Clinton Fearon in interview with Zinc Fence, September 1999
The Gladiators are best known as one of Jamaica's all-time great vocal groups. However a recent radio interview with Clinton Fearon (printed in Full Watts magazine (milne@csus.edu) and the recent Motion Records album "The Sound Of Channel One" revealed The Gladiators in a previously neglected role as instrumentalists and prolific session musicians on the Kingston recording scene. Clinton Fearon talks to Zinc Fence about what it was like.
Clinton, do you have any memories of the tracks you were involved in the Motion Records album "The Sound Of Channel One"and how they were laid down?
It's been a long time ago. Some of them,
especially for Delroy, were written right there in the studio.
You were a good friend of Glen Darby
who made that Channel One material available and also the previously
unreleased tracks on The Skatalites album, also on Motion Records.
Apparently Glen has a lot more unreleased material yet to come.
Any memories of Glen Darby and your involvement as friends and
on the reggae scene?
Yeah, Glen was living in the United States
and came down to Jamaica periodically to do sessions. Some of
the first people that he would check was the Gladiators. So we
used to sit and talk about America and how the music scene was
over there. We would visit, you know, cook, talk about the
sessions, who and who he's gonna have on the session and in some
case, we would rehearse a few of the song before we go in. Glen
was always a nice bredren to me - after awhile we just lost touch.
Glen usually a man to his word - say he's gonna do a session,
he comes thru with it. And if he agree to pay you a certain amount,
he will come thru with that too. All in all I know Glen to be
a nice bredren.
For a long time vocal groups were
at the forefront of Jamaican music; The Gladiators, Wailers, Abyssinians,
Burning Spear etc etc. Any comments on why they were so popular
and why they faded away?
Again, I think it was an era when people
loved harmony groups. After Bob died, the music took a turn and
dancehall spring up. Start to cost a lot to do session after the
economy got bad and at the same breath, new recording gears come
in and people realize that they can do recordings for less even
tho the quality is very poor, I think. But one song like Sleng
Teng - that riddem was just a little Casio keyboards that somebody
just punch a button and let it g'wan for three or four minutes
and that was the song. Surprisingly enough that were #1 for weeks
on RJR or in Jamaica for that
matter. And sad to say it's gettin' worse!
Live flesh & blood musicians
are not used too much in the Jamaican studios these days. How
do you feel about digital music and the current JA music scene?
I think there are some talented youth
in Jamaica. However, I think the music is still on the dive. No
real quality there in my opinion. For me quality music is when
a musican pick up his instrument and play the parts rather than
punch a button and let the machine do it for you. I'm disappointed
with that. But in the same breath, everyone have to live, so hey.
I just hope that the music will take a turn for the better some
time soon.
In your radio interview you mention
playing at Lee Perry's Black Ark studio & I think in an earlier
e mail you told me you played on Roast Fish & Cornbread. What
was the most special Scratch tune you remember playing on?
"Come Along" and same "RoastFish
and Cornbread" - those two stands out in my mind. There were
several other lovely moments, several others, can't remember them
right now in details.
Also in your Full Watts interview you touch on life as a freelance bass player on the Kingston recording studio. Can you fill us in on what that was like? For instance, what was the physical reality of a Kingston studio in those days.
The studios were pretty big - them have
32 and 24 track studios. Much earlier on Coxsone did just have
a four track studio. I know he started out with two tracks but
I wasn't there during those times - I think Skatalites had those
experience. And Scratch I think him have two machine he coupled
together to get sixteen tracks out of it. Except for the drummer,
the drummer usually have a drumbooth, the singer would be right
there in the middle of the room with the rest of us
musicians. All the studios have air conditioning. Because all
the machines would get
too hot and refuse to work if they get to hot. Sometimes you work
out a bass line by yourself, sometimes you get an idea from the
producer. Sometimes from the artist themselves. Most time, I come
with a bass line myself. We'd play live behind the vocalist. Often
times we would do the tune in one cut. But more likely, we'd play
it for a little while, all of us get familiar with it and then
we'd decide to record it. The approach we usually take is to have
one person work out the song, to decide which chords it's played
in and then that person would let us know what's up, like I said
which chord it's played in. Sometime some of those same instrumentals
that you would do for a producer, later on sometimes an artist
would hear those rhythms and would ask the producer to have them
sing something on it.
How much would a bass player get paid for a studio session?
When I just start playing in the early 70's,
I started out getting $10 per song. And as time goes buy, it steps
up to 20 bucks, 50 bucks to a hundred, to a hundred and fifty.
Was there much difference between one studio
and another and in the ways different producers worked?
I enjoyed working with Scratch. I also enjoy
workin' with Coxsone. I enjoyed those two in different ways. Scratch
would give lots of input and once you're willing to collaborate
or cooperate, then it can be fun. With Coxsone, he just leave
you alone and let you do your thing and then later
on decide whether he wanna release that song or not. But for the
most part, he allow the artist to put his or her idea down. I
remember doing one at Harry J for Robert Shoenfield of Nighthawk
- everybody played well, everybody was in the mood and groove
and that session was nice. Also the
first time I played over Scratch too was when we did Jah Vengence
for Yabby You and that was a nice session too....several nice
sessions. Most of the sessions I did were nice sessions.
You mention in the radio interview
the competitive aspect of being a session musician, which obviously
you disliked. The film (and the novel) "The Harder They Come"
paints a pretty bleak picture of the Jamaican recording industry
of the time. Do you recognise that as being real or was your own
experience more positive than that?
The Harder They Come sure do tell a lot
of what the music scene was and probably still is. But as you
know there's always more to a story. My experience was actually
on a positive note. Mainly because I choose to be positive with
it. That's one of the reason why I don't go hang out at studios
to pick up a session. I always wait until somebody come to me
specifially to do a session that way I don't have to be fightin'
and bumpin' and borin' to do a song or to get on one's session.
You know, all in all reggae music is coming from the ghetto and
so a lot of hunger and poverty go along side it. When artist sing
or write, they write about what's going on and they sung it with
feeling. So do the musicians. You go in the studio frustrated,
hungry, wanting betterment, and you play your frustration out.
And thus we end up with some good tunes.
Clinton, thanks very much for agreeing
to do this interview and giving up your time for this. I really
appreciate it. Best wishes, Geoff Parker
Yeah, Geoff, thank you. Keep up the good
work.
Clinton
CLINTON FEARON & BOOGIE BROWN BAND (RAW 372)
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