Right. If you look at—you [could] say Bobby Digital, but he made his wealth from doing production. He didn’t make it from being just an engineer. It was tough, man.
When it comes to the genre of dub music—[and] this is my big, macro-like question about dub music generally. In your opinion, in the history of dub, who are the biggest, most important names of dub artists and dub pioneers in the business?
Well, you have to mention Scientist [and] Tubby.
Yeah, those are the two I was thinking you would start with—and you did.
Right. [But] when you talk about Jammy’s [and] Tubby, I don’t have any knowledge of their work. I’ve never seen Tubby’s sit around a mixing board. I never had the privilege to see that. [And] when I saw Jammy come to the studio, I never see him do his own session—I would see other engineers [there]. At one point, I went to England for the first time, and I saw his name on a record. And I was like, “Damn, I didn’t know [Jammy] was an engineer.” I didn’t know these things because I’ve never seen him—you know, me, him personally—I never seen him running a session. Not saying he never did. But I’ve never had the privilege of seeing him doing anything [in the studio, engineering-wise].
Peter, I’m just noticing—I didn’t realize—because when things get so interesting—it’s a saying and it’s true—“when you’re having fun, the time flies.” Because I think I may have predicted to you [before this interview], “Hey, Peter, [we’ll] just be [talking] for an hour.” But I notice now that we’re reaching almost the 3-hour mark—which is incredible!
Are you serious!? (Laughing) What time is it? Listen man, I’m having fun.
Me too.
Because this is one of my first major interviews. Because I don’t do [interviews, generally].
I know you haven’t.
I keep myself out of the limelight. [But] Scientist said I have to tell my story. A lot of people said I should tell my story because a lot of people put their twist on things. A lot of people delete stuff out of the history of what went down.
They do! They do! And Peter, let me say this to you, this has been a joy for me. And it’s gonna be such a joy for many fans of reggae and dub all over the world. And I don’t mean to exaggerate that: it will be. Because they want to know about you and your career. And so, this [epic reasoning we’ve had] is just a gift to the world. What I’m gonna end up doing—just so you know—and I do still have a few last questions that I’m gonna ask you before we hang up—but I’m gonna end up breaking this interview into different sections. Because, you know, the world we live in today, people’s attention spans—they only have so much attention. (Laughing)
(Laughing) Yeah, that’s what I’ve heard.
Probably what I’ll do is release this in three parts. Because it’s about 3 hours. I’ll probably break it down in three parts. And I’ll certainly be getting in touch with you to fine-tune it. Because there will be some things I’ll want to check on the spellings of and [that] I’ll want to make sure I heard accurately. And I’ll be back in touch with you about those things before this interview goes to press so that we can make sure that it’s as accurate [as possible]. But I can tell you it won’t be as difficult—if you can imagine—as some people who I’ve interviewed in reggae. [People] whom it was a lot harder to make a transcript for. Yours shouldn’t be too difficult, but there will still be some things which I’ll end up calling you about to check upon. And I’m hoping, Peter, that actually, we’ll be able to do this [again]. There are so many things, Peter—even though I have at least—I still have 4 more questions I’m gonna put to you—I think they’re relatively [short and] shouldn’t take too long to answer. But I’m hoping that in the future—of course we didn’t talk about a lot of things—and if you’re open to it, and if you’re willing, [I hope we can reason again]. And also, because you know I’m working on a big project with Scientist—we’re trying to do a book about his life and career together. And I view it as just a giant responsibility that I’ve taken on. And I want to do it as good as I can. And you’re such a valuable source—not only about [Scientist] but about your own career; [a career] largely derived or that came about as a result of your friendship with Scientist. And also you just understand the music. And about dub. And reggae. So well. I hope, you know, that we won’t be strangers after today. And I can maybe still call upon you—
Oh, yeah—yeah. For me now, I kinda enjoy telling the stories and [about] my experience. I didn’t think much of it. I thought that the world don’t even remember who I am.
Oh, wow. They definitely do.
Yeah, I never put much into it. I have friends that keep telling me this and telling me that. And I’m like, “Yeah.”
You’ve been living in Maryland for many years now, is that true?
I’ve been here—this year is gonna be 33 years.
Wow. And isn’t also true or accurate that that’s where you reunited [with Scientist]? I think Scientist recalls [that] that’s how he reconnected with you—I think he was thinking it could have happened [at a nightclub in Maryland]. I’m familiar with [that area], because I actually grew up in Maryland. I grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland. So, I know the Maryland area. And D.C. as well.
So, this is funny. I don’t know if [Scientist] told you.
Kilimanjaro! He told me about Mount Kilimanjaro club—
No. We lived on the same street!
Oh! Wow! You did?
Yeah.
In Maryland?
[On] Bel Pre Road.
Oh! (Laughing)
His parents lived on Bel Pre Road, but they lived on the other side. It was about maybe a mile [or] maybe a mile and a quarter [away] from where I was living at [at the time].
Yeah. I know exactly where that is.
Yeah. They used to have RAS Records [nearby]. When I actually met up with [Scientist again], I went up by his mom’s house. And I was like, “Scientist, I just live up the street!” And I was like, “Man, this world is so small.” [Before that], [w]e lived on the same street but we never ran into each other. Because he’s always in the studio and stuff like that—