The man who gave the Wailers their “Natural Mystic” and pushed the frontiers of dub music at his Black Ark studio has never lost his creative mojo, even at the age of 78. In the fourth and final installment of this exclusive interview with Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry he discloses that he was once addicted to ganja, and that too much music and/or fire and/or weed in his head made him crazy. “They want to find out whether it’s me singing or the ganja singing” he says. “It’s better when me sing. If the ganja can sing, it ah go take you to a height that you can’t come back.” Scratch doesn’t want his fans or anyone else to get addicted to ganja just because of “style”.
In the third installment of this exclusive interview with Scratch, he talks about why Princess Kate, the future Queen of England, is not the sort of girl he wants to see in bed—and why neither the Queen of England, America, the Illuminati, nor the Free Masons can make it. “The people get wise and start to realize they don’t want to serve the Devil”
The man who worked with pioneering producers Coxsone Dodd and Duke Reid went on to carve out his own path through the rough-and-tumble reggae business, often burning his bridges (and studios) behind him. In the second installment of this exclusive interview with Scratch, he talks about why he set up his studio “To make a revenge on Coxsone.” He also reveals the awesome power of the studio: “It produce rain, whirlwind, hurricane, tidal wave, thunder, hailstone, earthquake, and it preserve life and it kill. It cripple, it cramp, and paralyze”
In the first installment of this exclusive interview with Scratch, he talks about two of his most recent collaborations—the ‘Vibes’ EP, a collaboration with the Swiss musician Iguana, and the ‘Back on the Controls’ project for which the London-based Rolling Lion team recreated all the exact recording equipment and techniques used at the Black Ark. “The Ark of the Covenant is a spirtual vibration,” scratch explains. “Ancient spirits speak… Everything is spirit. Because God is a spirit and Satan the devil also is a spirit. But Satan need competition.” Find out why Scratch sprinkles white rum inside the studio before beginning a recording session
