SOCIAL MEDIA

The Original Wailers

TM - Hi, this is Amelia and Elizabeth from Twinmusix and we are here with Al Anderson from The Original Wailers, thank you for having this interview with us today.

AA - Thank you.

TM - What can fans expect from your Australian tour?

AA - We will be on our best behaviour making the best sound and example of what we have to offer. The world is musically and culturally sound, I have a lot of love for your country and New Zealand as well. I have been coming there for years since the early 70's, probably before you were born, so I have had a lot of opportunities to see the country. New Zealand and Australia is God's country and we look forward to coming back every year and playing because it is a nice country. It is a friendly place and everyone embraces us, the Aborigines, the locals and the international people come out and show us a lot of love. You still have Mum and pop guitar shops, thrift shops, where you can buy CDs and vinyl and Vintage Clothing. When I see that it makes me feel like a young man. Back in the 60s I lived in New York and all these mum and pop guitar shops were thriving all over the place, we had Vintage Clothing and all these really neat shops and Food restaurants, it was a different world. We love taking the time out and coming to perform the music that we create for your people.

TM - What can fans expect from your setlist?

AA - Some original material and some songs from "Legend" and "Soul Rebel" and songs from the Bob, Peter and Bunny catalogue from the mid 60's to Early 70's. We will sing and play these songs that we have written.

TM - Are you working on any new music?

AA - We are pretty much in the middle of completing our new album. The name of our new album is "Mirror of Heaven" and the two songs that are representing mirror of Heaven are "Song of the Divine". There is a video that we did in Bali it is a very spiritual song. We did a very spiritual video and we were able to go to some holy temples and mountains with the Balinese people and the priests and the spiritual councillors blessed us and gave us the right to be in the temples for recording. They showed us a piece of their spiritual life along with the music that we created and it all came together. The second song is in Spanish and it's called "Si Tu Me Lo Das", it is a Serenade that Chet wrote, he is our singer-songwriter and he sings it in Spanish.

TM - What was your writing and recording process?

AA - The first thing we do Is have some food and then we gather our instruments and play and we make sense out of what we are playing. Then we can hear the direction that we are going in and then we lyrically find words that meet our standards of what we represent and you put the music and words together. It is like a puzzle, you never know what it's going to be like until it is all there. The good thing about a puzzle is When you are part way through you can see what you are making and then you get the final product.

TM - What Guitars are you bringing to Australia?

AA - I am probably going to bring two guitars, one is a guitar that I can just throw around and have fun with, it will be a Shankar and I am going to bring one of my Gibson Les Pauls.

TM - They are some great guitars.

TM - Do you find a difference between when reggae started and Reggae in the 70's?

AA - Yeah, there are different processes in the 70'S, dancehall started to carry the swing but reggae has always maintained its foundation. Dancehall is a big part of the Jamaican culture and society today, you have a wide variety of dancehall artists that started back in the 70's. It started from very humble beginnings to now being produced in really high-tech Studios. A lot of people own their own studios in Jamaica. It used to be a simple four track recording and now they have digital consoles that can accompany hundreds of tracks. The music is being produced so it can sound it's best today. In the 60's and 70's it was amazing how the recording turned out and how they pressed and engineered and mastered the records. The sound is completely different from analogue to digital and you can hear the difference and I like both of them. I like analogue better because there's just something about it, you can hear two sides of mono. I like all of the music but I like the early recordings that had a pulse and a sound.

TM - If you could have any band play one of your songs what band would it be, what song would it be and would it be in your style or their style?

AA - The Beatles or Stevie Wonder they are some of my favourite bands.

TM - Is there anything else you want to say to your fans?

AA - We love you and we are looking forward for you to come out. We will treat all our friends and our fans to a wonderful reggae party in our New Zealand and Australian tour coming up. We are going to be on our best behaviour and we are going to be playing some original songs from the "Mirror of Heaven" album coming from The Original Wailers.

TM - Thank You for having this interview with us today, we appreciate it.

AA - Thank You and see you all in Australia.