Q: Ranglins part as management for the group consisted of what? He did that with his sister and what good did that do for the exposure at the time?

A: Well, nah... he used to do a few shows but we start to look about ourselves, because of the songs get popular people been contacting us an' we've been doing shows all over the place. Regal, Carib theaters... that is the t'ing that help us a lot. Yes, Regal, Carib, King's, and we used to do... I think we cover all the theaters in the city (laughs). You know, because 'Loving Reggay'; there's not a jukebox without that song. So is like... was poundin'!

Q: Nightclubs at the time was...?

A: You used to play dance clubs, like Tit For Tat and the Wagon Wheel an' those clubs. We play all those clubs, Wagon Wheel up Half Way Tree Road and Red Hills there. There's a club (called) Bohemo there an' we used to play a lot inna the city. We was in town from different place to place. They really did love the group - Kingston and Montego Bay. Those two places was... oh boy (laughs). We used to play a lot there, man.

Q: Who backed you up on these occassions, supposedly a very different line up from the studio crew?

A: Yeah, it's different. Usually those places have their own band. I know I used to work with Lloydie - Lloyd Parks sometimes, and all different kinda musicians. This band that Fully (Fullwood) use... Soul Syndicate an' those band, and t'ing like that. Work with all those band a'ready.

Q: What was the response from the locals in May Pen, from your success within the music?

A: Oh boy (laughs)! May Pen is something else, man! Every show - they used to follow we all over the place! Anywhere we go. When we do a show in May Pen... oh boy! Something else man! Yeah man, we always have a fan club in May Pen (laughs)! Beca' before singin' I was a peoples favorite. People used to love us. When we play together... there's a lotta lovin' in my distric', y'know. We used to hang around a lot of guys, used to play a lot of sports. Used to even play ball and, you know, those certain bond there that just get into when we make it an' everyt'ing just explore, y'know wha' I mean (laughs)?

Q: Always wondered why you maintained the ties to Ranglins GGs stable for such a long time, instead of trying something else, get a different sound, develop the Maytones sound a bit with any other producer of note at the time? I guess the payment wouldn't make much difference, but...? People like Coxsone or Duke Reid or Federal or Bunny Lee must've approached the group at the time - after the breakthrough, didn't they?

A: Yes! Striker Lee approached me every week, man. Me an' Scratch used to talk but I used to have good relationships with those guys, maybe that's why they don't try to push me. Scratch, Bunny Lee, even Duke Reid... Duke Reid him have access to stuff weh I did for him one time. Joe Gibbs... I don't know why we no record fe Joe Gibbs - we almost record for Joe Gibbs. Joe Gibbs an' we used to talk - like to friend, y'know wha' I mean? 'Ca he used to sell a lot of our record. We always go out an' distribute to 'im. And he always want us to... But I don't know? Knowing that it is always the same I never really think of going anywhere (else). It's a lot of offers. One time we go to Coxsone, but something happened - we never record that day and I never go back. I think some bad vibe was going on with the musician, like they don't get pay.

Q: Tell me more about this entertainment programme on JBC-TV - 'Where Its At', you worked there a few times? Were Jamaicans really watching telly at that time (laughs)?

A: Yes! In black and white for sure! I was back in black and white (laughs). The 'Where Its At' show was the Top Ten. A Top Ten every week, like a half an hour programme. I think a few times we used to play with band there but most of the time it was recorded music playing. But it was good. Like we used to have sometimes two songs in the Top Ten, they're always in the Top Ten so it's like we're always there. Likewise Diamonds and U Roy and guys like us we're always in the Top Ten. I wish I had that on tape right now, because it was a lot we did.

Q: Oh, I would love to see that show (laughs)! You should try to collect the performances on that show and release them on a video tape!

A: Yeah (laughs)! I would like to do that! 'Ca I never used to get pay for those stuff. I never get no pay for those shows. Come to think of it I... tryin' to probe now and see if I can get those tape in hand.

Q: If they've saved it?

A: I think they have it. I don't think they would throw that away (laughs). I remember others on it like Diamonds, U Roy, Ken Boothe. Most of those guys in the Top Ten, because if you're not in the Top Ten then you're not... Yeah mon, I remember when 'Funny Man' was number one an' then you get 'Serious Love' - it's like we're always there, playing in the Top Ten.

Q: The band Ranglin used for most of your songs in the early days was pretty much Gladdys All Stars, wasn't it? Gladstone Anderson (piano) and the rest? As a youngster, what was that like being in the middle of all these studio wizards?

A: Gladstone Anderson, 'Snappin' Beckford, Winston Wright, and Ronnie Bop. Style Scott, Flabba Holt - all those guys... Jackie (Jackson) used to play a lot of bass for us. It was very exciting. But for some reason they used to like us. They used to, like, as you say 'take us under their wing'. They used to nourish us, they used to jus' love us, y'know? Ronnie Bop, Jackie, those guys used to look out for us.

Q: Anyone of them that coached you singing-wise, or just suggested how to approach your songs vocally, in general?

A: Yeah, Ronnie used to help in certain ways. Like, when I bring with my guitar an' maybe I strum a little different from what, he'd say 'OK, put it in this way an' gwaan use it like this singin' it in C'. You know, he was the guy who consult you an' say 'OK, I'm doing this in G note, try it in F', t'ings like that, y'know. But for voice training I never really have no one for voice training. It's just like keys and like if we're doing more than one (key) an' they used to say 'alright, try to do that in G, or try do that in A', along those line, y'know.

Q: Gotta ask you about this tune 'Judas' which came out on a UK 7" in 1970 or '71 on Pama's Camel subsidiary. On the flip is 'Mi Nah Tek' and that's clearly your vocals, but 'Judas' is hardly yours? Could that be Gladstone singin' lead or is it a different group miscredited to the Maytones - are you familiar with that track?

A: I think Ranglin on that song, yunno! I'm involved with that song, fe true. That wasn't the right name for it though. They have a nex' name for it but them a give it the name 'Judas', y'know. I know what you're talking ' bout now (laughs)! Yeah, I like that song. I like the style a that song.

Q: How close were you to the other GGs acts?

A: We used to have a good relationship, all those artists in his camp. It was some love flowin' there. There was no conflic' between who's sellin' from who's not sellin'. And when it's session time everyone meet an' we talk, drink and eat - whatever guys do (laughs)! Yeah, we did have a good relationship. Me an' Stanley (Beckford, Starlites group) used to move together, when he and Gregory (Isaacs) come inna the camp. We get along good with the others. Not to say we are friends like day-to-day friends. Whenever we meet it's like we're all one.

Q: Some refer to your style as 'country reggae', much like the approach to the music you get from Justin Hinds & The Dominoes and those? A relaxed, laidback, simple, raw, straight approach to the music?

A: I don't know, that was my style. That's the way I write song. Like I write song an' relax. I find that most guys write songs and at some point they have to like rush it to get in certain words. I never use to like to write song like that. I must... like I'm telling a story or reading a poet or something, that's the way I like to feel on a music, y'know? That's just my style. I just like to lay back an' get what I'm getting in. It shouldn't be no rush or... Even those fast song I use to do, I used (to) sing relaxed, yunno? Like 'Loving Reggay' still a fast song but at the same time I find myself sing an' relax, y'know? That's what I did like about Bob (Marley) too. Bob jus' relaxed and... you know wha' I mean (chuckles)? I think I'm born with that style. I thank God for that gift 'ca I jus' like to relax, yeah.

Q: How did you find the change in sound as the seventies progressed, from that early reggae era to the harder rockers sound of the mid seventies?

A: I think it's just the changes of the time. In those time too I used to deal with a lotta dancehall stuff 'ca in those days I used to get in deep into the sound business and t'ing so I was like servin' a little. Playing around a little in dancehall and the harder stuff an' t'ing like that.

Q: Did the Maytones sing live on a sound system back then?

A: Yeah! Yeah, we used to do that a lot, man (laughs)! We used to do that in the seventies. With a deejay and t'ing. And we used to sing over a lot of Studio One dubs them. You know, the dub lp's they used to have. My sound that. We used to run the sound with a deejay - talk on the mike an' stuff like that. We do that sometimes, sing over version. Not all the time and not too much. Like sometimes you have a dance an' you have a midnight attraction, one or two artist come through and you would sing on a riddim, yeah. I used to sing with my sound. I did once work with Stereograph, when (Ranking) Joe used to talk on Stereograph. My sound was Future Force once until I change it into Maytone International. Was a nice sound. I used to play like 18", double 18". Like sometimes I play with six double 18". Was a nice sound, a strong sound.

Q: What about 'Maytones specials' or soft wax/dubs for different sound systems? Did you voice dub plates at that time from the early to late seventies?

A: Yeah, I do a few of that. I don't do much of that. Stereograph used to play special for us. It was a lot of them sound used to play special for us, y'know. Especially in our area, an' t'ing like that. After certain song get popular everyone want (one). We do a few but not much of that.

Q: Inspiration for this 'Maytones anthem' called 'Madness' that hit so big for you in the mid seventies, tell me more about the circumstances that made you write that song?

A: It was really what going on. I used to find a lotta guys that I knew an' group with those jus' getting crazy - or being crazy, yunno? That's what prompt me to write a song like that, 'Madness'. And actually I write that song maybe a year before I voice it.

Q: And it was voiced in '75 or the year after?

A: No, ' bout '74.

Q: I've seen somewhere that people from the Radics backed you on that recording, but as far as I know Roots Radics wasn't a group until '79 - officially, or perhaps even later? Must've been Sly (Dunbar) or Ranchie (McLean) in the rhythm section there, wasn't it?

A: I'm trying to remember who was it...? Ronnie Bop was there for sure. Was Jackie (Jackson) playing that bass...? Maybe the Revolutionaries, you're right. I think most of that is recorded at Channel One.

Q: And the tune became a hit. What did that song do in bigger terms for the group?

A: Oh boy... yeah man (laughs)! That was a bigger hit, man. Yeah, I think that was the big break. I went a few places on that. I went to Bahamas, I went to Cayman (Islands), I went to a place named Belize. The States for sure, I went to New York. I went to Hell-A (Los Angeles). We never travel with a band, we usually have band wherever we're going. There were always band there that we work with. I no really travel with a band. We went all over Jamaica with that song, man (laughs)! I was doing pretty good at that time. I bought my first bike. Things start to push up an' later on that give me my first car and I start to kinda enjoy. I start to get publishing from 'Madness' and everything kinda change. I start to get statement overseas. Not to say they was accurate but... I see a lotta thousand sell an' t'ing like that and me seh 'whaa'!?

Q: Did you reach the UK at the time, touring on that single and album?

A: Actually we go to England fe performin' but actually we never perform 'ca the show we went to was cancelled, for some reason. It was something with some papers or something with the show that never really turn off. It was some tricks with Ranglin there, was hidin' some stuff there from us an' something get... yeah.

Q: You must have taken the opportunity to do some business for the group there, what did you do?

A: Yeah, I did. I travel with music, I always travel with music. There was a label there...

Q: Burning Sounds? How did you link up with them? There's not that much I know about them except that it was an Indian guy - Mr Rana - who ran that label until it was sold in the early eighties, or thereabouts.

A: Yes, it was someone in England I knew. Someone who was a friend of my family I have in England. And I think they take me there to meet him. He was kinda quiet. I mostly speak to... I don't know, maybe the distributor. Someone in charge of that. They were into us, y'know. Take pictures and all kinda stuff around the place. I would say they did good. 'Madness' would really sell a lot, too. I get some money there. Those early time I start to see how business works and start to see live cash come in my hand and... wasn't bad at that time. Not to say I was gettin' what I was worth still, but I was kinda happy there (laughs)!

Q: Rasta message wasn't exactly in the Jamaican mainstream when you released one of those early tunes with references to Rastafari - 'Babylon A Fall', which came out on a (GGs) Duke imprint in '69. What did you get in terms of public response for that tune? It can't have been much of a big seller either since it wasn't yet established or fashionable for that matter - all that came later, didn't it?

A: It was a little hot, yeah. But you know what happened? All who I grew up with, I grew up around Rastafarian. 'Ca in the early days, you know the only food I use to eat is Ital food. So, I grew up with we seh bongo natty, bongo rastaman. I grew up with a lotta them. I used to sing... I never used to record it, but I used to sing a lotta hard, hard tune when we are like together. We used to strum the guitar and sing some hard, hardcore music - the whole works, yes. We used to sing hard, hard songs after cookin' and eatin' an' a group of us used to sing hard songs. I used to write hard song from long time. But, Mr Ranglin was a guy who wasn't interested in those kinda songs, to be honest. So, I used to stay away from him. But at that point and at that time I seh 'no, I waan do this song'. 'Ca I start to have more demand now. So I said 'look, I want to do this song, man'. And there was some friends who really want me to record this song. 'Ca we used to sing it a lot in the woods an' by the river, and stuff like that. So, he actually went along with it.