Easy Star All Stars Interview

Easy Star All Stars Interview

09 April, 2009
by: CreativeHustlerSince82

Having achieved widespread critical acclaim by re-interpreting classic rock albums such as 'Dark Side of the Moon' and 'OK Computer' into epic, uplifting reggae/dub arrangements, Easy Star All Stars are back with their own unique take on the 'mother of all concept albums’: The Beatles' classic 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'.

Tired of the generic mid '90s reggae sound, and inspired by a combination of re-issued reggae classics and analogue recording equipment, band producer and guitarist Michael Goldwasser launched the Easy Star label back in 1996 with co-founders Eric Smith and Lem Oppenheimer. Easy Star All Stars existed mostly as a studio band until the release and subsequent success of 'Dub Side of the Moon' in 2003, for which a live band was put together to tour the globe.

In 2006, 'OK Computer' was chosen for the Easy Star 'dub over' because, according to Goldwasser, it 'contains elements perfect for reggae – strong melodies, intense dynamics and trippy soundscapes'. 'Radiodread' earned praise from the members of Radiohead themselves and proved to critics that the success of 'Dub Side of the' Moon' was no fluke.

Band producer Michael Goldwasser took some time out to discuss the creative process of re-interpreting classic rock albums and the forthcoming release of 'Easy Star Lonely Hearts Dub Band'.

Why did you choose to cover 'Sgt Pepper's'?

'Sgt Pepper's' is such a strong concept album and the source material is great. It was also a good challenge for us because it's very different to the 'Dark Side of the Moon' and 'OK Computer' – which are dark minor key albums, whereas 'Sgt Pepper's' is for the most part upbeat major key pop songs. So we thought it would be a great challenge to try to apply the Easy Star sound to a very different musical animal.
 
Having released three covers of classic albums is there a danger of being labeled a novelty cover band?

We are making a serious effort at re-imagining these albums and adapting them. We take it seriously as art without wanting to sound pretentious and we're trying to re-interpret them in ways that are artful. The last two albums took roughly a year and a half to write and' Dub Side of the Moon' took the best part of three years to write. There are many great examples of other musicians adapting songs to take them to another level throughout the history of music. I don't think what we are doing should have us be considered as a novelty in anyway. We've happened to have found a niche of being able to bring these new interpretations to classic work and people seem to be responding to them.

Could you tell us a bit more about the creative process?

For the very first step, I spend months listening to the original material and then start to write these new reggae arrangements. I then make some demos; aside from some over dubs the music is recorded and completed first. Due to most of the vocalists being from Jamaica, scheduling is a little more difficult to arrange so it's not really a collaboration as such. In total the 'Sgt Pepper's' album took around 16 months to finish: quite a long process but the time seemed to fly by.

What do you think of the state of contemporary reggae music and do you thinks there's still a gap in the market for classic roots reggae to be embraced?

I think there's been a resurgence in the interest in roots reggae. People eventually realised the shallowness of a lot of the new music that was coming out. I like some dancehall but a lot of it has been so mass produced and, lyrically, isn't saying anything of value. There are newer roots artists that are really capturing the public's imagination, and hopefully if people go to see these newer artists, they will also embrace some of the older artists like Steel Pulse and Sugar Minott. Roots reggae is here to stay. It's not always gonna be in an up-swing but I'm not worried about its lasting power.

What are you looking forward to the most about the upcoming European tour?

We have played in Europe several times before and the reception has so far been great every time. In general Europeans seem to appreciate music on perhaps a higher level than Americans. Playing in the UK is really cool because it so happens that the three albums we have adapted are all by British bands so there's a sense of bringing them back home. We've made these re-inventions and then we're bringing them back to where they all started so its kinda cool in that regard.

Do you have future plans to cover any more albums as well as write some original material?

Both. We're working on original material for a future project and we hope to start working on another reggae adaptation of a classic album later this year. People seems to really love it so, as long as we feel like we can do a good job of it, we'd like to keep it up.

Easy Star All Stars new album is released on Apirl 14th, we've heard it and can confirm it's well good. The band are also playing a show at KOKO on the 28th of April.

Click here to see all London live music.
Click here to see all London reggae music.
Click here for things to do in London.

CreativeHustlerSince82