1 00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:06,139 ♪ Opening theme music ♪ 2 00:00:13,546 --> 00:00:17,984 Hello, and welcome to this episode of ArtsAbly in Conversation. 3 00:00:18,018 --> 00:00:20,120 My name is Diane Kolin. 4 00:00:20,120 --> 00:00:25,291 This series presents artists, academics, and project leaders who dedicate their 5 00:00:25,291 --> 00:00:31,164 time and energy to a better accessibility for people with disabilities in the arts. 6 00:00:31,331 --> 00:00:36,503 You can find more of these conversations on our website, artsably.com, 7 00:00:36,503 --> 00:00:41,574 which is spelled A-R-T-S-A-B-L-Y dot com. 8 00:00:42,642 --> 00:00:47,781 ♪ Theme music ♪ 9 00:00:55,455 --> 00:01:01,428 Today, ArtsAbly is in conversation with Clint Warren, a composer, a guitarist, 10 00:01:01,461 --> 00:01:06,800 a singer, songwriter, and a producer living in Cleveland, in Ohio. 11 00:01:06,833 --> 00:01:11,337 You can find the resources mentioned by Clint Warren during this episode 12 00:01:11,337 --> 00:01:14,707 on ArtsAbly's website in the blog section. 13 00:01:15,175 --> 00:01:20,313 ♪ Clint Warren - Reggae Beat ♪ 14 00:01:39,165 --> 00:01:43,470 Take it easy, take it easy, 15 00:01:43,470 --> 00:01:48,108 Oh, you gotta, gotta slow it down now. 16 00:01:48,108 --> 00:01:51,611 Take it easy, take it easy, 17 00:01:51,644 --> 00:01:56,049 'cause life's not so serious, no. 18 00:01:56,082 --> 00:01:59,552 Just listen to the reggae beat 19 00:01:59,552 --> 00:02:04,023 and let the music take you off your feet 20 00:02:04,057 --> 00:02:09,028 and get ready to grab a seat now 21 00:02:09,028 --> 00:02:13,366 and take a step back and let your worries subside. 22 00:02:13,399 --> 00:02:17,570 Take it easy, take it easy, 23 00:02:17,604 --> 00:02:22,342 Oh, you gottta, gotta slow it down now. 24 00:02:22,375 --> 00:02:25,645 Take it easy, take it easy, 25 00:02:25,678 --> 00:02:30,216 'cause life's not so serious, no. 26 00:02:30,250 --> 00:02:34,554 Why don't you take some advice and 27 00:02:34,554 --> 00:02:38,992 listen to these words I've written for you. 28 00:02:39,025 --> 00:02:43,096 Smoke some ganja and then unwind. 29 00:02:43,096 --> 00:02:48,034 Take a step back and let your worry subside. 30 00:02:58,478 --> 00:03:03,616 ♪ End of the musical excerpt ♪ 31 00:03:05,818 --> 00:03:09,389 Welcome to this new episode of ArtsAbly in Conversation. 32 00:03:09,422 --> 00:03:15,161 Today, I am with Clint Warren, who is a composer, a guitarist, 33 00:03:15,194 --> 00:03:21,534 a singer-songwriter, and a producer living in Cleveland, in Ohio. 34 00:03:21,534 --> 00:03:23,203 Yes. Clint, welcome. 35 00:03:23,236 --> 00:03:24,771 Thank you. 36 00:03:25,171 --> 00:03:26,072 Okay. 37 00:03:26,072 --> 00:03:32,912 I know you have a long career in reggae and rock and intersectional work 38 00:03:32,912 --> 00:03:35,048 that we're going to talk about. 39 00:03:35,048 --> 00:03:40,353 But before talking about your musical world today, 40 00:03:40,386 --> 00:03:43,223 I would like to know a bit about you. 41 00:03:43,256 --> 00:03:47,694 Would you mind presenting yourself and talking a bit about your background, 42 00:03:47,727 --> 00:03:50,229 where you from, where you grew up? 43 00:03:50,263 --> 00:03:52,265 Thank you. Yes, sure. 44 00:03:52,298 --> 00:03:58,738 So at the moment, I'm a reggae solo artist, but I started off as a child. 45 00:03:58,771 --> 00:04:02,342 If you can detect an accent, I'm from South Africa originally, 46 00:04:02,342 --> 00:04:04,344 so I moved to the States when I was about 10. 47 00:04:04,377 --> 00:04:08,648 But in South Africa, I was the host of a kids TV show. 48 00:04:08,681 --> 00:04:10,984 It was like a pop culture show. 49 00:04:10,984 --> 00:04:15,888 It was called Zap Mag, and we would have famous musicians come on. 50 00:04:15,888 --> 00:04:21,294 One of the most famous reggae artists in Africa's history, Lucky Dube, 51 00:04:21,294 --> 00:04:24,430 was one of my guests on the show. 52 00:04:24,464 --> 00:04:28,401 So he's essentially South Africa's version of Bob Marley. 53 00:04:28,434 --> 00:04:33,906 And so I got to actually perform a song with him on a keyboard. 54 00:04:33,906 --> 00:04:37,877 I was kind of playing along, and he explained to me one drop beats 55 00:04:37,877 --> 00:04:43,049 and how the keyboard is a major instrument in reggae because 56 00:04:43,049 --> 00:04:46,653 it's more distinct and the guitar makes a different sound that doesn't rock. 57 00:04:46,653 --> 00:04:49,889 And I was just so fascinated by that. 58 00:04:49,889 --> 00:04:53,192 Reggae became my favorite genre. 59 00:04:53,226 --> 00:04:56,129 As you'd imagine, reggae in Africa is very different 60 00:04:56,129 --> 00:04:57,764 than reggae in the United States. 61 00:04:57,797 --> 00:04:59,565 So I moved to Florida. 62 00:04:59,599 --> 00:05:03,770 When I was 10, I got into American reggae, which at the time 63 00:05:03,770 --> 00:05:08,074 the three biggest reggae acts were 311, No Doubt, and Sublime. 64 00:05:08,074 --> 00:05:12,111 I was like, wow, this is a very different reggae, but it was cool. 65 00:05:12,145 --> 00:05:16,849 Sublime combined reggae with some Spanish music and some ska 66 00:05:16,883 --> 00:05:20,953 and stuff, ska predated reggae. So I got into all that. 67 00:05:20,953 --> 00:05:25,024 I joined the Marines, continued to listen to Sublime and all those bands, 68 00:05:25,024 --> 00:05:29,729 and I got stationed out in Southern California. 69 00:05:29,729 --> 00:05:33,499 This was probably back in 2004. 70 00:05:33,666 --> 00:05:38,338 And at the time, I got into some bands there, Huntington Beach sound, 71 00:05:38,338 --> 00:05:41,274 which became known as the Dirty Heads now. 72 00:05:41,307 --> 00:05:44,711 And I played in a bunch of bands. 73 00:05:44,744 --> 00:05:50,283 And so music, up until then, was a passion of mine. 74 00:05:50,316 --> 00:05:54,353 Unfortunately, in the Marines, I was injured in combat, 75 00:05:54,387 --> 00:05:58,091 so I ended up in a wheelchair, and I lost the use of my right arm, 76 00:05:58,091 --> 00:06:01,160 so could no longer play guitar or piano. 77 00:06:01,194 --> 00:06:03,229 And I just edged out. 78 00:06:03,229 --> 00:06:07,400 I decided to focus on, you know, 79 00:06:07,400 --> 00:06:09,736 more of a desk job type of thing. 80 00:06:09,769 --> 00:06:15,041 I ended up going to law school, got a law degree, ended up joining the Peace Corps, 81 00:06:15,041 --> 00:06:19,145 became a legal advisor to the United States Department of State. 82 00:06:19,178 --> 00:06:22,148 Still had a huge passion for music. 83 00:06:22,181 --> 00:06:28,721 And I finally recently underwent a bunch of surgeries, three surgeries a year. 84 00:06:28,755 --> 00:06:31,824 But you can see now, I have use of this arm again. 85 00:06:31,858 --> 00:06:34,360 It's like a bionic arm. 86 00:06:34,394 --> 00:06:37,864 I got an ulnar nerve transplant and all this other crazy stuff. 87 00:06:37,897 --> 00:06:41,567 But it actually allowed me to start playing guitar again. 88 00:06:41,567 --> 00:06:45,571 So I started playing guitar, started making music. 89 00:06:45,571 --> 00:06:50,076 And I decided I'd like - Two years ago, I said, 90 00:06:50,076 --> 00:06:53,146 I'm just going to focus on music full-time. 91 00:06:53,179 --> 00:06:58,351 Normal law, gave up the practice of law, decided to become a full-time musician. 92 00:06:58,384 --> 00:07:03,990 And now I'm finding out on social media and stuff, I've got fans 93 00:07:03,990 --> 00:07:07,560 reaching out to me and they're like, Oh, we love your songs. 94 00:07:07,593 --> 00:07:15,601 And it's mind boggling that a dream come true is actually coming true. 95 00:07:15,635 --> 00:07:22,975 So between the moment you were injured and the moment you went back to figuring out 96 00:07:22,975 --> 00:07:29,182 how to go back to music, how long did it take and what was the process? 97 00:07:29,215 --> 00:07:30,583 It was a long time. 98 00:07:30,616 --> 00:07:37,256 I was injured in Operation Iraqi Freedom that same year, 2004. 99 00:07:38,224 --> 00:07:44,931 I would say from 2004 to really 100 00:07:44,931 --> 00:07:48,968 2012-ish, I couldn't really walk. 101 00:07:49,001 --> 00:07:54,073 I was in a wheelchair. 102 00:07:54,207 --> 00:07:59,312 Well, the thing about, talking about - one of the reasons I joined this organization, 103 00:07:59,312 --> 00:08:02,782 and I know we'll get to it later in the interview, but the stigma 104 00:08:02,782 --> 00:08:06,285 with having a disability. 105 00:08:06,419 --> 00:08:10,356 So for me, when I first got out of the Marines, they diagnosed me with PTSD, 106 00:08:10,389 --> 00:08:12,291 and it wasn't really documented. 107 00:08:12,291 --> 00:08:15,294 I crushed my knee, essentially. 108 00:08:15,294 --> 00:08:20,633 A knee surgery, ended up with a blood clot, and it just rechaoss. 109 00:08:20,633 --> 00:08:25,504 I lost all the muscle of my right leg, I had spinal cord injuries, 110 00:08:25,504 --> 00:08:28,608 broke my cervical spine, and all that stuff. 111 00:08:28,608 --> 00:08:31,043 So that's the reason I lost feeling. 112 00:08:31,077 --> 00:08:35,047 But when I got out, they diagnosed me with PTSD, and they were like, 113 00:08:35,047 --> 00:08:39,619 the conditions that they found out that I actually did have, 15 years later, 114 00:08:39,652 --> 00:08:41,520 they said they were psychological. 115 00:08:41,554 --> 00:08:45,825 They said I couldn't use my arms because I had depression and PTSD and stuff. 116 00:08:45,858 --> 00:08:49,528 And they never actually did nerve testing to find out where 117 00:08:49,528 --> 00:08:53,266 the disconnect was in the nerves. 118 00:08:53,299 --> 00:08:57,670 So it really took complaining in the United States 119 00:08:57,703 --> 00:09:00,606 is the Veterans Administration. 120 00:09:00,606 --> 00:09:05,578 So you go to these VA hospitals and just once a week, I was in there 121 00:09:05,578 --> 00:09:09,048 just saying, I still can't write. 122 00:09:09,048 --> 00:09:12,118 I'm trying to go back to school and I can't use my right arm. 123 00:09:12,151 --> 00:09:14,553 And they'll be like, Okay, we're going to switch your antidepressants. 124 00:09:14,587 --> 00:09:17,523 So they did that for 10 years. 125 00:09:17,690 --> 00:09:20,526 That's one of the things that led me to go to law school. 126 00:09:20,526 --> 00:09:23,262 Part of going to law school, I found out 127 00:09:23,296 --> 00:09:29,035 that basically the way that the VA runs, 128 00:09:29,068 --> 00:09:32,405 I was able to challenge that. 129 00:09:32,438 --> 00:09:36,809 You can't really sue the VA because it's a Department of the federal 130 00:09:36,809 --> 00:09:41,047 government in the United States, but I could challenge those sorts of things. 131 00:09:41,080 --> 00:09:46,485 So I started filing cases against the VA, and I got 132 00:09:46,519 --> 00:09:50,590 outside medical opinions, and my case was that they should pay for this. 133 00:09:50,623 --> 00:09:52,425 I went to a private doctor. 134 00:09:52,458 --> 00:09:54,226 I got private nerve testing. 135 00:09:54,260 --> 00:09:57,663 Well, that whole thing took 10 years of going through 136 00:09:57,697 --> 00:09:59,532 the court system and everything. 137 00:09:59,532 --> 00:10:04,303 So it wasn't until 2017, from 2004 to 2017, that I had 138 00:10:04,303 --> 00:10:09,342 the first surgery in my arm, where they replaced my ulnar nerve, 139 00:10:09,342 --> 00:10:12,845 which had basically been tied in a figure 8 somehow. 140 00:10:12,878 --> 00:10:15,448 And they're not sure how exactly. 141 00:10:15,448 --> 00:10:20,620 I guess, going through the routine of training for years and punching stuff, 142 00:10:20,653 --> 00:10:24,290 like punching cement, and that thing. 143 00:10:24,290 --> 00:10:29,228 Somehow the ulnar nerve was tied in a knot, and 144 00:10:29,228 --> 00:10:33,733 leaving it that long, it damaged the nerve that it had to be replaced. 145 00:10:33,733 --> 00:10:40,306 So it took 2004 to 2017 to actually start the surgery processes. 146 00:10:40,339 --> 00:10:43,075 And then they were like, Well, that's not the only thing. 147 00:10:43,109 --> 00:10:46,712 We have to do a carpal tunnel on both hands. 148 00:10:46,746 --> 00:10:49,882 We have to do spine surgery. We have to do knee surgery. 149 00:10:49,882 --> 00:10:52,852 We have to do abdominal surgeries. 150 00:10:52,852 --> 00:10:54,987 It was crazy. 151 00:10:55,021 --> 00:10:57,990 But you were still singing at this point, right? 152 00:10:58,024 --> 00:10:59,959 Oh, I was. 153 00:10:59,959 --> 00:11:02,495 So, I... 154 00:11:02,495 --> 00:11:05,364 The positive out of all this is that 155 00:11:05,398 --> 00:11:07,533 when I was a kid, I could play piano 156 00:11:07,566 --> 00:11:12,304 and guitar, drums and stuff, but I never imagined myself being a singer. 157 00:11:12,338 --> 00:11:15,708 I try to sing on my show, I try to carry a tune. 158 00:11:15,741 --> 00:11:21,013 Everyone said I was completely tone deaf, that I would never be able to sing. 159 00:11:21,013 --> 00:11:23,949 So because I was in a wheelchair, it forced me to sing. 160 00:11:23,983 --> 00:11:28,988 I would try and emulate the notes on a guitar because I'd be trying to 161 00:11:29,021 --> 00:11:32,091 explain to my friends who played guitar, You should try and play this. 162 00:11:32,091 --> 00:11:35,861 But I couldn't show them how it played, so I tried to make the sounds with my mouth. 163 00:11:35,895 --> 00:11:39,765 For 10 years of making these sounds, and finally, I guess I just 164 00:11:39,799 --> 00:11:42,902 figured out how to sing along the way. 165 00:11:43,102 --> 00:11:45,071 I see. 166 00:11:45,104 --> 00:11:51,377 When you came back to guitar, did you start immediately considering, 167 00:11:51,410 --> 00:11:54,814 Oh, let's record something, let's do an album, something like that? 168 00:11:54,814 --> 00:11:56,082 Or did it take time? 169 00:11:56,115 --> 00:11:58,417 No. It was... 170 00:11:58,417 --> 00:12:02,888 When I was in high school, so I was about 16 or 17, I won 171 00:12:02,888 --> 00:12:05,424 the battle of the bands from my high school. 172 00:12:05,458 --> 00:12:10,429 I was considered one of the best guitarists in South Florida at the time. 173 00:12:10,463 --> 00:12:13,599 This is 2002. 174 00:12:13,632 --> 00:12:18,671 And when I picked up the guitar again after 15 years, 175 00:12:18,704 --> 00:12:20,473 it was basically from scratch. 176 00:12:20,506 --> 00:12:25,611 I could still remember the scales, I could still remember the chords, 177 00:12:25,644 --> 00:12:31,851 but to try and get my fingers to actually press down the strings was brand new. 178 00:12:31,851 --> 00:12:38,290 The mind guitar connection, it is not like riding a bike, in my opinion. 179 00:12:38,290 --> 00:12:39,925 Yeah, for sure. 180 00:12:39,959 --> 00:12:41,894 You need practice, practice, practice. 181 00:12:41,927 --> 00:12:44,463 That's not a joke. 182 00:12:44,497 --> 00:12:46,265 Okay. 183 00:12:46,265 --> 00:12:49,034 So you recorded... 184 00:12:49,635 --> 00:12:51,370 I know we are both part of RAMPD, 185 00:12:51,370 --> 00:12:54,807 and that's how I discovered your work. 186 00:12:54,807 --> 00:13:02,681 On the profile, you posted a video, 187 00:13:02,715 --> 00:13:06,051 the song of the lizard. 188 00:13:06,051 --> 00:13:07,419 Yeah. 189 00:13:07,419 --> 00:13:11,957 I started digging a little bit into what you were doing at this time. 190 00:13:11,991 --> 00:13:15,895 What I found interesting was the graphical part. 191 00:13:15,928 --> 00:13:21,634 You were always having having a playful way to represent the graphic, 192 00:13:21,667 --> 00:13:26,438 the animated films that go with these songs. 193 00:13:26,472 --> 00:13:32,211 Can you talk a bit about what this whole process of these songs were, 194 00:13:32,211 --> 00:13:37,550 where you ended up combining some of your songs with some of the other 195 00:13:37,550 --> 00:13:42,922 artists, I think, singing on your album and this animated graphics. 196 00:13:44,890 --> 00:13:50,229 Essentially, I've always been a fan of just funny cartoons. 197 00:13:50,262 --> 00:13:53,832 There's a channel on YouTube, I should say, that I was inspired by. 198 00:13:53,832 --> 00:13:57,970 It's called Mr. Weebl's Place, something like that. 199 00:13:58,003 --> 00:14:00,272 But he makes these funny cartoons. 200 00:14:00,306 --> 00:14:04,210 The most popular one goes like, "Benja, Benja." 201 00:14:04,210 --> 00:14:07,580 And I thought, what if I could 202 00:14:07,580 --> 00:14:10,249 make a funny cartoon like that, but make it reggae? 203 00:14:10,249 --> 00:14:15,754 So this particular one, it's my actual pet Gecko. 204 00:14:15,788 --> 00:14:18,357 Her name is Jacue. 205 00:14:18,390 --> 00:14:20,392 I started singing to her. 206 00:14:20,426 --> 00:14:25,364 It's really how the song came about. I'd sing to her in the morning. 207 00:14:25,364 --> 00:14:28,500 Like, Jacue is a lizard. 208 00:14:28,500 --> 00:14:33,873 And I just started drawing her 209 00:14:33,873 --> 00:14:36,342 for some reason, and I was like, 210 00:14:36,375 --> 00:14:39,378 Well, these drawings aren't too bad. I showed them to my friends. 211 00:14:39,411 --> 00:14:43,249 They were like, Yeah, those are decent sketches. 212 00:14:43,249 --> 00:14:49,288 So I decided to make the cartoon, which was immensely more difficult 213 00:14:49,288 --> 00:14:55,227 than I imagined, to actually animate a character whose arms are moving. 214 00:14:55,261 --> 00:15:00,132 In this case, for the music video, I have a cricket who jumps on her, 215 00:15:00,132 --> 00:15:03,736 her backup dancers are these lady bugs. 216 00:15:03,736 --> 00:15:08,374 And to actually get them to move was much more complicated than I thought. 217 00:15:08,374 --> 00:15:10,643 But it was fun. 218 00:15:10,643 --> 00:15:12,444 So I had... 219 00:15:12,444 --> 00:15:16,148 Talking about social media, people reaching out to me 220 00:15:16,148 --> 00:15:17,950 like, We like your songs. 221 00:15:17,950 --> 00:15:23,923 I had one of the biggest reggae bands in the whole of the continent 222 00:15:23,956 --> 00:15:25,391 of Africa reached out to me. 223 00:15:25,424 --> 00:15:27,793 They're called African Reggae Machine. 224 00:15:27,826 --> 00:15:29,762 And they're like, We like your songs. They're fun. 225 00:15:29,795 --> 00:15:32,064 And we see that you're from Africa. 226 00:15:32,064 --> 00:15:37,102 You got that African reggae feel and the American music and stuff. 227 00:15:37,136 --> 00:15:42,341 And another amazing artist, a reggae artist, originally 228 00:15:42,374 --> 00:15:45,477 from Kingston, Jamaica. He lives in Holland now. 229 00:15:45,511 --> 00:15:47,046 His name is Y-Intel. He reached out. 230 00:15:47,079 --> 00:15:51,517 He's like, Yeah, I'm a a fan of your music, we should do a collaboration. 231 00:15:51,550 --> 00:15:53,786 So I just did a collaboration with both of them. 232 00:15:53,819 --> 00:15:57,690 So it's like a remix off that New Caledonia song where I've got 233 00:15:57,723 --> 00:15:59,224 the music video with them. 234 00:15:59,258 --> 00:16:02,127 We actually called it "Jacue, the Gecko song," 235 00:16:02,127 --> 00:16:07,232 and I'm about to try and make a 236 00:16:07,266 --> 00:16:10,069 better music video to go along with this. 237 00:16:10,102 --> 00:16:12,471 That was my first attempt at drawing. 238 00:16:12,504 --> 00:16:16,608 And now that I know what to expect 239 00:16:16,608 --> 00:16:20,546 with animating that's moving, I think I 240 00:16:20,579 --> 00:16:24,083 could do a higher quality video the second time around. 241 00:16:24,116 --> 00:16:27,186 There was not only one, right? 242 00:16:27,219 --> 00:16:29,955 You did a bunch of animated songs. 243 00:16:29,989 --> 00:16:34,093 I did one for my dog, if you can see her. She's here. 244 00:16:34,093 --> 00:16:39,365 But she is basically Lampurana. 245 00:16:39,398 --> 00:16:45,371 There's a song about her, and the music video is basically about her. 246 00:16:45,371 --> 00:16:53,445 She's just running around terrorizing my friends and her pets sitters and stuff. 247 00:16:53,946 --> 00:16:56,749 Yeah, we have influential pets in life. 248 00:16:56,782 --> 00:16:59,318 Yeah, for sure. 249 00:16:59,351 --> 00:17:05,290 Even your album covers of your EPs or of your singles 250 00:17:05,290 --> 00:17:07,593 have some graphic content on it. 251 00:17:07,593 --> 00:17:08,560 That's you, right? 252 00:17:08,560 --> 00:17:13,632 Yes. I draw all the artwork for all my songs. 253 00:17:13,665 --> 00:17:17,636 Again, much more complicated than I thought 254 00:17:17,669 --> 00:17:20,572 to actually sketch something and get it into the format 255 00:17:20,606 --> 00:17:24,343 that it could go on like a cover art 256 00:17:24,376 --> 00:17:27,880 that can be printed or uploaded, 257 00:17:27,880 --> 00:17:30,382 people could see it on their screens and stuff. 258 00:17:30,416 --> 00:17:32,117 They're really beautiful. 259 00:17:32,151 --> 00:17:33,552 Thank you. 260 00:17:33,585 --> 00:17:37,723 For example, there is one drawing of a lady playing the guitar. 261 00:17:37,756 --> 00:17:39,425 Yeah. This is wow. 262 00:17:39,458 --> 00:17:42,628 I really like your style. 263 00:17:42,661 --> 00:17:44,196 Oh, well, thank you. 264 00:17:44,229 --> 00:17:47,166 Okay, so what is in the news now? 265 00:17:47,199 --> 00:17:50,669 What are you working on right now? 266 00:17:50,702 --> 00:17:57,142 Speaking of collaborations, I have a bunch of collaborations coming out between now 267 00:17:57,176 --> 00:17:59,311 through November, I want to say. 268 00:17:59,344 --> 00:18:04,650 I'm going to have a song coming out about once every 2-3 weeks, and an album 269 00:18:04,683 --> 00:18:06,885 is coming out in two weeks from now. 270 00:18:06,919 --> 00:18:08,854 So it's my first actual album. 271 00:18:08,854 --> 00:18:12,357 The last thing I released was technically an EP 272 00:18:12,357 --> 00:18:14,193 since it only had five songs in it. 273 00:18:14,226 --> 00:18:16,528 So this will be a full 12 song album. 274 00:18:16,528 --> 00:18:19,531 I took some of my most popular songs, 275 00:18:19,531 --> 00:18:23,102 and there'll be a few new ones on this album. 276 00:18:23,102 --> 00:18:29,141 Is there a specific one that you really like on that new album? 277 00:18:29,174 --> 00:18:36,215 I would say my favorite, I did a remix of Ziggy Marley's song Beach in Hawaii. 278 00:18:36,248 --> 00:18:38,550 There's going to be a remix of that. 279 00:18:38,584 --> 00:18:42,921 I think it'll be the 12th song on the album. 280 00:18:42,955 --> 00:18:45,491 That'll probably be my personal favorite. 281 00:18:45,991 --> 00:18:48,627 Who are the artists collaborating with you? 282 00:18:48,660 --> 00:18:50,128 Let me think. 283 00:18:50,128 --> 00:18:53,432 In order, the first one is Sunburnt Sky. 284 00:18:53,465 --> 00:18:58,670 He's an awesome reggae artist out of Utah. 285 00:18:58,871 --> 00:19:02,808 Let's see. Next in order, I think is - 286 00:19:02,808 --> 00:19:05,477 I mentioned Y-Intel and African Reggae Machine. 287 00:19:05,511 --> 00:19:09,214 So that song Jacue be on there. 288 00:19:09,915 --> 00:19:12,184 Who else? 289 00:19:12,184 --> 00:19:17,222 Jubba White. I met him when I lived in the Pacific Northwest. 290 00:19:17,256 --> 00:19:18,924 So I just moved to Ohio. 291 00:19:18,924 --> 00:19:23,629 I used to live in the Portland, Oregon, area. 292 00:19:23,662 --> 00:19:27,733 And there was this reggae artist who I performed with there, Jubba White, 293 00:19:27,733 --> 00:19:31,670 also one of these O'G's from Kingston, Jamaica, 294 00:19:31,703 --> 00:19:33,906 now living in the Pacific Northwest. 295 00:19:33,939 --> 00:19:40,479 But he has a voice, in my opinion, that's on par with Ziggy Marley. 296 00:19:40,512 --> 00:19:46,718 If not, now, I don't want to dare say he's better than Ziggy Marley, but I would say 297 00:19:46,752 --> 00:19:51,123 we're working on a song in the particular way that he sings it, I think, is better 298 00:19:51,123 --> 00:19:53,358 than a lot of Ziggy Marley songs. 299 00:19:53,392 --> 00:19:57,629 So I was blown away by him. Jubba White is his name. 300 00:19:57,663 --> 00:19:59,398 He'll be on there. 301 00:20:00,399 --> 00:20:06,138 A reggae artist out of Southern California His act is Summerland Feels. 302 00:20:06,171 --> 00:20:12,110 He sounds just like Justin Timberlake, except a reggae version. 303 00:20:12,144 --> 00:20:16,114 But he's one of the most phenomenal voices I've ever heard 304 00:20:16,114 --> 00:20:18,150 out of anyone I've collaborated with. 305 00:20:18,183 --> 00:20:21,053 So also very excited for that song. 306 00:20:21,053 --> 00:20:28,527 And any tours or are you going to do a promotion tour, a series of concerts? 307 00:20:28,527 --> 00:20:32,197 So unfortunately, I took a break from playing shows and stuff 308 00:20:32,230 --> 00:20:36,134 from the surgeries I mentioned. 309 00:20:36,168 --> 00:20:38,937 I'm still healing up from a recent one. 310 00:20:38,971 --> 00:20:42,407 Unfortunately, I don't think there'll be any shows until 311 00:20:42,441 --> 00:20:45,444 the beginning of next year, 2025. 312 00:20:45,444 --> 00:20:46,378 Okay. 313 00:20:46,411 --> 00:20:52,217 Well, tell us. We can announce that to ArtsAbly's auditors. 314 00:20:52,684 --> 00:20:56,121 I have a question about... 315 00:20:56,154 --> 00:21:02,294 We were mentioning these healing processes and the fact to accept your disability 316 00:21:02,327 --> 00:21:04,329 and things like that. 317 00:21:04,329 --> 00:21:09,768 With the years, you've learned how to adapt to your different needs and things 318 00:21:09,801 --> 00:21:13,705 like that in your artistic practices. 319 00:21:13,739 --> 00:21:16,808 For me, it's something that is called Disibility Arts. 320 00:21:16,808 --> 00:21:22,347 I was wondering if you could tell us what it is for you to work in 321 00:21:22,347 --> 00:21:27,119 that field of disability arts. 322 00:21:27,152 --> 00:21:28,987 Well, I think... 323 00:21:29,021 --> 00:21:33,058 I've been disabled since 2004, since I got out of the Marines. 324 00:21:33,091 --> 00:21:37,129 When I first got out, and I'm showing my age here, they used to call it 325 00:21:37,162 --> 00:21:42,601 handicap back then, which is an offensive term, so they changed it to disabled. 326 00:21:42,634 --> 00:21:47,506 I still personally think there's a lot of stigma with the word disabled, 327 00:21:47,539 --> 00:21:51,943 and it's it has taken me 20 years to realize that there can be 328 00:21:51,977 --> 00:21:54,413 actual advantages to being disabled. 329 00:21:54,413 --> 00:22:00,318 So one of the advantages that I've figured out that I have, I'm hard of hearing. 330 00:22:00,352 --> 00:22:04,523 I'm one of those people who use the 3M earplugs, which doesn't work. 331 00:22:04,556 --> 00:22:06,558 I'm part of that whole class action. 332 00:22:06,591 --> 00:22:10,629 But when I got out of the Marines, they're like, You're very hard of hearing. 333 00:22:10,662 --> 00:22:13,231 I do actually use hearing aids. 334 00:22:13,265 --> 00:22:17,302 And I've been in a situation, I played a show where the sound tech 335 00:22:17,336 --> 00:22:21,406 on stage pulled my hearing aid out of my ear and started yelling at me. 336 00:22:21,406 --> 00:22:24,576 He's like, We have on stage monitors. You don't need in ears. 337 00:22:24,576 --> 00:22:27,879 And I was like, I wanted to yell at the guy like it's a hearing aid. 338 00:22:27,913 --> 00:22:32,517 And it's like a $10,000 hearing aid that he just yanked out of my ear. 339 00:22:32,551 --> 00:22:36,788 But what I figured out is that from being hard to hearing, 340 00:22:36,822 --> 00:22:40,492 it's allowed me to hear certain tones that most people can't hear, like 341 00:22:40,525 --> 00:22:45,263 specific bass tones and things that from 342 00:22:45,297 --> 00:22:48,533 people I could collaborate with. 343 00:22:48,567 --> 00:22:54,239 I'll send them a mix that's adjusted to my hearing specifically. 344 00:22:54,272 --> 00:22:59,945 And when they hear the mix, they're like, I can hear multiple bass tracks in this. 345 00:22:59,978 --> 00:23:02,881 And I'm like, Yeah, well, there are multiple bass tracks in it. 346 00:23:02,914 --> 00:23:08,053 But I guess usually when people mix things, it's not mixed in a way that... 347 00:23:08,053 --> 00:23:12,457 They're accentuating certain tones 348 00:23:13,425 --> 00:23:15,694 that you'd hear in a final mix. 349 00:23:15,727 --> 00:23:20,465 But for someone to sing over it, I was told that having these layered bass tracks 350 00:23:20,465 --> 00:23:25,604 is actually very helpful to them because reggae specifically, 351 00:23:25,604 --> 00:23:28,940 hip hop too, the vocals follow the bass line. 352 00:23:28,974 --> 00:23:33,745 So in all these other beats, these guys I collaborated with, 353 00:23:33,745 --> 00:23:37,482 they were trying to guess where the notes were, 354 00:23:37,482 --> 00:23:41,386 or they're trying to emulate the guitar or piano with my songs. 355 00:23:41,386 --> 00:23:44,923 They're emulating just the bass line because you could barely even 356 00:23:44,956 --> 00:23:47,692 hear the high tones in my mix. 357 00:23:47,692 --> 00:23:50,328 And they that that really helped them. 358 00:23:50,328 --> 00:23:56,268 So in a way, they call it disabled, but I think it's just different in a way. 359 00:23:56,301 --> 00:24:00,172 Yes, I'm hard of hearing certain tones, but I can also pay attention 360 00:24:00,205 --> 00:24:03,341 to other tones that I can hear. 361 00:24:03,375 --> 00:24:08,380 Yeah. Plus with hearing aids today, there is no issue with connecting that 362 00:24:08,413 --> 00:24:13,885 in Bluetooth or have some systems that would allow you to 363 00:24:13,885 --> 00:24:17,088 fully integrate that into the existing system. 364 00:24:17,088 --> 00:24:18,123 Yeah. 365 00:24:18,156 --> 00:24:19,257 Yeah. 366 00:24:19,324 --> 00:24:23,028 Then there was the part about 367 00:24:23,061 --> 00:24:26,631 regaining some mobility also that must 368 00:24:26,631 --> 00:24:32,771 have impacted your way of playing, coming back to your own integration 369 00:24:32,804 --> 00:24:36,174 of all these instruments and your voice. 370 00:24:36,174 --> 00:24:37,342 It has. 371 00:24:37,375 --> 00:24:44,683 I've gone from essentially being in a wheelchair. 372 00:24:44,716 --> 00:24:50,789 Sometimes on a good day, I could feel my legs, 373 00:24:50,789 --> 00:24:53,425 on a bad day I couldn't feel them, that type of thing. 374 00:24:53,458 --> 00:24:59,030 So it varied. But now just to be able to, 375 00:24:59,030 --> 00:25:03,301 I don't know, stand up at a mic is almost 376 00:25:03,335 --> 00:25:07,572 like a terrifying thing that I can now stand there the whole time. 377 00:25:07,606 --> 00:25:09,708 I can hold the guitar the whole time. 378 00:25:09,741 --> 00:25:15,680 Whereas before, I don't know. 379 00:25:15,714 --> 00:25:19,684 I feel like a kid again. 380 00:25:19,718 --> 00:25:24,623 The best way to put it is regaining my mobility, 381 00:25:24,623 --> 00:25:26,224 It feels like I'm a kid. 382 00:25:26,258 --> 00:25:28,460 I'm like, Can I stand for an hour? 383 00:25:28,493 --> 00:25:29,961 Can I stand for two hours? 384 00:25:29,961 --> 00:25:34,132 It's like a test, and I'm finding out a lot of the times. 385 00:25:34,132 --> 00:25:36,635 I think the last show I played was in May, 386 00:25:36,635 --> 00:25:40,939 and I was up there for two hours on stage. 387 00:25:41,439 --> 00:25:45,510 I could feel my legs the entire time, which was insane. 388 00:25:45,544 --> 00:25:46,645 Yeah. 389 00:25:46,645 --> 00:25:48,013 Well, it's great. 390 00:25:48,280 --> 00:25:54,019 So you're regaining and regaining, or is it fully regained now in your- 391 00:25:54,019 --> 00:25:56,087 No, it's not fully there. 392 00:25:56,087 --> 00:26:00,091 Unfortunately, same thing with my arm. 393 00:26:00,091 --> 00:26:04,062 The nerves in my back have been damaged for so long. 394 00:26:04,095 --> 00:26:08,567 There's not a lot they can do with it, but what they are doing is 395 00:26:08,567 --> 00:26:13,438 I get a lot of rhizotomies, radio frequency ablation sort of things, 396 00:26:13,438 --> 00:26:20,178 and a little pack that basically 397 00:26:20,211 --> 00:26:25,050 interrupts electrical signals being carried out there. 398 00:26:25,050 --> 00:26:32,624 And from them doing that, that somehow stop my legs from going numb. 399 00:26:32,657 --> 00:26:37,495 It somehow by them blocking certain signals and allowing 400 00:26:37,529 --> 00:26:40,532 other signals to come through, 401 00:26:42,067 --> 00:26:46,571 somehow that's working for me. 402 00:26:46,671 --> 00:26:47,939 Okay. 403 00:26:48,506 --> 00:26:51,242 Well, I have a last question. 404 00:26:51,242 --> 00:26:57,549 We were talking about collaborations and we were talking about artists with whom 405 00:26:57,549 --> 00:27:00,318 you have been discussing your music. 406 00:27:00,352 --> 00:27:05,457 But I was wondering if you had some - Who are your inspirations? 407 00:27:05,490 --> 00:27:12,263 Who are the people who really counted in your journey as a musician? 408 00:27:12,297 --> 00:27:16,801 If you have one or two names to give, who would it be and why? 409 00:27:16,835 --> 00:27:22,574 For singing, I think my biggest influence is David Bowie. 410 00:27:22,574 --> 00:27:24,576 As a kid - 411 00:27:25,110 --> 00:27:31,583 I should go back to when I was a kid. Lucky Dube introduced me to reggae. 412 00:27:31,616 --> 00:27:35,720 But prior to that, I was a David Bowie fan for some reason. 413 00:27:35,754 --> 00:27:39,758 My friends at the time listened to, I don't know, Michael Jackson 414 00:27:39,791 --> 00:27:42,093 and pop artists like that. 415 00:27:42,093 --> 00:27:46,364 Back then, it was like the Michael Jackson-Prince thing. 416 00:27:46,398 --> 00:27:51,503 For some reason, I liked David Bowie's songs. 417 00:27:51,536 --> 00:27:55,907 And I think when I was a little kid, I would try and sing his songs. 418 00:27:55,940 --> 00:28:01,212 And now, most of my fans who reach out to me always say that I sound, I sing 419 00:28:01,212 --> 00:28:03,782 just like David Bowie for some reason. 420 00:28:03,815 --> 00:28:05,717 It could be the South African accent. 421 00:28:05,750 --> 00:28:10,922 And guitar-wise, I personally think the best guitarist who's ever 422 00:28:10,955 --> 00:28:15,360 existed, and I know a lot of people get offended by this, is Jimi Hendrix. 423 00:28:15,393 --> 00:28:18,530 I know people say, Oh, there's better guitarists than Jimi Hendrix. 424 00:28:18,530 --> 00:28:20,765 There's better soloists than Jimi Hendrix. 425 00:28:20,799 --> 00:28:25,603 But I think the way that Jimi Hendrix played, he didn't just play solos. 426 00:28:25,637 --> 00:28:28,039 He would make his solo part of the song. 427 00:28:28,073 --> 00:28:33,178 And the way he wrote his solos was basically like words 428 00:28:33,211 --> 00:28:35,146 in the song that he would sing. 429 00:28:35,180 --> 00:28:37,382 So he would sing the entire song. 430 00:28:37,415 --> 00:28:40,418 You got the entire song, and he would take some of the words out 431 00:28:40,452 --> 00:28:42,854 and replace that with guitar riffs. 432 00:28:42,854 --> 00:28:47,225 And that's the exact thing that I try to do in my songs, 433 00:28:47,726 --> 00:28:51,529 which is extremely hard to try and 434 00:28:51,529 --> 00:28:55,834 convert lyrics into guitar sounds. 435 00:28:55,867 --> 00:29:00,171 That you have to either be the best guitarist in the world or become 436 00:29:00,205 --> 00:29:06,945 the best guitarist in the world, because to really transcribe it, it might be, 437 00:29:06,978 --> 00:29:11,149 I don't know, half a band might actually be the lyrics that someone's singing. 438 00:29:11,149 --> 00:29:14,886 Because the way people sing, it's not just hitting specific notes. 439 00:29:14,886 --> 00:29:19,691 You have all the sharps and flats in between just naturally with the voice. 440 00:29:19,691 --> 00:29:24,562 And he was able to mimic those exact sounds on his guitar. 441 00:29:24,596 --> 00:29:30,835 And for that, I just think that's something that I've been playing guitar. 442 00:29:30,869 --> 00:29:31,803 Let's see. 443 00:29:31,836 --> 00:29:36,374 I would say prior to the Marines, when I hurt my arm, I was playing 444 00:29:36,407 --> 00:29:41,079 for about 10 years. 445 00:29:41,112 --> 00:29:47,719 And then recently, I've been playing 10 to 12 hours a day for the last four years. 446 00:29:47,752 --> 00:29:50,722 So I feel I feel like that's a lot of hours invested in the guitar, 447 00:29:50,755 --> 00:29:53,858 and I still can't play like Jimi Hendrix. 448 00:29:53,892 --> 00:30:01,232 I think that those two guys are the biggest influences to me. 449 00:30:01,266 --> 00:30:03,568 Well, thank you so much for this conversation. 450 00:30:03,601 --> 00:30:06,271 It was a pleasure talking with you today. 451 00:30:06,304 --> 00:30:10,942 I wish you all the best for everything that you're doing right now. 452 00:30:10,975 --> 00:30:12,143 Thank you. 453 00:30:12,177 --> 00:30:13,611 And yeah. 454 00:30:13,611 --> 00:30:17,282 Have a fantastic day and talk soon. 455 00:30:17,315 --> 00:30:18,283 Thank you. 456 00:30:18,550 --> 00:30:19,217 Bye. 457 00:30:20,318 --> 00:30:25,456 ♪ Closing theme music ♪