Corie Sheppard Podcast
Corie Sheppard Podcast
Episode 221 | Eddie Charles
We're joined today by Traffik lead singer, Eddie Charles. Eddie is the last man standing from the era of the brass band lead singers.
Eddie has brought big band Traffik back on the road and he tells us about his gigs for the 2025 season. We got into the difference between today's artists singing with backing tracks vs using his own vocals and back up singers.
Of course we had to ask him about classic songs like No Evidence, Let me Go, Musical Healing and him being the original big links man and the fact that he was performing in boxers long before Benjai.
Eddie speaks on the era of the ground fete and his experiences in fetes like Wasa, Licensing, Flour, Fire, Customs and clears the air on what really caused Machel to pull away from Brass Festival and start the Alternative Concept.
While he might be known to some of us as Traffik's lead singer, some of the youths among us might know him more as a soca parang artist and you might be surprised to find out when he started singing parang.
The stories are priceless & you won't want to miss this one.
Enjoy!!
Week to week. We're here right and a fellow named Jungi was here. You all remember Jungi. And Jungi say you run into that man named Eddie and people say but who is Eddie? So we find Eddie, we have Eddie, everything's good man, Everything's good.
Speaker 1:Everything's good, everything's good. The great Eddie Charles, you know legendary status, you know what I mean. Legendary status, eddie, they have a few things question right. First and foremost, I want to understand if you know how much rum you sell in this country and how much drink you make me drink. Because when eddie say he coming on, eddie say I say we're drinking, he say I go to the water. You know, I don't know, I'm gonna swear on them should sign you a check. The next thing is I tell them, fellas on them, salute, affordable imports. I tell them, boy, the lighting and thing. I say eddie's a man. When I hear Zest movement and all that gold and things, no, eddie's one of the originators of that. So I tell them I say boy, we had to watch the lighting where the gold and things.
Speaker 3:Well, I started Z everything to be clean.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Things had to be clean, Clean and smooth. Clean and smooth is a good place to start. So, eddie, let me go back to the original days. Now, when it is you start getting into music, let me use the questions to introduce you.
Speaker 3:Well, all right, let me go way, way back, all right From since growing up small, right, my dad used to play music. Okay, you know, my brother used to play music. My biggest brother, edmund, used to play with a band called Jiminy Brass. So our whole family was basically musically inclined, right. Right and myself, my sister, neighbors, and we had a little parent group called Los Pericos, but I didn't know what that was in Spanish. We were like small, so like nine years old, los Pericos At nine. So I was the talk-talk man, right, and then gradually I keep moving up to the marac man, Then I move up to the basement, then I start a little quacho, mm-hmm, you know. And from there I'm going to school. We had a parent band called Los Alumnos, right, where Alisa Jagerson is in charge now, because Los Alumnos, they saw no one, so they saw what this? So this is a secondary school, yes, secondary school, you know.
Speaker 1:So I see in an interview you say, well, first thing you say he was doing Parang before he was doing Hisoka. Yeah, yes, and Alumnus was the start of.
Speaker 3:Los Alumnus was the first. No, but the first Parang band was.
Speaker 1:Los Pericos.
Speaker 3:Los Pericos Right and then from junior sec in the comprehensive called Los Alumnos Right.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:And that become Los Alumnos this summer, that become Los Alumnos this summer. So after I left school, after I left San Juan City and I came back, I was at the Jaguars and they take over the band. Oh, wow, yes.
Speaker 1:That is a known thing, boy. It's something like news to me. Who would have thought, who would? Have thought but to run out of that with those alumnos someday as a foundation member.
Speaker 3:I'm a foundation member, of course. That is nice, that is impressive so the music in you. You followed from since then yes, yes, yes, from this, you know from young. As I said, you know, when my first band was Infinity no, not Infinity, it was Sandberg, right, that's a band from Barataria with Morty Moore-Baptiste. My second band was Infinity.
Speaker 1:This is outside of Soka. Now, this brass band yeah, brass band, no, no, no brass band, now Gotcha.
Speaker 3:So Sandberg, first band. Second band, infinity, that's Danny Ming. He had a band called Germany Brass. That's a band my brother used to sing with in the days like in the 60s and 70s. So he formed a band called Infinity and from Infinity, andy Joseph, which was the owner of Traffic. He saw me in mass camps again and they were looking for a singer, so I joined Traffic in 1992. Wow, traffic was formed in 1990 with Eric Jacob, kb Charles and Bernadette. Right when Eric left, not Eric. When KB Charles left in 1992, that's when I joinedette Right when Eric left in when not Eric. When KB Charles left in 1992, that's when I joined Traffic Right.
Speaker 3:So you're the starter Traffic you're the original, like a foundation member.
Speaker 1:So if Traffic started in 90, who would be some of the big bands around that?
Speaker 3:We had Atlantic Right, because Traffic is really a breakaway from Atlantic. Okay, so, andy, joseph and KB, they come from Atlantic, I see, and they form traffic Right, right, right. So we had Atlantic. We had Massive Chandelier Right. We had Charlie's Roots. Yeah, we had Blue Ventures.
Speaker 1:Them time. Radha and Tambu still on Charlie's Roots? Yes, so who in Blue Ventures then?
Speaker 3:Leon Caldero, blue Leon Caldero. Leon was with I think who Leon was with boy Is it Firefly, it's one of them.
Speaker 1:Boy, you got so much of bands in the world. Yeah, I guess I had real bands that Callie Ann, oh yeah, callie Ann, it could have been that too.
Speaker 3:Yeah, boy, I think Leon was with Songrev. Could have been Songrev. No, songrev was Colin Lucas was Songrev. I was with Byron Lee too. Really, yes, I didn't know that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, leon and Oscar B, oh, they sing together. Yeah, yeah, people know Oscar B for Butterfly and them singing. They might remember the Byron Lee days.
Speaker 3:Well, that's what my Byron Lee days, yeah yeah, yeah, butterfly and Tati.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's what Byron Lee days. Oh, that was with Byron Lee too. Los Alumnos, you're a vocalist then too. Yes, vocalist From then. Yes, were you singing Soka Parang or Parang Parang.
Speaker 3:Well, boy, the first time, when I went for audition With Traffic and the judge said, nah, you gotta come back. But he see the talent in me, you know, and he see what I could do. And I went home, I listen what he said and because what happened? He find my lyrics, my words was too roly-poly and it was like singing parang. You used to kind of roll your tongue. I got you Right. So he said go home and think. And I went home, I did what he said and about two months after I came back and he said now you're ready. Two months, two months after.
Speaker 1:And that was my first tour. Oh, you went on tour one time, One time. Oh, nice, nice, nice. So why are you doing that two months? You're looking at people for inspiration. What are you looking at to us?
Speaker 3:Well, I went and look at videos with Steve Silly and them from Atlantic Ronnie McIntosh. I watch the diction, how they sing, even the control of the crowd. Right, you know what I'm saying. So like things I learned from watching them on TV and YouTube and whatever, whatever.
Speaker 1:Them days. I know YouTube.
Speaker 3:You had to find your own videos then yeah, you had to find it Some video, something you know. Go on TTT and watch them guys.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, yes, Nice, nice, nice so some of your inspirations would have come from the band singers yourself yes, from band singers yes.
Speaker 1:Now once again to that band singing here talking about today before we started recording. I was telling you back then, when you go in a FET, it's not a FET if you don't have bands. Almost you know what I mean. They used to say a DJ FET to let you know it's a new band, right, and it used to be cheap. But now we're in a kind of world where the DJ FETs and that's what a. Fet is. So how was traffic this year in terms of your, your performing?
Speaker 3:Well, so far, um we did good this year. Um, we had like nine shows um, separate from my single shows, nhls and um we did, we did, we did some of the major FETs. Um, we did Army Fet. You know a lot of it Fet.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah. Them days, remember them. Days when the weaker kind of values used to be Customs, PNM, Fet, Brasel.
Speaker 3:Fet after Fet. Yeah, yeah, that's Fet.
Speaker 1:So, as a new singer going on to lead a band like Traffic, a few things I'd ask you about the staying power in terms of remembering, because them days, if people mightn not remember, you used to do a lot of cover songs. Yes, you had to sing these popular songs and that kind of thing. How are you remembering all?
Speaker 3:those songs, boy, well, boy, we used to write it down in our book, you know, yeah, that's the best way to learn a song Once you write it down, it'll stick in your head, gotcha, gotcha. But I see the newcomers.
Speaker 1:You think so, than writing it.
Speaker 3:I think by writing it it will process fast in your head.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but it's a different time even for writing, because you had a, I had a listen to your record yeah, listen to lyrics yes. Because now it's on lyric genius, you could go and find out what buddy is saying now.
Speaker 3:But sometimes too, like when you go on YouTube, youtube and you're typing lyrics for the first song yeah, you're getting it now. You're getting it now, but sometimes the lyrics, sometimes some of the words will be a little different. It's off, it's off, yeah.
Speaker 1:I see it many times with Caribbean music. Yes, they have the lyrics, but then there are some question marks down in the head because it might be too culturally specific. They may know what I mean, you know what I mean. So it and comfortably delivering people's songs Exactly, and also traffic was a big. Them times you could pretty much have any artist show up at any time where they in effect you see Super come up and he want to sing. The band used to rehearse all the songs. For kind, of.
Speaker 3:Well, what happened? What we used to do? We used to record all the hits Gotcha. So we listen to do songs Right. So you know, like a Super Blue, a David Rudder in them times a Kitchener Gotcha, the Walk for Carnival.
Speaker 1:We do them songs.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you have to have that, so normally when those guys on the show, we don't have their song already, so we will back them up, gotcha.
Speaker 1:So you could, and you were telling me you're doing backup too when men run on, which means you know the song.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, yes, I want to compare it to today.
Speaker 1:Do I know backup singers today? No, no, no, no, no.
Speaker 3:Well, everything now they were able to know with a flying olive voice, right, right, without the lead voice and the backgrounds, yeah, right, but it's good in a way and bad in a way, because if I come to a show, I want to hear you sing, yeah. I don't want to hear no samples recorded, right, yeah, so, as I say, it's good in a way. It's good in a way in that way, and it's bad in a way because if you have five, six shows, your voice can hold out for all of them, because your Twitter's just blue right, I see a few men this kind of way.
Speaker 3:So by the voice playing out, it will help you and you might last a little longer through the carnival. Right, right, because this is vocal music. Yeah, it's finite. Yeah, it's not a guitar.
Speaker 1:It's not amplified. You can't string back that when the string bus is over.
Speaker 1:Yes, you know, but I remember seeing one time it would have been the days of Synergy Soaker. I remember we were doing sponsorship for somebody and I hear Marshall and them rehearsing, not rehearsing check, and I hear Marshall singing. I said what I see that boy. And when I go on, marshall is nowhere there. Boy, layers of voices, you know them just sampling it and I guess lighting up the thing. So if back then O had no samples how your voice Lasts in through the season, Well, what's really put it, boy?
Speaker 3:Well, I'm not a big drinker, because it's the coldness too that just kind of Cramp up your voice. So and then remember, I start this from young, so my voice Kind of break out, gotcha. You know my voice break out From since the age Of nine years old. But the newcomers who just jumping this thing big, yeah, who jump in the seat when they're not on 25, what they say their voice?
Speaker 1:their voice breaks out. Yes, because? One thing about that because you see, in Carnival this year women have all the backing track in the world and most of them performing in front of DJs. Much more than Fet, and I don't know how it was back then, but I know that if I come out Fet I come to hear Eddie, you couldn't have a DJ playing your whole song behind you and you singing over that.
Speaker 3:I do think that would have gone good at PSL well, I think, as I said, I think that they do that more like the savior voice because, remember, in this time now, everybody have four or five pets, pets tonight, right, and if you try to sing with with your vocals, with all the books, but you're still seeing it.
Speaker 1:You might unlock the mystery for me because still seeing where at his voice breaking that week before carnival you hear it no, yes, yes, but you're probably right, they just start later you drink into the skill you do.
Speaker 3:Yeah, they're drinking, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's what I drink. And the coldness, is it ice? And thing I cut out.
Speaker 1:Sears, yeah, so yeah, just to preserve your voice.
Speaker 3:Warm water, maybe you can. You can boil some ginger and stuff like that and keep it in a little, you know, a little bottle like this To keep the voice.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. Old school techniques, yes, but if you tell me Men are five fat now and Fet now and lost in their voice, how much is the most Fet you ever do in a night? You?
Speaker 3:feel I think like about five or six. Yeah, full band. Full band.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. So when traffic doing a band set up and you have one Fet to play, what are they doing? They setting up a fresh set of instruments in the next place.
Speaker 3:Or you had to break down and set up. No, we had to break down and set up Every time, every time. So so Our first set Was set like Maybe like around Two o'clock Right, like all inclusive, we play for 45 minutes. Break down next set.
Speaker 1:Oh, it would be, 45 minutes. Set, set but you ain't coming off the stage as a lead singer. Yeah, yeah, you used to come and go.
Speaker 3:Yeah, okay. So as the band don't play, we have like roadies and things. They scrap down everything.
Speaker 1:No, I mean during that 45, you were on stage the whole time, whole 45.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, whole 45.
Speaker 1:Whether you're singing, your song.
Speaker 3:You're singing people's songs, yeah, whether you're singing cover version or whatever. Even the backup artists full 45 minutes on stage.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I find it was a special time where they had big songs in the carnival, but I would get to hear Eddie sing Ronnie's song or Sherwin's song.
Speaker 3:Today you don't see that almost at all. Well, what most of the bands try to do like Bungie, they sing their songs. Marshall, he sings his songs, destra sings her songs, nadia, she sings her songs. So they're really trying to push their songs. But we since in my time growing up with the band Traffic, we always try to do cover versions to kind of break that momentum, because sometimes people want to hear all your songs alone. I don't like that one. So it's to kind of break the momentum. You're putting a little Iowa. You're chucking a little Marshall here. You're pushing a little Super Blue here you're pushing a little it that's going to break the momentum.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, but I see some of the artists doing it. Now You're seeing it coming back, right, right, because when Pocchi's doing a set, I see sometimes you're choking Alice Nines, of course I see she's choking Rupi.
Speaker 1:Yeah, youths didn't experience it in our time but you could see the value in it because when I even saw Marshall and Stink and Dutty they have a rhythm with I think it's him Full Blown Young Brother and them. He sang all these songs on the rhythm. You're hearing it more and more, with his singing people's songs. I find it, I find it's missed that you know. I find that is a missed part of the carnival. Maybe it's a lost. I don't know if that will come back.
Speaker 3:I think it should. It should, it should come back and it would come back.
Speaker 1:But you doing that now even with Traffic. When you go Army, your lineup is popular songs as well, but what?
Speaker 3:they're doing now, right, Even if my band is playing first. Right the artists? What on the show? What they're saying? That we cannot sing their song, Right? Oh, I see, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I guess they don't want you to take away the thunder from them, yeah, from them yeah, but that means you have to be real flexible as a band.
Speaker 3:You're set making on the night and take on. Well, it has so much sound that you could do. You know, sam, because even the DJs they're telling the DJs don't play this song that you're listening to.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, yeah, right, right. So the Teleband is the same thing too. So, if you know, you have Full Blown, you have Lyrical, you have Nadia, you have Destra, whoever, whoever we can't sing this. There's a big chunk gone, yeah, yeah. So what we do? We kind of regroup our set, okay. So we know who's the artist and we hear what happened.
Speaker 1:Let me change up band. In Jamaica I think they call them Sagittarius, it's a backing band, right, and they were saying that what they do with rehearsal is because Jamaica, you know, it's rhythm, Every week is a new rhythm. So they say they do rhythm rehearsals. So they just do the rhythms. Because a DJ then, or the man who come in to sing, he come in and say give me this rhythm, give me that rhythm and he say, boy, you gotta remember the name of all these.
Speaker 1:And just be able to run it, but for you it's full songs, it's full songs yes. Yes, so how you keeping up With that from then till now, from 92 to today? That's what that's. That's only about 30 something years About 33 years.
Speaker 3:In the business.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, 33 years, like 3 decades. So you still know Lyrical and them songs.
Speaker 3:No, yeah, all them I get back to back. I get bring some oldies Black man Feeling, the Party, me, lover old songs, dollar Wine, all them things. I get that off me. You see what I'm? It don't program. You're right, you know, once a song program in it that's going to stay there forever.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, nothing coming out just like that. Serious performing as Eddie Charles now and I see a woman she on here, boy, she come and she give me a talk, she take me out the mic and she say, boy, we want a wine and go down. And I hear her say run it. And she go down, go down, go down. I said what. I said what's going on?
Speaker 3:Well, they call me the back in Almanac now, right, because I'm the first guy that really started that boxers show since 1992. That was 92?, 92, yeah, serious.
Speaker 1:Now, then I'm inside. That that means I go in. I started FET, maybe 99, 2000, that time. So what I think is a new song, that song you have a long time. No, no, no, no.
Speaker 3:Long time 1992. I had a song called I did that by Link. Of that by link, I've seen it by Chinese Laundry. Right, I was there. Let me tell you what happened to me.
Speaker 1:Fire Fet used to be the first big Fet. Yes, early in the season and we come in walking from St James going for a hunting and them days, if Eddie's sweating, I wanted to land on me. Me ain't going no far rocking the back of the F, I want to be in front. But then there's your hunting, so ban on stage. You're looking for woman, boy and next thing I hear, take off your shoes. I say what it's? Ban Because you don't hear these songs on the radio. Yet I used to like fire for that. You're hearing this song for the first time sometime in the jam. Somebody, when I look up, eddie, everybody in our boxers boy, make us stop wearing Joe Boxer but you know, I nearly get locked up for that.
Speaker 3:What do you mean? You know, the sergeant tell me say boss man, that is indecency. You can't invade people that take off their clothes because people are taking off their clothes people taking off. I had like about about six and the boxers. What do Real men take over? No, this man. This man said Don't do that again. I lock up. Serious, he said, I indecency.
Speaker 1:In what way did he do that? Because he was doing that Fire. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:Well, I remember Fire called real men Up on stage and he was telling men he said you can't Involve people To do those kind of things, right, because I discharge, yeah boy, indecency or something. And then in this sense he has something to say.
Speaker 1:So from that I cut out that song one time serious, so he stopped the set to tell it on stage no, no, no. After the performance, after the stage.
Speaker 3:Yeah, he came and he talked to me. He said guys are charged. Yeah, you can't invigorate people to take out their clothes right in a party well for people.
Speaker 1:Let me get people a reference right, because before I started recording they'd tell me check GBTV 1997, traffic Jams. Well, they'd look for that on YouTube and they would see it. It draws them to more gold than clothes you have on in the Fetil. But then there's this destroying Fetil them kind of songs.
Speaker 1:I feel like that's another part of Carnival Missing, where it had some songs, like when Bunji said carry it on the idea of the grung. It had some songs. That was never mainstream hits on the radio. There was just fat truth, yes, With people waiting to hear that and see that. The next one that was like that and I remember seeing it in Firefet 2, was no Evidence. No Evidence, yes. Tell me about that truth.
Speaker 3:Now you're coming over here. Well, no Evidence was written by Impulse oh seriously Doing that since then, yes, what?
Speaker 3:And it was done by Link Up Studio in 96, right Chow called me. That was after Carnival in, that was what? 19? That was 2000, 2000, after Carnival. So I went in studio like April, that was after Carnival, he called me. He said Chow called me. He said boy, I have two songs I have to sing, shadowing and Boom See, and no Evidence, he done produce everything, eh, mm-hmm, which by the studio lyrics on paper and then boom, boom music going in the studio one time, right Going in and singing all them two songs back to back.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so that really that really released then to where you up for indecency.
Speaker 3:now you want to get locked up for language but the name of the song is no evidence where the fork you hold me for? I was talking about a garden fork, yeah let me see if my lyrics good.
Speaker 1:They say a thief, a fork in Helen garden, right, they want to take me to prison.
Speaker 3:Right, how it go Take me to court with no evidence. So I kindly ask Constable Clyde and Providence where the fuck you hold me for?
Speaker 1:It never went like that. You change up people, fuck now, but in a bad piece of lyrics. I did not know that Impulse make a career out of them kind of songs. Yes, he was singing them, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:Them kind of songs. Impulse was always double-handed. Yes, he was singing them, yeah. Yeah, them kind of songs Always double anted. Cheers, he's a writer. Yes.
Speaker 1:I did not know that, but, boy, I remember Firefet again. Yes, because you come and sit In that big garden and fork and my jumper on. But you know you had the crowd In a frenzy Because nobody Would say no fork and no firefet With rum drinking, so they never tried to lock you up.
Speaker 3:No, no, no, that one was okay. But you see, the undress Police man said that is on decency. Yeah, people do that, they knock up.
Speaker 1:The way them is, golden days are fetid boy golden days are fetid, so I'm about to say introduction to traffic.
Speaker 3:Now you were telling me that when you were on traffic, who were some of the other artists you see pass through traffic. I didn't know you were there before Steve Silly. Right, I joined traffic in 1992. Right, it was myself, eric and Cindy. Right. Right After Cindy left, showing came in. That was about 1998. Right After Eric left, sean Corrut came in. Hmm, and Candy Hoyt. Oh, yes, true, candy Hoyt was there too. So I'm basically like the longest because I joined traffic when I was 21 years old. Oh really, yeah, yeah, wow, because I joined traffic when I was 21 years old.
Speaker 1:Oh really, yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, wow. So what is your experience like with men? Like because showing on them, showing in particular, showing went on, win a couple road matches, get legendary status, yes, yes, how. We always wonder how band lead singers fitting in with men who come in and become individual stars. How was he?
Speaker 3:well, after I left traffic, showing became the front line. Okay, so he was background before while you were there. Yes, he was background. Yes, yes, yes, gotcha. And when Showing came in, you know he learned a lot from me because he used to come in the band early. Show him what to do, show him the techniques, how to talk to the crowd and stuff like that.
Speaker 1:So you learned a lot from me. Right, right and after I left he became like the lead singer of the band. Yeah, he took traffic on a journey to it, um, dead or alive and all that live band coming. Yeah, yeah, opening it. Oh yeah, it's true. It's true. Yeah, that was before. Yes, yeah dominating?
Speaker 3:yes, yes, but but traffic was always a dominated band from since, um, the band came out Right Right because we had tunes like Cold Pot. We had tunes like Musical Healing. We had tunes like Shadowing. We had tunes like no Evidence. We had tunes like Music In my Head. We had tunes like Breakaway. We had tunes like Halfway In A Chook. We had tunes like Accident.
Speaker 2:We had tunes like Kiki. Oh yeah, Halfway In A Chook was there, yeah yeah.
Speaker 1:Nice Accident, yeah, that's accident, accident, accident.
Speaker 3:That Sean Crute oh right, it's true.
Speaker 1:It's true, that was under traffic. Yes, under traffic. Sean Crute spent some time with Marshall.
Speaker 3:He was with Marshall before he came across by traffic.
Speaker 1:I see, I see, I see real history, you know boy. I don't know if people remember that history this week yes, yes, yes. When you're talking about dominating right as a band, I remember where the Flyer Farfetch'd Longtime or the Billboard Farfetch'd, the band used to be bigger than the artists. I remember in that right.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, used to say Traffic, atlantic Adventures. That was what you used to see by Fire Compound. Yes, when they passed by Wasserfetch'd coming, it was about the band Bands. Yes, that Fet, that band era. For me as a Fet, customs always used to be one of my favorites because customs, if people can remember, used to be where, and brass too. Atlantic have a stage and Traffic have a stage and you finish your Atlantic. You get a rush crossing next side.
Speaker 1:That was one of my favorites. What's your favorite as a performer in that Fet era? Well, one of my favorites. What's your favorite as a performer in?
Speaker 3:that FET era. Well, I didn't like it that because, um, when we say go soundcheck, we say look at what the biggest system who go blow to here.
Speaker 1:Oh, so it was about not just the band, it's about the whole, the whole set. You know, I never thought so. That the band have its own whole set up is his own speakers and everything.
Speaker 3:Yes, because byron lee, um, he will rent maybe from johnny q marshall will rent from rent to arm, got it, got it. So everybody used to have a difference on company. I did not know that.
Speaker 1:Yes yeah, I guess the whole stage as well is setting up. So you're listening, not just because I guess at that point you kind of know what blue ventures go do you know what marshall go do is the song system, so your song system, what you like now, boy, so when we come on, we go.
Speaker 3:Ah, boy, we go, we out here tonight, yeah, we go, we go, we go, we go, we go, we go, we go, we go, we go, we go, we go, we go, we go, we go, we go, we go, we go, we go. World with all the bands coming together, right, you know, and playing and stuff like that. Because I, I remember, yeah, you played in customs and we, we had massive tank right and I came in next door company and what I wanted that we had boxes right on one side. We had like over 22 boxes, so we had like about 44 boxes, yeah, and imagine everybody going, hey, traffic come out real hard, boy, like they're going to blow you out tonight, mm-hmm.
Speaker 3:And when the band went on, boy, I don't know what took place, but when the band start, I find the people watching me. I can't even get a skin on my face. It's like. So I don't know if they're not hearing us or if nothing's coming out of this system, right, right, I'm not coming out of this a step, right, right, but I don't know what happened that night, but, boy, I feel like I got a hole so it never recovered.
Speaker 1:No, Serious for the whole set.
Speaker 3:So for the whole set. Well, we didn't get to do our whole set, so after about the third or fourth song I realized there was a here in us or something went wrong. I don't know if it's the processor or whatever, I don't know what went wrong, but something went wrong. We had to stop. I didn't change my clothes, I just leave the party Me on the way they asked me to take, so I just head out what yeah, that's not traffic standard.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:You know, that was kind of embarrassing and twice it happened. Yeah, it happened in customs and it happened, I think, army fed, army fed, serious.
Speaker 1:Twice yeah, and there's only big boys and there's big dog feds sometimes.
Speaker 3:I don't want nobody going. I was out at the party. What time. I didn't know what to say.
Speaker 1:Well, I didn't know, that's all new to me, because back then, I mean when they pay for traffic, they're paying for the band and the whole setup, just them. Yeah, them trusting the promoter, trusting the man to pay and bring a setup there.
Speaker 3:Well, you remember long time ago. You remember it would have taken a while for the band to change over. Oh got you. Yeah, so the promoter.
Speaker 1:So you had a favorite among them wassup customs brass. You had one you're looking for to more than others.
Speaker 3:Well, I didn't really like the grungfet Right, you know the grungfet is more party, party felt because of the uninclusive. You know kind of bougie everybody who don't want? To dance? Who don't want to win their flag? Who don't want to be sweaty? Yeah, yeah, you know PNM.
Speaker 1:FET PNM.
Speaker 3:FET. Yes, yes, so the big flag days.
Speaker 1:That's how better energy for you is. Yes, yes, yes, it was, it was. I see Bunje and Fian trying their best to bring back that era. Well, well.
Speaker 3:I think it should come back because, pat, you know, I think the phones killing the FET, because when you run as you invite, everybody pull on their phone so nobody is dancing again. So you come to record me, you come to dance, you pay money, you come to record me.
Speaker 1:That's what they're paying for now. That's what they want. That's their enjoyment. I don't. Youth is youth. They always go to the answers, but that's their enjoyment.
Speaker 3:We got to bring Magda Fett with the short pants and the sneakers and the real traditional way of part.
Speaker 1:I think so too, and I get on here when you sing it, when you say, take off your shoes, take off. I bring in things to throw it Because me I'm walking home from PSA, so I go down there, but sometimes I throw in my jersey and I regret it a little bit because it's cold and I'm walking down the road. But the energy in Feds, the energy in Feds, PSA, it was a whole different world.
Speaker 1:Back then, barbarossa Kula Fet and you're right, people, I don't know that you could have got away with that backing track back then. Man don't hear Eddie sing and the backup singers. Man don't hear what you have. Yes, they do. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, going back to just staying in brass for a minute here on what our energy was like, you were telling me about a year where traffic had multiple hits. A year you had hits, sean had hits. Who else was with the band there Showing, showing. So you have the prime time slot.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so what prime time slot was 1 o'clock 1 o'clock in the morning was prime time.
Speaker 1:I always used to think back then who closed the FET would have been the biggest band, but they looked, so there's a hard work there. What there's a hard work there but we get.
Speaker 3:We get some of that, because one thing that was not big band in them days or you have a big song, is that you get first or you get last right. And get first or you get last Right, and both is hard work. Yes, you get first, it's not nobody, so you let people maybe out of the hundred people, and if you get last, nobody is jumping out. So I get a taste of both fields First, nobody, last people jump.
Speaker 1:But that must be prepared for today, now. So when people pull out their phone and think you know what to do, you know how to move with them, that experience, then helping you with how to manage crowd and them, that is not an issue for you no, no, no. Because I remember seeing Uefet with bands and Uefet was one where to me, unless you're right in front of the stage, most people kind of uptight, Everybody really moving and them kind of things. So what's your response as a lead singer?
Speaker 3:How are you getting people to fit now, my boy? Um, I think people, they, they work over your vibes and and and name. Because if you call a no-name band or a no-name artist, the crowd, they really come up, go to the stage. I check all that right. So people like name bands and name artists to get that vibes and that energy from them. Because when you say, bring on Marshall, bring on Bon Jovi, bring on Mikkel Teja, bring on Iowa George, you're seeing the rush to the front Right, you're seeing the rush to the front.
Speaker 3:But even bringing on a name that people don't know them going about their business man.
Speaker 1:Playing the game on their phone?
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, yeah. Who on their phone, who on the back of their car? Drink? You know what I'm saying. So for the new upcoming artists and them, they have plenty of groundwork to do, yeah.
Speaker 1:Just building that crowd, building the name, I suppose right, yeah, they're building the name first.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but people think they're just jumping on that scene and if you dip, that's it it's got coal oil. Boy. That's it for you, because I remember in my early days traffic. When I know during traffic I'm used to going up a level once you were singing good or looking good, people would come from the Asian and do so in level yeah. So when they see that, thumbs down, yeah imagine that boy bands in upper level. So when did that come down? Yeah, it's time for the show, then they come in the click.
Speaker 1:I really I do know it didn't work out. Imagine that boy banding up a little. If you go back to see anything like that, the club days must be done, the band days done is a different, a whole different time now, whole different world. So you were telling me to wear because I saw a guy talking the other day and I don't know if my memory is off, but he's telling me that Marshall and them followed Cliff Harris who was the promoter of Brass at the time, over money and I remember it being over time. You were telling me that story.
Speaker 3:No, no, no, no, they didn't follow over money. What happened, Cliff Harris? Normally what Cliff do. They did like a time set by Oli Band in Spain, right, and they put us for one o'clock in the morning, but Marshall wanted that time because you know that time is prime time.
Speaker 1:That's your prime time.
Speaker 3:Yes, and Cliff said well, no, I cannot change that time. For you to get one o'clock and put traffic after, I didn't make out my schedule already. Traffic going one and you going after, that would be like maybe half two, maybe two o'clock and rock, and he said no. So he went on news and he said, well, he will not be playing in bass fest. Yeah, he out. And that is how the next year alternative concert form right.
Speaker 1:I remember that because I remembered where marshall kind of step away first and it takes some time to build the alternative concept. Can you remember it had some country, I think a stage four or stand four yeah he built it into that.
Speaker 1:But it seems as though the band thing then, whether it be Traffic, atlantic, ecstatic at the time them as a band how competitive it is among bands and lead singers in your time, noel all of us was real cool and you know we we did used to like like make joke and stuff like why are you coming to me coming used to like make jokes and stuff like why are you coming to me?
Speaker 3:coming mash up and everything, but we just used to laugh and kick. More fun and more kicks. But now I can get more serious, you find now it's not the same.
Speaker 1:No, no, no. Yeah, I find backstage and events change.
Speaker 3:Yeah, artists don't look like they talk to one another, no, no, no, everybody in the front going to moan Right. It's a kind of mood now. Yeah, of course.
Speaker 1:It's that energy Backstage can be dark, you know, if people go backstage and them take.
Speaker 3:But me from since doing this business three decades now for me I cool with everybody. Yeah, yeah, I know when I go on that stage, I know what I'm going to do, so nobody really threw me off Backstage. I know what I'm going to say. I know what I'm going to put out for the people.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's your focus. Yes, I think they know what you're going to do too. You know what I mean. So you find that, as a veteran, you have that respect among young artists coming up. They know you, them fellas, when they see you, they know what Eddie really do. Yes, wonder sometimes.
Speaker 3:Well, my boy Ding Dong, we had a boot right a couple months ago, right, the boot right now was a more mature crowd, right. So Ding Dong said this crowd is your crowd. You know, I think I agree before you. He ain't going through that. You see, now I know if you go there, you, Because I know if you go there, you go mash up and I go in a bit of a hole.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you know what happens. I go in before you and you think now I hit today, so that performing as Eddie Charles, that's something you're enjoying as well. Yes, yes, yes, I do, I do.
Speaker 3:You know I love to perform for the people. You know the energy Because when I go there I just put on my all. Put on my all because they have 10 people there. I sing like I have a million people there, but some of the artists, like I talk to some of the new artists and they come up, they figure that if there are 20 people in the party they don't feel the same, they don't feel any energy, they don't get no vibes. But you don't know who's standing in that party.
Speaker 1:Of course I just tell them you don't know that could be a promoter, that could be a videographer. Come on.
Speaker 1:I find that I was talking about that in a recent interview too, where I saw very established artists going to a venue with 20, 30 people. It's like a corporate thing. They book something. They was opening a restaurant and the person went. They kind of do one song and run out of there. But you have to understand that them 20 people whole week, them want to see Eddie, them looking forward to hearing that, like I was telling you. Salute to the guys in Soka, in Isak, in Arima, one of the things every time I'm trying to reach there some years now, but this year it was the same night, soka was the next morning yes yes, yes, and I said boy, if I go east and I had to go, I ain't make.
Speaker 1:but every time I talk to them, one of the first things they say is Eddie there.
Speaker 3:They say, boy, eddie there, and that means something to them, yes, yes, because, see, I just bring the energy and the vibes and what they like about me and I can say I can do another couple of versions, right?
Speaker 1:So I can go back to. So you have them, you have them, and when you're doing that and you're going at DJ, you're walking with your DJ. Yeah, my DJ.
Speaker 3:Yes, okay, so you have a wide range of music, yes, yeah so you know how to do the one song on my flash drive right and I just tell him what to play. I watch the crowd. Alright, this, this, this, this here, we go in. Here, man, we go in.
Speaker 1:So we think, think and yeah, because I heard the gills tell a thing and they say go down in the center. And I said where did this man find this tune?
Speaker 3:No, I just think fast, you know, because, as I said, I just watch the crowd. I know it's amateur crowd, so I know what to do. Right, right, if I know it's a younger crowd, I know what to do. Yeah, you're adjusted.
Speaker 1:So you're still enjoying performing. Yes, yes, yes, I do, yeah, I do a lot You're enjoying the recording and looking for research to do for your scene song every single year.
Speaker 3:You see, Well, I just record every year yeah, at least for Christmas I do like maybe two songs, and for Carnival I do like maybe two, three years. People just forget, you know. So then you have to start over fresh again.
Speaker 1:That's something I want to ask you, right as a veteran, I always wonder when you look at R&B, you look at disco, any other genre of music, artists reach a stage where they are a catalogue artist and they're on tour. There's a recent piece of Kuk. He would be an example. He don't have to sing nothing else, but he's on tour somewhere in the world. How come Soka don't have that where you, as a veteran, you can't perform no evidence today? How come it's die off every year?
Speaker 3:you feel Well, I think we created like that. We created like that. Yeah, so we can't bring Sing me a song from the past two years. Yeah, we can still sing it there, but you won't get woke up for that, right, you have to get woke up For your new song this year.
Speaker 1:So you feel as the promoters Driving that, or the audience. You feel the audience Don't accept it.
Speaker 3:Well, I think. I think it's the audience, and even the radio too.
Speaker 1:Right yeah, the radio stations. The radio stations pushing whatever new yeah. Yeah. I was talking about our 10 new songs being in rotation.
Speaker 3:That is an X, that is an X thing by itself, that is an X back, and out by itself.
Speaker 1:That's been the way it is now. It's the way you find it was early 90s. No, no, no.
Speaker 3:In the 90s it wasn't like that. More music, everybody used to get played, even the DJs, which wasn't like young, young, young DJs, you know, like Eric St Bernard and all them guys. I know them Veterans. I was young and they were veterans. Yeah, yeah, and they used to play everybody Mm-hmm. Yeah, you know.
Speaker 1:We feel changed boy. I'll give you here. Well, he'll change boy.
Speaker 3:I'll get with you. Well, boy, I don't know what to say. I don't know what word to use. I don't know what word to use Because they're saying that the things have to change right. Look, Marshall, I'm bringing the Tilden rhythm Right. Watch your music, Listen. It's from since.
Speaker 1:So then, what changed? Well, that era now you talk about that. That's a little old rhythm. I see, salute Anika Berry. You come out. I don't know where she come from. All them guys are new in the industry. I it hit me like a ton, I said but who is she? Because the the way she figure out that rhythm, as a young you know, they try to make it seem sometimes like that era we had in the 90s. It's stale, it's not fresh, it's old.
Speaker 1:We can't do that again. People want new, kind of New thing. Yeah, but young brother Anika Berry has 20 younger people. Let me call Lyrical and Marshall veterans on that rhythm. Right, but them figure out the rhythm and do something there. I say I ain't like. Them was in customs and brass. You know what would have happened if that rhythm had come out back then, if you had hold that. Yes, yes yes, so I wonder how disposable the music really is, you know.
Speaker 3:Why I think music, music is music. An old, new, change or whatever, whatever it come back right there again. The percussion, the brass, it come back right there. We go along with music. Oh that soccer music and brass, and that way, that way I look at and come back right here, Because long as we say, oh that, um soca music and brass and that, that, that, that way, that way, and look at, Come Back Right again, man looking for it.
Speaker 1:Sometimes they go by Bader's to find it or go up the island to find it. They see the producers up there doing more and we, you know, is there just too big a gap between that time and now with it. They just can't find it I know it's like huh, it's one of the tougher ones. Huh, because when you release music, every year it's in playing on radio. No, no, yeah.
Speaker 3:Look, look, look, they say I released three songs. Right, three songs I released this year. I released a song written by um, written by James Zippy, mm Life. You know, um, I would. I, he's peeping man, yeah, yeah, everybody peeping. Yeah, yeah, gotcha. And um, I did a song called um Driffin, salute to show. You know, started again um Hooligan, that's a guy from New York, well, from Tobago, live in New York. Right, he did a writing for that song too. Three songs I did this year. Yeah, I gave him a little play, you know, son, but, as I said, as they say mafia, so I, yeah, yeah, I don't fight the mafia, I just join up. So me a fight me a complain so.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I joined it, no resistance.
Speaker 3:Nah, me and Faita, the band quarreling, and I joined up with all of you. Yeah, me and Faita.
Speaker 1:With the form we go sign up and join, because if you fight, you'll get pushed out.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so me and Woke get pushed out.
Speaker 1:I feel it's a cold name. I ain't gonna call it a name.
Speaker 3:I joined in.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so so cut a day, because it's clear that even the younger and I think Shaft writes some of them songs on um.
Speaker 3:Well, Shaft writes the whole Telemann Rhythm.
Speaker 1:Oh, you write all of them, all the songs on Telemann Rhythm, oh yeah, yeah, you can hear the interpretation right.
Speaker 3:I've been working with Shaft since in the 90s. You know Serious Shaft wrote a couple of songs for me yeah. Yeah, Destra Marshall yeah.
Speaker 1:I didn't know it was that long. That's something else, because that interpretation, this Lenhal rhythm proved that. That idea that you could shelf music You're doing covers, for instance right. If you say Black man Feeling the Party, a hit song is a hit song, no matter when it's the first time you hear it. Some people might hear that for the first time if you go among youths.
Speaker 1:But a hitter's a hitter you know, yes, yeah, a hitter's a hitter. Sometimes it makes you wonder. So where's your opinion now on? Because the sound of soccer change a lot over time. And somebody told me the other day, if you listen back to Kitchener and them and Lion and them, fellas, it was patterning what popular music was playing big band song, a Sinatra, and then you hear that in a hero, and then you, you, you would have been able to synthesize the hero where it was electronic music, yes, and now I find it sounds a lot like Afrobeats. It was just something like R&B five, six years ago. Now we're hearing more Afrobeats.
Speaker 3:What's your thoughts on Soka today and the sound of it? Well, as I, that is, them vibes on themselves what they're feeling, but me, I still like the old, traditional way, of course, with the brass in it. That is me. Yeah. Yeah, you understand, I can't change nobody's mind or nobody's style or what they like to do, because we still have men like Pelham Gordon, les St-Paul Kenny, phillip Aibo those guys still around, yeah, yeah, but nobody don't go by those guys again. No, because they find it too old-fashioned.
Speaker 1:Do you think it's a value in youths now the men who dominate and the youngest fellows in this way? Let me use Anika Berry as an example young, coming into this space fresh. Do you think that value in them going on? And yeah, you don't feel like a work, they can't do it. I don't think so. You think it's better to stick to the youths. They want to go with the youths.
Speaker 3:Yeah, they ain't doing it and that's the guy you want, man, the youths bringing that energy and that vibes Right. And who playing on this radio station now is youths. Djs is youths, I suppose.
Speaker 1:So them want that, yeah, that old school feeling. I would love to hear somebody like voice sit down with somebody like Kenny Phillips, because he made voice on them. That was good. You know what I mean. It's not that they knew and you had to do that. You had to always push it forward, I find. But it would be good to hear one of them go and sing one of them with Pelham and see what they come up with and most of them Can he have a lot of roadmatch.
Speaker 3:Pelham are roadmatchless. I think Pelham are the most roadmatch.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, in all time I hear Marshall saying now he passed Kitchener for most roadmatch. I say, boy, he has some work to do to reach Pelham. He has some work to do to reach Pelham. It's some time, but I wonder if that gap is just too wide for some of them.
Speaker 3:Sometimes but me, I, I still like the older producers, you know, because they're more musically inclined, right which the younger producers pulling sample and pulling this from this going up on thing and pulling thing, of course these guys playing Kenny, the guy who played, you know that, you know that. So I've been working with Kenny from since in the 90s too, because Breakaway and Halfway and a Truck that is by Kenny and everything from scratch, live drummer, live bass man, oh serious.
Speaker 1:So for recording, yeah, recording Everything live, yeah, no, it's not nothing like that. No, nothing like that.
Speaker 3:Go to the computer, take your mouse out, pull this piece of keyboard here. So bam, I'm going to put this piece of guitar here and put it together, and that's it.
Speaker 1:Song ain't good too, but different right, Different, different, different, different. Yeah them fellas, and them that old school way. They touch everything that go into the song. Yeah, it's a whole different world. So what? And the zest and the steamy pain, attention to them, youths, you know.
Speaker 3:Well, boy, I ain't really too like that, I ain't on my, because of what they're singing and stuff like that. I think the young people today, you know it's carrying them to a different direction, right, yeah, yeah, yeah, you know with the lyrics, you know the gun thing and the this and the jug thing.
Speaker 1:And I never find them like that. Yeah, I think for you to let you to express the self, but it will be good. I was seeing somebody saying recently that without anybody there to bridge the gap there mightn't be, you know, might not access that, and you don't understand. All right, I want to say this. I could say this different. You know, youth have rebellion built into it, but it it it gone. Fine in terms of the content itself, but to me.
Speaker 3:I think even the youth that are more doing this, they could. They could head in a different direction, a more positive direction, instead of dealing with the drugs and the guns. Yeah, I think I want something more positive for the youth. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and some of them here, especially because they have a grip on the youths yeah, yeah, yeah, them had a grip on them.
Speaker 3:That only had on we, when we coming out here, we coming out to see what they say next year you know, because somehow, like, if, like how Carnival done here now, right, so we going into the Easter weekend, we going into the Borrowed Day coming up here, so now we have to change up our set, right, so now you might play a little dance hall, mm-hmm. We might play a little reggae, right, we might play a little jazz, mm-hmm. But the other guy that's singing my band, which is Metro, he will model that. Okay, okay, okay, right, if you meet a younger crowd, you know, I, I, you singing that, come here, no bad man. So I leave that up to you, I leave that up to you, I leave that up to you. No bad man thing. But certain songs, like With Gun and Thing, we do really, we do really. Yeah, you stay away from it. Yeah, we stay away from that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think it's important. Yeah, we do. We don't push in that kind of head, of course, but you start this Stinging fellas. We don't push in that kind of head, of course, but you start this thing, them fellas and them do goal and thing.
Speaker 3:No man, I see man start the big change.
Speaker 1:I see full zest man. I wonder if they know. I wonder if they know we had to make sure we cover episode for the artwork. We had to make sure the change was there and let people see it from there.
Speaker 3:Like I see Marshall and Young Brother, marshall and and and young brother and on the big links on the big links. Yeah, I just said that name they haven't heard about me on narrative people mightn't remember.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but I'd love to hear your narrative. Now. Something else, because that one it's had a few kind of oh Samuel, where he's about 20 chain. You have one. Then I see a day, bring a big Cuban what Bring?
Speaker 3:a big Cuban. What? And a big beer also. You have to change up your game. You have to change up the game a little bit. It's important Because entertainment too. You have to look a little hip, right, I don't sell anybody that. Image is everything. Toast is nothing. If you're thirsty, you can drink water. Yeah, you don't drink a Coke, you don't drink juice. You don't drink Coke, you know juice, you know. Image is everything. Look you see that, look, yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, that was.
Speaker 1:I find that that era you're talking about there, the signature look of artists was an important thing, even if you go back to times before that, david Roddick would have never dressed like Tambu. They have a look, look yeah.
Speaker 1:Or Kitchener, have a style and a look and I find now that even the look and the sound of plenty of artists, it morphs us. And then, what is your take now on the time you come out where you do, it was more individual tracks versus rhythms. How do you feel about that rhythm thing, which was a Jamaican thing predominantly, coming into Carnival?
Speaker 3:well, the rhythm thing is good because it gives somebody new artists a little break out there, right? So let me say you have Aridem and you have Marshall, you have Voice, you have Bungee and you have two other new artists, so it will help them build their self.
Speaker 1:I see what you're saying. Yeah it, let it. Let people hear them without understand. If they had a signal they might have known if they jump on them by themselves is it?
Speaker 3:It let people hear them without. Yeah, understand, if they had a signal they might have known. If they jump on them, they're dead by themselves. Is that it? Nah, because Bonji and Marshall, you know, are sure you know whatever that they will say. All right, let me give this man a little chooks, right, I understand, I understand. Could look like don't know her totally right, you have Marshall, you have Voice so you go listen so what they do?
Speaker 1:they play the five or six people on the rhythm and she's squeezing, she's like she got, yeah, boy and all of a sudden at some point in the kind of valley, was the best song on the rhythm, especially as the only woman, yeah, nice. Nice.
Speaker 1:So as I say it's good, we're with you, we're with you. The exposure yes, gotcha, and as a band it's not, it don't matter to you. Either way, you rehearse and we'll rehearse. So you know the rhythm and you can play. For yes, I get. Yes. I guess the musician life gets easier if everybody run on a rhythm. The 45 minutes finish fast Because you had to rehearse transitions and everything.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, yes, ah, got it, got it, got it, change a song and stuff like that, of course.
Speaker 1:Now, before we come to today with Traffic, you mentioned something about the reggae, the R&B, the dancehall. How important is that for bands like Traffic to have a repertoire outside of Soka?
Speaker 3:No, well, it's easy, you know, because, as I said, most of the guys in the band, basically everybody musically inclined, you know, the bass man, the sample man, the drummer, so they have an idea of what's going on. So, as I said, different events, corporate events, dinners, weddings, we do everything, right, you know. So we had to know how to change up our repertoire, you know, to a little dance hall, a dancehall and a ballad, Right, because, um, in November I did a, I did a birthday party if a lady was 102. Yeah, so we had a supply of Joey Lewis. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, and play some old reggae like some Maxi Priest. Yeah, have it in. She wanted that gotcha that is nice.
Speaker 1:She must have enjoyed that. So I did all that for her right. So you go in now when that max is pre-saved. You don't have that in it. You go and learn that yeah, yeah yeah, yeah, if you're an artist now could hold up, boy, if you're doing that now, boy?
Speaker 3:why I don't think so? You know because, as I said, the new artist, that the newer artists, that they, in my time, we had no sample with no voice helping you sing Right, you had to sing lead and you had to sing background, mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Right, so when?
Speaker 1:the next man run on you or even the other bandmates when showing Guns-A-Front, you sing him back up. I sing him back up.
Speaker 3:Mm-hmm. Yes, but now, as I said, the thing changed because, as I said said, people have two and three gigs a night. So that voice sound is going to help you. Right, you know that you can last through the carnival.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But all the fellas was doing as you say, you doing five with no backup.
Speaker 3:Yeah, with no backup. With no backup but, as I say, I seasonal because I've been doing this from from young Right, but the newer ones, who did this, like maybe two or three years, ago.
Speaker 1:Right, they can't do that. It's going to be tough. It's going to be tough. So you turned out in some ways to be the last man standing in that band era. Yes, boy, god bless Blacks.
Speaker 3:Blacks would have been killing it back then Because me and Blacks was the last since after Blacks died, you know, because Destra was still at some point she was still at the head of her Roy Cape, and now with Destra and Mackinac, it's true, it's true, it's Atlantic Nadia, a lead singer of sorts, but only her own songs.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, so that era where people sing it was really just you and Blacks.
Speaker 3:Yeah, oh man last man standing in true mate, oh man.
Speaker 1:Let me talk about that now, because one of the greatest things I ever see Blacks do is a year I was a year I was playing Mass with Yuma Lunches on St Mary's Grounds, you know, it's a little little thing here. Coming out from the bridge there and I banned my Roxy and I banned on the next side and Yuma stuck boy, and you know, people know they're tired, they're coming back on the road and the vibes was off, right, but no man want to sit back, no man want to lie and DJ and DJs had no chance. They could not get people going. They play one or two songs, they try to keep it slow and at one point the band is upset and then Blacks climb back up on that truck because they had All Stars at the time on the truck.
Speaker 1:So it's all Blacks and you know Basie's high energy and they're men on that truck and Blacks sing. It's on a rhythm. Doom, it's on a rhythm the whole time. Days of Calypso and Black Sing Now must be Eddie Meehan's a lie. He's out two hours. He never changed his song and that man had people in a trance, feeling like a bite of shilling, had people in a trance and I wonder for young people now if they will ever experience people like you on the road, what was that road experience for enough, for young people now, if they will ever experience people like you on the road. What was that road experience where you're like because the band didn't stop any fets? No, the band's done any fets, but traffic was on the road this year as well.
Speaker 3:No, no, no, you have no more road. No, no, no, it's all bands on the road. You might have a band on the road. They had a team. Four or five bands was on the road this year. Imagine that, yeah, Back then it was all the bands. Yes, but normally I normally be on the road for the time show time. Okay, gotcha, but the band didn't go out this year, but last year was on the road for the time I see, I see.
Speaker 1:So what's that band experience like on the road versus in Fetton?
Speaker 3:Well, that band experience and sing that is not no change. It's not a change, it's not every five minutes or so. So for half an hour, from this block to my meeting, to the Hitchcock and Independence Square, that one song going down the road, wow, you had to keep that there, yeah, and to hold people. But not everybody could have done that, like myself Blacks. Ronnie McIntosh yeah, he was real good at that with her and Barbarossa was Traffic and Chandelier.
Speaker 1:Right on the road with them, On the road with them, oh man Right. So, you're on one truck running on the next one. Yes, yes, by Barbarossa I get a big name.
Speaker 3:So you know, and on that road you had to have truth. Not everybody could have done that?
Speaker 1:Yeah, because if no, then voice going the week before Carnival, carnival Monday, you going out there and we used to do juve, too Serious.
Speaker 3:We used to do juve with Chris Humphrey. Yeah, so we do Chris Humphrey juve. And then Monday, on Tuesday, barbarossa, and then Ashwin, we going down. Yeah, cool down my arrow, cool down my arrow. And he had a voice still.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I remember seeing what they are here in my road. That was something else you weren't showing. Yeah, the destruction down there. So when you're entertaining people who move and entertaining people on your road, is it different to this stage in terms of how you engage them?
Speaker 3:well, yes, because the road vibes too. You ever seen road song right, that road song and that party song gotcha right Because he was singing a party song, but he didn't really get in that that. That that vibes, because when you have a costume, the songs had to be different, like when you're in a party, you know?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you could move to it right. You wouldn't say that is the truth about Juvie. Your set for Juvie back then would have been so again boy, yeah Different. Juvie is carry it and party whole morning. Yeah, I can't keep up with him. I say next year I'm going to play Juvie in Paramin boy, I can't make money, it's party and carry it whole Juvie morning. I play.
Speaker 1:Yeah, back then Juvie songs the pace and Juv much earlier, too earlier. Yes, yes, so you go in one to the whenever the mash got done, all the roll out, and then you're done and you drive to wherever band meeting is for Barbarossa. Yes, and you're surviving that way, yeah, surviving, yeah.
Speaker 3:So I don't know if the young people, if them, can survive that well the younger people know.
Speaker 1:Their experience with artists might just be when artists climb up on truck when it's road watch time and do one song, one song, yeah. And on your road you're singing whatever's your popular songs too Popular songs. Yes, you're not singing, just your songs, yeah. Oh man. Last man standing boy. You had to train some people to be able to do that didn't you boy?
Speaker 3:No, when it comes in, as I told you Right? Sure, when you're listening to me, I kind of know how to talk to the crowd, what song to sing, because sometimes you bring up and say, nah, but that song is working, that song skip it. But sometimes people figure that you listen to a song you read on the plane and you don't know. Yeah, band song. You guy that won the young champion, yeah ultimate soccer champion Blackadan.
Speaker 1:No, no, sukri.
Speaker 3:I think he won the young youth something alright yeah, you're right, they did you used to work with me in the early days of shopping. Yeah, and I drill he like that right. And when he told me that he gonna there was some young band I think called a band called Evolution he went to. I said no problem I said you go ahead, you come here. I don't hold back nobody.
Speaker 3:If you want to further your studies or further where you want to go. You go ahead, papi. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And he went and he joined this band called Evolution. He won the youth champion. Nice, I called him, I congratulated him, I, he won the youth champion.
Speaker 2:Nice, I call him, I congratulate him I say see, you were hard work pay off.
Speaker 3:When he goes to come in the band room, I drill in every night. Sometimes he's singing the whole set. Yeah, because I went out to New York and Canada to do some solo shows, right, and he was in the band room every night Singing, singing, drilling, drilling, drilling.
Speaker 1:Working on it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, working with me. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I look to you now.
Speaker 1:Nice, nice congrats on that. That is real, real good, good to hear people say they're working with you and putting them out there. That's important, you know, and as I talk about drilling, you're telling me you take over traffic fully now.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, right, andy Joseph, who was the owner of traffic. He's Andy 73, right?
Speaker 3:okay, so I don't think he able with you know being out there four five o'clock in the morning and you know they run around to go and check venue, to go and do this, to go and do that. So what I did after I left 18 in 2000 and 2001 by 2000,. Not 18, but I left 18 like about 10 years. No, I was 18 for 10 years. I left like two years ago. Okay, Right, and I went. I talked to Andy. I said, Andy, boy, I want to bring back traffic because everybody knew Eddie Charles from traffic. Yeah, it's a big difference. You know what I'm saying. Nobody never knew me from Eddie Charles from the 80s.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I thought you passed through 80. I didn't realize it was 10 years, 10 years, 10 years, 10 years.
Speaker 3:You know and Andy did kind of pack up the band because he, he's aged now, so he decided that boy, I don't want to go through this thing again. And I called him and I said Andy, what happened? I want to bring back traffic, yeah, and he said well Serious, so we have pulled people together now.
Speaker 1:Now you're starting from scratch. You had to build back all musicians. Yes, Because traffic would have stood down for how long? How long it was out there?
Speaker 3:I think about five years.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay, so you had to build back from scratch. Yeah, from scratch again.
Speaker 3:So what that process was like. It was easy for me because I said, because of my name, yeah, even calling the promoters and you know, eddie Charles, thinking I'm bringing back the band Traffic, and it was easy for me to get work.
Speaker 1:Yeah, them two names Eddie Charles and.
Speaker 3:Traffic, yeah, promoters. And the keyboardist, he's from Point 14. The drummer is from Suparia. The bass man is from Shogunas. The sample guy, he's from San Juan, nice. The guitar guy, he's from Sup Nice. The guitar guy, he from Saparia. The engineer, the original engineer, that's Dane Kojoe, from Marbella. The roadie which is Kwame, he from Mova.
Speaker 1:So men from all about yeah, yeah, yeah. So these musicians you had no one work with before, no, no, no, no, no. So you find brand new, yeah.
Speaker 3:And pull together, and pull together. Yeah, I'm put together. How'd that work, boy? Well, it was easy, because, remember once people know that you're forming a band because you're those out there, I see, and you're bringing back traffic. So my phone's on the ring, they're calling me from all over Keyboarders calling, drummers calling, this one calling, that one calling. When the band started, I wanted to join and I audition Nice.
Speaker 1:Boy, that should be a reality show. That would have been nice if you had made that reality show. So you auditioned each instrument.
Speaker 3:Yes, Nice. So keyboardists came in, drummers came in, bass guitar sample man came in. Yeah, Auditioned them. I choose the best Right?
Speaker 1:So what is this from then, when you get them together to get them ready now?
Speaker 3:Right. So when I get the band, when I get all the musicians that I wanted, we took like about six months just practicing, just six months. No gigs. Oh shit, I tell them no gigs. We got to get this thing inside Because we don't want to go all this crap. Yeah, go full off us. So we practiced for like six months straight. Our full show was the birthday lunch. That was our first full show. Yeah, I know that one.
Speaker 1:So we did nothing. Borroweday was the Borroweday lunch.
Speaker 3:Nice, that was our first full show, yeah, and how that went down. So we did nothing but carnaval.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh, so all right, all right, all right.
Speaker 3:Just practice through the time, practice through the carnaval. So our full show was the lunch at Borroweday. Yeah, and from there it went down smooth.
Speaker 1:We just had a client, yeah, in the band, the band thing. Well, he's sticking with that. Now it's important for you to know, because if he don't have you to hand that over to, there's something else. I wonder now if you have somebody to hand it over to when you? Well, I think.
Speaker 3:I think I should have somebody to hand it over to nice good, good, good, good, because a lot of things die off, boy because you see traffic big, big name, everybody knows, because I could go anywhere and see a track.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Everybody knows the band. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Plenty of songs documented to it yes, yes. That's everlasting Big, big brands we have in any country. So you think, as what you see in Carnival going to now, you think the relevance of the band will always remain.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think so, and it's even getting better because, with the DJs, yes, but the band people want that live feel, see, that live feel. They want that live feel because it brings vibes and energy to the people, to the patrons. Because with that DJ playing, yes, you have a hype man, but if you watch a crowd when a DJ playing to, when a band playing, it's too different.
Speaker 1:Big difference, big, big difference. I'm not sure if people people understand it because they feel it, but I wonder if people understand it sometimes if you explain it's hard to explain that live music versus a band and I feel it could solve one of the problems. Because I went to FET, I'm not playing Juve again, for sure I don't. I don't. Youths have to do what they do because Juve come like a mass replacement. Now them people come in there to hear the roadmatch. Mass gets so expensive. Now if a man could pay a 500 and play a Juve, he want to hear party and thing I can't wrong them but boy, I find myself Juve morning walking for oh, I can't take a chip, you know.
Speaker 1:So I realized I see problems, so I had to remove myself. And the music is another one of them things. Because when I go FET now I'm not accustomed to hearing the same song over and over, because you see you're watching the song system and say well, what Atlantic will come with.
Speaker 3:As a fan, lock up what you gonna do now what?
Speaker 1:the fuck. You hold me for what you gonna do now you know it was about the band and the singer and you know, ron, you have a style you have a style, you know it's a big, it's a part of where you're looking forward to, to go to FED.
Speaker 1:So this thing now where you could go FED and here, two things right. And you say same set of songs and then the best songs of the carnival not playing for most of the feds because Bungie here. So you cannot hear Carrier, you can't hear Thousand Rag, isn't that what you pay to hear? Yeah, I feel like the band could solve that problem because our band I always remember Prang in our era quite in a remote and the band captain was a soldier and he's a militant Right. So when we reached by our host man said you sing sereno. I said my band think that works.
Speaker 1:Every host you're telling me the same song let the musicians decide what to play, because you will never go with a band and play the same used to make for a better football experience. Then you would never have the same set list as Ronnie. No, no, no no no. And if you have it, you will change it while Ronnie playing right.
Speaker 3:Because sometimes I don't watch the crowd right, so maybe I will have myself sets in groups. So let me say, if I have five groups or six groups, I will go after the set list. Who said we can do that?
Speaker 1:He realized it's too late, oh right right.
Speaker 3:So you see, my lover, black man, he ain't doing it. Take all that yeah.
Speaker 1:This is before you go on stage, right. Yeah yeah, yeah, before.
Speaker 3:I go on stage so I'm watching the crowd again, we feeding off of them and them feeding off of us. So you have to know when you go there what to play. Yeah, right, I say what man? So alright, farmer in the show. So we can't do another farmer tune. Yeah, alright, this guy in the show voices, we can't do another voice song. Hmm, I say what man? We had to flip this script here. Right, we had to do songs that artists not on the show. So, maybe, maybe, lyrical, right, be lyrical. So some of them are right over the set, right there, yeah, right there. So I write over the set. One time I say lyrical, alright, lyrical, alright. Marshall, yeah, put in a two, marshall, put in a two, put in a two, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:And your musicians are tight. Yeah, they're good with that. Yeah, and that affected by what the other bands play. If you hear other bands play, you might make changes to that too.
Speaker 3:Yeah, sometimes, sometimes, yeah, sometimes.
Speaker 1:So you see, that's solving the next problem there. It's a good thing you come here, you know, because I don't think the DJs are staying FETs very long. A DJ might not reach a FET Sometime. I wonder if they listen. Because you're talking is born Older people, younger people. You're watching the other artists, what them sing. You're watching who come to perform. So your set designed for this set.
Speaker 3:But that DJ he playing where he leave home to play. But I figured, DJ, if you have five DJs in a set, right, I know all the DJs just want to play the big song. But if I come a set and I see you play all these songs Now I get into it myself. You feel that happening a lot? No, I see it happen in Toronto on a boat ride where Platinum was playing and then when DJ Sim came on he played the friend.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it changed up and it was like, yeah, boy, this it was rocking. Right, it rocked. Yeah, sometimes you don't see it enough. You don't see it enough. You don't see that you guys always talk about that private round. Feta went to Canoel Saturday and everybody just play for half hour.
Speaker 3:Yeah, them men play the same thing, same thing, yeah, yeah, everybody want to play the Super Bowl, but I play a bunch or I play a mash because they see the response.
Speaker 1:But you can get hype from other songs right, hype for them mean Hand in the air wave, yeah, but only see hand in the air wave.
Speaker 3:I don't think this, but yeah but you can play Super Bowl and get that same response yeah, but I don't know. You can play Dollar Wine Get that same response yeah, right, like I will go places and listen to all the bands play Right, that's alright, they play that side. I ain't. I ain't going there. Mm-hmm, here what I'm script here I go down and pull a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a a a, a, a, a a a a yeah, I wonder how much that's happening now.
Speaker 1:I'm missing them. You make me feel to go a fret. Now I want to go a fret with all all you're back in the day again because I don't think them time, like when you watch Panorama. Now a man come to back Despos, a man come to back Exodus it was the same thing, then yeah a man is traffic, is he banned? He okay, he back in with traffic too. But I don't know, I don't know, I don't know if this time.
Speaker 1:I don't know, let me bring it back, maybe the band thing will stay around.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, yeah it will stay around for a little while still, because new bands coming, new bands forming, because I say, look, now she just formed a band like maybe about 5.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's not all three years, it could be a little more than that.
Speaker 3:18 going on. What 12 years? Right? We have a new band called Temperature.
Speaker 1:Right, it could be about 12 years. Yeah, a couple of years. So, things happen. You come in and you say we ain't short of musicians.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, no, no, we ain't short of musicians. Them now kind of getting into it now too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, you see, not more and more. I think it's uct and uv and them, the final, good, good musician, some of them hungry too.
Speaker 3:Gotta get the ones that hungry right, not the ones that this one. They'll come and make a little money and they gotta get the ones that who want it, who wanted to reach somewhere well, you have to want it to know.
Speaker 1:When are you in six hours of rehearsal, five days and six days a week. You have to want it know if you want it.
Speaker 3:You will read somewhere of course, gotcha, gotcha. But if it is like a, they seek out. I am making a real sale today, man, yeah, I mean, you don't want it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you don't want it. Gotcha, gotcha. Why don't you talk to all the members in my band, you understand? I say fellas, I ain't bound to do it yeah, public service only lasts 30 years.
Speaker 1:You know you don't do your time and more.
Speaker 3:I keep telling them that because I just always have like little meetings and things with my, with my, with my members of them. You know, try to guide them, show them the right things to do. Fellas, I know we making good use.
Speaker 3:This thing will never last forever, got you yeah, so it's a mentorship role he played in it too right, because even in my days of traffic, when we are dead or alive band coming, we was a big band. Yeah boy, yeah boy. The next two years we kind of drop. Yeah, depending on come on, yeah, yeah, yeah. This thing is like a skill balance yeah and a balance yourself, you know.
Speaker 1:So you have a balance, and a balance you can run out the game.
Speaker 3:If you don't, and I keep telling them that I say, yes, we might have a road match and a soccer and one or two whatever, and we getting what we're going to be doing all about. But we are looking next year, of course. Next year we do a hit song now, yeah, we going back, yeah, back into catalogue.
Speaker 1:So what about after Carnival? Traffic still touring and things the other Carnival, yes, yes, okay, nice, that's good.
Speaker 3:So we go to like Carribana. We have Miami Carnival, we have Liberty Gotcha, we have Virginia Carnival, we have Edmonton Carnival, so we go.
Speaker 1:So you find the band appreciated in them spaces still.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, yes, that way, where Junkie's talking about, they used to have something called over the islands. So they're taking a boat and they're going across like a little river, right, right, they used to do that on a Monday, so Karibana is really on Saturday, so Sunday and Monday they call it over the islands, some kind of soak over the islands or something like that. So everybody just go across there and have vibes and be like, and they have light band and artists and things.
Speaker 1:You see a different kind of patriotism over there, boy, when people are out in the cold, they'll be glad to see it.
Speaker 3:They're glad, right, they're hungry, right. Yeah, yeah, yeah, even places like England, yeah, of course, when I go there, it's like wait, these people really like Soka. Even Jamaica too. Yeah, that is nice Jamaica, they really love it. Yeah, they're eating up Soka.
Speaker 1:No, you know Canada, they love Soka Right and they're showing their love to traffic still is good. Before I get into Soka Parang, one more question I want to ask you about the band scene. You have artists running on all the time. Artists running on all the time and one of the things Junge make sure to talk about you. He said, eddie, give me that chance, he must be emotional talking about you. How much of that you get to do as a band to break new artists, introduce people to music.
Speaker 3:Well, I just try to get the younger ones a break, you know, even though they come and they talk to me like, like, if my army fed, right. But I can't give everybody a break, of course. Right, if it's maybe my band alone. In effect, maybe I could give you a break, right, but if you have four or five bands and my time is 45 minutes, I maybe could give you a five minutes because I can give JDL, right, oh nice, jdl was on my set. Jungi was on my set, nice, on my set. Oh nice, nice, right.
Speaker 3:And there's like new artists, yeah, of course yeah right and I give them that forum to come and sing in my set. Of course, of course right. But because of the love of music and the vibes that I have with Joongi and G-Dell and all the other artists you know, it was easy for them to call me and say I talk to this one and I tell my boy, see if I can get a little trick with you. And I say, no problem, you'll do it.
Speaker 1:I will do it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's important. I hear men complaining now that they say, if you look at the established artists now, you watch the average age and you look at new artists, some of the established new artists is 50 like no, who's the next generation? You know we need that. So let me go down the Soka Paran road with you now, now that we started, and you tell me where's the pericose? Where's the pericose? I don't know if I. I think most people, if they ask you, they would tell you you start in Soka and somewhere along the line you end up in Paran.
Speaker 3:It's the reverse.
Speaker 1:Now I hear you say in an interview that you were singing Spanish and saying I want to test out something here.
Speaker 3:I want to test out something. Well, boy, I was singing in Spanish because listen to me, listen like Daisy Von Zell, our brothers and them singing Whatever them say.
Speaker 1:I say, but me know, they're going to tell me if you're really starting. No, no, no, the man can do it in real. I tell myself you're bluffing. No man, no man.
Speaker 1:So Parang is your roots. Yes, yes, yes, and you get back to Soka Parang yes, yes, I was telling you that I hear a tune for years going wrong in a little Christmas lemon thing and there's a man. Tell me he say who sing that? I say no, I say that a new man come, he said Eddie. I say who, eddie? Because in my mind it's scrumptious, we start with crazy. If you see the pioneer, the thing. Well, crazy started it, that's what he say crazy.
Speaker 3:Do the first song 1964, something like that. Right, he say Maria was the first one. Yeah, first one. Yeah, something like that.
Speaker 1:Right, you say Maria was the first one, yeah, first one. Yeah, bad, bad song that's stand up up to today and you have, you know, rome Kiggs and fellas in the Christmas circuit, yes, and then I say Eddie from Traffic. I said to you Traffic, eddie, take out your clothes, eddie. So when you was always recording Soka Parang or that's something, that's that new, my first hookah barang was on Christmas in 2002.
Speaker 3:Chasu did that with myself, dennis Belford, blazer Dan Ghetto Flex General.
Speaker 1:Grant, Merry Christmas to me. That was H2O Flow. H2o Flow yes.
Speaker 3:And mine was Bring Drinks, neighbour, neighbour, this, here we passing by everybody in the town and Break the punch in. Did you get that?
Speaker 1:I remember the year that come out, the first thing I said, as many who play music here, but this thing has no kind of chords, they say, but what kind of thing do you do here? And I see that year after year after year become a staple in the Christmas.
Speaker 3:That might have, just like Maria and them. Once it's in a Christmas mix, that is like a classic. It's a classic Classic.
Speaker 1:And you and the originals. So that was your first one. First, yeah, first one I did, and from then you just never stopped. And then from there.
Speaker 3:Every year I decided, when I realized that I got the love and the vibe and I realized that it had a space Right, because I realized Kronta Baron, crazy Name, they wasn't recording anything again. Yeah, so I said Dempful has a catalog, so Dempful has a recording. So every year I decided I put out a song Right, so I keep doing it, putting out. I put out Jam Paran. I Know here on the Piggy, jam Paran, yeah, look, jam Paran, soca Paran. Yeah, bad, bad.
Speaker 1:I went to the bed tell me I sit there, eddy. But we didn't listen.
Speaker 3:I sit there, up with that eddy, I did that song in New York. You know this guy did that song, sean Mastermind. Oh, that's Mastermind.
Speaker 1:Mastermind yeah, sleuth to Mastermind.
Speaker 3:I did that in New York. Yeah, he responsible for some big soaker and soaker too. Yeah, yeah, yeah, the pot of gold he did all that Gotcha. Gotcha Mastermind are very, very good, good producer, yeah, and even From. So I did like about Three or four Sokoparan my mastermind. And when mastermind Moved from New York and went to To Boston I started recording by a guy by the name of Damien Preston. So Jam Parang no here on the piggy Ham bone. Yeah, boy, it's so much that song, boy, I can't.
Speaker 1:Imagine that.
Speaker 3:Because it's 22 Sukapra, I have Serious over there 22 Sukapra.
Speaker 1:So we are Known more as no Eddie from Traffic or Eddie the Sukapra Boy I think Both yes.
Speaker 3:So Christmas time You're booked up and you're performing Christmas time alone, I have like 55 shows, serious. My first Christmas show just started from the end of September. So bookings all during the week, corporate shows, bars Sometimes I have like five or six shows a night. Yeah, for Christmas, for Christmas, yeah.
Speaker 1:It's a good thing you trained your voice from nine. If you didn't train your voice, no, no, I don't go and train it.
Speaker 3:After that. First time I get to sing again. That's it, and I go in on shows and do that whole half and I'm out of 45 minutes.
Speaker 1:On your songs alone On my set. Yeah, oh man. So is it blended or are you doing Christmas?
Speaker 3:True and alone when you go there. Well, I don't want to come in here and give them a little to soak up the black energy. I just give them more to soak up around, maybe like a little, maybe a little three or four to soak up and I just squeeze in Right right, a little breakaway and half way and I choke.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. What man must be love when you see the right crowd and you get them, you know. Yeah, so your reception good there. People glad when they see Eddie come out of it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, they like that vibes.
Speaker 1:You take the same band approach to them performances, or you just do your own tune, or you do what you feel like no, well, same thing, same thing.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know that. Same vibes. You know even like for Christmas, like when the band have shows. We do most of my songs when we're so cap around because it's Christmas, gotcha, and break the momentum with a little bar, so traffic will do a Christmas show.
Speaker 1:you're saying yeah.
Speaker 3:So we have those corporate events. Oh, you go with bands. Yeah, Well, according to if the promoter can book the band.
Speaker 1:Gotcha, gotcha, of course. So you don't invite C-Bo's son. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know. So that is something else to see, boy, when you're in that circuit. So Paramin, all them things.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I've been doing Paramin for the past six years. Yeah, they always book me. They got to score me what's my Paramin, don't forget. But I have some diet clients, right, they just score me from all like all in April. They call and book me. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I have me. Yeah, I have a guy in new york, um, he have a, uh, a pound in new york, I want in miami. He just called me april and bought buy ticket everything.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah yeah, he booked in them today. He don't give nobody my data. Yeah, I said I take it now. I said don't be mad now. So I have. I had clients tell what is called me early and book the day that one.
Speaker 1:You know it's so funny, right? Sometimes when you look at the Soka Parang, you'll tell me before we start that the Soka Parang circuit have more love like back in the day than the Soka circuit. Yes, yeah.
Speaker 3:We in the Parang circuit, we don't like crab and abalone where everybody is fighting, you know. So, as I say, they don't have really much of us, of us Right. So like maybe about 10 or 15 of us with this, maybe Scrunter Baron Room, crazy Massey, miranda, myself, who are you?
Speaker 1:We have Keegs in this. You know who I like this girl coming up from Paramin, afisha, afisha bro, yes, so number six.
Speaker 3:Look at that look at Rich.
Speaker 1:Yeah, of course of course, of course.
Speaker 3:So, and for Christmas, it is a plenty work.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so that way I was in there with five and six drums a night, right, I guess, I guess, I guess so that it looked like that love or that energy that they have in that circuit is one of the areas to where you could just turn catalog, because they say Scranton, don't sing nothing, byron you know what I mean.
Speaker 3:They're not recording anything again. Yeah, yeah, yeah, because they have enough songs. Like me, I don't want to sing another song again. Yeah, but I always like to give them something new. Yeah, I like it, you know, because they're going to say oh, you're bringing that old song again, that old song.
Speaker 1:Some people are different.
Speaker 3:So it's millennia new songs as you're performing. You can't please, yeah, yeah, I don't stick. I just had to record From in April.
Speaker 1:This is what you was Telling me about. Yeah, from April. I just sat early.
Speaker 3:I just sat early. So the recorder I said I'll make sure I get a proper mix, make sure I get a proper master.
Speaker 1:Right Early. Yeah, that's something I appreciated in doing the research for this episode. When you look for your music On YouTube, you're finding good Quality, they say men do it sounds like a reference track where they put out on YouTube. You know.
Speaker 3:No, I don't make jokes with my mixer and my sound, because if I send my song to a mixer by you, you listen to about five different mixers by me. You can't send one to me and say that good Boss man raise your voice.
Speaker 3:Raise this, raise that. But they have some guys that do mixing are good. They ain't want to be. I listen, I say no better man, that ain't good. It ain't good till you say it. I find my voice too soft. Raise my voice. I find it be so loud. I find this too thing yeah and the other, make sure an EQ all that good for me, and then I go tell you when it good. Right, you don't tell me donkey ears.
Speaker 1:Yeah, boy, imagine that well as you talk, donkey ears. Right, that's something I was thinking about when I was driving here. I see a man who I interviewed Crazy recently and talked to Crazy and referred to him as a soaker parang artist. I said, boy, look at life, if men know Crazy in his head, when Crazy wants to ride down to his horse, it's at a time my father told me, when they go on the mash ground, crazy, have a rope tie from the north, stand to the ground.
Speaker 3:So he want to swing down and the fire service had to stop him. That was the madman.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the original madman climb up on statue here. So he was a hardcore soccer man. I see him perform salute Ozzy Merrick. They have a show on by Raze Bar every Wednesday night. Crazy come and perform the classics. How's he and them have him doing?
Speaker 3:But I think with Trinidad, Trinidad is just like the label here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I guess they want to box you in. So it makes me wonder about you. Now I say I wonder if people go say Eddie is a soccer parent one day, but then they go forget.
Speaker 3:Two things, trinidad. People just do Label here and shelf here. Yeah, two things.
Speaker 1:I hear Sister Ron was in that same seat and she said but why, if I have music in me, I can sing that with your hundred, why not?
Speaker 3:and Sinatra and them do it them and sing till they're dead. No, but they're fine. When they reach something, you should stop singing. I'm only getting young people and no, young people get silk.
Speaker 1:I'm young it's a space for everybody, exactly, and creating space for them too.
Speaker 3:Come on yeah.
Speaker 1:So I get to sing till I reach 100.
Speaker 3:Me giving up. I see Sparrows and I'm going to chase singing, so why can't?
Speaker 1:I do the same thing, boy. Listen, listen. That is something. I wonder, how, if we like the word veteran or we like the word, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3:Icon or, if we like, the word, old or retired.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we don't like icon and legend and things so much I wonder sometimes. You know we quick to and then and then the funeral is a procession in tongue, you know? I mean when you're gone. Now you was. I hear men say Shadow is the greatest artist of all time in funeral when I was wondering where all he was, when he man was, when he was here well, he's only showed all love when you're dying.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and play music when you die. If I die today or tomorrow, yeah, you go here, oh God yeah but, they're pulling out songs where I record and they never play. You know what I'm saying? I tell you because when I listen, most of the icons what die singing Sandra Weber, wherever Blackswater, them blacks. Whenever I hear them play some songs, I never even hear Blackswater.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and they say get to know now.
Speaker 3:So why are they playing with songs when we die?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah Playing with songs while we are alive. Of course, of course, of course.
Speaker 3:Cherish it while we are alive. Yeah, don't wait till we dead to give you this and that. When I did, you give me your pop or something and you want to give me something? Give me, come on, give me that. Give me that, let take him away. No, come on, man, yeah, yeah, yeah, now we had to wake up, trin. I had to wake up.
Speaker 1:There's something I agree with a hundred percent we had to wake up. I remember meeting Scranton same thing you talk about. My first impression meeting Scranton. Scranton sit down in a studio with Umi Makano salute to Umi and they're doing a Christmas show and Scrantus sit down and listen to that man mix that tune and he said he said he said this one's a talk, talk this too loud here, this. And it was not done till he said done. And he listened. But one of the things that stood out to me where he says he had a tune you remember um, anytime you hear that your school over and you get a drop with them, take the number. And he said that song taught in schools in grenada to teach little children about you know safety when they walk home from school and thing and I wonder sometimes how we don't take we own things and make it little children, like for people who know.
Speaker 1:Eddie, come here with your little daughter, right here, listening to me. She must know.
Speaker 3:No, yes you know.
Speaker 1:So I wonder how come we just leave it to chance Boy.
Speaker 3:I think maybe some, some, some of the artists and entertainers, maybe, I think, the time.
Speaker 1:Some of them do have the time to at least sit down and direct them.
Speaker 3:Some people do. Oh, you mean direct them, yeah. Yeah, not everybody do Right, yeah, but some people do Right Because I know some of the older artists and them who direct the younger ones. You know the kids and show them the direction you know, but some don't.
Speaker 1:Yeah, some are just forgotten, so that way you can see. You know crazy is a soca parang man or scrunter is a soca parang man. Like they forget scrunter whole catalogue. Yeah, it's something else. But boy, listen, you come out here today. You'll tell me a good bit of the history. If you'll give me the chance, I'll keep you here until about three o'clock, as I told you. I bring Eddie here. I'm looking forward to drinking. Man sell all kinds of rum.
Speaker 3:But history, history is good because the younger people they don't know about the history.
Speaker 1:No, you see, it's more and more and you know my journey in doing this makes me realize that it's not that they don't want to know. You know, sometimes I just go out of space because when I'm doing research to talk. Before I started doing interviews I used to just talk about the culture on my own. And if I do research, let me say I want to talk about Andre Tanko, right, and you do the research. You struggle, you know you struggle to find information about artists and what I started realizing is the most rich source of information I could get when I try and research is Alvin Daniel interviews yes.
Speaker 3:Yes, I see men sit up with Alvin Daniel yes.
Speaker 1:Yes and I say nah, boy. I had to do that boy, because when this little girl get big and she want to know about scrantle, somebody had to ask something. They could go and watch and think. So I appreciate you coming out today, little brother. Thank you very much. This was a great conversation, brother thank you very much.
Speaker 2:This was a great conversation every time I finish one people.
Speaker 1:Tell me why you ask this, why you ask that, why so I'm telling you.
Speaker 3:One time I invited you back for when I get the next question why it's so much the things that we might spend the whole day. We spend the whole day.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're gonna spend the whole day here, baby gail feeling cold, but I appreciate it, brother thanks for coming.
Speaker 3:We're gonna do this again, no problem, no problem. Outro Music.