WEBVTT - Cymande 0:00:15.476 --> 0:00:15.956 Pushkin. 0:00:20.156 --> 0:00:23.876 The British funk band Simonde released their self titled debut 0:00:24.076 --> 0:00:28.236 in nineteen seventy two. The album's deep calypso and reggae grooves 0:00:28.276 --> 0:00:32.516 are inspired by its members West Indian roots, and decades 0:00:32.556 --> 0:00:36.156 after its release, samples taken from Simnde's albums would find 0:00:36.156 --> 0:00:38.956 their way into songs that now define hip hop's Golden 0:00:38.956 --> 0:00:42.156 era from artists like Day La Soul, Gang Star and 0:00:42.196 --> 0:00:45.076 the Fujis. While the band had found a second life 0:00:45.076 --> 0:00:47.956 through sampling during the late eighties and nineties, its primary 0:00:47.996 --> 0:00:52.356 members bassist Steve Sippio and guitarist Patrick Patterson also found 0:00:52.396 --> 0:00:55.756 second lives as lawyers, but the desire to make music 0:00:55.796 --> 0:00:58.916 never left them, and last month Simonde released a new 0:00:58.956 --> 0:01:03.156 album called Renaissance, a project their label describes as a 0:01:03.276 --> 0:01:06.156 spiritual and sonic follow up to their nineteen seventy four 0:01:06.196 --> 0:01:10.076 album Promised Heights. On today's EPISO, I talked to Steve 0:01:10.116 --> 0:01:13.316 Cipio and Patrick Patterson about their early band days in 0:01:13.396 --> 0:01:16.676 London and about the early calypso track that helped launch 0:01:16.716 --> 0:01:20.516 Simonde's sound. They also reminisce about touring the US and 0:01:20.556 --> 0:01:22.916 opening for Al Green in the seventies, and how they 0:01:22.916 --> 0:01:26.356 came to collaborate with artists like Jazzy B and Celeste 0:01:26.516 --> 0:01:32.916 on their new album This is Broken Record, Real musicians, 0:01:33.156 --> 0:01:42.836 real conversations. Here's my conversation with Simandae. 0:01:43.156 --> 0:01:43.276 So. 0:01:44.156 --> 0:01:46.676 I remember hearing your guys' music for the first time 0:01:46.756 --> 0:01:50.676 and just being completely blown away. I mean, I knew 0:01:51.636 --> 0:01:57.276 James Brown, I knew Parliament Funkadelic. I even knew to 0:01:57.316 --> 0:02:01.316 some degree, Fela Kuti, But just like the way you 0:02:01.436 --> 0:02:07.716 guys had this original sound that was I mean, those 0:02:08.236 --> 0:02:11.036 those three off felt similar to me, like, and you 0:02:11.076 --> 0:02:13.836 guys too, like, but you could tell that Fela in 0:02:13.996 --> 0:02:18.236 Parliament Funkadelic were doing like a version of James Brown, 0:02:18.316 --> 0:02:20.276 like a very good version of James Brown. But you 0:02:20.316 --> 0:02:23.356 guys just had this whole I don't know, it was funk, 0:02:23.436 --> 0:02:27.236 but it also was these really complex melodies and it 0:02:27.316 --> 0:02:30.716 was just guys. I don't know what was your guys' 0:02:30.956 --> 0:02:34.876 musical upbringing, Like Stephen Patrick, what were you guys listening 0:02:34.876 --> 0:02:35.516 to growing up? 0:02:37.476 --> 0:02:40.516 Well, I left I left the Caribbean pretty late. I 0:02:40.556 --> 0:02:43.396 was thirteen when I left the Caribbans, so I was 0:02:43.436 --> 0:02:48.236 pretty much into Calypso's obviously as the indigenous misic of 0:02:48.276 --> 0:02:52.476 the Caribbean, and at the time, you know very much 0:02:53.196 --> 0:02:57.676 you had lots of Natkin Cole and Brooke Benton's and 0:02:57.756 --> 0:03:01.636 those those those guys were really big in the Caribbean 0:03:01.956 --> 0:03:04.116 at that time and the sixties, and I think that 0:03:04.236 --> 0:03:08.036 might still be big in the Caribbean because you know, 0:03:08.156 --> 0:03:12.036 that music just connected with the people, with the people there, 0:03:12.276 --> 0:03:13.996 So that was the music I was listening to, the 0:03:14.036 --> 0:03:18.276 indigenous Calypsos and so on, and on top of that 0:03:18.796 --> 0:03:21.796 the stuff from America. A lot of that that of 0:03:21.876 --> 0:03:24.716 that period, you know, to say, Napkin Code and those 0:03:24.836 --> 0:03:28.236 guys there. So when I went to the State, when 0:03:28.276 --> 0:03:31.076 I went to the UK at thirteen and sixty three, 0:03:31.236 --> 0:03:34.476 I still had that very much with me, but then 0:03:34.996 --> 0:03:37.956 gradually started listening to the other stuff that was happening 0:03:38.676 --> 0:03:43.156 happening in the UK at the time, you know. So 0:03:43.396 --> 0:03:48.196 there there was Solomon Burke, I think was mid sixties. 0:03:48.236 --> 0:03:52.756 I really got into Solomon Burke, very much into into 0:03:52.876 --> 0:03:55.036 what he was doing. So I was still very much 0:03:55.076 --> 0:03:58.396 into the soul, you know, of that of that period. 0:03:58.796 --> 0:04:00.916 But at the same time I also started listening to 0:04:00.956 --> 0:04:03.596 a lot of jazz around the mid sixties, you know, 0:04:03.796 --> 0:04:08.156 Miles Davis and Coltrane and and those guys, you know, 0:04:08.436 --> 0:04:13.436 but on top of that also Jimmy Henjacks, you know, 0:04:13.556 --> 0:04:16.956 So it was varied. I wasn't kind of stuck in 0:04:17.036 --> 0:04:19.956 one particular groove and just listening to that, you know, 0:04:20.116 --> 0:04:25.116 whatever struck me, whatever took my fancy. I didn't have 0:04:25.236 --> 0:04:31.036 any any elitism, you know, real music is concerned. 0:04:31.796 --> 0:04:34.036 What were some of the calypsos growing up that you 0:04:34.116 --> 0:04:36.996 listened to? You remember any specific songs. 0:04:37.756 --> 0:04:42.716 Well, one was very important for the image of the 0:04:42.756 --> 0:04:46.956 band and the name of the band, and that was 0:04:46.996 --> 0:04:50.596 a calypso that was called Dove and Pigeon. It was 0:04:50.636 --> 0:04:53.716 a big hit in the Caribbean and I think around 0:04:53.836 --> 0:04:57.756 nineteen sixty two. And it was about a competition. The 0:04:57.836 --> 0:05:01.436 eclypso itself was about a competition between a dove and 0:05:01.476 --> 0:05:05.036 a pigeon as to weis could eat the most pepper? 0:05:07.436 --> 0:05:11.076 Who could eat the most pepper peppers? Yeah, peppers, hot pepper, 0:05:11.676 --> 0:05:14.996 raw hot peppers. So they had this competition between them 0:05:15.156 --> 0:05:20.876 to say who is the better pepper? Eata and uh. 0:05:20.916 --> 0:05:25.236 And the dove the dove was smart. So the dove 0:05:25.756 --> 0:05:29.196 had this it was. It was the kind of hook 0:05:29.596 --> 0:05:32.996 of the eclypso and it went something like, what the 0:05:33.036 --> 0:05:36.956 dove did is that it found a way to ease 0:05:38.356 --> 0:05:41.356 the eating of the pepers. So while the pitcher was 0:05:41.836 --> 0:05:45.236 continually eating the peppers, the dove found the way to 0:05:45.236 --> 0:05:47.756 ease that bag. So it used to saying this this 0:05:47.876 --> 0:05:53.036 refrain in the ECLIPSEO which went something like, I think 0:05:53.836 --> 0:05:59.036 didn't go again. Oh yeaht Nettie, Yeah, Nettie, Nettie ban 0:05:59.196 --> 0:06:07.196 simande wyo wyo ban simande. And you mustn't say, you 0:06:07.316 --> 0:06:13.676 must not say, you must not say. And that is 0:06:13.716 --> 0:06:17.556 how the dove is the pressure of the heat from 0:06:17.596 --> 0:06:19.516 the pepper barb ca. 0:06:21.116 --> 0:06:21.316 Yeah. 0:06:21.636 --> 0:06:24.516 Yeah. And all the time the dove was doing that, 0:06:25.636 --> 0:06:31.436 the pigeon was continually eating. Wow, it was that the 0:06:31.476 --> 0:06:34.476 pigeon had so much just eventually it just collapsed because 0:06:37.716 --> 0:06:40.116 it just collapse from eating too much peppers. You know, 0:06:40.876 --> 0:06:43.796 but you would have heard that refrain I just did. Nettie, 0:06:43.996 --> 0:06:50.196 Nettie band Simandi. What's familiar there? Wow, that's the clipso 0:06:50.396 --> 0:06:53.116 it came from. That's the clips from which we took. 0:06:53.716 --> 0:06:56.236 We took, we took the name from. We don't know 0:06:56.876 --> 0:07:01.196 what Simandy needs Really you don't know, no, never know 0:07:01.276 --> 0:07:03.716 what seman they means. It was just a refrain that 0:07:03.916 --> 0:07:06.476 was sung by the Dove. We liked the song of 0:07:06.516 --> 0:07:09.956 it and it connected us with that were roots in 0:07:09.996 --> 0:07:12.356 the Caribbean, so we said let's go with that for 0:07:12.436 --> 0:07:14.436 the name of the band. Patrick. 0:07:14.516 --> 0:07:16.516 So, Patrick, you remember the song as well growing up? 0:07:16.596 --> 0:07:16.716 Uh? 0:07:16.956 --> 0:07:21.876 Sure, sure, I mean I left the Caribbean quite early, 0:07:22.676 --> 0:07:26.156 but yes, it was a popular It was a popular 0:07:26.236 --> 0:07:29.716 song and we you know, as the years went by, 0:07:30.716 --> 0:07:33.516 we kind of translated or found it, I feel like 0:07:33.756 --> 0:07:39.116 a way to express the to utilize the name to 0:07:39.956 --> 0:07:41.796 mean other things. So it's like, you know, you would 0:07:41.796 --> 0:07:45.716 say Simander, which is kind of if you like Jamaican linguo, 0:07:46.556 --> 0:07:50.436 instead of just associating it with that one no Shell 0:07:51.476 --> 0:07:56.356 Lord Nelson's song. But Steve Brightley says that it reflects 0:07:56.356 --> 0:07:58.836 our Caribbean heritage and so it should. 0:07:59.956 --> 0:08:02.756 Are you two both from the same place in the Caribbean? 0:08:03.396 --> 0:08:04.276 Yes, Guyana. 0:08:05.716 --> 0:08:12.076 What what was the Caribbean community in London in the sixties, Like, 0:08:12.156 --> 0:08:14.956 were you guys spread out throughout Like where did you 0:08:14.956 --> 0:08:17.276 guys all live in a specific place where you spread 0:08:17.276 --> 0:08:18.876 out throughout the city? 0:08:18.996 --> 0:08:20.756 Like, what was the diaspora of. 0:08:20.836 --> 0:08:24.116 The Caribbean community in London in the sixties when you 0:08:24.156 --> 0:08:25.116 guys got there. 0:08:25.196 --> 0:08:25.876 What was that like? 0:08:27.876 --> 0:08:33.876 Yeah, just back a little, because some Caribbean people went 0:08:33.916 --> 0:08:39.636 to London. Caribbean people from other places went to different locations, 0:08:39.956 --> 0:08:46.236 So you'd find petitions for example in Leeds, it'd find agwillains. 0:08:45.596 --> 0:08:47.396 For example in Slough. 0:08:48.356 --> 0:08:51.396 But our community, and it was a tight community when 0:08:51.436 --> 0:08:55.596 we when we were there in those days, Guyanese, Trinidadian, 0:08:57.156 --> 0:09:01.956 to a lesser extent, Barbigian and Jamaicans. 0:09:01.356 --> 0:09:04.076 So it was it was mainly Guyanese and. 0:09:04.076 --> 0:09:07.636 Jamaicans in our community, but it was our community was tight. 0:09:08.276 --> 0:09:10.676 It's a I can't say that I see the. 0:09:10.636 --> 0:09:15.836 Same thing nowadays, but we had the privilege of living 0:09:15.876 --> 0:09:18.916 through a period where that sort of thing happened. 0:09:18.916 --> 0:09:21.756 You know, our street, Steve and I left five doors. 0:09:21.876 --> 0:09:25.716 Our families lived about five doors apart from the time, 0:09:26.476 --> 0:09:28.236 well I was there before him, but from the time 0:09:28.276 --> 0:09:31.436 he came in an event, we lived very close. His 0:09:31.556 --> 0:09:35.276 parents knew my parents, his family knew my family, and 0:09:35.316 --> 0:09:36.996 we've lived that way kind of. 0:09:37.236 --> 0:09:40.316 You know, for all these years. 0:09:40.236 --> 0:09:42.596 Which of you got into music first or were you 0:09:42.636 --> 0:09:43.796 both in the music. 0:09:44.356 --> 0:09:46.996 I got in the first, I used to play soul 0:09:47.116 --> 0:09:51.596 music with a band, you know, do little trips through 0:09:52.236 --> 0:09:55.956 German basic American bases in Germany and that sort of thing. 0:09:56.516 --> 0:09:59.236 That was a bit of a you know, a travel. 0:09:59.236 --> 0:10:03.876 It was not quite a popular location for there, so 0:10:04.276 --> 0:10:10.196 for the bands at that time, certainly the the young bands, 0:10:10.476 --> 0:10:13.196 the bands, the developing bands, if I can put it 0:10:13.196 --> 0:10:15.196 that way. I used to play a lot on the 0:10:15.316 --> 0:10:18.836 American basis. We toured. 0:10:19.196 --> 0:10:21.756 When we did, I can't even call those things tours, 0:10:21.756 --> 0:10:23.836 you know, it goes spend too much a month or 0:10:23.836 --> 0:10:27.076 what have you, playing American bases in different kind of places, 0:10:27.156 --> 0:10:30.356 and then make a few pounds or dollars as the 0:10:30.396 --> 0:10:31.956 case may be, and. 0:10:31.876 --> 0:10:34.516 Then go back home. But I started quite early. 0:10:34.516 --> 0:10:38.116 You know, natural fact, I must have been tender sixteen, 0:10:38.276 --> 0:10:39.836 just going into my seventeenth year. 0:10:40.596 --> 0:10:43.516 That's when I started to do it. Were you doing 0:10:43.556 --> 0:10:46.916 American soul music or was it? Yeah? 0:10:46.956 --> 0:10:50.676 Absolutely, I mean that I think that's probably the music 0:10:50.716 --> 0:10:52.756 that I grew up on. 0:10:52.836 --> 0:10:55.596 The difference between Steve and I is probably that I 0:10:55.756 --> 0:10:56.796 liked a lot of. 0:10:56.756 --> 0:11:00.276 Rock music as well, and his rock music range is 0:11:00.316 --> 0:11:02.476 probably narrower than mine. 0:11:02.556 --> 0:11:06.996 But you know, all guys were rock rock people. Yeah, 0:11:07.956 --> 0:11:11.716 what was the first rock and role you started getting into? Patrick, Well, 0:11:11.756 --> 0:11:12.756 I wouldn't, I wouldn't. 0:11:12.916 --> 0:11:15.156 I wouldn't say rock and roll, more more more rock 0:11:15.196 --> 0:11:19.236 guitar like you know, led Zeppelin ten years after Jimmy Hendrix, 0:11:19.276 --> 0:11:25.196 my all time favorite Claire main Maine kind of guitar 0:11:25.516 --> 0:11:28.756 guitar music, not. 0:11:28.276 --> 0:11:34.236 Not not the Jerry Leine Lewis and Little Richard that 0:11:34.876 --> 0:11:36.716 I mean. I like that, but it wasn't the kind 0:11:36.756 --> 0:11:40.076 of stuff that I was into. It was nice to 0:11:40.116 --> 0:11:46.436 listen to, not not for doing That's right. The other 0:11:46.436 --> 0:11:47.916 stuff was a little more fun, I guess. 0:11:47.996 --> 0:11:51.676 Right, at what point do you two decide to put 0:11:51.676 --> 0:11:55.236 a band together yourselves, like to say, like we too, 0:11:55.236 --> 0:11:56.476 we should do something together. 0:11:58.996 --> 0:12:03.236 First of all, had to develop some skills on on 0:12:03.236 --> 0:12:06.836 on an instrument. I mean Patrick had been playing the 0:12:06.876 --> 0:12:09.396 guitar for a while, so he was quite skillful on 0:12:09.436 --> 0:12:13.236 his on his instrument. And I experimented with a few 0:12:13.236 --> 0:12:18.156 instruments before I actually settled on the base. My first 0:12:18.196 --> 0:12:26.076 instrument was I I purchased a harmonica, and I still 0:12:26.156 --> 0:12:30.236 wonder what was the attraction of the harmonicas, But I 0:12:30.276 --> 0:12:33.556 think I think it might have been because TV was 0:12:33.676 --> 0:12:37.316 very much into the harmonica at that time, so it 0:12:37.396 --> 0:12:38.756 might have had something to do with it. 0:12:38.876 --> 0:12:40.876 I was gonna ask if that because that sounds more 0:12:40.956 --> 0:12:43.436 like maybe where your inspiration would have been from, rather 0:12:43.476 --> 0:12:46.716 than like a blues harmonica, more of like a Stevie wonder. 0:12:46.876 --> 0:12:49.796 Yeah, yeah, it might have been. You know Stevie's I 0:12:49.836 --> 0:12:53.716 really like Steve how Stevie used the harmonica, you know, 0:12:54.276 --> 0:12:57.556 the way it is phrasing, and it was almost like 0:12:57.556 --> 0:13:02.676 like a sex in the way that he utilized the harmonica, 0:13:02.836 --> 0:13:05.836 you know, really really attractive for me. So I think 0:13:05.836 --> 0:13:09.316 that might have been an influence. But I didn't the 0:13:09.396 --> 0:13:13.556 kind of skills that Stevie yet, so that do didn't 0:13:13.676 --> 0:13:18.476 last very long. Patrick's laughing. 0:13:18.516 --> 0:13:23.156 I liked that you didn't sound. 0:13:23.076 --> 0:13:32.356 Like Stevie Patrick, I remember his efforts. Then after that, 0:13:32.436 --> 0:13:38.716 I I I I like the trumpet. I was attracted 0:13:38.756 --> 0:13:47.076 to the trumpet skill of me, so I purchased a trumpet. 0:13:48.516 --> 0:13:50.716 But it was it was I mean, I couldn't buy 0:13:50.756 --> 0:13:54.276 anything at that time, you know, in my mid teens, 0:13:54.396 --> 0:14:00.956 I couldn't buy anything significant, no big name, brand, brand new, 0:14:01.076 --> 0:14:03.596 or anything like that. So it was a second hand trumpet, 0:14:03.636 --> 0:14:06.996 and I think it probably needed a good service in 0:14:07.196 --> 0:14:11.916 before I started use it, so the pads and everything 0:14:11.956 --> 0:14:16.516 were all born, so that didn't last very long. And 0:14:16.556 --> 0:14:19.236 then I tried the guitar a little bit more, and 0:14:19.316 --> 0:14:21.596 actually it was still still bit that and then to 0:14:21.676 --> 0:14:25.236 spatch it, he said, well, listen, why don't you try 0:14:25.236 --> 0:14:28.276 the bass. I'm on the guitar. If you get on 0:14:28.276 --> 0:14:30.996 the bass, then we could try and maybe try and 0:14:31.036 --> 0:14:34.116 put something together. So that was when I bought my 0:14:34.196 --> 0:14:37.116 first bass guitar. It was around maybe seventeen or I 0:14:37.156 --> 0:14:40.996 was around maybe seventeen or eighteen something like that. I 0:14:41.036 --> 0:14:44.316 did connect rate it pretty quick that way. I did 0:14:44.316 --> 0:14:47.396 connect with it pretty quickly. And maybe my style of 0:14:47.636 --> 0:14:52.916 my style also was very unique, even right from the outset, 0:14:53.356 --> 0:14:56.236 because I wasn't really listening to bass players as I 0:14:56.276 --> 0:14:59.996 suppose many people would do, trying to learn techniques and 0:15:00.276 --> 0:15:03.916 basic things from bass players who were around at the time, 0:15:04.556 --> 0:15:07.996 and right from the outset I developed my own arm 0:15:08.316 --> 0:15:09.076 style of playing. 0:15:09.956 --> 0:15:14.676 I always wondered about that because the interplay between YouTube 0:15:14.676 --> 0:15:18.076 between the bass and guitar is always even on the 0:15:18.156 --> 0:15:20.436 new record, from the very first record, all the way 0:15:20.436 --> 0:15:23.876 through until the newest record is always seems to me 0:15:23.996 --> 0:15:26.876 it have been the key to the music. You guys 0:15:26.916 --> 0:15:29.356 sound very much like you guys are are playing off 0:15:29.396 --> 0:15:31.556 one another when when you're playing, you know. 0:15:32.036 --> 0:15:34.756 Not possible, because I mean we started together. I mean 0:15:34.876 --> 0:15:37.876 the band really started with me and Patrick, even before 0:15:37.916 --> 0:15:43.076 we started thinking about get adding drums and other instrumentation 0:15:43.236 --> 0:15:47.196 was me and Patrick used the child basic ideas. And 0:15:47.276 --> 0:15:50.636 Patrick was always a kind of guitarist who didn't seek 0:15:50.676 --> 0:15:54.476 to fill every space. You know, you got guitarists who 0:15:54.516 --> 0:15:57.876 with every gap, every space, they would want to put 0:15:57.916 --> 0:16:01.756 something in. But Patrick has always been a guitarist who 0:16:01.796 --> 0:16:05.316 would seek the compliment. And you'll find out with my 0:16:05.436 --> 0:16:08.196 style of plan I use a lot of syncopatient with 0:16:08.236 --> 0:16:12.596 my BA explained. I developed that from very early, so 0:16:12.676 --> 0:16:15.596 I used that syncopation. And then then we got the 0:16:15.636 --> 0:16:18.236 band together. You know, we got a drummer who was 0:16:18.316 --> 0:16:25.836 also complimentary, you know, so that's three those three elements. 0:16:26.516 --> 0:16:32.396 I think we're foundational in terms of the sound the 0:16:32.476 --> 0:16:36.956 song that Simanda developed self, Patrick and Sam. You know, 0:16:37.076 --> 0:16:40.436 Sam was a was a complimentary is the drummer you listened, 0:16:40.516 --> 0:16:43.276 He was very much trying to play with the. 0:16:43.276 --> 0:16:47.036 Bass right, almost maybe more like like a ringo, more 0:16:47.076 --> 0:16:48.676 than doing like a backbeat, almost like a ringo. Like 0:16:48.716 --> 0:16:50.596 he was coming up with interesting parts, you know, like 0:16:51.076 --> 0:16:52.956 and really seemed like he was following what you guys 0:16:52.996 --> 0:16:57.396 were doing, and very very unique, unique parts. 0:16:57.876 --> 0:17:01.876 Yeah, you'll find that those three albums, they're very spacious. Yeah, 0:17:02.156 --> 0:17:04.156 you know, very specious. 0:17:04.916 --> 0:17:07.636 We'll be right back with more from simon day after 0:17:07.676 --> 0:17:14.836 the break we guys first got together. What were some 0:17:14.876 --> 0:17:16.276 of the early efforts you got. I mean, were you 0:17:16.316 --> 0:17:19.596 guys at first doing covers or were you guys starting 0:17:19.596 --> 0:17:21.356 to write original stuff at that point. 0:17:21.916 --> 0:17:25.676 We had a band before we did Simande, which is 0:17:25.716 --> 0:17:30.436 called Meta, and once again, you know, the focus was 0:17:30.836 --> 0:17:33.436 doing our original music. But we did a couple of 0:17:33.556 --> 0:17:36.556 covers with that Forgot, which was a Rollin Kirk track 0:17:36.716 --> 0:17:39.916 one Rolling Kirk track, one Miles Davis Thing Footprints and 0:17:40.636 --> 0:17:45.076 well look slavery if my memory serves me well, and 0:17:45.156 --> 0:17:48.036 that was about it. Because we always wantd to create 0:17:48.076 --> 0:17:51.956 our own original sound and our own original have our 0:17:51.996 --> 0:17:56.556 own original style, and we sort of achieved that with Mita. 0:17:58.036 --> 0:18:01.556 It was a four piece Na Steve really wonderful English 0:18:01.636 --> 0:18:05.716 drama and Saxon polk player god Ress is so called 0:18:05.716 --> 0:18:06.716 Pepsi Delgado. 0:18:08.076 --> 0:18:11.716 Did you guys ever record meter? Well if we did, none, 0:18:11.876 --> 0:18:14.316 I either think we did. But the tip, the tips 0:18:14.316 --> 0:18:17.476 wouldn't have survived in those days. It was it was 0:18:17.516 --> 0:18:21.516 your your real to real stuff. So it was unless 0:18:21.556 --> 0:18:27.076 it was properly it wouldn't It wouldn't have survived, man, 0:18:27.316 --> 0:18:28.116 because that's what I mean. 0:18:28.116 --> 0:18:31.396 If you guys doing fascinating you guys were doing Roland 0:18:31.436 --> 0:18:33.636 Kirk and volunteers, I mean that is that's that's a 0:18:33.676 --> 0:18:35.596 bugged out toune, you know, like that would have been 0:18:35.636 --> 0:18:36.556 incredible to hear. 0:18:37.436 --> 0:18:40.196 And you know, we did get some recognition. We started 0:18:40.236 --> 0:18:44.196 to get some recognition, not not not not from the public, 0:18:44.396 --> 0:18:48.596 but from within the music industry because I think it 0:18:48.676 --> 0:18:51.996 was probably unusual at that time kids have owed it 0:18:52.236 --> 0:18:55.356 to be so into jazz and not just and not 0:18:55.596 --> 0:18:59.156 just jazz, but really complicated stuff. You know, we were intimized. 0:18:59.196 --> 0:19:02.036 There is a lot of the time signatures that was 0:19:02.076 --> 0:19:05.076 going on, you know that Miles and Cold Train and 0:19:05.156 --> 0:19:07.316 those guys used to do. That's why we called the 0:19:07.356 --> 0:19:13.356 band meter because we were specifically focusing on different time signatures. 0:19:13.876 --> 0:19:16.796 Time signatures not just your four four, but you know 0:19:16.876 --> 0:19:20.476 your six faith, three four, five four and that kind 0:19:20.556 --> 0:19:23.116 of stuff. So I think a lot of the older 0:19:23.196 --> 0:19:28.076 musicians at the time were fascinated by these these kids. 0:19:28.236 --> 0:19:32.396 You know that. I'm so involved with this type of jazz. 0:19:32.596 --> 0:19:35.156 With calypse and a lot of the music from the Caribbean. 0:19:35.196 --> 0:19:36.916 It was a lot of that, and four four was 0:19:36.956 --> 0:19:39.276 that stuff also in a little bit of a different meter. 0:19:39.316 --> 0:19:42.956 But mainly four four what I know of Calypso Calypso. 0:19:44.036 --> 0:19:48.876 It's another thing I love about Calypso is the lyricism. 0:19:49.716 --> 0:19:51.876 You know, I don't know how much. 0:19:51.756 --> 0:19:57.516 You know about some of those songwriters or their music, 0:19:58.316 --> 0:20:01.476 but the lyric writing is absolutely fabulous. 0:20:01.556 --> 0:20:01.756 Yeah. 0:20:02.676 --> 0:20:07.876 And you know storytelling, Yeah, I think it's just incredible, 0:20:08.236 --> 0:20:09.956 kind of like Chuck Bay or something like that. 0:20:10.196 --> 0:20:11.236 Like the stories they tell. 0:20:12.316 --> 0:20:15.876 Well, let me tell you to what to do. You 0:20:15.916 --> 0:20:17.796 don't have to be a cabby a person to enjoy it. 0:20:17.916 --> 0:20:23.476 Listen to Sparrow, you know, listen to old Calypso and 0:20:23.476 --> 0:20:26.116 you will see and old Calypso is different from the 0:20:26.156 --> 0:20:29.236 stuff you have today, which is more popular, which is 0:20:29.236 --> 0:20:33.556 like Soca Eclypso storytelling stuff and you got some great 0:20:33.596 --> 0:20:34.276 stories there. 0:20:34.916 --> 0:20:35.236 M hm. 0:20:36.036 --> 0:20:38.036 So the meter stuff, so the odd times stuff that 0:20:38.116 --> 0:20:41.036 really came from your guys's love of jazz. 0:20:41.676 --> 0:20:43.036 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 0:20:43.636 --> 0:20:45.396 Were you guys going out to see a lot of 0:20:45.476 --> 0:20:48.716 music at the time, because London had, you know, there 0:20:48.716 --> 0:20:50.156 were a lot of as I understand, a lot of 0:20:50.236 --> 0:20:52.636 a lot of American jazz musicians coming to Europe to play, 0:20:52.836 --> 0:20:56.636 and of course London itself had like a pretty vibrant music. 0:20:56.676 --> 0:20:58.196 Still, you guys going out to see a lot of 0:20:58.196 --> 0:21:03.396 stuff or mostly it would be the American musicians. When 0:21:03.396 --> 0:21:05.876 I when I, you know, went out, it was mostly 0:21:05.956 --> 0:21:08.596 American musicians, but there were there were there were some 0:21:09.156 --> 0:21:12.156 are popular venues in our locality. There was one called 0:21:12.196 --> 0:21:16.156 ram Jam and a lot of musicians use American musicians. 0:21:16.516 --> 0:21:22.636 I think I saw James Brown there, if I recall correctly, Patrick, 0:21:22.676 --> 0:21:26.716 you used to more. Patrick was more outgoing in terms 0:21:26.756 --> 0:21:29.076 of going and listening. Way, babe, did you see Jimmy 0:21:29.156 --> 0:21:33.276 was not in the Western Marquie Mark Mark Marquee. That's 0:21:33.276 --> 0:21:38.356 what I was looking for, Yes, But tell me about 0:21:38.396 --> 0:21:39.676 that experience seeing Jimmy. 0:21:39.796 --> 0:21:45.116 I saw Jimmy when he first came to England at 0:21:45.316 --> 0:21:47.676 what was then the most famous rock club, which is 0:21:47.676 --> 0:21:52.636 the Market Club in Ward the Street. It's his you know, 0:21:53.116 --> 0:21:57.036 are you experienced trio kind of thing and it's a 0:21:57.076 --> 0:22:00.796 long time ago. And the thing I remember most is I, 0:22:00.956 --> 0:22:01.716 I don't know who. 0:22:01.676 --> 0:22:04.516 Believes me now, but it's true. Shook my hand. So 0:22:04.796 --> 0:22:08.836 that was a great great you haven't watched that hands since? Right, 0:22:12.996 --> 0:22:16.436 I was an Ardent fan. I've been an Ardent fan 0:22:17.276 --> 0:22:19.716 of you know, from then to an hour. 0:22:19.756 --> 0:22:21.796 Actually, it's really hard to beat, it's really hard to 0:22:21.836 --> 0:22:27.156 be Tell me about how the first the first album 0:22:27.196 --> 0:22:31.676 came together, the self titled album. 0:22:31.876 --> 0:22:32.236 You see. 0:22:32.676 --> 0:22:36.196 What you have to remember is that we rehearsed every day, 0:22:36.996 --> 0:22:41.556 I mean every day and much of the day and 0:22:41.596 --> 0:22:44.876 from the from meter days all the way through when. 0:22:44.716 --> 0:22:45.356 We finished meeting. 0:22:45.436 --> 0:22:49.556 We didn't work with Ginger Johnson, but we we were 0:22:49.636 --> 0:22:54.876 constantly creating what what eventually came to many music. 0:22:55.796 --> 0:23:01.356 We were absolute musicians. That was that was our life. 0:23:01.516 --> 0:23:09.076 Raison death. Yeah, that's kind of all we did, or 0:23:09.316 --> 0:23:09.636 we did. 0:23:09.996 --> 0:23:14.836 It was like one long stream of creativity that turned 0:23:14.836 --> 0:23:20.396 into Semandi music nineteen empty like nineteen one empty two. 0:23:20.636 --> 0:23:22.876 In the first album, it's the it's you know, the 0:23:22.956 --> 0:23:27.916 message ricks incredible, incredible stuff. 0:23:29.396 --> 0:23:32.956 Yeah, we were fortunate with having John Shoeder as our 0:23:33.036 --> 0:23:36.796 producer in the sense that he never saw t interfere 0:23:36.836 --> 0:23:41.516 with the music. He was fascinated with the music. School 0:23:41.596 --> 0:23:43.836 was quite unusual, I mean, looking back on it now, 0:23:43.876 --> 0:23:48.756 because we've only been together for about a year before 0:23:48.796 --> 0:23:51.996 we went into the studio, you know, and and to 0:23:52.116 --> 0:23:54.516 have that kind of how can I say, a rapid 0:23:55.396 --> 0:24:01.676 access to you know, to high quality recordings at that 0:24:01.836 --> 0:24:05.596 time was you know, it was unusual. Normally it'd have 0:24:05.676 --> 0:24:08.076 to be you on the road three four or five 0:24:08.156 --> 0:24:13.396 years building a profile before you get that kind of opportunity. 0:24:13.636 --> 0:24:17.636 We started to develop a following, you know, there was 0:24:17.676 --> 0:24:20.836 a following that you still come and listen to us 0:24:20.836 --> 0:24:23.516 whenever we were playing. But we were certainly not what 0:24:23.556 --> 0:24:26.876 you might call a big you know, a big name band. 0:24:27.796 --> 0:24:30.956 But John Shoeda liked the music and he wanted to 0:24:30.996 --> 0:24:33.796 get us into the studios as early as possible, and 0:24:33.836 --> 0:24:36.556 that's what he did. And he took us into the 0:24:36.596 --> 0:24:41.316 studio and just left us really to you know, to create. 0:24:42.036 --> 0:24:46.236 There was no real pressure on us. Okay, guys, start 0:24:46.316 --> 0:24:48.996 recording and that kind of thing. But we had a 0:24:48.996 --> 0:24:53.556