Interview & pictures : Benoit Collin
on Thursday, October 06th 2005 - 9 423 views
Andre "Suku" Gray, Kunley McCarthy, Ronaldo "Rumblood" Evans and Mark "Mean Dog" Henry make up the wildest dancehall quartet in Jamaica. We caught up with the members of Ward 21 as they came off stage at Summerjam in Germany this summer. The four deejays are fired up but not very talkative: it was impossible to get a word out of them about their split from King Jammy, the famous producer who discovered them.
Reggaefrance / How did you meet?
Ward 21 / We've been friends forever. We even knew each other before we were born! (laughs) We all come from the Waterhouse area of Kingston, in fact. We grew up together.
You worked with King Jammy...
(He interrupts) Yes, we worked with King Jammy once, twice, three times, four times... And that means never again (laughs). We'll never work with him again.
Why?
It's business stuff, we can't talk about it... But don't worry, it's just business. That's all we have to say.
Really? Not a word?
Yes, we don't want to say any more.
OK, let's move on. What did you learn at his side?
A lot... Everything, actually, to tell the truth. King Jammy is the best.
You released your first two albums on Greensleeves. The first, "Mentally Disturbed", was badly delayed...
Yes, we started out working with Greensleeves. The first album took a long time to come out and the delay messed everything up. When it was the right moment to release it, they waited until the moment had passed.
The second album, "U Know How We Roll", was a compilation of tracks... that weren't the right ones. Time was ticking, and we needed more... so we left (they had been signed to the label on a five-album deal, ed.). But Greensleeves remains Greensleeves, and we thank them for the work they did for us. It allowed us to become popular in Europe.
You're also producers; do you move easily from one job to the other?
Yeah man, it's not difficult. It's all music... We started out as engineers and producers before becoming a group. So it's not at all difficult for us to switch from one activity to the other. On the contrary, it's even easy.
Doesn't that stop you from developing your career as artists?
Not really, because it gives us the opportunity to produce ourselves. We do our work the way we want to.
You've produced some really original riddims. Do you draw on different musical styles to come up with such off-the-wall riddims?
Yes, we really do listen to different styles of music... Of course, it influences us...
For some time now, you've been working with lots of different producers. Does that bring you new ways of working for your own productions?
Yes, because each of these producers has their own working methods, their own ideas. For us, it's really interesting to see how each one organises and works.
Can you tell us about your projects?
We have an album in the works, and lots of riddims. All of it is coming out soon... Ward 21 is back!
We're working on the next album at the moment, we're still in the recording phase.
Will you release it on your own label?
Yes, on Ward 21 Music, but the date hasn't been set yet.
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