![]() “I was improvising from the rocksteady feel,” Fams explains, “with a little tempo from the rocksteady and slowing it down from the ska - so the rhythm is in between the lines.”Īs for what became known as the “dub style,” the echo-drenched, almost psychedelic mode of mixing invented by Perry and fellow producer King Tubby, it wouldn’t emerge until 1972 - but Clint Eastwood is notable for Perry’s reverberating vocal intro and a stripped-down melodic arrangement driven entirely by the bass, much as later dub mixes would be. The “new concept” that had attracted Perry’s attention was essentially the earliest example of a true reggae bass style - a melodic line that was locked into the downbeat. It was the first dub release not only in Jamaica but globally.” The first thing we actually did together was the drum-and-bass track called Clint Eastwood, and that’s where dub was born. “He was turning into a record producer, leaving from the old stable of Coxsone Dodd at Studio One. “Lee Perry get a hold of me by hearing of my new concept of bass playing,” Family Man says proudly. With a sinewy, infectious bass line that seemed to leap out of the mix, the song attracted the attention of an up-and-coming producer named Lee “Scratch” Perry. Fams’ very first recording as a session bassist was for one of Bunny “Striker” Lee’s groups, the Uniques, on a song called Watch This Sound – a cover of Buffalo Springfield’s For What It’s Worth, which had been a hit the year before in 1967. It wasn’t long before other groups and producers came calling. When Family Man finally got his hands on a Hofner 500/1 “Beatle” bass, he and his brother formed their first band, the Hippy Boys, with singer Max Romeo. When I rest my bass on the floor, I get that bass effect- boom, boom, boom, you know? That’s where I begin to create a new concept of time and melody.” They didn’t know it then, but the Barrett brothers were on their way to becoming one of the premier rhythm sections in reggae history. “We begin to practice drum and bass,” Family Man remembers, “what we call dub. Like so many others with a creative urge, but without the materials to express it, the two brothers relied on their ingenuity: Family Man fashioned a makeshift upright bass out of a length of 2-by-4, a cut piece of plywood, and a curtain rod (with an old wooden ashtray for the bridge), while Carly built a drum kit out of different-size paint tins. Musical instruments weren’t cheap or easy to come by in the hardscrabble streets of Kingston. This interview originally appeared in the October 2007 edition of Bass Player. So in our early years, my younger brother Carlton took onto himself the drums, and I took on the bass and decided I’m gonna construct it much better the other way. “And when I decide to listen deep into the music - to all the different sections and instruments playing - I realized that the bass is the backbone, and the drum is the heartbeat of the music. I compose a melodic line and see myself like I’m singing baritone. ![]() ![]() When I’m playing the bass, it’s like I’m singing. to Jamaican radio, “but I never practiced to be a professional when it came to my vocals. “I loved singing,” he says, citing the classic soul of James Brown, Stevie Wonder, and Curtis Mayfield that drifted over from the U.S. Even so, for Family Man (a nickname he chose for himself as a youngster to signify his intent to “keep everyone in the band together”), the bass was not necessarily his first point of entry into becoming a musician. ![]() That destiny has its roots in Jamaica’s ska and rocksteady era-a time, in the mid 1960s, when the Supersonics’ Jackie Jackson, the Skatalites’ Lloyd Brevett, and the Heptones’ Leroy Sibbles were among the island’s bass rulers. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |