Marley and an upcoming new Wailers CD featuring surprise guest artists.

A Celtic Mass for Peace: Songs for the Earth gives voice and sound to earth's deepest yearnings for peace. These are not just religious longings or Christian longings. These are sacred longings from the heights and depths of humanity's song. In a RockOm exclusive, composers Sam Guarnaccia and J. Philip Newell reveal how music and chant bring out the natural mystic in us all.

An Interview with The Wailers’ “Family Man”
By Tom Crenshaw and Trevor Harden

Think reggae and you immediately think of Bob Marley and the Wailers. No artist since has embodied the sound, message, philosophy and lifestyle of reggae music in such a mainstream and influential way as did Bob and his band. And now, decades after Marley’s death, the Wailers continue the legacy, touring in promotion of the re-release of their classic album, Exodus.

RockOm’s Tom Crenshaw met up with original bassist, Aston "Family Man" Barrett, at a Wailers show on Hilton Head Island, SC to discuss the band’s powerful impact, the spiritual foundations of reggae and a “secret” new album.

RockOm: Do you feel that you’ve been called to spread “the Word” through music all these years?

Family Man: Ya, man. I’ve been doing that since 1969, internationally until now and still going on. I just know that Family Man and The Wailers band - Bob (Marley), Bunny (Wailer), Peter (Tosh), my brother Carlton, and Wya (Earl “Wya” Lindo) – the six of us, we set the trend. After we set the trend in ‘72 and ‘ 73 we carried on with one man short. In ‘74 we were three [men] short; no Bob, no Peter, no Wya and we decided to take it to the next level when we came with the album Natty Dread. Those first two were Catch a Fire and Burnin’ and then Rastaman Vibration after Natty Dread. Then Live, then Exodus and Kaya, followed by Survivor. Then Babylon by Bus, Uprising, Confrontation and tracks taken from that catalog to bring forward the Legend and then Exodus - which is nominated by Time Magazine and awarded the Album of the Century.

Unfortunately we still have a little negative thing going on out there with a couple guys who used to be in my band, hired hands that were in and out, in and out more than 12 times. They cannot think of anything else than what they used to do before, so they are trying to impersonate my band and cause some kind of confusion out there with the fans. We would like [the fans] to know we are the band - the Bob Marley band. Those guys are British and one American who used to do some guitar licks. They are not “foundation people,” you know – from the Jamaican scene, the ghetto thing. How can you say that out there in the public eye, in the young generation that you are what you are not? It’s too bad. Anyway, we keep the music going on, the Wailers Band. This is the band, the Bob Marley Wailers band. We are run by the Family Man and the crew.

RockOm: When you were young how did you know you were going to be doing this the rest of your life?

Family Man: Well, I was voluntarily chosen for the mission, ya know? To spread the message to the four corners of the earth and that Jah’s will must be done by our means, no matter the crisis we are facing right now. Lucifer and his disciples are trying to penetrate the righteous.

RockOm: You’re a devout Rastafarian?

Family Man: Yes, Rastafari is a positive thing. It’s just like people who go to some other church who call themselves Christian. Rastafarian is the original Christianity and it’s just one, though it has many different names. But as we know, there’s only one living and true God - the Almighty who created heaven and earth and all living substance.

RockOm: Is there room for diversity in Rastafari?

Family Man: Yes, because He created all living substance - no matter the nation, you see? All of the nations and earth sprung from after the great flood when Noah and his family were safe in the ark. Those are the people that flourished the earth. It’s one man’s son. Noah got three sons - Ham, Shem and Japheth. Ham is like the black man, Shem is the oriental man and Japheth is the white people. It’s one man’s kids, no matter what you see there. It’s the Almighty, moving in mysterious form. We’re all Jah people, all children of the Almighty God.

RockOm: Do your audience and fans receive anything of Rasta when they hear your music, even if they know nothing about Rastafari?

Family Man: Of course. I see people coming to the concert who could not come when Bob was alive. They are coming today and even young people who were born after Bob have taken to the message and the music and are coming, because what we play is for all ages and all times. It’s about past, present and future. That’s the reggae music. It’s the heartbeat of the people, the universal language that carries the message of roots, cultures, and reality.

RockOm: There’s an explosion of reggae artists and music taking place. What is it about reggae that connects people in ways that other music can’t?

Family Man: Reggae music is coming from the King David’s throne, coming from the chief musician. It’s like the talking drum, what they used to use in Africa to send messages across the valley and village and city. That kind of drumming we culminate within the trap drum. We feel it on the one-drop and play the reggae music. It’s not like any other. The island music, they’re playing war drums. But we’re playing the love/peace drum with the positive message.

RockOm: I’ve read in interviews where you’ve said the goal of the Wailers is to uplift the oppressed and help the downtrodden. In what ways do you see that happening and manifesting through your music and do you think that has something to do with, “when the music hits you, you feel no pain”?

Family Man: Well that’s one good thing about the music - when it hits you, you feel no pain, my man. You know? The music is love; it’s life, ya know? And it tells you about reality and how to move through the earth. War is not the answer. Only love can conquer. War is very ugly but love is very lovely. Yes.

RockOm: When Exodus first came out did you know it would have the influence it had?

Family Man: Of course, because even the first time it was released I said to myself, I don’t figure they get the message fully yet. Before I heard the release of Kaya (we worked on both Exodus and Kaya at the same time), the single Exodus needed some more time before Kaya was released, to work on the business strategies, the marketing strategies. It was good. It’s also much better to see that they get the message after all and re-released it. (laughs) It’s good. And here we are out there promoting it, just like what we did with all the Bob Marley and the Wailers’ catalog. Year in and year out, no one else does that. We know what we do and people know - the world knows and God knows - that we keep the spirit of Bob alive through the reggae music and we’re out there generating it too, ya know? Only the Almighty can pay us for that, really. But we hang on there still. We know that God is real and also the devil, Satan, is real too. He has a lot of big people with him.

RockOm: Is music, the fire of music, a purifier?

Family Man: The fire of the music, yes, and the burning and the force of it and the energy. You will find the good, the bad and the indifferent around it for sure. It’s so precious.

RockOm: Let me ask you about “Natural Mystic” from Exodus. It’s a mysterious song. The lyrics say, “Many more will have to suffer, many more will have to die, don’t ask me why.” What was Bob saying in this song and why will many more have to suffer and die?

Family Man: There’s a part in the Bible that says, “Many are called, but few will be chosen,” and this could be the last trumpet. Just like when Noah was preaching for so many days, weeks, months and years warning the people of this great flood, because they didn’t have the Weather Channel in those times (laughs)! He was telling them to be good, make preparation; prepare yourself and your families to be in this ark. Many didn’t take him seriously. Just a handful did. So let it be.

RockOm: We’ve heard talk about a new album.

Family Man: Yes, we are working on a collaborative album, ya know. Something like Santana’s Supernatural with [various guest artists]. We said we would not disclose the names. We’re keeping that not so much a secret but a surprise for the music lovers. We still have to write three tracks to finish up before we start the mixing. We recorded some in Jamaica and some on the road. We have unreleased drum tracks with my brother playing drums. What I did was get in all the original members of the band to contribute, trying to catch back the ‘70’s and make it even better! So, that is the spirit, man. We make a new concept of rhythm around the drum tracks - like a brand new thing, like my brother is alive in the room playing the drums. It’s fantastic.

RockOm: How long are going to tour? How long are the Wailers going to stay on the road?

Family Man: How long you think I should? (laughs)

www.wailers.com

Photography by Tom Crenshaw

by Mel Cooke, The Gleaner, Jamaica W.I.

Though primarily a roots reggae album, Julian Marley delves into several other genres on his latest project, Awake.

On the album, due out May 26 through Ghetto Youths/Universal, there is a marked difference between the feel of two adjacent songs on the same topic, the slow, bare-bones (musically) "Just In Time", which is followed by the up-tempo reggae piece, "Jah Works". Both deal with the spirituality of the Rastafarian. Marley tells The Sunday Gleaner that the tempo for "Just In Time" was decided when the song was being constructed.

"Songs like that don't need a whole heap of instruments. It is a more organic sound. It is a desolate sounding song. Jah Works now, more upbeat, more in the reggae beat," he says.

Variations in tempo and vocal timbre are part and parcel of the album, the title track of which was the first that Marley came up with. (He points out that it took him two years from conceptualization to completion, but he was not "really consistent right through" the entire 24 months.) So he started out with the love song, "Oh Girl", featuring rapper Mr Cheeks, with a brief monologue in a deep voice and quickly goes into a good falsetto. "Boom Draw" is an out-and-out rub-a-dub tune, while "All I Know" is a hip-hop one.

Every little thing

Still, most of Awake is on familiar roots reggae ground. "Me is a man listen most of the legendaries," Marley says, adding that he listens to jazz, the blues and "every little thing".

"But when it come down to the roots we want to have it original," he said. And that means reggae rockers. "Jamaica has a history of reggae, just like America have a history of the blues. If you go to a blues show in America is like you are in the '50s. So me no care, me come fi deliver the roots and create it with live music." He can play a lot of that live music, as he plays the guitar, keyboard, bass and drums. The guitar is the accustomed composition tool, although he chuckles as he says if he had a keyboard with him he would probably write more songs.

Another pair of adjacent, thematically similar songs is "Rose Hall" and "A Little Too Late" (featuring brother, Stephen Marley). Both are about relationships where the male gets the bitter end of the stick. Marley says while they are not about his personal experiences, other persons he knows have been through them. They are in part intended for the men "to wise up. If you love a woman love her, but you can't lose yourself".

And while "Rose Hall" is not about the notorious Montego Bay lady, Marley says she is "one of the headliners. It is a lineage of people. It no have no colour either".

He is not looking askance at The Bible either, as in "Jah Works" Marley mentions Noah and the ark, as well as a pillar of salt. There is no conflict of spirituality here, as Marley says "of course Rastafari is biblically based. In The Bible, it speaks of the east. It may not say Ethiopia, but if you do your math ... Christ a go come in a new form," Marley said, referring to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. "As we live the prophecy reveal in front of our eyes."

Discrimination

"Violence in the Streets" features another brother, Damian 'Jr Gong' Marley. Julian sings about the youths who "say them can't gat a job/'cause they got no credential", while Jr Gong deejays about the youths being discriminated against because of their hair like wool. Julian says the song is about the plight of the youths in general.

"We represent the African children wherever we are. The wool is not necessarily the locks. Everyone have the wool same way. But we can use that song to represent Jamaica 'cause is nuff African brethren. This song is a very serious song. If me go England is the same thing," Marley tells The Sunday Gleaner.

He considers unemployment the beginning of violence.

"You can't eat no food, everything goes upside down. If you can't feed your youths, it gets bitter," he said. Still, he points out that "it is also a mentality that get us lazy along the way. Even if you get an opportunity, you been doing nothing for so long". He describes "All I Know", which uses the familiar image of the bucket going to the well repeatedly as a "parables kind of song", which applies to the personal as well as the international level, although "this song was composed even before the recession".

Marley says he is satisfied with his third album and says now it is a matter of promoting it, with the possibility of a promotional tour across the US. However, he says, "we need the support in Jamaica" because in matters of roots reggae, drum and bass, Jamaica is the base "of course".

No burden from father, brothers

In his facial features and stance onstage, Julian Marley is strikingly like his father Bob Marley. Being the closest thing to the physical replica of a legend can be as much a curse as a blessing, but the younger Marley has absolutely no doubts about the effect on him.

"Is a blessing. Is a blessing. If it wasn't a blessing we wouldn't be grateful for life. It is a blessing to be on Earth," he told The Sunday Gleaner. He points out that his father is a man from the hills, a man of the red dirt and soil, and "our father is our teacher so we learn same way". As for the possibility of being overshadowed by his brothers, including Stephen, Damian and Ziggy, Julian points out that "all of the brothers who do music, if you put us on a stage you going to enjoy everybody. We all have our unique thing. No shadows".

There may be a shadow over the Awake album's lead single though, as it may be restricted from airplay. Marley says, "Me hear a little thing, me no know. But me hear through de daggerin' ting we can't say certain tings. But we say herbs an' we a say it for 30, 40 years now." He advocates an individual assessment of songs for airplay, advising the powers that be to check all music and ban what needs to be banned.

"Jamaica is still hiding the truth and the truth get banned," he said. And although he has heard that "Boom Draw" "get couple play, it no get the full run". So although "Boom Draw" is available on iTunes, Marley says, "We want to penetrate the underground with this one, the sound system." It would seem too, that the most likely next single from Awake will be also pitched through the sound systems. As will the rub-a-dub "Violence in the Streets" with Damian 'Jr Gong' Marley.

http://www.myspace.com/royalmarley