Reasoning with Luciano and Mikey General —Two Years Later

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There’s a fine line between fan and journalist. Cameron Crowe tackled the dilemma in his latest film, "Almost Famous," when his main character sets off on tour with his favorite band, reporting the story back to Rolling Stone Magazine. Does he report the "real" story and face scrutiny from his "friends" in the band? Or does he appease his newfound friends, making the band look flawless and angelic?

I approached this assignment as both fan and journalist. Because Luciano and Mikey General speak for themselves, I faced no compromise. Despite my experience having seen the most atrocious acts from artists preaching a message of harmony, righteousness, equality and love, these two artists come with an honest vibe. What you see is what you get. Refreshing and inspiring, they know they’re on a mission to spread the gospel. Whether you are a fan, a journalist, a promoter, or a musician, they come at you with the same attitude, which you will hear in the pages to come.

Having released two albums within two months, "Great Controversy" [Jet Star] and "A New Day," [VP Records], Luciano matter-of-factly remarked on the coincidence, "I didn’t plan for two, but Jah say two albums in 2001 so I give thanks!" Just having finished a 45+-date U.S. spring tour to promote the two albums, Luciano is planning to return to California to headline Reggae on the River (August 2001), The Renegade Festival (September 2001) and Reggae in the Park (October 2001) where fans are eagerly awaiting his arrival.

The three of us had united for an interview two years ago in Santa Cruz, California, so we were due for another reasoning session. Chico, California proved to be the locale for our interview, following their energetic show at Brick Works on April 19th, 2001. Everyone was exhausted, but after some nice ital food in the hotel room, the crew livened up a bit.

Laura Gardner: The last time we spoke formally was exactly 2 year ago. What has changed in your life since then?

Luciano: Not much has changed. I would prefer to say that things have grown. When I look back at the last tour, "Sweep Over My Soul," I can sense a spiritual initiation amongst my fans, my people who have been supporting me all these years. I give thanks for the reception that we’ve been receiving on "The New Day" tour. It really is a new day in our lives. We’ve been in Jamaica for the past year and a half or two years, working on this album. So here we are today by our faith which has brought us here.

LG: I’ve definitely noticed an improvement; certainly the band seems tighter and a little more mature. Mikey General, you are getting a really nice forum in which to sing now!

Mikey General: Thank you. The management structure has changed slightly within those two years with Brother Luci at the helm. Mr. [Copeland] Forbes is the personal manager and he monitors everything and makes sure everything is running right. They have decided to give me more songs to sing and it’s helping me promote my album, "Spiritual Revolution."

LG: I have listened to "A New Day" and what is most noticeable to me is [saxophonist] Dean Fraser’s influence. What has been his role in the production of your music?

Luci: Mr. Fraser has been an executive producer for "A New Day." Now and again we use different producers. For example, Brother Mikey General and myself produced a track called "Nah Give Up, " and Sly and Robbie produced "If You’re Not Matching then You’re Clashing," and "The Road of Life." "The Journey" was produced by General Lee and Sonic Sound, so we have a little variety with musicians and producers, but more so Brother Dean Fraser has been the Executive Producer.

LG: Do you feel that there is something missing with [former producer] Fattis [Burrell] not being involved anymore?

Luci: I tell you the honest truth: Fattis will always be missed, you know? Even though more time has passed, I still check with him. There comes a time when people grow up. Cocoa Tea, who used to be with Fattis is doing his own thing called Roaring Lion. Beres Hammond also worked with Fattis and now has his own Harmony House. Sanchez is doing his own thing also.

It’s really a matter of giving thanks for what Fattis has done and his contribution to our growth. I still have to say that if it weren’t for Fattis, I wouldn’t have met the Firehouse Crew (Mr. Dean Fraser and many of the other musicians). I have to give thanks at all times for that. And now we are doing our own little t’ing, Jah Messenjah Productions on the way. We will soon come out with our little website, with our e-mail and our fan club. But as a Rastaman, I couldn’t just come and rush into the computer thing [laughs]! I know that Babylon is really rushing ahead of Jah times so if I can slow things down a little, it’s for my best interest.

MG: Concerning Fattis, as Luci rightly said, we miss him sometimes. We learned a lot from him in terms of production, which has now enabled us to produce our stuff to the quality standard that is required. We always use the best musicians; we always use the best studios and the best mixing engineers. He was like a schoolroom.

LG: Like a mentor.

MG: Yes, we were learning and now we have graduated and started on our own.

LG: Since we last spoke, I started my own publication called Jahworks.org. With the new company, people always give me advice. They say if you are a decent and nice person, you should not go into the music business because of the corruption and the difficulty in the industry. How have…

Luci: No! That’s not advice, mon!

MG: That is discouragement!

Luci: You could not say the Messenger is not a decent person. I have to make sure that I help secure this heritage. The music is a means through which we can educate the youngsters. We have to soothe the people’s souls with the music. It’s the highest, the greatest thing.

Music allows us to share our thoughts, our philosophies and we reason telepathically. We know, like everything else, that the music, the church, and the government, has been infiltrated by the forces of evil. Just like you have wicked politicians now who want to pass certain rules and certain legislation causing moral oppression ‘pon poor people, you have some little singers–hurry-come-up musicians–who don’t know anything about playing a note. They just run gone in the studio and say they want to make big hits and be big mega stars [laughs]. They come corrupt them thing! But the music is an innocent thing. It’s the people who know that the music is lucrative and has economic potentiality that rush come into it. But in the long run, it takes good heart to bring good melodies, good words and good inspiration. So we know that clean-hearted people can only endure.

There are a lot of people who make a lot of money, and they don’t know what to do with it so they launder it into the music. Some of them don’t have the patience of waiting and working with artists. Them want a quick t’ing! So, their DJ or singer comes and sings some boogeyaga with no knowledge of what we’ve been using our lives for–going out in the battlefield to teach.

I am more than honored to be a part of this fraternity. Look at the work of Brother Bob Marley or Brother Dennis Brown, Brother Burning Spear, Beres Hammond. All of these great musicians have set up their little kingdoms in their own way, and built up their things. Right now there are thousands, millions of followers following positive musicians, making sure we keep this family alive. We can’t afford to have a negative attitude. So don’t be discouraged.

It’s true; we get bitter temptation sometimes [laughs]! More time, we go pray or ask Jah to give I strength to face another day.

LG: I’ve wondered about that: how do you deal with the people–the women, the fans–who want to get to know you just because of who you are?