HALF PINT INTERVIEW
So I admit I was a little nervous about interviewing Half Pint, as he is a reggae legend and one my personal favorite artists. Within seconds of speaking to him I was immediately put at ease and could not help but enjoy his softly spoken yet passionate conversation. Just as his music communicates messages of love, encourages self respect and strong values, after spending time to talking to him you can't help but think there is hope for the world with people like Half Pint as ambassadors. Introducing Half Pint...
The Pier: So tell us when did you start really getting into music and at what point did you realize you could make a career out of it?
Half Pint: Even when I was young, at age three I could hum and sing along with the songs played on the radio. Then while attending school and when my grandma would make us go to church I would also sing in the choir. Growing up along the way I loved singing so much I knew I had something special for music. And even now as I get older and learn more about life, I love to sing about it with great enthusiasm and conviction. Music for me is really an escape from the problems of the world and gets right in your heart and should make you relaxed and comfortable. Music is all that I do, so it gets me really relaxed and for me to adjust with problems and issues and let the music speak for itself.
The Pier: So who were some of the most influential people in your life in terms of becoming a musician and writing songs yourself?
Half Pint: Overall I would listen to the older artists from Jamaica and hear how they wrote, yes. People like Bob Andy, Ken Boothe, Dennis Brown, Bob Marley & the Wailers and mostly any original artists of Jamaica in the 50s and 60s. Bob Andy teach me that in music is a healing purpose and it can make you sing away your sorrows, the real value of life and learn yourself. I love how the closeness of a family unit was back in Jamaica 50 years ago, they used music as a telling of life, love and values. I grew up with that same frame of mind - peace, love and liberty and I maintain it in my music.
Any music that I hear that give meaning to the power of life and value I gravitate towards it because I really lead a meaningful life and I tend to write what I live and live what I write. When a song is in tune or key you too will find yourself in the right balance in life.
The Jamaican scene at the moment is a bit DANCEHALL, everybody is doing this raw music with the attitude that "anything goes." I try to address things in a more calmer and passionate way, while everyone else right now is trying to sound tough and is egotistical. The music I like is more neutral and understanding. Still these younger artists while are more forward coming still generate from all these older artists like Bob Marley.
The Pier: You have written some of the most popular reggae music in the last couple of decades, how do you feel when you look back on that time when you first started and about some of your bigger hits like Winsome and Mr Landlord?
Half Pint: Back in the 80s when I started recording these songs I was recording them in the sense of appealing to the youth which was in my age bracket back then. Even if the youths were 5-10 years younger than me I would still try to write so they could pick up from what I was saying and be a little more enlightened. Winsome was a song that appealed to the younger girls, not to be too rude and too bad. Because that sex object way of life you need to be cautious and the importance of keeping your self-respect.
Mr Landlord was a song that was identifying the tenement living issues in Jamaica where you would have the landlords demanding rent but refusing to refurbish the homes and providing the utilities that were required. These songs were written appealing to society and trying to add value to life overall and establish goodwill, to be real about it and encourage compassion.
The Pier: Do you spend most of your time living in Jamaica these days?
Half Pint: Yes for the past two years I have been. Previous to that in the 90s I was more abroad like in London, New York, and LA. But when I was away it was still usually only for a few months because I would only have a work permit and have to go back home. I do like to spend most of my time in Jamaica.
The Pier: So how has Jamaica had an influence on your songwriting and your new album No Stress Express?
Half Pint: Right now it is bad there economically. Certain things with the younger generation have also become overbearing and are destroying each other. When I am there I sing them songs to try and make them realize they don’t have to get themselves in certain deep waters. They have fallen victim to gangsterization and trying to get rich quick. I try to help these youth from spiraling out of control by singing about life and value. Don’t get crazy about the material world and don’t let the vanity trick you. I live humble through my music so if I can do it then they can do it too.
I have a song on the new album, Mind Over Matter, which is true. Your mind is so powerful over the material things and if you use your mind you will achieve everything you want to achieve over time with focus and staying at it. If you are singing in the right key your life can be a success. These songs on the album are for the youth that feel the world is coming to an end and to try to revive them with some good karma and good purpose. Life is so supreme I see it next to God, yeah.
The Pier: It looks like you recorded this album in various different studios. Did it take a while for it all to come together?
Half Pint: Yes it took two to three years to do all these different tracks in the different studios, but that is ok as it gives the album different flavors using different producers. This way each song is different and has something special about each of them.
The Pier: What was it like working with Jack Maness and the Dubcat crew? They back you on a couple of songs on the album.
Half Pint: It’s all good, cause Jack he is a member from the Sublime group. I use to like touring with the Long Beach Dub Allstars and Jack would play keyboards and he himself would sing some back-up harmonies and I thought "wow Jack you sing good. Alright now when we get back home we need to record some good music together." In 2003 Jack and I got around to doing the song Unity which we just released. Unity has music with a hip hop drum pattern and pop type vocals so that it could be played on any radio station. That’s why the song is called Unity it can appeal to so many.
The Pier: Are you planning to do anymore work with those guys?
Half Pint: There is a plan now where I am meant to cover Sublime songs sometime next year or the year after, between me and Jack and the rest of the members of Sublime. Universal would love us to get some production done and for me to pick some tracks from all the three big Sublime albums and redo them. They are also suggesting Sly & Robbie come in and do some of the tracks also. I have been listening to the albums and have already picked out three or four songs that I am definitely going to do. I am sure Jack will do some harmony on them, but overall I am going to make them vary from the originals as much as possible.
The Pier: So why did you chose to cover the song My Best Friend's Girl for the No Stress Express album?
Half Pint: Alrighty. There was a publisher in New York that suggested we do a cover of that song. We thought that was good as that song came out originally as the same time as Winsome. Lovers rock in Jamaica is about that where you sing about a girl and the good times and even the bad times. I have been in similar situation where you go through that temptation of having a girlfriend and she leaves and goes onto the next neighborhood and your best friend is now with her and you are like “Oh yeah, gimme back my girl.” This happens to everyone in everyday life (haha, yeah).
The Pier: What are your future touring plans and I hear you are planning on releasing a new ”Best of” compilation soon?
Half Pint: Yes, I will be busy touring this new album probably until the end of this year. Going to places like Europe and Africa.
And yes, Universal is still planning on doing that album. They want to get all my best past songs and remaster them. I don’t mind, I want to hear them sounding really good. We got to put it altogether and get it out. Probably sometime next year. Everywhere I go people want to hear these songs. I tell them here is a newer song from an album of mine and they go “oh yeah? I want to hear the older ones.” Haha. They gravitate to songs from their past faster.
The Pier: Ok this is the last question, what are some of your greatest memories over the course of your music career?
Half Pint: Most of my greater moments begin in Jamaica because it is the place to be when you are a reggae artist. It was challenging back when I started, when you were singing out the truth against those that control you. Democratically you have the right to sing the truth so you have to get over those political moments. Bob Marley got pressured, Peter Tosh, Jimmy Cliff and me as one of the next artists to get some of that resentment because sometime the truth in the music is so powerful. It is a medium that can speak out and free a lot of people. During that time back then that was quite the experience for me and while I have plenty to go I still feel proud of my accomplishments already over the past couple of decades.
Thanks to Half Pint for an inspirational interview and sharing with us his valuable time. Maximum respect!
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