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Dave Barker
In the same concert in which the SkabadiP crew has interviewed also Laurel Aitken and Mike Drance from Bluebeats, we shoot three birds with one stone interviewing also Dave Barker.
The fifty-one year old Dave Barker is a polite man, with a tranquil look, about 1.75 meters high and with a powerful body, roundish inclined, whose fame is unjustly stiffed to two songs become historicals in the jamaican music. "Double Barrel" and "Monkey Spanner". Unjustly because, for a singer with his capabilities and with a warm vocal tone colour, being remembered for some dance-inspiring howls in a King Stitt’s dj style must not be so rewarding.
This’s why Mr. Barker has kindly come here at Container [a Milan Ska Dance Hall], and we are still enthusiasts, particulary because Dave has hypnotized the audience with his wonderful voice.
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How did you start your musical career?
It was 1968. I used to sing with a guy named Glen Brown, it use to be "Glen and Dave". You know, we used to record for Coxsone at Studio One, we also recorded for Duke Reid. After we recorded for Coxsone, I met Lee Perry Upsetter to which I did "Prisoner of Love". Then I started to sing as a soloist and I recorded for Miss Pottinger "What Can I Do".
I also use to be in the studio with Bob Marley, Bunny, Peter Tosh…you know, the Wailers, and I did the song "First Crash". Lee Perry called it "What A Confusion" (Dave sings). It is me and Bunny Wailer who did that song, and also did a next song two, called "Let The Sun Catch Your Crying": I was the lead voice, Wailers did the harmony.
So it was quite an expericene being amongst the Wailers at the time, because I learned a lot from them, you know.
I also recorded for Duke Reids, and I also sung for Techniques "My Girl" (he sings) and that’s basically it. You know I mean, to which I also made a number one hit "Double Barrel". It was a number one in England in 1971, I was age 23 at the time we came to England to tour for 6-8 months, which was also quite an experience. I have sung with a Soul band called "Cargo" and another called "Icognito". I was in the same tour with Laurel Aitken who was backstage.
I love the Reggae, the Ska, I love every aspect of good music, you know, ‘cause I am an entertainer who sing all kind of music Soul, Jazz, Funk and Reggae.
What about your collaboration with Ansel Collins? When did you start and why did you break up?
Well, in both tracks "Double Barrel" and "Monkey Spanner" the music was made by Ansel Collins, and Ansell sold both tracks to Wiston Riley (Tecniques: label and trio). Sly Dumbar also played drums on "Double Barrel" and he had to rise the bass line as well (Dave sing the bass line). Ansell sold both tracks to Riley for a little a nothing, and Riley come to me and aksed me to put the voice on both tracks, to which I did, and I never met Ansell then, until we bordered to plane to England. I was payed a little a nothing, 40 $ for song, to put my voice on. To my surprise "Double Barrel" become a big hit in UK and I still don’t get any money for it.
We toured England for eight months, then Ansell went back to Jamaica, and I stayed in England, falled in love, get married and have a child. Ansell went back and joined Jimmy Cliff band, and that was the end of Dave & Ansell Collins.
What was you use to do before singing, when you still lived in Jamaica?
As young, I spent most of the time on doing lifting, body building on the beaches, that are very near from Kingston like Paradise Beach, at the time I use to exercise, eat well and sing. I use to wake up very early at the morning and run and swim and sometime fishing too and eating the fish row.
Do you return to Jamaica some time?
I returned there in ‘89, my wife whas killed there…I went there for two weeks, and was a sad occasion, I did not get involved in music, I just got there to pay my respect…
What is your opinion about the nowadays, as there are lots of Reggae, Rocksteady and Ska bands playing the beat around the world?
Well, you see…one of the things is that there are lot of talented singer musicians, dancers and toaster in Jamaica.
I have even seen man with one foot dancing the Reggae (!), because it is in their blood, it is a "livety", as my dear friend Bob Marley would say, it is a "livety". A live source.
When you sing the Reggae, when you go in the studio, well expecially me, when I go around microphones and I sing, all my troubles is gone.When I finish sing then the trouble come back…
So…we hope you’ll never stop singing!
Thank you, as I told before, I love all kind of music, I love Burning Spear – wondeful – Wailing Souls and I love good singers like Culture, Ken Boothe.
And of course the late Delroy Wilson. He was my very good friend , he was a great singer too. At the time in Jamaica there was no publishing or anything like that, so when we went to the studio to make or to sing a music for someone, we just singed from our heart and got our 40 $ and that’s it.
It’s sadly famous the way the producers try to deceive the singers in Jamaica…
It’s terrible! Sometimes it even cost fights, because at the time the record sells and the singer is getting any money. And the singer will approach the producer and asking about his money, and it begins a fight..
Since you worked with Lee Perry, what kind of personality is him?
I met him a couple of years back in England, and I must admit he seems a little bit strange, because I streched my hand to shake and he says (Dave imitates Perry’s face and expressiveness jumping here and there in Container): Nonononono! Don’t shake this hand! This hand has all the power and fire for the Queen, the Queen of England, don’t touch this.
Lee Perry has always been a bit strange, because in the studio when you do a song for him and it sounds good and he also feel it…you know you got a hit on your hands because Lee Perry would be jumping up and down (he imitates him in a rerally funny way).
He knew exacly what he wanted, but again also I find that if most of the producers gave the artist a chance to excel themself it would be a lot better, because there is a lot of music and sound in me that I had been keeping trough this years, because I was never given the chance to trow away…
We heard voices that you are going to record with English band Intensified, is it true?
I had never met, but I think that is in the pipeline in the near future, I leave everything onto the almighty God, becauase now ones knows what lies ahead or around the corner…
Rallo’s remark: being accustumed to hear his declamatory style in songs like "No Matter What The People Says, This Sound Leads The Waves", hearing him has been the most intense emotion of the whole night, being Dave Barker really the legitimate heir of the Slim Smith’s singing tradition…
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16 April 1998
by The SkabadiP Crew
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