
Interview with - Hughie Izachaar



Olli Loikala from Finland interviews Hughie Izachaar for a magazine called Cool Runnings (circa April 1998) Hughie Izachaar is a London-based singer and multi-talented musician, who can play almost every instrument, like melodica, guitar or bass. So far he has done 5 solo albums: - Rastafari (Melody Music) - Divine Love (Melody Music) - African Melodica Dub (Reggae On Top) - Praise Jah (Reggae On Top) - Can`t Take The Pressure (Jah Warrior) Beside these albums, Hughie has been playing on many different albums and singles recorded in England. He is not only musically gifted, but he is also a very talented painter. He has been doing artwork for many Reggae On Top releases and his home is full of beautiful Rastafarian works of arts made by himself. I met Hughie Izachaar last spring at the Conscious Sounds studio, where he was mixing his new album with Jah Warrior and Dougie Wardrop. This album is entitled "Can't Take The Pressure". It came out last summer on Jah Warrior record label, and it is really a must to have for all the rootsfans. It is also worth getting for all the dubaddicts, because it is made in showcase-stylee, which means that there is a dub version by Jah Warrior after every vocal track. This following interview was made at Hughies place in London's Ladbroke Grove in April 1998. Q: How did you get involved in music? A: I hail from Trelawny, Jamaica. I started playing guitar at a very young age and while I was playing I also started singing. When I was 13, we moved to London and here I kept on doing the same things. Q: Did you do any recordings in Jamaica? A: No. I did my first record here in London. It was "Don't Pretend You Love", which was produced by myself. It came out on Maccabee record label. They have also released Dennis Brown's, Junior Delgado's, John Holt's and Sugar Minott's music. I think the year was 1978. Q: How bout then? I remember seeing your name on some 80`s Shaka albums. You were playing with him at that time, right? A: Yes, I played guitar and bass on his "Commandments of Dub Ch. 1" album. That was his first big project. We did it at Mad Professor's newly-built studio in New Cross. Q: Did you have any other collaborations with Shaka? A: Well, we overdubbed some guitars for some other Shaka albums later, but there hasn't been any big co-operations after "Commandments of Dub", since we both are doing our own things here and there. Q: So, you play guitar, bass and keyboards, but you are known as a very talented player of meloddica as well. How did you get into this instrument? A: I was listening a lot of Augustus Pablo stuff in the seventies. So, when I was in Germany, I saw this instrument at the local music store and decided to buy one. I have been blowing melodica over twenty years. That´s a long time, isn't it? Q: What else were you doing before setting up Reggae on Top label? A: I was working for the company called Melody Music. I did two albums for them: "Rastafari" and ”Divine Love” and also some singles. This was about 6 or 7 years ago. After that I mostly toured with different backing bands.



Q: With whom were you playing? A: Well, I started as a guitarist in Culture's backing band. We were touring all over Europe and we performed in Finland as well. After Culture, I have also played bass in Dub Syndicate. Q: How did you get in touch with Culture? A: It was through a promoter. They wanted to have a band, which was already in England. We had practised Culture tunes and all they had to do, was to come here and to have a show. Everything was ready. The drummer of the band was Blood Shanti, who is AbaShanti's brother. We were playing with Culture for a while, but nowadays they are using another band on their tours. Q: So, after Culture you went to play with Dub Syndicate? A: Yes, that's true. I am still playing bass on their tours. Actually, we are starting our next tour pretty soon. I am always doing different project with different people. I have also been working with Massive Attack. They have many tunes on MTV. Q. Could you tell me more about Reggae on Top? A: Oh yes. Me and Barry set it up five years ago and we have released 14 albums by now. Reggae On Top crew consists of me, Barry, Steven Wright, Ras Imru Asha, Eli Emmanuel, Levi Judah, Tony Roots, Pablo Gad, Mikey Mystic, Joel The Prophet and a girl named Tiffany. At least I can't remember any more names... (laughter) Q: How `bout Steven Wright? I haven't heard anything of him since the release of his wicked debut album. Do you know what Steven is up to? A: Well, I haven't seen Steven for a long time, either. I heard that he was in Germany or Sweden doing some music with someone. So, it is possible that there is some new material coming out from him, but so far "International Change" is the only album by Steven. I like it as well, especially guitars. Steven is very good guitarrist. Q: What is coming next on Reggae On Top label? A: "Rastafari Teachings Part 2". It is a compilation, which contains 6 vocal tracks and dub versions for each tune. We are also putting out albums from each one of Reggae On Top artists, but this compilation is coming out first.



Q: As far as I know, you don't have your own studio, so which studios you are using? A: Reggae On Top tunes are recorded and mixed mostly at the Conscious Sounds studio. At first we were also using Progressive studio, but lately we have been using mostly Conscious Sounds. That's the place where we can get the best sounds. Hopefully, we'll have our own studio some day, but right now everything is going fine with Dougie and Conscious sounds. Q: How about the distributors? A: We have distributors like S.R.D and Jet Star. In addition to them, we are dealing with many private distributors, like records shops, which are doing mail ordering etc. These private ones can be as good as the big ones, but it's better to know them, before you start co-operating with them. Q: Have you ever thought of setting up a sound system? A: Yeah, I would love to have a sound system, but Barry is too busy. He's always selling records and dealing with company's issues, and I am always at the studio, so we haven't had a chance to make it. Q: Last week, when we visited Conscious Sounds, you were mixing your new album with Jah Warrior and Dougie Wardrop and I have to say that it sounded very good. How did you and Steve get together? A: We just started, you know, and this is our first project. Steve has already put out a single called "Can't Take The Pressure" and there should be a whole album by the same title, coming out on Jah Warrior label during this summer. Q: So, let's talk about today's music in Jamaica. What do you think of it? Many young Jamaican artists are singing conscious lyrics, and reggae is getting more rootical than few years ago. A: Yeah, there are many talented young artists in Jamaica right now. For example, Anthony B and Sizzla are very good artists. I like their lyrics and the energy within them. Anyway, musically I would like to hear something new and different from Jamaica. Thay are recycling the old Studio One riddims all the time. That's the same music I was listening to, when I was just a young boy in Jamaica. These old riddims loose something, when they are versioned all over again. In fact, I would like to play some new basslines to them. I would like to show them that it's a new time and new vibes. Q: But it's easier to do over a riddim than to create a new one, and many old riddims are already popular... A: Yes, it's easier to do over a riddim, but on the other hand, when someone makes a new riddim in Jamaica, all the people go crazy about it. Even if it's only a simple dancehall-beat: "dum-dum-du-dum-dum, dum-dum-du-dum-dum" everyone love it. Jamaican producers should use more imagination and they should build more new riddims. You can always get the inspiration from the old tunes, but you still don't have to do direct versions of them. Q: So, let's move onto the last question. Can you reveal us your future plans? What are you going to do in the future? A: This year is going to be my year. I am going to launch an attack. I have created a new style, which is called "roots jungle". It is the kind of mixture of roots and jungle. Few years ago, many young people got into jungle, but as they got into jungle, they got into reggae as well. So, I decided to give them something between roots and jungle. I always feel like creating something new, because that's what this whole thing is about. Even when nothing is wrong with the old, you still have to create something new. It would be nice to get Reggae On Top crew back on the road. Last summer (1997), we had some stage shows and they were fine. We have a nice backing band called Urban Breeze and many good singers, so hopefully we`ll have more stage shows in the future.