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Aston Barrett Family Man  Interview

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Here is a very interesting Aston Barrett Family Man interview done by TVJ's (Television Jamaica) Simone Clarke and Simon Crosskill. Not all the interview is here, but there is enough for you to enjoy. Have fun!   

SC: This is Aston Family Man Barrett, history, pure history, history, musical history; Bob Marley and the Wailers. The man playing the bass probably on just about every track is Aston Family Man Barrett. Morning and welcome! 

Aston Barrett Family Man: Morning! 

SC: Hold on you are saying to me now that the band the Wailers is still on the road? 

Aston Barrett Fmaily Man: Yes my dear sir, I am the captain of that. 

SC: You captain that ship? 

Aston Man Family Man: And I keep it sailing, I won’t let it go down like the Titanic. 

SC: So you play what, still Bob Marley Tunes? 

Aston Barrett Fmaily Man: Yes, that’s all I do. I am the one who arranged and produce them you know. I am like the Quincy Jones you know (smiles). 

SC: But you put the band together? 

Aston Barrett Fmaily Man: Yes.

SC: So the people that you put the band together with, were the people that you were playing with before Bob? Or did you pull the Wailers together after Bob. 

Aston Barrett Family Man: Well couple little changes in between because the band had four names. The first name it was called was the Hippy Boys 

SC: The Hippy Boys! 

Aston Family Man Barrett:  Well we did songs like Doctor No Go and assisted that Rhythm for the Liquidator on my first tour out of Jamaica in 1969, the track was called the Return of D’jango; that is Lee Scratch Perry (produced). 

SC: Obviously influenced by the cowboy movies of the day. So, so listen mi now, so that was then and then, when did you meet up with Bob? 

Aston Barrett Fmaily Man: Well as we returning form the 1969 tour as the Hippy boys and were back in Jamaica as regular session musicians. We ended up being called the Upsetters and that’s where we link up with bob you know. Bob went back to the US to hang out with his mother, I think in Delaware. And then he began hearing a different set of music coming out of Jamaica. So he came back to Jamaica and re-familiarized himself with the music. 

So he asked for the Drummer and the Bass player for those new concepts of music.  The Drummer who is my brother who has passed away now and it was the Upsetter Rhythm, that is what we played in the studio, and in the night clubs we were Youth Professionals. 

SC: That's a lot of different names! So when did you ended up as the Wailers? 

Aston Barrett Family Man: Well it changed from Youth Professional to Wailers International. 

SC: And it has not changed. So tell me what it was like working with Bob. The first tour was in 69 as you said, but no doubt after you linked up with bob the touring thing exploded! 

Aston Barrett Family Man: Yes I start to highlight the Wailers in Jamaica locally, when we did tracks like My Cup is Running Over, Screw Face and Duppy Conqueror, Soul Rebel. Then we merge them in the album Soul Revolution. And then we said we have to take the music to another level, because it was Ska, then Rock steady and I am the architect of Reggae.  

SC: I love it, I love it. 

Aston Barrett Fmaily Man: Reggae music is the heart beat of the people. It is the universal language that carries the message of roots, cultures and reality. 

SC: And revolution!     

Aston Barrett Fmaily Man: Well we pointed out areas to the young people to keep them in line so they don’t walk on the wild side. 

SC: Did you feel largely that your success came there (abroad) before it came here (Jamaica)?  

Aston Barrett Fmaily Man: Well as I’ve said it started here, the roots place here in Jamaica. 

SC: But was the support as overwhelming here in Jamaica as it was abroad, because I know Bob had a hard time for along time even getting his music played. 

Aston Barrett Family Man: Yes well we know we were one of a kind so when we leave out of Jamaica with Bob the first place we ended up was in England, and you know we played two shows a night for two weeks. And after that they wrote in the papers that the first song we did was like a spell and then after that it was like magic. 

Because the spell was the word of the first song which goes, You Hear the Words of the Rasta Man say... 

SC: ...Babylon you Thrown Gone Down. With the band now, do you tour and perform everywhere now still? 

Aston Barrett Family Man: Yes! Every year is like a world tour for us at home and abroad, near and far. 

SC: Is it as enjoyable now as it used to be? 

Aston Barrett Family Man: It is because the fans keep telling us that we don’t realize how much we have changed their lives, some of them even name their kids after us. 

SC: When the Wailers go on tour, who is the lead singer? 

Aston Barrett Fmaily Man: Well we have passed through a few lead singers, sometimes they get what we call LSD not the drugs but l"ead singer diseases".  

SC: They get too big for their shoes (smiles). 

Aston Barrett Family Man: Well we’ve got a young singer now who calls himself Coolant but his real name is Barrington Brown. He is accompanied by another one who calls himself Dangling and we also on the last tour had Dwayne Stephens. 

SC: Which Wailers song do they most want to hear? 

Aston Barrett Family Man: We normally do some instrumentals and then straight into the Natural Mystic. Then we open with coolant and then Dangling comes on and do his thing. 

SC: Good to meet you and we look forward the Wailers playing here. Thank you for sharing all of that historical information.  

Source:  YouTube.com 

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