Exclusive and extensive interview with NY's musician and producer - Michael G. AKA Easy Star. Promoting the latest album - Radio Dread - a reggae version of Radiohead's modern classic rock album - OK Computer. Michael G. was born and raised in NY. Over the last 20 years recorded and produced a handful of albums, one of which, gave him international status - Dub Side of the Moon -

First question: Why OK computer?

A: Ok, well several reasons, I hope you have time. First of all, OK Computer is considered by many to be an amazing, progressive album that touched a lot of people. It is very musically interesting and there was even a big music magazine in the United States - Spin Magazine, called it the greatest album of the last 20 years. Radiohead is considered to be one of the most interesting and progressive rock bands out there now. So you want to start with good source material if you want to cover something… that was one reason. Another, is because Radiohead and OK Computer respectably are often considered like the modern day Pink Floyd and Dark Side of The Moon, and because we’ve already covered Dark Side of The Moon, it just kind of made sense to move in that direction as well… the third reason is that a lot of people expected us to do something very obvious like The Wall or Wish You Were Here or a Beatles album or something like that. We wanted to do something that people will say, “Oh shit they did that…” you know. I knew it would be a difficult record to do because it is very complex, but if you can succeed in something difficult, it is much more satisfying than if you succeed in something easy…

Q: Did you have other options in mind?

A: Oh yeah, we spent like a year on throwing about ideas figuring out what we were going to do, but I cannot reveal. One of these ideas that we’ve decided to pass on, we may decide on doing in the future and if we’ll reveal it now it has less strength.

Q: Were Radiohead updated of your work and how long did it take to finish the whole project?

A: We decided that this would be the album in January 2005. We immediately contacted Radiohead’s publishers and their managers and talked to them about it. They said it was a great idea. We know that Radiohead know Dub Side of the Moon, because they played the CD before they went on stage on one of their tours…so no worries, as they say in England... we started working on the album. I've spent six months writing the arrangements. It was very difficult and challenging because of the complexity of Radiohead’s music. Then we went in the studio, I got the band together and recorded the basic tracks, and we started recording some vocals. Around that time, we got an e-mail from Radiohead’s management saying, “You know what, they changed their minds, they don’t want you to do the album.” - that was pretty upsetting because we’ve already spent thousands of dollars. We’ve been working on it for like 10 months already…but you can’t give up if you want to succeed. I quickly went in the studio, mixed two of the songs that we’ve done the vocals on and a lot of the music was done for, just in one night quick mixes, sent it off to them and a week later they wrote back saying, “Oh Radio Head loves it go a head.” So there were about 2 weeks when we were very scared that our company was going to go under because we’ve just spent all this money on an album that will never come out… Since then, we were updating them and they just asked that we'll send them the album as soon as it’s done. They didn’t want to keep hearing mixes because they were working on their new album. When they heard it, they all really loved it, which is very gratifying. Tom York, the lead singer, mentioned it on stage in a concert in Philadelphia… he bigged up our album which is pretty amazing because he is known to not say anything on stage. So we try to keep them informed. It is pretty nice to have some kind of relationship with them now because they are very important group, they are very popular…

I think the album was completely done and ready to be manufactured by the middle of May 2006, so it took about 15 or 16 months.

Q: How did you relate the singers to the lyrics and music of Radiohead with the production you made? A: Some of them had heard of Radiohead before, although I don’t think any of them actually heard their music, some of them had no idea what it was but they trusted me or someone like Frankie Paul, he had worked on Dub Side and he knows how successful that's been, so he didn’t doubt that this would be the same. Many of them thought that the lyrics were very strange, but by the end of the session, they all felt the vibes of whatever song they were recording, and really got into it. In fact, I wish we were video taping more in the studio because I have such great memories of certain artists singing so passionately and it is just amazing that you take a rock song that you couldn’t relate to at first, then put your heart and soul into it. It’s just beautiful.

Q: Do you remember one particular artist that was more enthusiastic than the others?

A: Maybe Sugar Minott, whom I’ve worked with many times over the last 10 years. He is one of my favorite singers. He really got into the song that he did. Actually it is my favorite song in the album already… I don’t always enjoy listening to my own works, because I’ve spent so much time on it. I just want to put it in the past and move to something else, but this song I still enjoy listening to because of his performance.

Q: Did you get any reactions from Pink Floyd on Dub Side of the Moon?

A: Yes, First we’ve got a fax from Roger Waters saying that it’s his policy not to comment on covers of his work. He acknowledged he had got the CD, but he wouldn’t say whether he liked it or not.

David Gilmore was on some popular radio show in England and the interviewer asked him about Dub side of the Moon and he said “ho I loved Dub side of the moon and I’m actually upset that the last time the band was in London, I didn’t get to see them"…So we thought since we are going to London in December maybe David will feel like getting up on stage and do something.... Clare Torry (the singer on Pink Floyd's - Great Gig in the Sky) also contacted us independently. I don’t think she’d even spoken to anyone in Pink Floyd in the last 20 years, but left us a message on the phone saying how much she loved the album. We sent her a Dub side T-shirt and she sent us a photo wearing it, so there were good vibes there.

I like to think that any of the artists who hear it, at least recognize that we took it very seriously and respected their work. It wasn’t just “oh lets make some money by doing a cover album” and I know we’ve heard from all the guys in Radiohead that they really do respect what we do so it makes me feel good as a producer.

Q: Is reggae and dancehall music two different things in your opinion?

A: I prefer roots reggae to modern dance hall, but still I see it as a one big family.

Q: Do you believe that roots and culture music have a place on the dance floor today?

A: Yeah definitely… if you ignore roots and culture you are missing on a very important part of life. Actually, we have an album called dance and culture where we did more updated music, but it was all cultural and it was our worst selling album, so maybe that means people don’t want to hear culture in the dance halls but as least we tried…

Q: How are you, Easy Star, a part of the New York reggae scene?

A: We used to be much more an important part of the New York reggae scene because we had a party every Tuesday night for 6 years, but it had to end. Now, we have taken it to the next level. We are on more international vibe in terms of the success of our record so it is time for the youth to take over.

Q: Do you have a favorite sound system in New York?

A: I don’t want to play favorites because I know everyone will read this on reggae.co.il… I don’t think there is really any difference in quality I think the sound I’ve heard in Israel are just as good as in New York.

Q: Can you name one Jamaican artist that you would love to work with in the future?

A: Wow it’s tough. I think you’ve asked me this question last week and I don’t even remember what I’ve said… I would love to work with Israeli artists I think there are a lot of vibes here. I really can’t think of any Jamaican artists that I haven't worked with right now but if I do, I’ll let you know.

Q: Can you list 5 best crucial reggae cuts from your collection?

A: Wow, that’s a tough question… I can name some artists, like Augustus Pablo, he is one of my biggest inspirations. Jackie Mittoo, because he is so important to the history of reggae music and very few people know him. Aswad cause they are one of my favorite groups from back in the days when I was first getting into reggae. And if the Hatikva 6 album was done, I would have played that but it’s on me to finish it now, but hopefully enough DJ’s around the world will be playing it soon.

Q: So how does it feel to work in Israel?

A: Well, it has been probably the best recording experience in my life and I’ve been recording musicians for almost 20 years now and I’ve been producing for 10. The vibes here in Israel are the best, the people are the best, Hatikva 6 - the nicest musicians I’ve ever worked with, quality people, good vibes all the time. I think we are making some important music that hopefully will change the way people in Israel think about reggae and how people all over the world think about Israel. That’s really part of my goal.

A: Forward! Kadima! (in Hebrew) I guess people would say they are modern roots / dancehall band whatever that means, but to me it’s what the reggae vibes are. I don’t want to categorize it. There are influences of many different styles of music. There are some songs I think someone would hear it and if they didn’t know the background, they would say ho that’s a hip-hop song. There are songs people would say that’s a ballad or a rock ballad. It is all based on the reggae vibe, but there are many influences from the band and from my self and I think it has the potential to be a popular in Israel and hopefully around the world.

Q: Do you really think that Hatikva 6 has the potential to be played in radio stations around the world?

A: Anywhere, where people appreciate good music and appreciate reggae music they are going to like them because they have a big advantage over other Israeli acts. Omri, the singer, sings half the time in English and half the time in Hebrew, so the Israeli audience will be able to relate to him. The rest of the world might be freaked out by hearing Hebrew and they will have the English songs to relate to….it’s going to be 14 songs - 7 in English, 7 in Hebrew. Actually couple of songs have lyrics in both languages, but it’s going to… there are a lot of Israeli bands that perform in NY and there are a lot of Israelis so the audience is really into it, but it’s hard for them to travel around countries of the world and really reach out to an audience if they are not singing in a language the audience understands, whereas Hatikva 6 will be able to come to America, or all over Europe, so people will understand what they are singing about and that’s going to help them be more popular.

Q: Is there going to be any collaboration on the album?

A: Well, it’s really a matter of logistics and finances because musically it makes a lot of sense. Even without guest artists it’s a very strong piece of work. It doesn’t need any help, but it will be great to get some Jamaican artists to give it more legitimacy in the reggae world.

Q: Do you think one of the riddims on the album can make it as a riddim album, like in Jamaica?

A: Yeah it’s a possibility. There are some strong riddims on there. Both, dancehall and roots, that I think are nice so there is definitely a potential for that. We’ve been thinking about it.

Q: In Easy Star volume one there was a feeling that you were trying to recapture the sound of the reggae from the old days, is it something you are trying to get in your productions?

A: I think we started out thinking like that, but now we just want to make records that sound good. So if it’s working that’s cool with me. I think the older I get, I realize that music is music. If it makes people happy, then you are doing it right. So that’s really my goal, is not to copy a sound but to make music that sounds good to me.

Q: How is it, business wise, as a label in the music industry today with all the downloads and copyright violations of CD's?

A: We are not able to make a living of Easy Star even though we sold almost 100,000 copies around the world of Dub Side, (which is amazing), but even so, it costs a lot to run the record label, and we have to pay Pink Floyd and Radiohead. It’s just the reality. In America unless you are selling half a million records you are struggling. Radio Dread maybe can do this, because if we have 2 successful albums out there selling a few hundred copies a week, then all of a sudden the business is much more viable.

Q: Do you have a lot of international gigs as a band? are you touring now? A: Yeah, we’ve been really lucky to get some nice touring going. We’ve toured all over the United States several times. We’ve gone to the UK twice, and we are going back in December. This year we went to France, Italy and Croatia. We are also doing south American tour, a bunch of gigs in Brazil and one in Buenos-Aires in Argentina, and in 2007 we are hoping, we are going back to continental Europe and hopefully this time we can get further and further east, and hopefully wined up in Israel.

Michael G with Reggae.co.il t-shirt

Q: How did you get into reggae?

A: I remember hearing music as a really young kid on the radio and asking my dad what is that and he said it’s reggae. This is just a weird memory I have… I was really lucky to grow up in NY, lots of different cultures going on, people from all over the place, a lot of different music. I’ve started hearing reggae and that coincided with me starting to be a musician, teaching myself guitar. I would listen to "Catch a Fire" all the time and I’ve learned all the songs there. Back in the 80’s there were a lot of great reggae bands and the Ska revival (in NY), and then made the connection…Ska and reggae are related, so that was just a natural progression I would say.

Q: So it wasn’t like you were living in a Jamaican neighborhood or met Jamaicans in your college or something like that?!

A: I like reggae and my friends liked reggae and we would go to clubs together and I knew some Jamaicans but they weren’t the influence. It was more hearing the music and feeling it and loving it.

Q: What was the first reggae album you bought?

A: It might have been Catch a Fire I think I bought that when I was 12 years old, some of the early artists that I’ve listened to, besides Bob Marley, Yellow man, Tiger, I don’t think a lot of people know him. Third World, Steel Pulse, Aswad, everyone knew the Harder they come soundtrack, all of that stuff… the Black Uhuru a lot of bands, not just singers, it was a bands thing then.

Q: Matisyahu started this Jewish reggae wave, do you relate to it in any level? Would you want to work with him? Or thought about it?

A: I think Matisyahu is very talented and he’s brought reggae to a really good place in terms of people having respect. Just the idea of people respecting a Jewish reggae artist and also a Hassidic one is really great; I would love to work with him one day. I think he’s got a really nice message, a nice voice and we can do some cool stuff together. About Jewish reggae, so much Bob Marley lyrics are from the Tehilim and people should recognize that reggae gets a lot of his vibes from Jewish culture. We named our record company Easy Star because we wanted Jamaicans to feel comfortable with us and we named it a very Jamaican name so people would know these guys are not Jamaicans, but we respect Jamaican culture and we want to reach out to people that way. So to be a Jewish person who is doing music that considered not Jewish, you have to show respect. But I think it should go the other way too. That people involved with reggae, Jamaicans, Rastafarians, should (and some of them do), respect the biblical influences, so many lyrics are from the Tanach (Jewish bible), and you take that away, you take out so much great reggae.

Q: Do you think you’ll ever get a band together and make your own album one day?

A: Yeah, I would love to. I think I have something to say. I think I can make something really interesting; it is just a matter of having time to do that. Right now, I want Easy Star to be successful enough that I can make a living out of Easy Star, I have to keep on doing these projects like Dub Side and Radio Dread. I get hired to work with other people. I have a great time working with Hatikva 6, but one day I would love to put together a band, and record an album in Israel. So yes I would love to do that, meod! (very much)

Q: What is the aim of your music and what do you want to achieve musically and career wise?

A: Career wise, it’s easier, I would love to just be able to make a living off of making music. I don’t need to be rich. If my wife reads this, yes I’m going to be rich, but it would be great if we lived in a society that respected music as much as it respected other important things, then people like myself or anyone here, would be able to make a living off music much more easily. Our society needs doctors, lawyers, policemen, teachers but we need music too because music brings joy to so many people. If you took away music from the world, there would be so much more strife. People would be in bad moods more, there would be more violence. Music is really important. So getting back to the first part of your question, what I hope to achieve from music is to bring joy to people’s lives and maybe, I know it is very big lofty goal, but maybe try to bring more peace to the world through music. I mean if everyone just set around listening to music together, we could have solved a lot of problems. I know that sounds altruistic, but I really do think that music got that kind of power. If you think back to what had happened in America, in the 40’s and 50’s, you didn’t really have black and white people hanging out together, but then jazz came along and now hip-hop is probably the most popular music in the world, and the majority of people buying hip hop records are white. My point is that music has helped bridge gaps, made it be less racism in America, it’s a powerful force. I think there are a lot of people who make music and they are very negative and their lyrics are just about sex, guns, money, that’s not helping the world, it may help putting money in their pockets but it’s not helping anyone. One of the reasons I got into reggae is the positive lyrics, lyrics about political and social change, and lyrics about trying to resolve inequalities.