It
was a warm September afternoon, the afternoon of September the 11th to be
exact, near Notting Hill, and I was headed towards the house of the
legendary rebel dread, Don Letts… I knocked on the door, and a smiling Don
Letts emerges, wearing his ever-present dark sunglasses. He warmly shakes my
hand, inviting me in to a chaotic, but relaxed household… Don has the
builders in, and there is a lot of renovation going on. Because of the
building works, his house was in some disarray, but still retained some
atmosphere of calm.
DL: You know where I was exactly one year ago on this day, Sept 11th? I was
stuck in my hotel room in downtown New York, unable to move anywhere. It was
pure hell, let me tell you. Mayor Giulliani was telling everyone to just
hold on, and wait for everything to get back to normal, and so for the next
few days we really didn't feel comfortable about moving very far. There I
was, stuck in downtown New York with Jayne County. We were working on an
idea for a documentary on the roots of garage punk in the mid 70's New York
and Detroit scene… CBGB's and all that scene. It feels so strange now, one
year later to be enjoying myself on such a peaceful, still day. The contrast
hits home.
Don excuses
himself for awhile as he chats to the decorators, and busies himself in the
kitchen. Waiting as Don bustles around, making a rice and chicken lunch, I
open Paul Simonon's gallery invite (Paul Simonon has recently quit music to
pursue painting full time) and peruse the catalogue presentation of his
work: still and contemplative paintings of Notting Hill, Shepherds Bush,
Kensal Rise, the neighbourhoods that played such a profound part in all of
their (Don Letts, The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Slits) pasts. The
paintings are reflective and restrained, figurative art, quite in contrast
to Simonons "garage punk meets dub" bass style. Surrounding the central
coffee table are piles and piles of records of every genre: Reggae pre
releases, soundtracks, heavy funk and a wall of reggae CD's. My eye catches
a white label pre release of a recent remix he has been working on. He also
has a sound system, The Dub Cartel Sound System.
DL:
You know what, I recently had the privilege of warming up for the
legendary Jah Shaka!
And he is right to
be proud. Jah Shaka, the Zulu Warrior sound system operator, is a
legendary figure to many, especially those who have followed their roots
reggae since the late 70's.
DL: You know in the late 70's the only white people you would see down
at a Jah Shaka dance in Dalston, Hackney or Stoke Newington, would be
Johnny Rotten, those guys from Public Image, Joe Strummer, and other
guys from The Pistols or The Clash, and these were my friends, people
I'd taken with me. Now it's great to see so many different kinds of
people, different nationalities in the dance. |
 |
Cranking up the bass
as far as it will go, he plays me a selection of hard dubs, remixes he has
been working on for release through the Blood and Fire label, which also
runs as a revive sound system. Harsh snare sound mixes with a threatening
bass rumble, and all put through "Dr Satan's echo chamber", reverbed to the
maximum. The mix is subterranean and murky at the outset of the track,
twisting and progressing into impossibly bright hi hat sharpness and echoey
terrain, constantly underpinned by militant bass and drums. It is aggressive
and pugnacious. Ghostly cut up and spliced voices echo over the surface of
the mix, disembodied and impossible to decipher, creating a mood of
sanctity, bringing to the fore the spirituality and mysticism inherent in
dub music. This is roaring sound system culture music at its best, and soon
to be played out over Don Letts's Dub Cartel Sound System. Don smiles with
satisfaction at the mix, worked on together with his old spar, Dan Donovan.
The sound system culture runs deep in Don's family: Even before Don started
his one deck DJ'ing work in the Roxy in 77, even before Don started taking
John Lydon and his friends to witness The Mighty Jah Shaka Zulu Warrior
dances in the mid to late 70's in London, his father had run a sound system.
Check out the sleeve of Don Lett's recent compilation, ( "DJ Don Letts:
Dread meets Punk Rockers Uptown") and you'll see the picture of "Duke Letts",
cool and resplendent in voluminous zoot suit pants, sharp tailored jacket,
trilby and the latest hot r n' b or Duke Reid or Coxsonne special proudly
held under his arm. This then, is the sound system tradition of "talking
drum griot culture": harsh bass and drum vibrations that gave birth, years
down the line in an unbroken heritage, to the earthquake bass lines of
garage sounds ever present in London today. It was also the militant drum
and bass resonations that emerged out of Kingston JA, and the hazy and
darkened dancehalls of Dalston (Jah Shaka style and fashion), that produced
the splintered patterns of Junglist and dark drum and bass.
|
 |
Don
Letts also has a huge book collection; I notice a lot of books on film,
which is hardly surprising, since he has produced/directed at least two
major films. His first was
"The Punk Rock
Movie", which
Martin Scorsese asked for a private viewing of… Don comments on this,
typically underplaying the situation.
DL: When Scorsese asked me for a private viewing, I was just so taken
aback, and barely found myself able to mumble more than a few words to
the man!... Scorsese was, and is, my favourite director, a great
influence on me. I really respected him, and just couldn't have thought
of anything to say to the guy! |
His second major
feature was "Dancehall Queen", starring current Dancehall don, Beenie Man
which was financed by Chris Blackwell and came out under the umbrella of his
company Palm Pictures, costing 400,000 dollars. Letts is rightfully proud of
this achievement, and has also made 400 videos, working for artists such as
Public Image, Lee Scratch Perry, and The Clash. As for filming Public Image?
DL: John Lydon, Keith Levene and Wobble were always unpredictable, and
volatile…That was a mental experience…they insisted on everything being so
dark, you could only get this intense vibe of the performance, and Jah
Wobble would just sit down and play these seismic basslines! Pure madness!
Yes, I'm proud of that work
…a picture of
himself with John Lydon and Mick Jones of The Clash stares down from the
wall. Next to that, a picture of him with Bob Marley draws my attention, the
two of them looking righteous, rebellious, self composed and sedate. I ask
Don about that day…
DL: Bob wasn't into Punk style and fashion at first, like the designs
Malcolm and Vivienne were putting out, but I just told him, yeah Bob, this
is what people are doing now you know? He also tried to hit on my girlfriend
of the time (Jeannette Lee, ex-manager of Acme Attractions, ex-member of
Public Image, and now king pin and prime mover at Rough Trade) every time I
turned my back!"
Don Letts is the
man Frederico Fellini commented on, remarking that he had "the vision of a
terrorist" after seeing some of his film work. Typically unassuming, when
asked about this, Don simply comments: "I thought that sounded pretty good
in Italian when he said that!" Part
2 | Part 3 |
Part 4 | The Clash
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