Freddy Krueger: "I'm playing with Killamanjaro for 17 years now!"

How did you feel about the clash with Soul Stereo the other day in Garance Reggae Festival?

It was OK. There was nothing I was worrying about. I've been coming to Europe for years, so I'm familiar with the European people and what they like to hear. It was no problem for me.

Actually it wasn't a real clash, it was not meant to be a clash from the start?

It wasn't meant to be a clash, but I think they promoted it that way to make the people come out and see something exciting. Since I was here I thought to myself : "Well…let's give it the best shot ". I know a lot of the people who came out don't know much about soundclash, so I had to adjust myself. I couldn't clash how I normally clash. So I just did it the enjoyment way.

How did you feel about the sets of Soul Stereo and did you know about them before?

No it's the first time I've been listening to Soul Stereo. That's why I didn't play first, I said "Ok, they're in their hometown, let them play first then I know exactly who I'm playing with." So I was listening to them and I said to myself "These guys play good music, they choose good riddims that European people love and good artists. They did their homework, but there is no problem for me. I have this thing locked, I know exactly what to do. I'm not going to play their style, I will take it a different way from there"

Why didn't you play much foundation during the meeting ?

I could play strictly foundation for the whole clash, but remember this : we are in a modern time now.  With the internet, a lot of young people listen to our music, including the Killamanjaro dubplates, and that's what they want to hear when we come over. They want to hear the Garnett Silk, Tenor Saw, or Supercat dubplates.  When I play a Studio One that they never heard about, they will ask about the Garnett Silk and Super Cat so I have to give them those Jaro anthems.

How did you feel about playing on a massive sound system as BlackBoard Jungle ? Do you play on such sounds in Jamaica ?  

Our sound system is much heavier than that but we play with 4 stacks instead of 6 like BBJ.  The set up was nice, if it wasn't for the small stage where we were standing, it would have felt like in a street dance in Jamaica where you are standing on the ground with the massive, surrounded by the sound system.

So you still play street parties in Jamaica?

Same way, every single week we play in the street.

People would think that Killamanjaro plays all over the world in clubs but not in the streets in JA anymore?

No, no, we still play in the streets in JA. As we speak the sound is on his way out in the country to play in a dance

I presume that Jaro have several selectors. How many parties can Killimanjaro hold at the same time?  

We only have three selectors : Maped, Problem Sean and me. We try not to play too much places at one time. The reason is that if you see an advertisement for Killimanjaro in JA, we want it to be one place for that night and not three places. That also avoids problems with promoters who would request one of our selectors, when he's already booked on another dance or so. On the island we don't split up the sound, but it still plays when one selector's abroad of course. 

Why didn't we see Papa Jaro during the clash?

Well he is the man behind the scenes. The man doesn't like to be in the spotlight, going on stage and all that.

Did he give you some instructions or select some tunes for you?

No. The man knows perfectly what I'm capable of doing, so I do my best and he expects nothing less than the best.

But if there would be some kind of weakness during the clash, would he step in the arena and tell you what to do?

Maybe if I go on stage and I play a round that wasn't too good, he would say: "That selection was OK, but you played it at the wrong time, so all that you've lost in this round you have to regain it back in the next round." He'll be more like boosting me. 
Sometimes he gives me an external opinion : since I do the selection, mixing and MC'ing, I don't always have time to read the crowd hence he can stand and analyse their reactions. And then give me some advice if needed.

Talking about European sounds, is there any sound out there that you would like to clash, or sounds that you rate and want to meet one day?

I will clash any sound in Europe, it doesn't matter to me, I fear no sound in the world.There are a lot of good sound in Europe, that are well recognized. You have Sentinel, Supersonic, Herbalize It or Civalizee Foundation.  Pow Pow is a good sound too, and One Love or Heavy Hammer.

Do you still take part in a lot of clashes in Jamaica? 

Not really. The clash scene still go on, but not like before because of financial risks. The problem is that artists are charging a lot of money for dubs, and then you end up overcharging the promoter, and then the promoter have to charge a lot of money for the people to get in. And not a lot of people have that amount of money to spend for the love of the music. In the end, it doesn't make sense for the promoter to organize a clash.

You've said it before, artists are charging too much money for dubs?

I don't care if some people will be vex with me, but that is what I believe. That is reality. You just cannot put a value on this or that artist, that's not wise. I don't think it is fair to put a value on their songs and their career, but they have to understand one thing : in this music we are all together to enjoy ourselves, they have to look at it from the other side. It would work out if artists come together and say "We're charging too much, look we are killing the business". But they will never do that.

Back in the days you had some artists who were close to the sound, like for example Garnett Silk. I suppose money wasn't so central in getting dubplates from those artists?

Back in those days it was a lot more fun, Because you would have a singer or a deejay just wanting to do dubs because they respect the sound and they would just come out and sing, Sometimes you gave them some money, but they knew that if the sound system is doing good, it could help them push their career. Now most of the artists don't think of it that way, they see it like a money thing, a business. It's true that it is a business still, you cannot just give free tunes away like that, but then it is wise for the artists to say "Ok I will cut my price to let this business go on".

Are there still some artists now who would come in the studio and offer their services to Killamanjaro like that?

Yeah, we still have that, but we are closer linked to some of the original foundation artists, they still have that respect for us and we have the same amount of respect for them too.

Tell us about yourself, how long have you been on the sound as a selector?

Since 1996, that's 17 years now, before that I used to Play Super D Sound that was an original sound from Kingston, I played that sound from 1990.

How came the link with Killamanjaro?

When we parked up the Super D sound in 1996, I had to go on. So I joined Killamanjaro. In those days they had Ricky Trooper and Shiny as selectors, but they had many dates so they sometimes needed an extra selector, somebody who was strong enough to carry this. Killamanjaro had faith in me, and they knew what I was able to do, so it started off.

Give thanks for this interview and see you soon at Reggae Geel Festival in Belgium with Papa Jaro.                      

The sounclash with Soul Stereo can be listened here (three hours of dubplates non stop): http://www.mixcloud.com/SoulStereo/soul-stereo-vs-killamanjaro-garance-reggae-festival-24-juillet-2013/