Jan. 23, 2021

Errol Linton interview

Errol Linton interview
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Season 1 Diatonic Harmonica Blues Harmonica

Errol Linton is a south London boy, with roots in Jamaica. His brand of ‘Brixton Blues’ music merges his Caribbean heritage with his love for the blues to create a distinctive reggae-infused form of blues.
Starting out busking on the streets of London, Errol was noticed by BBC Producer John Walters, who made a documentary about him. This led on to some airplay on BBC Radio. Errol built on this early success and has released a number of albums since the early 1990s. 
His two most recent albums have been released to critical acclaim, with the latest one, No Entry, recorded with a live feel.  


Select the Chapter Markers tab above to select different sections of the podcast (website version only).

Links:
Errol's website:
http://errollinton.com/

Videos:
Documentary on Errol by BBC:
https://youtu.be/xQCaLPw0efo

Howlin’ For My Darlin’
https://youtu.be/B9OYyvqUIN8

Paul Jones BBC Blues Radio show:
https://youtu.be/fnYzCvAILbM

Busking on London Underground:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EG91oY8ogH0

Errol's YouTube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSp8y2HN77CmkYXZZI0V_9Q


Music:
Listen to Errol’s “Live In London” album here:
https://www.brassdogrecords.com/live-in-london-a

Chad Jackson remix of Rain In Your Life:
https://www.brassdogrecords.com/chad-jackson-remix


Harmonica in Jamaican music:
http://jamminjasounds.blogspot.com/2007/05/harmonica-in-jamaican-music.html


Podcast website:
https://www.harmonicahappyhour.com

Donations:
If you want to make a voluntary donation to help support the running costs of the podcast then please use this link (or visit the podcast website link above):
https://paypal.me/harmonicahappyhour?locale.x=en_GB

Spotify Playlist:
Also check out the Spotify Playlist, which contains most of the songs discussed in the podcast:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5QC6RF2VTfs4iPuasJBqwT?si=M-j3IkiISeefhR7ybm9qIQ

Podcast sponsors:
This podcast is sponsored by SEYDEL harmonicas - visit the oldest harmonica factory in the world at www.seydel1847.com  or on Facebook or Instagram at SEYDEL HARMONICAS
and Blows Me Away Productions: http://www.blowsmeaway.com/

Support the show

01:28 - Errol is from Brixton, London

01:40 - Harmonica in reggae music

03:36 - Early influences of music came from the church

04:47 - First harmonica was a tremolo bought from a friend

05:05 - Blues harmonica influences

07:07 - Errol started busking on the streets of London

10:52 - How busking developed Errol’s harmonica playing

13:23 - BBC made a Blues documentary featuring Errol

15:48 - This led to some airplay on BBC Radio

16:57 - Errol got in trouble with the law from busking

19:16 - First recording was Homeboy Blues

20:12 - Vibin’ It album in 1997

20:40 - ‘Brixton Blues’ is the reggae infused Blues that Errol plays

22:40 - How Errol approaches songwriting

23:42 - Packing My Bags song

25:34 - Roots Stew album

28:29 - Mama Said album in 2011

30:55 - Some of songs influenced by Errol’s trip to Jamaica

33:14 - 2014 album: Dealing With That Feeling. An acoustic duo album

33:55 - Packing My Bags album in 2018, on Brassdogs Records

35:18 - Billy Boy Arnold song

35:54 - Played at Cerys Matthew’s Good Life festival

37:02 - Live In London album available to listen to online (see show notes)

37:58 - Latest album, No Entry

39:29 - Where name for No Entry album came from

43:05 - Rain In Your Life remix version by Chad Jackson

43:49 - Recording with The Transglobal Underground

44:29 - Recorded with Joe Bonamassa at Abbey Road Studios

46:14 - Album with trumpet player Abram Wilson, and playing at Ronnie Scotts Jazz Club

48:26 - Played Womad festival

49:58 - Errol also sells his artwork

51:01 - 10 minute question

52:12 - Plays a little third position chromatic harmonica

52:32 - Harmonica of choice

52:46 - Uses minor tuned diatonic on some of reggae tunes

53:43 - Favourite key of diatonic

54:17 - Overblows

54:33 - Embouchre

55:00 - Ampfliers and mics

56:51 - Effects pedals

57:20 - Future plans

WEBVTT

00:00:00.386 --> 00:00:03.531
Errol Linton joins me on episode 31 of the podcast.

00:00:04.373 --> 00:00:06.735
Errol is a South London boy with roots in Jamaica.

00:00:07.057 --> 00:00:15.611
His brand, the Brixton Blues Music, merges his Caribbean heritage with his love for the blues to create a distinctive, reggae-infused form of the blues.

00:00:16.391 --> 00:00:23.885
Starting out busking on the streets of London, Errol was noticed by BBC producer John Walters, who made a documentary film about him.

00:00:24.646 --> 00:00:27.089
This led on to some airplay on BBC Radio.

00:00:27.777 --> 00:00:32.253
Errol built on this early success and has released a number of albums since the early 1990s.

00:00:32.372 --> 00:00:41.081
His two most recent albums have been released to critical acclaim, with the latest one, No Entry, recorded with a live feel.

00:01:24.034 --> 00:01:26.216
Hello, Errol Linton, and welcome to the podcast.

00:01:26.777 --> 00:01:27.537
How you doing, Neil?

00:01:27.998 --> 00:01:29.120
So, yeah, you're a Londoner.

00:01:29.140 --> 00:01:30.400
You were born in Brixton.

00:01:30.621 --> 00:01:31.722
That's where you learnt your music.

00:01:32.082 --> 00:01:33.846
And you've got Jamaican parents, yeah?

00:01:33.865 --> 00:01:39.451
So you've got this kind of fusion between the blues and the Caribbean and the reggae music, yeah?

00:01:39.813 --> 00:01:47.301
Yeah, I think from the very first time I really picked up a harmonica, I think I definitely kind of blew it in in this kind of skank rhythm.

00:01:47.822 --> 00:01:49.483
I've still got the tape at home somewhere, you know?

00:01:49.784 --> 00:01:51.066
Yeah, that was in the 80s.

00:01:51.489 --> 00:01:56.536
At that stage, have you heard any harmonica at all, or did you just pick it up with the rhythms from the...

00:01:56.596 --> 00:02:01.061
No, I haven't really heard any blues harmonica then, when I first got that harmonica.

00:02:01.540 --> 00:02:08.769
I mean, obviously, I knew Stevie Wonder, as you always say, and stuff like that, but it's only after you get it, you start playing, and you realise you've got so much harmonica on tape.

00:02:08.929 --> 00:02:11.072
It's quite a bit on a big youth album.

00:02:16.578 --> 00:02:16.798
MUSIC PLAYS

00:02:17.473 --> 00:02:33.487
Sing along and sing a song I like it just like that

00:02:33.587 --> 00:02:40.954
Sing along and sing a song I like it just like

00:02:40.993 --> 00:02:54.248
that There's a lot of harmonica around

00:02:54.269 --> 00:02:57.532
90 Dread, the

00:02:57.954 --> 00:02:59.635
Bob Marley album

00:02:59.675 --> 00:03:05.663
90 Dread,

00:03:09.068 --> 00:03:09.848
yeah.

00:03:10.913 --> 00:03:11.575
Okay, great.

00:03:11.616 --> 00:03:18.117
So yes, you grew up in Brixton around that area and the community there, lots of influences from sort of Caribbean music.

00:03:18.138 --> 00:03:19.663
And that's where you grew up with those rhythms.

00:03:19.924 --> 00:03:22.733
So what got you actually playing harmonica for the first time?

00:03:23.490 --> 00:03:26.212
Well, not the first time I played a harmonica, but the first sort of music.

00:03:26.293 --> 00:03:28.256
I think my uncle might have had a harmonica.

00:03:28.756 --> 00:03:31.058
When I started playing, I sent some back to him.

00:03:31.639 --> 00:03:33.401
He left quite early to go back to Jamaica.

00:03:33.822 --> 00:03:35.223
One of the first brothers to go back.

00:03:36.284 --> 00:03:40.229
We were brought up a lot in a Christian Pentecostal church.

00:03:40.789 --> 00:03:41.911
Very small church.

00:03:42.512 --> 00:03:44.334
I remember going to near Oval.

00:03:44.935 --> 00:03:46.096
Not far from the cricket ground.

00:03:46.276 --> 00:03:47.478
Kennetons or Oval area.

00:03:48.066 --> 00:03:53.170
That was the first sort of musical here, which is almost like gospel Caribbean, really.

00:03:53.450 --> 00:03:55.552
Jamaican gospel, if you think, you know.

00:03:55.933 --> 00:04:00.277
So there's a film that was made in the 1970s called Pressure, yeah?

00:04:00.598 --> 00:04:01.558
And there's a clip in there.

00:04:01.900 --> 00:04:04.102
It's actually my church in Brixton, yeah?

00:04:04.481 --> 00:04:10.687
And you can actually see some members of my family, and you can actually hear the music, what would be played in church at that time.

00:04:10.729 --> 00:04:16.014
Before I was harmonica music, it would have been a friend who sold me a harmonica.

00:04:16.482 --> 00:04:26.509
And that kind of led up to stuff when friends did me tapes or went to the library to take some stuff and discovered double the record store of getting tapes at the time.

00:04:26.629 --> 00:04:27.812
So it was mainly tapes.

00:04:28.225 --> 00:04:31.548
And that was the early days with the blues.

00:04:31.928 --> 00:04:36.392
Yeah, I remember those days when you used to go to the library, get records out of the library and record them.

00:04:36.432 --> 00:04:37.254
It was a great day.

00:04:37.274 --> 00:04:38.514
It's not like that these days, is it?

00:04:38.954 --> 00:04:41.036
I think you still kind of get records from the library, can't you?

00:04:41.598 --> 00:04:46.000
Yeah, so you got your first harmonica, like you say, off a friend, and then you started searching

00:04:46.101 --> 00:04:47.062
out blues records.

00:04:47.463 --> 00:04:52.427
Yeah, because actually the first harmonica which I bought for my friend was, I think it was a tremolo harp.

00:04:52.547 --> 00:04:53.848
It wasn't actually a blues harp.

00:04:54.389 --> 00:04:54.689
Oh, yeah?

00:04:54.928 --> 00:05:30.963
So I was learning that, and then I decided to get a blues¶¶¶¶¶¶ That's what turned me on.

00:05:32.026 --> 00:05:37.577
Did you quickly realise that the tremolo harmonica wasn't producing the sort of sounds that you were hearing?

00:05:38.220 --> 00:05:39.523
No, definitely not.

00:05:40.464 --> 00:05:45.295
Now, tremolos are probably more like these shanties and bulky stuff, isn't it, really?

00:05:45.696 --> 00:05:46.718
You play on that.

00:05:47.201 --> 00:05:47.742
Yeah.

00:05:47.762 --> 00:05:48.863
That type of harmonica.

00:05:49.285 --> 00:05:51.548
I kind of played a kind of skank on it, though, like, you know?

00:05:52.088 --> 00:05:54.252
Yeah.

00:05:54.632 --> 00:06:00.380
That was there from the beginning, even though it didn't even cross my mind, if you know what I mean, but later, when you think about it.

00:06:00.781 --> 00:06:02.302
So that was always the influence there.

00:06:02.884 --> 00:06:07.951
Do you remember any of those early records, any particular ones that grabbed you and you wanted to learn?

00:06:08.711 --> 00:06:09.112
Yeah.

00:06:09.694 --> 00:06:10.935
Well, God, there's loads.

00:06:11.415 --> 00:06:13.238
I mean, I had some Junior Wells.

00:06:13.660 --> 00:06:15.221
I had some Sonny Boy Williamson.

00:06:15.586 --> 00:06:16.687
And then Sonny Boy 1.

00:06:17.589 --> 00:06:23.120
Like I say, when it went to doorbells, I'd been listening to the 40s and 50s harmonicas.

00:06:23.721 --> 00:06:25.543
But when it went to doorbells, I found this tape.

00:06:25.964 --> 00:06:26.826
Yazoo's label.

00:06:27.206 --> 00:06:29.690
And it was harmonica blues from the 1920s and 30s.

00:06:29.951 --> 00:06:30.232
Yeah.

00:06:30.252 --> 00:06:36.182
So then I discovered, way back, I discovered people like Dee Ford, Bailey, Jay Bird, Coleman, innit?

00:06:36.444 --> 00:06:36.684
Yeah.

00:06:39.949 --> 00:06:40.029
Yeah.

00:06:43.906 --> 00:06:54.935
People like that.

00:06:54.956 --> 00:06:55.576
Yeah, so...

00:06:56.057 --> 00:06:59.761
But, yeah, Sonny Terry, I love Sonny Terry, yeah.

00:06:59.781 --> 00:07:02.163
He was a big influence when I first started playing.

00:07:02.903 --> 00:07:13.853
Yeah, that's how I really first got to play the harmonica sort of stuff, which is just practising on your own at home, really, until one day my friend said to me, why don't you...

00:07:13.954 --> 00:07:14.755
Go busking.

00:07:14.776 --> 00:07:16.238
I thought, nah, I couldn't do that.

00:07:16.538 --> 00:07:17.180
No way, man.

00:07:17.521 --> 00:07:19.245
And then in the end, I tried it.

00:07:19.264 --> 00:07:24.735
I remember the first day I did it, I was busking down Green Park.

00:07:25.396 --> 00:07:27.120
And I approached this guy who's barefoot.

00:07:27.521 --> 00:07:28.523
And he had a French horn.

00:07:28.562 --> 00:07:28.903
He's playing.

00:07:29.004 --> 00:07:34.314
I said, excuse me, mate, where's the next pitch?

00:07:34.355 --> 00:07:35.997
He turned around and went, F.

00:07:36.161 --> 00:07:38.685
Oh, fuck! And I went...

00:07:38.706 --> 00:07:43.593
And I thought, oh, okay, this is how it is.

00:07:43.814 --> 00:07:44.053
They're

00:07:44.434 --> 00:07:46.357
very protective of those spots, these buskers,

00:07:46.437 --> 00:07:46.757
aren't they?

00:07:46.778 --> 00:07:49.322
Yeah, he was, but I got him back months later.

00:07:49.422 --> 00:07:52.125
I did the same thing to him when I got to know the ropes a bit.

00:07:52.766 --> 00:07:59.997
But I think I got nicked the first day, so it wasn't a great day, but it was more than what I was making if I went to labouring or stuff like that.

00:08:00.257 --> 00:08:01.480
No, so that's, I mean, that's right.

00:08:01.500 --> 00:08:05.245
As you say, you started out your performances basically by going busking, which is,

00:08:05.685 --> 00:08:07.206
you know, a great way to learn, yeah?

00:08:07.247 --> 00:08:13.855
Yeah, I mean, I was quite shy then, actually, because I remember the first, at least a year and a bit, I wore shades.

00:08:14.276 --> 00:08:18.281
That's how I was about playing there, just making up as I was going along.

00:08:18.701 --> 00:08:22.307
One day I was at Bond Street and some guy said to me, I think I was doing J.B.

00:08:22.326 --> 00:08:23.267
Hootoo, too.

00:08:23.327 --> 00:08:24.509
She's gone, he said that.

00:08:24.641 --> 00:08:26.665
hey man, you should do that muffin, you know, it sounds good.

00:08:26.964 --> 00:08:29.209
And that one guy just saying, yes, it sounds good.

00:08:29.269 --> 00:08:30.310
And I thought, well, all right then.

00:08:30.350 --> 00:08:32.513
And that's how I began to get the confidence to sing.

00:08:32.553 --> 00:08:40.004
And obviously through busking and you meet other guys there, you say, yeah, and you end up busking with them and the gigs start.

00:08:40.404 --> 00:08:46.333
So when I first started out, like I said, the guy that sold my harmonica was Tyrone Bocasun and he was playing drums at the time.

00:08:46.977 --> 00:08:49.441
I met Dave when I was busking, Dave Rose.

00:08:49.902 --> 00:08:53.005
And he played harmonica and he had tambourine on his foot.

00:08:53.346 --> 00:08:58.893
And he played a lot of kind of Woody Guthrie tunes, Sonny Terry tunes, Careless Love, a lot of the old stuff, you know.

00:08:59.354 --> 00:09:03.339
And then we ended up jamming together with Tyrone and we did a few gigs together, yeah.

00:09:03.799 --> 00:09:05.302
And the first one was the Trolley Stop.

00:09:05.422 --> 00:09:06.283
He spoke Newton.

00:09:06.663 --> 00:09:08.184
That was the first one we did, I think.

00:09:08.769 --> 00:09:11.572
And then later on I met Pete Smith.

00:09:11.894 --> 00:09:14.316
I got thrown out of the underground and I came up with a letter square.

00:09:14.716 --> 00:09:17.039
I was going through the square and then there was a guy there.

00:09:17.059 --> 00:09:19.903
I remember there was a choreo on his push bike standing there listening.

00:09:20.143 --> 00:09:22.966
This guy was playing some really nice, mean slide guitar.

00:09:23.287 --> 00:09:24.148
And that was Pete Smith.

00:09:24.628 --> 00:09:25.688
I said, do you mind if I join in?

00:09:25.708 --> 00:09:26.289
He said, yeah.

00:09:26.470 --> 00:09:29.614
So that was the first of another partnership with another guitarist.

00:09:30.053 --> 00:09:32.837
Because Dave was always a bit shy stage-wise.

00:09:33.250 --> 00:09:36.332
But Pete was more accomplished than he'd played in bands before and stuff.

00:09:36.352 --> 00:09:41.017
And, you know, we started doing gigs, not only local, but we started going further out, you know?

00:09:41.697 --> 00:09:50.085
I think that, you know, you starting out busking, it really shows a lot of people, they wonder how to, you know, play with other people and get out there and get playing.

00:09:50.485 --> 00:09:52.787
And I think you've got to get yourself out there playing, haven't you?

00:09:52.826 --> 00:09:57.711
Getting yourself heard, either going to, you know, jam sessions in pubs or like you did, you know, sort of busking.

00:09:58.091 --> 00:09:59.332
And that's how you meet people, yeah.

00:09:59.373 --> 00:10:00.514
So it's really interesting to hear that.

00:10:00.553 --> 00:10:03.216
That's how you really progress from busking, which is, you know, fantastic.

00:10:03.216 --> 00:10:03.780
Yeah, I did.

00:10:03.841 --> 00:10:05.173
Yeah, that's the way I started, really.

00:10:05.214 --> 00:10:07.677
I mean, apart from just gaming at Hunter Records.

00:10:08.066 --> 00:10:11.469
I mean, I loved music in school and stuff, but I was never really...

00:10:12.129 --> 00:10:15.653
It was quite big classes in school, and a lot of fear and a lot of boredom.

00:10:15.952 --> 00:10:16.813
But I knew a lot of the...

00:10:16.833 --> 00:10:23.820
A lot of my friends were in the reggae bands after, so I'd be hanging around and listen to them, piano and drum and bass.

00:10:24.360 --> 00:10:26.522
I knew the guys in the band, the school band.

00:10:26.621 --> 00:10:32.486
So I'd always be hanging around a bit, maybe press the piano a bit, but I never really into music.

00:10:32.667 --> 00:10:34.788
I was into music, but I never played it.

00:10:35.169 --> 00:10:43.630
And when you were busking, sort of developing maybe your your craft when you were busking early on, these were all solo performances initially, as you say.

00:10:43.750 --> 00:10:44.173
Oh yeah,

00:10:44.573 --> 00:10:46.942
I played solo for ages, yeah.

00:10:47.138 --> 00:10:48.499
on my own, so I met Dave.

00:10:48.658 --> 00:10:52.403
Well, it wasn't ages, I suppose it was a couple of years or a year and a half.

00:10:52.822 --> 00:10:56.326
I'm just wondering how that, you know, maybe how it develops your playing, do you think, playing

00:10:56.446 --> 00:10:57.187
solo like that for a while?

00:10:57.206 --> 00:10:58.168
I think it's good for your rhythm.

00:10:58.587 --> 00:11:01.210
It's really good for your rhythm, I'd say, and timing.

00:11:01.671 --> 00:11:13.260
I used to clip my fingers a lot, timing, you know, but that got to the point where I got split on one side, and then I got split on the other side, so I kind of had a line, two lines going down, and I thought, oh, I've got to stop clicking my fingers, you know what I

00:11:13.801 --> 00:11:13.880
mean?

00:11:13.900 --> 00:11:14.100
Yeah.

00:11:14.221 --> 00:11:21.210
So instead of clicking, well, I was clicking the staff of my feet, so I'd be holding my harp with one hand and clicking my finger to get the timing, but I had to give that up.

00:11:22.812 --> 00:11:26.777
Were you trying to emulate some of the plays you mentioned, maybe like Sonny Terry, who, of course, did some

00:11:26.876 --> 00:11:27.839
of the solo stuff?

00:11:27.859 --> 00:11:28.379
Oh, yeah, of course.

00:11:28.399 --> 00:11:30.381
Oh, yeah, I was trying to do stuff by them, yeah.

00:11:30.863 --> 00:11:32.284
All this make-up stuff, make-up

00:11:32.325 --> 00:11:36.671
rhythms.

00:11:44.481 --> 00:11:44.701
MUSIC PLAYS

00:11:51.457 --> 00:12:03.096
And I say, like, when I first started singing, yeah, that David Hutter tune, and then obviously that grew into Little Water tunes, to Blind Boy, Fuller, and Salty Terry, you know, them tunes.

00:12:03.999 --> 00:12:07.504
Were you playing with any amplification when you were busking by yourself?

00:12:08.686 --> 00:12:10.950
No, first of all, I never had an amplifier.

00:12:11.451 --> 00:12:16.940
First of all, I'd be playing the acoustic harmonica, so I tended to go for high-pitched harmonicas.

00:12:17.740 --> 00:12:18.302
Oh, yeah.

00:12:18.594 --> 00:12:22.499
like E, stuff like that.

00:12:22.519 --> 00:12:23.520
F, you know what I mean?

00:12:24.282 --> 00:12:26.304
G and A were not very good.

00:12:26.926 --> 00:12:31.150
I think it was C, B flat, you know, those sort of high keys.

00:12:32.033 --> 00:12:36.739
So the harmonica could get heard more because it's more piercing, isn't it?

00:12:37.000 --> 00:12:38.621
The low ones are a little lost, aren't they?

00:12:38.642 --> 00:12:39.243
Yeah, they do.

00:12:39.302 --> 00:12:42.287
You can't do as much with amplification.

00:12:42.466 --> 00:12:47.293
There was this band called Sons of the Desert.

00:12:47.618 --> 00:12:48.700
And they were a great band.

00:12:48.720 --> 00:12:57.552
It was a guy playing mandolin, Irish guy, another guy on bass, another guy on guitar, and I think a woman singing, and he was hitting a mandolin player.

00:12:57.572 --> 00:12:59.154
I said, hey, man, you should get a little amp.

00:12:59.695 --> 00:13:00.557
That'll be your money, you know?

00:13:02.038 --> 00:13:05.764
So I got this little amp called, what's it called, Out for Lunch or something?

00:13:07.386 --> 00:13:09.448
You just plugged it in, you know, you put the Bluetooth.

00:13:09.470 --> 00:13:13.475
It was about the size of a little book or something.

00:13:14.115 --> 00:13:14.316
Yeah.

00:13:14.397 --> 00:13:15.357
First of all, yeah.

00:13:15.618 --> 00:13:16.500
But it made a difference.

00:13:16.600 --> 00:13:18.984
I could use it for the lower harps, playing with it.

00:13:19.004 --> 00:13:23.051
And obviously, the more I played it, the more I played it, the bigger amps I got and stuff.

00:13:23.712 --> 00:13:26.979
Was it here that you were heard by the guy who made the documentary?

00:13:26.999 --> 00:13:31.166
Did he hear you busking, or were you already playing in bands by the time that he picked you up?

00:13:31.547 --> 00:13:33.309
Was I doing band gigs then?

00:13:33.601 --> 00:13:36.344
I might, yeah, I think I've done gigs then.

00:13:36.705 --> 00:13:40.268
Definitely by the time I met John Waters, I think it was 1991.

00:13:40.427 --> 00:13:40.927
Yeah.

00:13:41.548 --> 00:13:44.370
So I've been playing for about three or four years.

00:13:44.672 --> 00:13:46.933
He came by, just dropped his card in and said, call me.

00:13:47.333 --> 00:13:47.933
I thought, oh.

00:13:47.953 --> 00:13:49.936
As soon as I see the BBC, I thought, wow, okay.

00:13:50.557 --> 00:13:50.976
You know what I mean?

00:13:50.996 --> 00:13:52.077
And this is why you were busking,

00:13:52.118 --> 00:13:52.418
was it?

00:13:52.798 --> 00:13:54.039
Yeah, I was busking, yeah.

00:13:54.580 --> 00:13:57.783
I was busking with my money and everything was.

00:13:58.062 --> 00:14:01.686
So I gave him a call and he said, oh, I think we're doing quite good.

00:14:01.907 --> 00:14:02.447
You know what I mean?

00:14:02.466 --> 00:14:10.316
He got something interesting about it he used to come up to the BBC so he said erm what's today, you know, we'll talk about something.

00:14:10.355 --> 00:14:22.025
And then he said, yeah, I think we'd do, well, first of all, he said, I think he's really, you know, he started talking to me, I think you're quite good at what you're doing, it's interesting, you don't often see it, you know, black guy, English guy playing the blues and all that sort of stuff.

00:14:22.046 --> 00:14:24.668
He said, do you fancy a beer, wine, drinks?

00:14:24.788 --> 00:14:29.753
Yeah, we went to the pub and then he started talking about, hey, we'll do a documentary and stuff about me.

00:14:31.754 --> 00:14:31.995
Great.

00:14:32.014 --> 00:14:32.716
You know what I mean?

00:14:32.775 --> 00:14:36.458
So, I literally just started playing, you know, and yeah.

00:14:36.519 --> 00:14:45.828
So just to let people know Oh, listen, so there's a documentary which is called Two Generations of the Blues, and I'll put a link to it on the podcast page, and it's about you.

00:14:45.869 --> 00:14:51.094
So you're the sort of young guy playing the blues, and then I think the second half's about Big Bill Broonzy, isn't it?

00:14:51.134 --> 00:14:53.576
So there's this kind of split.

00:14:53.596 --> 00:14:54.817
So, yeah, people can check this out.

00:14:54.837 --> 00:14:57.041
So, sorry, carry on with the story about the documentary.

00:14:57.201 --> 00:14:59.403
Yeah, it was called Two Generations of the Blues.

00:14:59.823 --> 00:15:07.631
First of all, they filmed me in different locations playing and stuff, and then they thought, look, we need to do a bit of an interview to come to my house, so I ain't got enough of that.

00:15:07.631 --> 00:15:14.381
you, know a bit more about you, and then they decided to combine it with the big Bill Broomsey thing, you know, and they called it Two Generations of the Blues.

00:15:14.802 --> 00:15:21.732
John Waters, yeah, kind of opened doors for me, in a way, because no one knew about me or anything, and it was like all of a sudden, BBC documentary.

00:15:22.212 --> 00:15:27.741
That was quite weird, because a lot of the blues scene didn't really know me, or anything, there was definitely not much reaction from it.

00:15:28.193 --> 00:15:30.518
It opened doors for me to get gigs.

00:15:30.859 --> 00:15:34.445
And so did that get you some slots on BBC Radio as well?

00:15:34.465 --> 00:15:38.873
Because you got some airplay on Andy Kershaw's BBC.

00:15:38.913 --> 00:15:46.446
Yeah, what it was, before we did the documentary in 91, I went to film him, and he didn't come out until 93.

00:15:47.508 --> 00:15:51.153
So in 93, around that time, he got me a few.

00:15:51.214 --> 00:15:53.158
I went on to Andy Kershaw's show.

00:15:53.634 --> 00:15:58.743
And then I went on to Loose Ends with Ned Charing.

00:15:59.443 --> 00:16:00.306
That was quite funny.

00:16:00.927 --> 00:16:03.650
It was really horsey, really early in the morning, yeah.

00:16:03.692 --> 00:16:06.275
And then stuff like that, I think.

00:16:06.395 --> 00:16:07.477
Did I do a Johnny Walker one?

00:16:07.498 --> 00:16:08.058
I can't remember.

00:16:08.178 --> 00:16:11.664
But I actually went round with John Walker to promote the documentary.

00:16:12.097 --> 00:16:17.705
Yeah, so he was a producer for all them guys, John Peel and Andy Kershaw.

00:16:17.725 --> 00:16:19.986
So he was a face in the BBC, you know.

00:16:20.227 --> 00:16:21.389
He knew his music and stuff.

00:16:21.849 --> 00:16:22.710
Very nice guy.

00:16:22.750 --> 00:16:24.351
Easy to get along with.

00:16:24.932 --> 00:16:26.153
Knowledgeable in music.

00:16:26.254 --> 00:16:26.774
Funny as well.

00:16:26.815 --> 00:16:28.657
Funny as well.

00:16:28.677 --> 00:16:29.357
I got on a ride with him.

00:16:29.378 --> 00:16:29.778
It was good.

00:16:30.500 --> 00:16:30.720
Brilliant.

00:16:30.779 --> 00:16:33.763
So people listening will be encouraged to get out there busking, eh?

00:16:33.783 --> 00:16:34.624
You might just make it.

00:16:34.945 --> 00:16:36.365
You never know, you know.

00:16:36.407 --> 00:16:37.788
A lot of people busking.

00:16:38.629 --> 00:16:39.110
I'll tell you that.

00:16:39.778 --> 00:16:40.840
Yeah, well, again, you know,

00:16:40.860 --> 00:16:41.501
it shows, doesn't it?

00:16:41.522 --> 00:16:42.904
You've got to get out there playing, don't you?

00:16:42.924 --> 00:16:43.847
That's the message.

00:16:43.868 --> 00:16:44.128
Yeah, that's

00:16:44.168 --> 00:16:44.207
it.

00:16:44.269 --> 00:16:45.652
You have to go out there.

00:16:46.192 --> 00:16:47.697
You have to get out there and play.

00:16:47.716 --> 00:16:54.692
Well, when we could play in these times of playing out on the street or whatever and playing...

00:16:55.298 --> 00:16:56.918
He's on to gigs and stuff.

00:16:57.059 --> 00:17:02.924
It depends because sometimes one would never do that sort of thing like busking on the street or in the underground and the street.

00:17:03.245 --> 00:17:07.147
But it can be a bit tough because in them days, you know, you used to get a lot of hassle from the police, you know.

00:17:07.167 --> 00:17:10.431
Take your travel cards and the bills used to pile up, you know.

00:17:10.451 --> 00:17:10.991
You'd be paying...

00:17:11.011 --> 00:17:17.757
At one point I had, I think it was£1,100 outstanding for busking fines.

00:17:18.057 --> 00:17:18.877
Busking fines,

00:17:18.999 --> 00:17:19.439
oh wow.

00:17:19.878 --> 00:17:20.619
Yeah, it was then.

00:17:20.660 --> 00:17:21.441
Yeah?

00:17:21.461 --> 00:17:21.840
And I was...

00:17:22.161 --> 00:17:23.261
I knew the warrant officer.

00:17:23.281 --> 00:17:28.508
I won't mention his name but he's in Campbell He actually phoned me up and said, Don, open your door this weekend.

00:17:28.728 --> 00:17:32.653
There are warrants for arrests, so then you end up in court.

00:17:32.752 --> 00:17:34.193
He came down to see me Monday morning.

00:17:35.816 --> 00:17:36.317
Wow, man.

00:17:36.336 --> 00:17:37.818
He gave me that call, do you know what I mean?

00:17:37.979 --> 00:17:40.541
Because I'd opened the door and said, right, you're nicked.

00:17:40.902 --> 00:17:44.987
But that was right just before the buses got changed over.

00:17:45.446 --> 00:17:48.391
So I actually had a license then when I had that big bill.

00:17:48.730 --> 00:17:53.717
So when I actually came up from the cell to the judge in the court, he said to me...

00:17:54.657 --> 00:17:55.099
well, Mr.

00:17:55.140 --> 00:17:58.532
Linton, bring your license next time and we'll see what you can do.

00:17:58.553 --> 00:18:03.309
So I actually got off with that fine, all that money, because I had a busking license.

00:18:03.731 --> 00:18:03.992
Right.

00:18:04.577 --> 00:18:07.181
So did you need a license then and you just didn't have one?

00:18:07.221 --> 00:18:07.882
No,

00:18:08.342 --> 00:18:08.643
no.

00:18:09.083 --> 00:18:12.067
That was in the transition when it became legal, yeah.

00:18:12.666 --> 00:18:15.431
I think it was when Ken Livingstone was mayor.

00:18:15.931 --> 00:18:17.353
So busking was illegal then, was it?

00:18:17.834 --> 00:18:19.055
Legal for years, man.

00:18:19.134 --> 00:18:20.737
The police used to treat you rough, man.

00:18:21.357 --> 00:18:21.857
You know what I mean?

00:18:21.917 --> 00:18:24.221
Wow, I didn't realize it was illegal.

00:18:24.240 --> 00:18:24.922
Yeah, yeah, yeah, man.

00:18:25.583 --> 00:18:26.763
All sorts of stuff, you know.

00:18:26.824 --> 00:18:28.685
Take your travel card off, you ain't got no money.

00:18:29.047 --> 00:18:31.650
Someone will be just spiteful, you know what I mean?

00:18:31.789 --> 00:18:31.869
Yeah.

00:18:32.097 --> 00:18:34.023
Yeah, they were, yeah, some of them.

00:18:34.345 --> 00:18:37.314
They would be chatting to someone else and then you'd go in the prison and nick you.

00:18:37.354 --> 00:18:38.236
You know what I mean?

00:18:38.277 --> 00:18:39.058
All sorts of stuff.

00:18:39.078 --> 00:18:42.368
You just see a bit of, yeah, there was a bit of prejudice going on there.

00:18:42.882 --> 00:18:45.244
They treat certain buskers different.

00:18:45.585 --> 00:18:51.371
I remember meeting some guy who played classical music, a blonde-haired white guy, and I thought, he'd have been nicked in like six months.

00:18:51.431 --> 00:18:52.332
I thought, what?

00:18:52.692 --> 00:18:54.595
How the hell did that happen?

00:18:54.615 --> 00:18:54.835
Yeah.

00:18:55.395 --> 00:18:56.136
You know what I mean?

00:18:56.596 --> 00:18:58.159
Yeah, definitely know what you mean, yeah.

00:18:58.179 --> 00:19:00.721
Yeah, there's a bit of that going on down the tube.

00:19:00.902 --> 00:19:03.765
I wouldn't have a busker be standing there chatting to the police for 20 minutes.

00:19:04.465 --> 00:19:05.826
Do you still busk now at all?

00:19:06.347 --> 00:19:07.528
None of them days are done, mate.

00:19:07.729 --> 00:19:09.090
Still do it, but no, you've given up with that.

00:19:09.250 --> 00:19:10.152
That's good.

00:19:10.251 --> 00:19:11.933
On to better things, yeah.

00:19:12.066 --> 00:19:14.391
So we can move on a bit now to your recording career.

00:19:14.411 --> 00:19:19.532
So I understand you're First recording, your debut was at Homeboy Blues in 1991.

00:19:20.094 --> 00:19:21.994
Was that your album or just with somebody else?

00:19:22.214 --> 00:19:27.240
That was me, like I was saying earlier, about Pygmy Pete Smith and Tyron on Washboard.

00:19:27.259 --> 00:19:28.019
That was us three.

00:19:28.401 --> 00:19:28.921
It was a tape.

00:19:28.941 --> 00:19:30.261
It wasn't a CD or anything.

00:19:30.301 --> 00:19:30.843
It was just a tape.

00:19:31.282 --> 00:19:31.462
Yeah.

00:19:31.763 --> 00:19:35.186
We recorded at, I think, around a pizza house, I think, actually, yeah.

00:19:35.467 --> 00:19:38.088
He had a little recording thing at his house in Mill Hill.

00:19:38.348 --> 00:19:39.170
We recorded it.

00:19:39.651 --> 00:19:42.752
So just recorded kind of at home, was it, with some basic equipment?

00:19:42.992 --> 00:19:44.054
Yeah, it was, yeah.

00:19:44.074 --> 00:19:47.116
As a trio, we just set it busking and set it at gigs.

00:19:47.377 --> 00:19:47.698
Brilliant.

00:19:47.798 --> 00:19:49.619
By that time, we were doing gigs together.

00:19:49.900 --> 00:19:53.964
Yeah, because I'd known Pete, and I also knew Tyrone from a long time ago, my mate.

00:19:54.305 --> 00:19:56.788
I'd met Pete before I did the John Waters thing, yeah?

00:19:57.228 --> 00:19:57.347
Mm-hmm.

00:19:57.428 --> 00:20:02.272
Because Pete and Tyrone appear in the documentary as well, and we're busking outside Leicester Square somewhere.

00:20:02.634 --> 00:20:03.855
Yeah, that was the first album.

00:20:04.296 --> 00:20:05.616
It was your Homeboy Blues.

00:20:05.656 --> 00:20:08.961
Yeah, Homeboy Blues, which you can see that my plane was right there.

00:20:09.221 --> 00:20:13.945
And then the next one was Packing My Bag, which was recorded in 1997.

00:20:14.326 --> 00:20:15.887
Yeah, that was the vibe again.

00:20:15.887 --> 00:20:17.509
so at

00:20:37.757 --> 00:20:45.598
this stage you know you described I think your music as Brixton Blues yeah so what is this Brixton Blues style So

00:20:46.098 --> 00:20:55.512
you've always had this

00:21:01.761 --> 00:21:04.885
kind of mixture of the blues with the reggae and ska

00:21:05.646 --> 00:21:07.549
sort of rhythms?

00:21:07.778 --> 00:21:10.300
I think it just came out in my music playing, you know?

00:21:10.701 --> 00:21:11.301
That's what happened.

00:21:11.321 --> 00:21:12.743
They started more telling me doing them.

00:21:13.005 --> 00:21:17.089
Well, you can hear that sort of almost like a sky rhythm in certain tunes, can't you anyway, in rhythm

00:21:17.109 --> 00:21:17.911
and blues?

00:21:17.931 --> 00:21:18.010
Yeah.

00:21:18.030 --> 00:21:19.573
It really works with the blues, doesn't it?

00:21:19.593 --> 00:21:20.994
And it works with the harmonica as well.

00:21:21.015 --> 00:21:26.422
You know, what is it you think about the sort of reggae beats or the harmonica maybe that does work so well?

00:21:27.061 --> 00:21:29.085
Well, I suppose you can do a harmonica on anything, really.

00:21:29.105 --> 00:21:29.125
I

00:21:29.885 --> 00:21:31.307
think it goes well together, doesn't it?

00:21:31.407 --> 00:21:35.913
The reggae beat with sort of the backbeat to some of the bluesy sort of music.

00:21:36.173 --> 00:21:36.253
Yeah.

00:21:36.450 --> 00:21:39.640
And the harmonica works well in it, I think, as you said earlier on.

00:21:39.901 --> 00:21:42.769
Because the harmonica can be very strong rhythmically, can't it?

00:21:42.829 --> 00:21:47.202
So I think, you know, you grew up on doing the sort of rhythms, didn't you, on the harmonica.

00:21:47.222 --> 00:21:49.230
I think that's what makes it work so well, doesn't

00:21:49.250 --> 00:21:49.289
it?

00:21:49.530 --> 00:21:50.393
Yeah, definitely.

00:21:50.753 --> 00:21:53.016
Yeah, that's always been a part of it.

00:21:53.355 --> 00:21:59.942
I've been more to that side than the rock side, if you're supposed to speak, and the funky side more than the rock side.

00:22:00.382 --> 00:22:04.726
And I like to get people on who have a bit of a different angle and it's not all just straight blues.

00:22:04.766 --> 00:22:07.387
Some people are straight blues players, but you've definitely got that

00:22:07.428 --> 00:22:07.828
sort of...

00:22:08.028 --> 00:22:12.913
Oh, I love playing the straight blues, yeah, sure, as well, and songwriting and all that sort of stuff.

00:22:13.192 --> 00:22:14.974
I just do it the way I do it.

00:22:15.315 --> 00:22:20.078
I think if it comes out okay and the band want to do it and they're interested, I'll do it sometimes, you know?

00:22:20.118 --> 00:22:20.660
Yeah.

00:22:20.720 --> 00:22:34.109
It depends on whether it works with the album.

00:22:37.730 --> 00:22:39.632
I kind of song write in all sorts of ways.

00:22:39.971 --> 00:22:41.554
I write from harmonica.

00:22:41.773 --> 00:22:43.717
That lovely tune was written from harmonica.

00:22:44.116 --> 00:22:47.079
One's Hey No More and It's What You Want from Roots 2.

00:22:47.200 --> 00:22:48.481
That was from the piano.

00:22:48.501 --> 00:22:51.005
3.44 in the morning, that was a piano tune.

00:22:51.325 --> 00:22:53.507
I was on the piano, packing my bass guitar.

00:22:53.807 --> 00:22:54.288
So do you

00:22:54.587 --> 00:22:56.049
play these other instruments yourself?

00:22:56.289 --> 00:22:56.931
Yeah,

00:22:56.951 --> 00:22:59.253
I wouldn't play them on stage, but I play them at home.

00:22:59.453 --> 00:23:02.497
I've been playing guitar probably longer than I've been playing harmonica.

00:23:03.521 --> 00:23:07.387
But, you know, the guys I play with, you know, they just fuck with me when I'm not playing.

00:23:07.788 --> 00:23:09.371
Maybe I might come and do one or two tunes.

00:23:09.391 --> 00:23:10.492
I do sometimes in the jam.

00:23:10.913 --> 00:23:12.476
But piano, no.

00:23:12.876 --> 00:23:14.239
No way as good as a piano player.

00:23:14.298 --> 00:23:16.782
But I can get my way around to write on it.

00:23:17.104 --> 00:23:17.324
Yeah.

00:23:17.364 --> 00:23:17.984
Both things.

00:23:18.605 --> 00:23:21.691
And I feel more comfortable just playing harmonica and singing on stage.

00:23:22.172 --> 00:23:27.980
I mean, going on to that second album, the Vibing It album, I think you wrote quite a few songs for that album, didn't

00:23:28.000 --> 00:23:28.141
you?

00:23:28.221 --> 00:23:28.701
Yeah.

00:23:28.865 --> 00:23:39.008
So how do you go on about writing songs and, you know, again, maybe writing some contemporary blues songs that are, you know, reflecting the sort of today rather than singing 1950s songs?

00:23:39.469 --> 00:23:42.275
I suppose it's the rhythm and topic of lyrics.

00:23:42.655 --> 00:23:45.342
Pardon me, like Packing My Bags from that album.

00:23:45.506 --> 00:23:51.471
That's like, it starts off in kind of like a rhythm and blues sort of, sort of short four sort of rhythm, you know what I mean?

00:23:51.510 --> 00:23:54.354
And then it goes straight into kind of reggae groove.

00:23:54.673 --> 00:23:56.536
But it's got a kind of Skari vibe anyway.

00:23:56.576 --> 00:23:59.557
Skari sort of rhythm and blues, the back mile bag sort of thing.

00:23:59.597 --> 00:24:08.185
And it goes into the reggae groove, another different tempo, then back up to the other tempo, and then back into the double right at the end, which is another tempo.

00:24:08.226 --> 00:24:10.567
So it's got three tempos, three different rhythms, but it kind of works.

00:24:10.847 --> 00:24:12.229
I don't know how it does, but it does.

00:24:12.890 --> 00:24:13.549
Yeah, no, it definitely does.

00:24:13.710 --> 00:24:14.090
It's really catchy.

00:24:14.111 --> 00:24:17.994
It's something like Half My Darling is, Well, that one, I just heard the horn.

00:24:18.015 --> 00:24:20.278
I heard the bass line in the horn section.

00:24:20.759 --> 00:24:21.559
You know what I mean?

00:24:21.579 --> 00:24:23.863
And we just built that on playing it more.

00:24:24.223 --> 00:24:30.132
But I've played it different, and the song is different over the years, how I play them compared to how I play them now.

00:24:30.192 --> 00:24:34.317
Yeah, you've recorded that, a couple of your songs on a few of the albums, haven't you?

00:24:34.356 --> 00:24:34.436
Yeah.

00:24:34.497 --> 00:24:36.058
My bunch is on, what, two or three?

00:24:40.846 --> 00:24:40.925
Yeah.

00:24:42.178 --> 00:24:45.731
I'll see you

00:24:48.101 --> 00:24:50.589
next time.

00:24:50.913 --> 00:24:59.540
I think I've been working with Brass Dog Records, the last two albums of the songwriting stuff, and they wanted me to record other stuff again.

00:24:59.801 --> 00:25:01.864
Well, Dan's recorded That's My Brute many

00:25:01.963 --> 00:25:03.125
times.

00:25:03.144 --> 00:25:08.068
Well, it's interesting to hear, you know, how you progressed by listening to the song as you changed it over the years.

00:25:08.088 --> 00:25:09.650
So it's quite interesting from that one.

00:25:09.849 --> 00:25:11.092
Oh, yeah, definitely.

00:25:11.231 --> 00:25:12.393
Yeah, I mean, what is that?

00:25:12.673 --> 00:25:14.694
That's like 20-odd years ago now, isn't it?

00:25:14.855 --> 00:25:16.455
Not scary, eh?

00:25:16.476 --> 00:25:16.896
Yeah, it is.

00:25:17.297 --> 00:25:20.559
Looking back on that documentary you were in, you're looking quite young on there

00:25:20.579 --> 00:25:20.880
as well.

00:25:20.880 --> 00:25:22.381
Very young, yeah.

00:25:23.481 --> 00:25:25.423
I'm in my 20s when that was filmed, man.

00:25:25.483 --> 00:25:26.704
I'm in my 20s, you know what I mean?

00:25:27.204 --> 00:25:27.405
Yeah.

00:25:27.705 --> 00:25:29.146
I'm in my 50s now, you know what I mean?

00:25:29.207 --> 00:25:31.548
So that was like 30 years ago, nearly.

00:25:31.568 --> 00:25:31.890
Yeah.

00:25:32.009 --> 00:25:33.490
Or 25-odd years ago,

00:25:33.530 --> 00:25:34.612
yeah.

00:25:34.692 --> 00:25:42.398
And then you did your second album, which is called Rich Dew, which had quite a mixture of the traditional genres again on there, isn't it?

00:25:42.439 --> 00:25:47.123
You've got this one called Roots on there, which is kind of reggae, ska sort of one again.

00:25:47.143 --> 00:25:49.444
And it's sort of dub music on there.

00:25:49.585 --> 00:25:49.684
And...

00:25:50.882 --> 00:26:09.489
What about that album?

00:26:11.230 --> 00:26:13.213
Yeah, the difficult second album.

00:26:13.595 --> 00:26:18.461
I quite like some tunes from Root Stew still, and we're doing a mixture of the same stuff.

00:26:18.753 --> 00:26:20.376
and from vibing it, really.

00:26:20.778 --> 00:26:28.614
The tunes that stand out for me on that would be, like, Man's Shot Down, which is just, like, almost that straightforward reggae, really.

00:26:29.536 --> 00:26:35.950
It's got some bluesy elements in it.

00:26:35.970 --> 00:26:36.190
MUSIC PLAYS

00:26:54.049 --> 00:26:56.313
At this

00:26:56.712 --> 00:27:00.597
point, you were still doing a lot of the work yourself, yeah?

00:27:00.637 --> 00:27:03.241
You were kind of promoting yourself, booking your own gigs and everything.

00:27:03.261 --> 00:27:06.665
And these were self-released, these first two albums, weren't

00:27:07.066 --> 00:27:07.146
they?

00:27:07.166 --> 00:27:07.666
Yeah, they were.

00:27:08.468 --> 00:27:09.849
The first four albums.

00:27:10.750 --> 00:27:14.355
I mean, we did that home recording with Pete and Tyrone as a trio.

00:27:14.736 --> 00:27:22.145
But after that, I did another four more albums before I did the last two with Brostock in 2018.

00:27:22.817 --> 00:27:26.563
Packing my bags in 2029, true.

00:27:27.243 --> 00:27:31.608
So, but these early albums got some BBC, again, some BBC Radio playing, didn't they?

00:27:31.628 --> 00:27:35.073
So you were getting some, you know, some exposure through these, so...

00:27:35.094 --> 00:27:36.335
Yeah, yeah, we did, yeah.

00:27:36.434 --> 00:27:48.190
Through a lot of time, like I was saying, with the documentary that opened doors to me, people got, I mean, how many guys, you know, got made a documentary about them playing the blues in the UK on that low level?

00:27:48.530 --> 00:27:51.294
Not anybody apart from probably Eric Clapton was like, you know what I mean?

00:27:51.458 --> 00:27:51.759
Yeah.

00:27:51.959 --> 00:27:53.602
It's all American, isn't it, yeah?

00:27:54.222 --> 00:27:57.048
So it was a good boost to my career for that.

00:27:57.088 --> 00:27:58.612
Definitely, yeah.

00:27:58.711 --> 00:28:03.340
Even though I wasn't as ready as I could have been, but I still did okay.

00:28:04.482 --> 00:28:05.365
Yeah.

00:28:06.366 --> 00:28:07.890
I always play the best of my ability.

00:28:07.950 --> 00:28:14.142
That's it, you know.

00:28:19.746 --> 00:28:27.102
Thank you.

00:28:27.905 --> 00:28:32.011
And then in 2011, you released the Mama Said album.

00:28:32.031 --> 00:28:33.294
This was with Ruby Records.

00:28:33.515 --> 00:28:35.657
Ruby Records is my mother's name, Ruby.

00:28:36.078 --> 00:28:37.039
Okay, that's just

00:28:37.160 --> 00:28:37.621
another one.

00:28:37.641 --> 00:28:38.982
So Vibrant is Ruby Records.

00:28:39.242 --> 00:28:40.484
Roots 2 is Ruby Records.

00:28:40.726 --> 00:28:41.467
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:28:41.707 --> 00:28:43.329
Yeah, they're all from Ruby Records, yeah.

00:28:43.470 --> 00:28:44.191
Right, brilliant, yeah.

00:28:44.451 --> 00:28:48.597
And so this one, Mama Said, was a bit of a mixture of acoustic and electric, wasn't it?

00:28:48.998 --> 00:28:49.219
Yeah.

00:28:49.538 --> 00:28:51.682
So was that something that the first time you tried that?

00:28:52.042 --> 00:28:53.786
Acoustic and electric, yeah, yeah.

00:28:53.905 --> 00:28:56.670
It was where the songwriting went for that one, yeah.

00:28:56.769 --> 00:29:04.760
You know, you obviously play with these kind of reggae beats, but like you say, you like the sort of straight-ahead blues, and you've got the Boogie Disease on there, which is a good example of that, a good sort of blues rocker.

00:29:05.402 --> 00:29:05.761
And then...

00:29:05.922 --> 00:29:06.963
That's a rough number, yeah.

00:29:07.364 --> 00:29:07.865
Oh, it's a Dr.

00:29:07.904 --> 00:29:26.109
Ross one, yeah.

00:29:26.130 --> 00:29:26.170
Dr.

00:29:26.190 --> 00:29:26.269
Ross

00:29:28.769 --> 00:29:29.671
And then

00:29:30.171 --> 00:29:32.252
Mama Said, was that one that you wrote?

00:29:32.773 --> 00:29:33.294
Yeah, it is.

00:29:33.534 --> 00:29:34.355
Mama Said, yeah.

00:29:34.595 --> 00:29:37.577
They were some of the words that my mother said to me when I was younger.

00:29:37.878 --> 00:29:40.320
Because, you know, I think a lot of people can relate to it.

00:29:40.560 --> 00:29:40.721
Yeah.

00:29:41.342 --> 00:29:44.884
The lyrics, you know, like, you put your hand in fire, you get burned.

00:29:45.305 --> 00:29:49.630
My mum was another one, when cats say rat belly is bitter, when you want to eat your food.

00:29:51.611 --> 00:29:51.951
Yeah.

00:29:51.971 --> 00:29:52.771
Yeah, definitely, yeah.

00:29:53.373 --> 00:29:56.996
But I remember doing a gig once and this Scotch woman came and said, was your mother Scottish?

00:29:59.009 --> 00:30:00.372
My mum used to play the same things.

00:30:00.632 --> 00:30:01.834
Yeah, I

00:30:01.933 --> 00:30:02.114
think

00:30:02.134 --> 00:30:02.654
they all do.

00:30:02.714 --> 00:30:03.737
It's universal, you know what I mean?

00:30:03.757 --> 00:30:05.499
Some of them lyrics are universal, you know what I mean?

00:30:05.739 --> 00:30:07.300
Well, they're the best sort of songs.

00:30:07.320 --> 00:30:08.542
Yeah, great on

00:30:09.124 --> 00:30:24.605
you for writing that.

00:30:26.347 --> 00:30:28.029
So, yeah, and I think you do...

00:30:28.162 --> 00:30:33.990
Sunrise on there, it's possibly the only sort of reggae vibe on there, isn't it, on that album?

00:30:34.131 --> 00:30:37.375
No, Rollin' Tomorrow's got a little kind of reggae lint to it.

00:30:37.876 --> 00:30:38.297
Yeah, yeah.

00:30:38.317 --> 00:30:39.038
I can't remember now.

00:30:39.097 --> 00:30:40.359
Rollin' Tomorrow, I can't remember.

00:30:40.380 --> 00:30:42.683
Oh, yeah, Sunrise and J-Wise.

00:30:42.943 --> 00:30:44.165
It's two instrumentals.

00:30:44.465 --> 00:30:45.488
J-Wise, yeah, yeah.

00:30:45.807 --> 00:30:47.109
J-Wise is like a dub, isn't it?

00:30:47.130 --> 00:30:47.651
But yeah, I guess.

00:30:48.031 --> 00:30:51.897
Yeah, we do a straightforward one.

00:30:52.258 --> 00:30:54.662
And then we did a dub mix of that.

00:30:54.882 --> 00:30:58.186
But yeah, they were influenced by me going to Jamaica.

00:30:59.048 --> 00:31:01.172
When I first went to Jamaica, I think 2003.

00:31:01.211 --> 00:31:01.692
Yeah.

00:31:02.213 --> 00:31:04.017
Yeah, so we did that 2011.

00:31:04.297 --> 00:31:13.250
So a lot of them songs, like J-Wise and Sunrise, there's a lot, like, you know, like in Jamaica, like Sunrise, when everything just cracks open, you know what I mean?

00:31:13.270 --> 00:31:17.258
You hear the car cracking up, someone chopping something, getting to work, you know what I mean?

00:31:17.278 --> 00:31:19.721
And Sunrise, and Hustle and Bustle, and people talking, and...

00:31:20.193 --> 00:31:21.856
morning, and you know what I mean?

00:31:21.997 --> 00:31:22.538
You know what I'm saying?

00:31:23.239 --> 00:31:23.459
Yeah.

00:31:23.719 --> 00:31:26.564
Things like that, I got the idea, and that's from Sunrise.

00:31:43.869 --> 00:31:48.738
Jay Wise is an area of my dad, my granddad.

00:31:49.153 --> 00:31:49.815
He

00:31:49.875 --> 00:31:52.119
was called Doc Linton, believe it or not.

00:31:52.821 --> 00:31:54.224
And he was a butcher.

00:31:54.265 --> 00:31:58.212
And he had, I think he built three or four brick houses.

00:31:58.673 --> 00:32:02.121
But one of the ones where the main family house was up on top of the hill.

00:32:02.882 --> 00:32:04.223
Up in, um...

00:32:05.005 --> 00:32:06.166
Up in Kingless, yeah.

00:32:06.428 --> 00:32:07.128
They call it J-Y...

00:32:07.189 --> 00:32:09.211
Well, they call it Jimmy Young's, but I call it J-Y.

00:32:09.313 --> 00:32:11.095
I don't know why they call it Jimmy Young's.

00:32:11.115 --> 00:32:11.655
I don't know why.

00:32:11.936 --> 00:32:15.583
But it's quite up on the hill, and that's where my granddad, you know, used to do...

00:32:15.823 --> 00:32:17.005
That's where my dad was brought up.

00:32:17.105 --> 00:32:19.088
That's where my uncles, my cousins were brought up.

00:32:19.189 --> 00:32:19.910
You know what I mean?

00:32:19.930 --> 00:32:20.009
Yeah.

00:32:20.029 --> 00:32:21.412
It wasn't an easy life, you know?

00:32:26.140 --> 00:32:27.261
MUSIC PLAYS

00:32:36.513 --> 00:32:40.196
Dad, I think he left when he was about 18, I think, or something like that.

00:32:40.537 --> 00:32:42.880
And the story is he sold a cow or something to get here.

00:32:42.900 --> 00:32:44.300
So it's almost like a blue story, isn't it?

00:32:44.320 --> 00:32:44.840
You know what I mean?

00:32:45.362 --> 00:32:45.642
Yeah.

00:32:45.922 --> 00:32:47.584
He used to cut cane in Florida.

00:32:48.003 --> 00:32:49.806
Three of my uncles used to cut cane in Florida.

00:32:50.185 --> 00:32:51.446
After that, two of them came to England.

00:32:51.487 --> 00:32:54.148
The other one never went back to Jamaica.

00:32:54.169 --> 00:32:54.910
He's still there now.

00:32:54.950 --> 00:32:55.911
He's still alive.

00:32:56.411 --> 00:33:00.894
My parents, they're from Trelawny, so it's quite what you call cocksuntries.

00:33:00.954 --> 00:33:01.715
It's original.

00:33:02.076 --> 00:33:07.580
When that came up, that rock out of the sea, that's the original forest, the country, you know what I mean?

00:33:07.661 --> 00:33:11.224
Whenever it came up, how many hundreds and hundreds of years, a thousand, whatever.

00:33:11.625 --> 00:33:14.167
There were countries, those countries my folks are from, yeah?

00:33:14.808 --> 00:33:22.576
Sure, and then you did a, in 2014, Dealing With That Feeling, which was an acoustic album played with Adam Blake as your long-term guitarist.

00:33:22.596 --> 00:33:24.219
Is that a duo album?

00:33:24.638 --> 00:33:26.340
Yes, it's a duo album with me and Adam.

00:33:26.721 --> 00:33:28.383
We used to do a lot of duo gigs together.

00:33:28.663 --> 00:33:28.884
Yeah.

00:33:29.064 --> 00:33:31.246
So we thought we'd try and capture what we did.

00:33:34.509 --> 00:33:34.589
Yeah.

00:33:35.458 --> 00:33:46.934
It's always

00:33:47.015 --> 00:33:48.195
nice, isn't it, to get the duos?

00:33:48.256 --> 00:33:50.038
Plenty of space for the harmonica then, isn't there?

00:33:50.058 --> 00:33:51.500
And it's quite nice with the interaction.

00:33:51.520 --> 00:33:54.144
So I always like to hear a good duo album with the harmonica.

00:33:54.164 --> 00:33:55.247
So yeah, good to hear that one.

00:33:55.906 --> 00:33:59.692
And then your more recent albums, 2018, Packing My Bag.

00:33:59.952 --> 00:34:01.476
This is on Brass Dog's record, yes.

00:34:01.655 --> 00:34:02.958
Was this the first one with them?

00:34:03.425 --> 00:34:04.007
Yeah, it was.

00:34:04.468 --> 00:34:08.815
Yeah, Tim Ballymont and the guys from Avery Down at Brass Dog.

00:34:09.117 --> 00:34:11.400
Me and Tim, we did two albums together, which is rare.

00:34:11.420 --> 00:34:13.065
We did two albums together on a handshake.

00:34:13.344 --> 00:34:13.905
It's really good.

00:34:13.925 --> 00:34:15.449
We just wanted to produce some good music.

00:34:15.969 --> 00:34:17.632
It was my first final pack in my bag.

00:34:18.094 --> 00:34:21.621
I did a recording in Dean Street Studios in Soho.

00:34:22.262 --> 00:34:26.269
A similar thing, but we did about two or three days recording there.

00:34:26.530 --> 00:34:26.710
Yeah.

00:34:26.730 --> 00:34:28.172
And then more days mixing and stuff.

00:34:28.833 --> 00:34:41.327
We got a combination of Adam Blake on guitar, Gary Williams and Kendrick Roll sharing the drums, Lance Rose on bass, and Petar Zikovic on piano and organ, yeah.

00:34:41.807 --> 00:34:43.550
We had a lot of fun recording that album.

00:34:43.851 --> 00:34:49.557
That's my first time with Brass Dog, and it got a good reaction, got a lot of radio play from Packing My Bags and stuff.

00:34:49.954 --> 00:34:52.865
the more newer version.

00:34:53.186 --> 00:34:56.619
The early albums are good, but you can hear there's a certain, you know, the production...

00:34:57.313 --> 00:34:57.534
Oh

00:34:57.574 --> 00:35:08.728
yeah, definitely.

00:35:27.329 --> 00:35:33.822
Thank you.

00:35:40.385 --> 00:35:41.989
More Latin groove than his one, yeah.

00:35:42.590 --> 00:35:42.750
Yeah.

00:35:43.110 --> 00:35:44.873
But yeah, yeah, I love Billy Boy Arnold.

00:35:44.994 --> 00:35:48.840
I've never seen him play, but yeah, I love the way Billy Boy Arnold speaks as well.

00:35:49.322 --> 00:35:50.083
I like when he talks.

00:35:50.605 --> 00:35:54.592
And yeah, that was the first working with Brass Dog, and it was good.

00:35:54.893 --> 00:35:59.400
From that, we went off and we did the Karis Matthews Good Life Festival in 2018.

00:36:00.161 --> 00:36:04.846
the smallest set, 2018, and he asked us back to do the 2019 one, so we just smashed it.

00:36:04.925 --> 00:36:05.586
It was really good.

00:36:05.887 --> 00:36:06.507
Yeah, it was brilliant.

00:36:06.527 --> 00:36:09.449
We played in the main stage the next time, next year round.

00:36:09.769 --> 00:36:13.494
So, yeah, he was giving us some good feedback from that album.

00:36:13.994 --> 00:36:16.096
And, yeah, so again, I got another rocker on there.

00:36:16.115 --> 00:36:21.581
We broke him down, and you've got the 344 in the morning, which is a song about insomnia.

00:36:21.900 --> 00:36:23.041
No, it wasn't about insomnia.

00:36:23.061 --> 00:36:24.322
It was about my noisy neighbor.

00:36:24.563 --> 00:36:25.804
Oh, it was about your noisy neighbor.

00:36:26.144 --> 00:36:30.128
Coming in for a gig, coming from a gig that late in the morning, a quarter to three in the morning,

00:36:30.128 --> 00:36:30.588
Oh, yeah.

00:36:30.608 --> 00:36:31.650
It's about that, really.

00:36:32.010 --> 00:36:35.894
And you knock on your neighbour's door, say, turn it down, you know what I mean?

00:36:35.934 --> 00:36:40.039
They say, what, you're going to bed, are you?

00:36:40.059 --> 00:36:43.043
It's got in on you, yeah, maybe.

00:36:43.943 --> 00:36:48.510
I wouldn't mind trying to get to bed yet.

00:36:48.630 --> 00:36:57.000
It wasn't a quarter to three in the morning, so...

00:36:57.019 --> 00:36:58.621
MUSIC PLAYS

00:37:02.561 --> 00:37:18.221
And then there's a live album which is out, which is available on the internet to listen to, which, again, I'll put a link to on the podcast page, called Live in London, which does a lot of the songs that you played on your albums and a few other ones, like I'm Walking, which is a classic blues song, and Rock Me.

00:37:18.300 --> 00:37:18.481
So...

00:37:39.393 --> 00:37:46.344
So yeah, that's a good one to hear you playing live.

00:37:46.403 --> 00:37:49.148
Again, a really good quality recording of you doing a live gig.

00:37:49.708 --> 00:37:50.248
Yeah, that was

00:37:50.268 --> 00:37:51.710
2018 or 2017.

00:37:52.052 --> 00:37:54.135
Mine must have been 2018, yeah.

00:37:54.155 --> 00:37:55.275
It was the same year.

00:37:55.896 --> 00:37:57.960
It was at the Hideaway in Streatham.

00:37:58.561 --> 00:38:02.126
And then your most recent album, 2020, is a no-entry album, which...

00:38:02.465 --> 00:38:04.751
Again, I think you've got a lot of good press about, haven't you?

00:38:04.771 --> 00:38:08.561
You're on the front of Mojo magazine, which is a music magazine here in the UK.

00:38:08.862 --> 00:38:19.168
And then you recorded this in Tolrag Studios, and you used all kind of vintage equipment, and you sort of recorded it semi-live, didn't you, over a few days, just capturing the live sort of feel?

00:38:19.554 --> 00:38:23.503
Yeah, yeah, we called everything apart from the percussion.

00:38:23.784 --> 00:38:25.989
Tony Ucha came and did a session later.

00:38:26.009 --> 00:38:28.034
It was the same guys as last time.

00:38:28.375 --> 00:38:34.188
Lance Rose on bass, Kenny Rowland drums, Justin Kenrick and Blake guitar, Petarzyk with some piano.

00:38:34.530 --> 00:38:37.817
But what we did, I think it was 2019.

00:38:38.242 --> 00:38:42.231
January the 2nd and 3rd, cold morning, went in and we just knocked out.

00:38:42.652 --> 00:38:48.063
Over two days, we did 15 tunes, I think 18 takes, and just tried to do like a live film.

00:38:48.563 --> 00:38:52.672
And that was with Liam Watson, Grammy award-winning producer.

00:38:53.250 --> 00:38:54.771
And the studio is just great.

00:38:54.972 --> 00:38:57.414
You know, it's all vintage stuff.

00:38:57.675 --> 00:38:58.655
That really sets it.

00:38:59.135 --> 00:39:00.117
Everything sounds great.

00:39:00.137 --> 00:39:00.777
It looks great.

00:39:01.177 --> 00:39:03.000
Remember which amp bar you played the harmonica

00:39:03.121 --> 00:39:03.260
through?

00:39:03.280 --> 00:39:08.166
I played the amp, the harmonica I played through amp was, was it Grampian?

00:39:08.606 --> 00:39:11.630
It's actually on the No Entry album.

00:39:11.929 --> 00:39:13.371
It's a British UK amp.

00:39:13.452 --> 00:39:14.472
It just sounds lovely.

00:39:15.112 --> 00:39:16.275
I think it is Grampian.

00:39:16.775 --> 00:39:17.996
Yeah, I wanted to buy the amp.

00:39:19.657 --> 00:39:22.822
But Neil was saying it's a good amp to stay at home.

00:39:23.202 --> 00:39:24.103
Travel well.

00:39:24.641 --> 00:39:26.443
Because we've still got some more tunes in the can.

00:39:26.704 --> 00:39:28.467
Some whole club can do some more tunes.

00:39:28.527 --> 00:39:29.568
I'll play for the amp again.

00:39:29.969 --> 00:39:41.684
But No Entry album, as far as the name, the name came about because a lot of times, you know, with all the Windrush stuff and the Brexit things, I mean, most of the band are immigrants, families.

00:39:42.146 --> 00:39:46.751
Sometimes you'd get a bit of reaction, especially from about Brexit.

00:39:47.072 --> 00:39:50.496
I'm glad my parents left before all this Windrush stuff happened.

00:39:50.717 --> 00:39:53.902
So there's a few gigs it was a bit like one-hand clap before I said that.

00:39:54.561 --> 00:40:05.273
The No Entry came about, I couldn't think of a title, and from one of the photo sessions, a photo session we did from a mixing session, there's a photo of me with No Entry behind me.

00:40:05.693 --> 00:40:15.045
So I thought, yeah, let's call it No Entry, because like what I just said, it's almost like No Entry, Brexit, Windrush getting kicked out, most of the bands, immigrant families.

00:40:15.385 --> 00:40:19.250
So it fitted it perfectly with that No Entry blues, the slow, minor blues.

00:40:19.713 --> 00:40:37.648
There's this mixture, yes, the first side, sort of more blues, straight head blues, and then the second side got that kind of reggae blues fusion on the second half, and there's a speakeasy song, and then Howlin' For My Darling, which is the kind of Howlin' Wolf song with that kind of reggae sort of beat again, isn't it?

00:40:37.668 --> 00:40:38.110
Howlin' For My Darling

00:40:54.177 --> 00:41:11.347
different version again from the first album yeah totally different yeah but still the same song so um yeah i'm really pleased of it the sound the performances the photos the design i think everybody just did a blind and job production you know i'm really pleased a bit with getting reactions now obviously it's been a hard year this last year

00:41:11.387 --> 00:41:12.047
yeah

00:41:12.088 --> 00:41:17.266
to release an album probably the worst year ever But we went ahead and did it anyway.

00:41:17.347 --> 00:41:23.032
We put the CD out, I think maybe in May, and then we put the album out in October.

00:41:23.072 --> 00:41:24.653
We had a re-launch on vinyl.

00:41:25.094 --> 00:41:27.255
Now, I think it was the 23rd of October.

00:41:27.295 --> 00:41:30.318
We were lucky as one of them bits, we came out of lockdown.

00:41:30.338 --> 00:41:38.465
We kind of went back in again before October, and we did a CD album launch, vinyl launch, at Nell's in West London.

00:41:38.485 --> 00:41:39.507
It was rocking.

00:41:39.567 --> 00:41:41.007
People would get out of their seats, but they couldn't.

00:41:41.288 --> 00:41:41.768
You know what I mean?

00:41:41.849 --> 00:41:45.211
So clapping became a yelp, and a yelp became a stamp on the floor.

00:41:45.552 --> 00:41:47.315
Aye! He was mad, yeah, he was really great.

00:41:47.335 --> 00:41:48.918
He was really good, really good.

00:41:49.119 --> 00:41:52.266
Yeah, I'm hoping that when we get out playing again, it's going to be like that.

00:41:52.286 --> 00:41:54.771
Isn't everyone's going to be rampant to get out

00:41:54.811 --> 00:41:56.635
and go out and hear some music?

00:41:56.655 --> 00:41:58.860
Yeah, I was happy to play, you know, I was happy to play.

00:41:59.489 --> 00:42:02.552
Yeah, on the vinyl, if you've got the vinyl, it's like that.

00:42:02.652 --> 00:42:04.273
Yeah, first slide is mainly blues.

00:42:04.634 --> 00:42:05.976
Second slide is mainly reggae.

00:42:06.135 --> 00:42:06.856
We turn it over.

00:42:06.876 --> 00:42:06.936
And

00:42:07.637 --> 00:42:12.440
there's a song on there, Big Man's Gone, yeah, which, again, you wrote the lyrics for.

00:42:12.501 --> 00:42:14.202
Maybe you want to tell us the story behind that one.

00:42:14.503 --> 00:42:17.806
Yeah, that's a story about a journey of my father.

00:42:18.567 --> 00:42:21.648
He passed away quite recently, the last couple of years, few years.

00:42:21.969 --> 00:42:22.809
I'll mention his name.

00:42:22.849 --> 00:42:25.773
His name is Lucius Constantine Linton.

00:42:25.932 --> 00:42:26.853
So he passed away.

00:42:26.873 --> 00:42:32.119
And it's a journey of me and my brother taking back to God's Jamaica and bury him, basically.

00:42:32.458 --> 00:42:33.400
That's what that song's about.

00:42:34.661 --> 00:43:04.231
The big man's gone My mum is so strong We won't be long We'll travel cross land And see Your love's good for me It's good for me Home, home, away Some of the band was saying, man, you've written a counteraction to Packing My Bag in a funny, funny kind of way.

00:43:04.271 --> 00:43:05.132
And I thought, you're right.

00:43:05.512 --> 00:43:09.860
And then I think one of the songs, is it off the No Answer album, The Rain In Your Life?

00:43:10.039 --> 00:43:14.005
There's a good remix of this from by Chad Jackson, yeah?

00:43:14.487 --> 00:43:15.068
Yeah, there is.

00:43:15.088 --> 00:43:16.469
There has been, yeah, a remix.

00:43:16.898 --> 00:43:18.905
come out just at the end of last year.

00:43:19.387 --> 00:43:21.213
It's a kind of DJ remix, isn't it?

00:43:21.253 --> 00:43:23.280
You're getting these kind of dance beats behind it.

00:43:28.398 --> 00:43:28.478
Yeah.

00:43:46.402 --> 00:43:52.269
Because you've done a few recordings with a few other, for example, the trans-global underground, the Scorch song.

00:43:52.570 --> 00:44:08.331
I think that one, they actually sampled Harlequin from a five-minute album.

00:44:08.351 --> 00:44:10.974
That's right.

00:44:16.385 --> 00:44:21.876
Whereas the other album I did, I thought that if I'm on a good session, they actually want me for a vocal session.

00:44:21.896 --> 00:44:23.760
So I sung one there.

00:44:23.940 --> 00:44:25.163
I can't remember the name of the album.

00:44:25.443 --> 00:44:27.286
The Nile Delta or something like that.

00:44:27.788 --> 00:44:28.309
Yeah, cool.

00:44:28.329 --> 00:44:28.489
Yeah.

00:44:28.570 --> 00:44:32.498
And you also played with Joe Bonamassa, the guitar player.

00:44:32.518 --> 00:44:34.601
You recorded with him in the Abbey Road Studios.

00:44:34.914 --> 00:44:35.556
That's right.

00:44:35.615 --> 00:44:36.918
That was quite recent.

00:44:37.179 --> 00:44:41.289
Last year, before this lockdown madness, COVID thing started, we...

00:44:41.309 --> 00:44:41.630
Do you know

00:44:41.710 --> 00:44:42.932
what the name of that album was?

00:44:42.972 --> 00:44:43.635
Is that released

00:44:43.655 --> 00:44:43.715
now?

00:44:43.775 --> 00:44:46.320
The name of the album is called Roll T.

00:44:47.083 --> 00:44:48.425
So it's got a lot of the British...

00:44:48.606 --> 00:44:52.856
You try to go back to the British R&B or blues, blues rock players...

00:44:53.442 --> 00:45:04.311
How it happened, he had a day off before he was going to go and start doing his session, and we share a booking agent, and he wondered if he wanted to come down and see us play.

00:45:04.711 --> 00:45:07.454
So he came down to our gig we do in Brixton.

00:45:07.653 --> 00:45:10.056
We do that every Wednesday in the Effort Tavern in Brixton.

00:45:10.376 --> 00:45:12.157
And he came down, and he was pretty cool.

00:45:12.599 --> 00:45:13.599
Laid back and everything.

00:45:13.940 --> 00:45:17.262
And then the second set, I said, do you want to join us?

00:45:17.282 --> 00:45:19.405
He said, yeah, sure.

00:45:19.864 --> 00:45:21.726
And Richie was cool about it, the guitar player.

00:45:21.806 --> 00:45:23.007
So that's what happened.

00:45:23.047 --> 00:45:24.949
He come on and sat in with a couple of tunes.

00:45:24.969 --> 00:45:27.172
All these people from all these blues, the blues team were out.

00:45:27.193 --> 00:45:28.135
Where are they coming from?

00:45:28.195 --> 00:45:28.715
I don't know.

00:45:28.735 --> 00:45:31.539
All of a sudden, all these faces turned up.

00:45:31.619 --> 00:45:33.702
I don't usually come to the gig, and they were just all there.

00:45:33.722 --> 00:45:36.146
Obviously, they'd heard the word that he was coming down.

00:45:36.206 --> 00:45:39.289
Yeah, and then from that, the session came about.

00:45:39.309 --> 00:45:42.514
I got a call for a session to do Abbey Road, first time I'd been there.

00:45:42.795 --> 00:45:44.056
So that was quite good.

00:45:44.398 --> 00:45:50.106
The tune I'm on on the album is called Look Out, Man.

00:45:50.126 --> 00:45:50.365
Look Out, Man

00:45:59.425 --> 00:46:00.952
Quite a high-pitched harmonica.

00:46:01.313 --> 00:46:01.896
What is it?

00:46:02.077 --> 00:46:03.061
Is it F-sharp harmonica?

00:46:03.081 --> 00:46:04.445
So I'm in C-sharp, I think.

00:46:04.987 --> 00:46:06.574
Oh, yeah, you don't get many on that key, so

00:46:06.614 --> 00:46:07.056
yeah.

00:46:07.900 --> 00:46:10.429
So, yeah, it worked out okay in the end.

00:46:10.530 --> 00:46:11.951
It was a pretty cool session and everything.

00:46:11.971 --> 00:46:13.351
I was happy to be part of it.

00:46:13.713 --> 00:46:14.072
Yeah, great.

00:46:14.253 --> 00:46:22.059
Another guy who I spoke to, another person who I met busking was Abraham Wilson, who played on my Mama Said album, The Trumpet.

00:46:22.360 --> 00:46:26.083
He played on Through My Veins and Rolling Tomorrow on that album.

00:46:26.603 --> 00:46:28.324
And also J.Y.

00:46:28.746 --> 00:46:29.907
He played some trumpet on that.

00:46:30.367 --> 00:46:31.807
I met him when I was busking.

00:46:32.108 --> 00:46:35.831
It must have been in the early 2000s, 2005 or something like that.

00:46:35.851 --> 00:46:39.014
He said to me, Oh, man, were you probably from the Stateside?

00:46:39.494 --> 00:46:40.496
And I did my music thing.

00:46:40.496 --> 00:46:43.458
Yeah, man, I'm from way down south London, mate.

00:46:45.141 --> 00:46:46.521
I said, are you from London, England?

00:46:46.561 --> 00:46:47.242
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:46:47.282 --> 00:46:49.304
And we got chatting and he said he's got a project coming up.

00:46:49.585 --> 00:47:05.902
He was signed to Dune Records, which is, Dune Records is a jazz label run by Janine Ives and Gary Crosby, which features a lot of the young, a lot of young jazzers that have been through the Young Warriors and that sort of stuff that are coming now, you know what I mean?

00:47:05.922 --> 00:47:06.503
A lot of UK jazz.

00:47:07.083 --> 00:47:15.132
I got a call about a month later and he said, come down for rehearsal on Monday in the office and we've got Roddy Scott's showcase on Wednesday.

00:47:15.233 --> 00:47:16.702
What?

00:47:16.961 --> 00:47:21.628
So I went down, just rehearsing, but obviously I don't read music or nothing.

00:47:21.949 --> 00:47:30.561
So he came down to my house the next day, and I kind of worked the chart out with arrows and all sorts of stuff, working out where I was coming, coming out, and what I've got to do.

00:47:30.581 --> 00:47:32.844
And then we went and did a gig in Ronnie Scott from the Wednesday.

00:47:33.184 --> 00:47:34.726
So that was quite tense.

00:47:35.106 --> 00:47:36.849
From there, we went and did more gigs.

00:47:37.110 --> 00:47:42.496
I think that was a showcase to get to record the album at Charlton Jazz Festival, which never really happened.

00:47:43.010 --> 00:47:51.777
Anyway, I ended up recording an album with him and touring with him anyway, and the album called Ride, A Ferris Wheel to the Modern Day Delta.

00:48:06.112 --> 00:48:11.896
It's got New Orleans, jazz, funk, and a little bit of hip-hop in it, you know.

00:48:11.916 --> 00:48:12.577
Yeah, so...

00:48:12.929 --> 00:48:15.534
Different for me, because I'm always used to playing in the front man.

00:48:15.795 --> 00:48:17.737
Difficult in a certain way, but yeah, it was fun.

00:48:17.757 --> 00:48:19.061
It was great, actually, yeah.

00:48:19.581 --> 00:48:21.143
Lovely brass players and that, yeah.

00:48:21.184 --> 00:48:21.865
And

00:48:21.925 --> 00:48:23.789
so you'd play everywhere.

00:48:23.809 --> 00:48:27.235
You played with these guys, and you played across the UK and Europe.

00:48:27.255 --> 00:48:30.840
You even played in Japan, and you played at the Walmart festival as well.

00:48:31.563 --> 00:48:33.385
Yeah, a couple of times, yeah.

00:48:34.086 --> 00:48:35.349
Great one, the Walmart for me.

00:48:35.905 --> 00:48:39.949
I'd say I prefer playing them sort of festivals than I do actual blues festivals, actually.

00:48:40.170 --> 00:48:43.452
Sometimes with them sort of festivals, just anything goes.

00:48:43.773 --> 00:48:45.673
People groove for you if you're grooving.

00:48:45.693 --> 00:48:46.434
Do you know what I mean?

00:48:46.675 --> 00:48:48.717
It's not all blues-orientated.

00:48:48.976 --> 00:48:49.197
Yeah.

00:48:49.518 --> 00:48:54.302
As in, you're going to get African stuff, you're going to get folk, you're going to get the whole gamut.

00:48:54.362 --> 00:48:55.543
Jazz, you're going to get everything.

00:48:55.742 --> 00:49:10.898
So I love playing them sort of festivals like that, or something like Karis Matthews Festival, or the Wilderness, and places like that, which are less rock-guitar Yeah, yeah, fantastic, yeah.

00:49:11.318 --> 00:49:11.679
Exactly.

00:49:11.719 --> 00:49:14.742
People, you know, they want to try out different sort of music, don't they?

00:49:14.782 --> 00:49:15.905
So you're a bit different, aren't you?

00:49:15.925 --> 00:49:18.228
You're playing a bit of blues,

00:49:19.188 --> 00:49:23.735
not like every other blues band.

00:49:23.934 --> 00:49:30.963
So, yeah, I definitely could see that.

00:49:31.445 --> 00:49:31.985
Yeah.

00:49:32.514 --> 00:49:34.737
Yeah.

00:49:34.777 --> 00:49:40.045
We do some slow blues and stuff, but we do quite an up-tempo dancey set, really.

00:49:40.445 --> 00:49:57.050
People go up and dance.

00:49:58.012 --> 00:50:00.755
So as well as you're playing as well, you're also quite an artist, yeah?

00:50:00.775 --> 00:50:01.737
You do...

00:50:02.369 --> 00:50:07.594
lots of painting, including lots of portraits of musicians, and also some sculpture as well.

00:50:08.777 --> 00:50:14.643
Yeah, I've been doing the art from when I was a kid, a long time before I even picked up a harmonica.

00:50:15.202 --> 00:50:16.965
That was like my pastime.

00:50:16.985 --> 00:50:20.088
I always used to love, I used to get them little paint sets.

00:50:20.528 --> 00:50:23.592
There's like blocks of colour in it, and you get one brush in it.

00:50:23.992 --> 00:50:25.434
The water, you'd get the water and wet it.

00:50:25.454 --> 00:50:29.077
When I was a kid in the 70s, I used to love using them, you know.

00:50:29.858 --> 00:50:34.521
And when the white ran out, I'd be going, ah, you've got me mad.

00:50:34.581 --> 00:50:37.445
Yeah, I used to do arty stuff when I was a kid, and I just loved drawing.

00:50:37.824 --> 00:50:39.206
I kind of just kept on doing it.

00:50:39.226 --> 00:50:43.451
I actually went to college, studied it a couple of years in Brixton.

00:50:43.931 --> 00:50:46.474
Did about a year and a bit in Chelsea before they kicked me out.

00:50:48.715 --> 00:50:50.858
As a young guy, I used to want to be a graphic designer.

00:50:51.237 --> 00:50:52.739
That was on my mind.

00:50:52.800 --> 00:50:55.021
That was sort of the N-word back then.

00:50:55.041 --> 00:50:56.543
I never wanted to be, but it never happened.

00:50:56.822 --> 00:50:58.585
You know, busking on the streets of London.

00:51:00.802 --> 00:51:07.208
So a question I ask each time, Errol, for people is if you had 10 minutes of practice, what would you spend those 10 minutes doing?

00:51:08.610 --> 00:51:11.032
Practice time with harmonica.

00:51:11.052 --> 00:51:13.795
I just pick it up when I get a vibe to it and play along.

00:51:14.235 --> 00:51:15.918
I mean, I did so much practicing before.

00:51:16.559 --> 00:51:20.523
When I used to go busking, that used to keep your chops up because that is the hardest thing you can do.

00:51:20.563 --> 00:51:21.423
Yeah.

00:51:21.704 --> 00:51:24.987
It's easier playing whether you've got two or three or four guys behind you.

00:51:25.568 --> 00:51:31.755
When you're there on your own and you've got to sing, stamp your feet and blow that harmonica, That was exhausting.

00:51:32.096 --> 00:51:39.347
But I suppose it was good because you could put an extra few bars in here and there or stop for a long time and come back in.

00:51:39.588 --> 00:51:43.134
You had the privilege of that, doing your own timing and that.

00:51:44.014 --> 00:51:51.045
But actually, physically, I'd say busking is probably, yeah, physically my hardest thing I did, yeah, when it comes to music.

00:51:51.387 --> 00:51:54.291
A couple of hours busking, go home, get ready, go to the gig.

00:51:54.911 --> 00:51:57.576
Yeah, man, but yeah, I never used to...

00:51:58.753 --> 00:52:02.780
Buskers used to use beat boxes, you know, electric boxes with the beats.

00:52:03.822 --> 00:52:04.101
Yeah.

00:52:04.262 --> 00:52:05.184
I never used them.

00:52:05.744 --> 00:52:06.865
Stomp boxes, the

00:52:06.905 --> 00:52:07.206
things you

00:52:07.226 --> 00:52:07.467
stomp on.

00:52:07.487 --> 00:52:08.688
Yeah, stomp boxes on my feet.

00:52:09.409 --> 00:52:10.130
Yeah.

00:52:10.150 --> 00:52:11.813
Yeah, that was good.

00:52:12.213 --> 00:52:15.498
And do you play any chromatic harmonica at all?

00:52:16.119 --> 00:52:19.244
Yeah, only third position, really, on it.

00:52:19.605 --> 00:52:20.987
I mess around on other stuff.

00:52:21.286 --> 00:52:22.809
I haven't mastered the chromatic, no.

00:52:23.297 --> 00:52:24.159
No, that's cool, yeah.

00:52:24.179 --> 00:52:24.338
No,

00:52:24.539 --> 00:52:24.940
I haven't.

00:52:25.199 --> 00:52:28.284
Always good to play a little bit of third position stuff, though, as you say, isn't it?

00:52:28.324 --> 00:52:31.128
Nice and easy to sort of swap over from the diatonic then.

00:52:31.248 --> 00:52:31.668
Yeah.

00:52:32.329 --> 00:52:34.811
Talking about gear now, then, what harmonicas do you play?

00:52:35.193 --> 00:52:36.713
Mainly blues harps.

00:52:37.074 --> 00:52:42.380
I own the blues harps mainly, and I used to play a lot of the pro harps back in the day.

00:52:42.400 --> 00:52:50.050
I find if I brought a new pro harp recently, mainly the blues harp, and I used some of the Oscars as well with the reggae minor.

00:52:50.610 --> 00:52:52.534
I don't really use the Oscar for blues.

00:52:52.865 --> 00:52:55.411
It'd be more reggae, certain reggae tunes, yeah.

00:52:56.032 --> 00:52:59.777
So you do play different tunings to get those minor tunings of the Oscars?

00:52:59.918 --> 00:53:00.298
Oh, yeah.

00:53:00.539 --> 00:53:01.862
Yeah, definitely, yeah.

00:53:01.942 --> 00:53:08.574
And I've got a Hohner minor, but an orangey-blue C minor harmonica from Hohner, yeah.

00:53:08.733 --> 00:53:12.400
So that's how that tune came about, because I brought that harmonica, really, basically.

00:53:12.420 --> 00:53:14.945
I said, let me blow this now in the future, and here we go.

00:53:15.525 --> 00:53:16.146
And that was it.

00:53:16.467 --> 00:53:17.369
That's how it came around.

00:53:17.762 --> 00:53:21.625
But yeah, I'll use different tunings always after trying different harmonicas.

00:53:21.905 --> 00:53:24.708
But I've never mastered the chromatic enough before the button breaks.

00:53:24.967 --> 00:53:30.333
But I will, I'm going to definitely get one, spend some money on a decent one.

00:53:30.733 --> 00:53:33.835
So we'll have to do more other stuff on the chromatic.

00:53:33.976 --> 00:53:37.039
But I think the blues harp is my thing.

00:53:37.338 --> 00:53:38.039
Oh yeah,

00:53:38.059 --> 00:53:38.260
definitely.

00:53:38.280 --> 00:53:42.282
The blues harp and the mines and diatonic and all that sort of stuff.

00:53:42.302 --> 00:53:42.523
Yeah, the

00:53:42.563 --> 00:53:43.023
reggae.

00:53:43.503 --> 00:53:45.905
And do you have a favourite key of diatonic?

00:53:45.965 --> 00:53:50.711
You mentioned earlier you used to play some ones to get the sound projected but any favorite key

00:53:51.092 --> 00:54:13.563
keys favorite key love loads of them in it c harp g harp yeah um b flat harps nice a flat harps nice as well you need flat yeah all depends what works with the voice for me playing wise yeah i prefer the than the higher ones i prefer the more mid-range lower ones i still use the higher ones still and get fun out of all of them

00:54:13.985 --> 00:54:19.465
of course they're all they all got the different character haven't they which is great And do you play any overblows?

00:54:19.945 --> 00:54:20.628
I don't think I do.

00:54:20.847 --> 00:54:21.889
You'd have to tell me that, man.

00:54:21.909 --> 00:54:22.351
I don't know.

00:54:22.992 --> 00:54:25.077
Honestly, I'm just old school, man.

00:54:25.217 --> 00:54:25.518
I don't know.

00:54:25.918 --> 00:54:26.099
No

00:54:26.219 --> 00:54:26.438
worries.

00:54:26.480 --> 00:54:27.101
I don't know.

00:54:27.240 --> 00:54:27.802
Probably not.

00:54:28.563 --> 00:54:29.045
I don't know.

00:54:29.385 --> 00:54:31.429
You'd have to listen to your album and tell

00:54:31.889 --> 00:54:31.929
me

00:54:31.951 --> 00:54:32.090
if I do.

00:54:32.110 --> 00:54:32.831
I don't think I do.

00:54:33.534 --> 00:54:35.356
And what about the embouchure you use?

00:54:35.376 --> 00:54:38.023
Are you a lip person or tongue blocking or something else?

00:54:38.463 --> 00:54:39.445
I do both, really.

00:54:39.746 --> 00:54:43.050
I thumb block and I do the lip pierce, yeah.

00:54:43.570 --> 00:54:44.090
I do both.

00:54:44.550 --> 00:54:49.096
I like kind of the lip piercing one as well, the kind of sort of like, almost thinner sound actually, isn't it?

00:54:49.197 --> 00:54:49.996
Depends though, isn't it?

00:54:50.077 --> 00:54:52.721
And then you've got the more chunkier sound of the tambourine.

00:54:52.981 --> 00:54:59.507
So, but I like, yeah, I think they both work on well in whatever song you're doing, whatever you want to play it in, you know?

00:55:00.389 --> 00:55:02.891
And amplifier-wise, what's your amplifiers of choice?

00:55:03.192 --> 00:55:04.733
My amplifier of choice is...

00:55:04.865 --> 00:55:11.458
At the moment, I've got this one, a nice red amp here, that was built by Ted, a friend of Adam, the guitarist.

00:55:11.938 --> 00:55:15.204
It used to be an old radio, and now it's my amplifier.

00:55:15.384 --> 00:55:16.085
So I used that.

00:55:16.106 --> 00:55:20.512
I used it on the Packing My Badger album, and some tunes on that, yeah.

00:55:36.289 --> 00:55:42.402
It's a handmade amp from an old radio saying made in Hackney.

00:55:43.565 --> 00:55:43.746
Wow.

00:55:44.005 --> 00:55:44.887
So is that a small

00:55:44.969 --> 00:55:45.329
amp then?

00:55:45.869 --> 00:55:46.873
It's a small amp.

00:55:47.373 --> 00:55:50.940
So sometimes you can't really work at bigger gigs to get it around.

00:55:51.362 --> 00:55:53.264
It doesn't push out as much.

00:55:53.423 --> 00:55:58.547
So since I was on the PV still, I got that old PV and I got a bigger one as well, PV.

00:55:59.429 --> 00:56:01.831
They're the main three amps I use.

00:56:02.110 --> 00:56:03.152
A microphone,

00:56:03.192 --> 00:56:05.733
you say you use a bullet microphone.

00:56:05.775 --> 00:56:07.115
Is that any particular one?

00:56:07.436 --> 00:56:09.677
Yeah, I usually use a straightforward show.

00:56:09.697 --> 00:56:14.382
I think I recorded a show on vibing it, a whole album show, Mike.

00:56:14.581 --> 00:56:15.762
But no, I just use the...

00:56:15.943 --> 00:56:18.184
No, not the green bullet, just straightforward...

00:56:18.204 --> 00:56:18.846
57?

00:56:19.085 --> 00:56:19.385
Something

00:56:19.545 --> 00:56:19.806
like

00:56:20.567 --> 00:56:21.188
that, yeah, 101.

00:56:21.327 --> 00:56:36.885
ones that's on the first album the rest of the time it's a green bullet or it can be there's another cheaper one which is I think it's blue I can't remember the name of it but that works well as well so that's what we use you know in cheap and gentle when it comes to harmonicas that's

00:56:37.184 --> 00:56:50.418
what all the old classic guys used they used to use these cheap mics that are used in taxi ranks apparently you know to get that sound and everyone spends a fortune on the microphones now and they used to play the cheapest mics they could get their hands on I think so it goes to show isn't

00:56:50.659 --> 00:56:51.880
it there you go yeah And

00:56:51.900 --> 00:56:56.144
what about any effects, pedals, any delay or reverb or anything else?

00:56:56.264 --> 00:56:57.907
No, I don't really.

00:56:57.927 --> 00:57:03.733
The other thing I use, which the band make me use, is this thing called Feedback Blocker.

00:57:04.914 --> 00:57:06.635
If the battery runs out, it starts moaning.

00:57:06.675 --> 00:57:08.619
So that's the only thing.

00:57:09.018 --> 00:57:09.920
So I use that one.

00:57:10.219 --> 00:57:11.181
It pays on the feedback.

00:57:11.521 --> 00:57:16.347
Especially when you're in a small, like a little pub or that sort of venue, a small acoustic venue.

00:57:16.646 --> 00:57:18.748
You don't want to lose too much feedback going on.

00:57:19.349 --> 00:57:20.210
No, definitely not, no.

00:57:20.731 --> 00:57:21.992
And so Well, last question then.

00:57:22.132 --> 00:57:28.079
Obviously, we've been in a very strange year in 2020 and hopefully we're going to come out of it this spring and this year.

00:57:28.099 --> 00:57:29.681
So, have you got anything lined up?

00:57:29.760 --> 00:57:31.563
Any plans to get out there playing again?

00:57:32.003 --> 00:57:33.005
Oh, definitely, yeah.

00:57:33.405 --> 00:57:36.728
We'll be out there again pushing this album, the No Anxiety album.

00:57:37.048 --> 00:57:39.572
I don't know how early we'll come, but I hope we'll be out there.

00:57:39.592 --> 00:57:44.456
We'll be playing in the Jazz Cafe in London in Camden on the 28th of March.

00:57:44.657 --> 00:57:45.998
So, I don't know, I'm hoping still.

00:57:46.278 --> 00:57:50.943
We had it booked for the 5th of January and it got cancelled the 4th of then, so...

00:57:51.184 --> 00:57:52.527
I hope we'll be out by then.

00:57:52.887 --> 00:57:55.773
And just doing your normal little gigs and stuff out there playing, yeah.

00:57:56.134 --> 00:57:56.974
I look forward to it.

00:57:57.056 --> 00:58:01.284
But yeah, we'll be definitely around the bigger level this year, hopefully, if we get a chance to.

00:58:01.543 --> 00:58:04.469
There's some good people behind me, more now than ever.

00:58:04.851 --> 00:58:06.293
Look forward to checking you out playing again.

00:58:06.313 --> 00:58:08.338
It'll be great to see you back out there and playing this year.

00:58:08.358 --> 00:58:11.282
So thanks very much, Errol Linton, for joining me today.

00:58:11.623 --> 00:58:12.606
Sure, it's a pleasure.

00:58:13.121 --> 00:58:15.309
That's episode 31 of the podcast done.

00:58:15.751 --> 00:58:17.237
Thanks so much for listening again.

00:58:17.257 --> 00:58:20.851
And it's over to Errol Linton to play us out with the no entry blues.

00:58:20.931 --> 00:58:22.056
No entry blues.