Duff Interview: Werner Rodríguez Del Toro of Los Pies Negros

Editor's note: Later this month, Los Pies Negros--founded in the early 1990s in Puerto Rico--will be making a rare appearance on the mainland US, with shows in Brooklyn, NY (on 8/31/18 at Brooklyn Bazaar with Mephiskapheles, The Pandemics, Ensamble Calavera, and DJ Ryan Midnight) and Chicago, IL (on 9/1/18 at Reggies with Malafacha, Nahuales Underground, and DJ Chuck Wren). So, we though this was a great opportunity to catch up with Los Pies Negros' bassist and founding member, Werner Rodríguez Del Toro. (Thanks to Chris "Kid Coconuts" Acosta of The New York Citizens and producer of Moon's Latin Ska comps for helping to make this happen!)

Duff Guide to Ska: How did this mini-tour of the US (New York/Chicago) come about? When was the last time Los Pies Negros played in the US mainland?

Werner Rodríguez Del Toro: "The Chicago show came about when we were contacted by someone at a club called Reggies who wanted Los Pies Negros to play a ska festival there. After approximately a year of conversations, it became real.

The last time that Los Pies Negros played in the US was in 1994, when we performed at the Skavoovie festival at NYC’s S.O.B.'s and one event with Spring Heeled Jack in New Haven Connecticut the following day."

DGTS: The band has been in existence for about 27 years now. When you started it back in the early 1990’s, did you think you’d still be playing all of these years later (long enough that your most recent release was called The Grandfathers of Ska)? What has kept you going?

WRDT: "[At that time,] I did not think that in the future I'd be playing in Los Pies Negros. I ignored my thoughts and lived in the moment. I live every moment like it's a song and feel every note from the start to the finish--enjoying every detail, every second of the song. The same goes for my life and my band. And I feel that you can never get enough out of enjoying and playing the music you love, the music you feel. Without music, life has no meaning for me.

I think that what kept me in the music is the love I feel for it. And the reason that Los Pies Negros is alive is because every member is passionate about the band's music--and each of us is not just a member of the band, we are a family.

Regarding our last recording Los Abuelos del Ska (The Grandfathers of Ska), I want to mention that we wrote this single because two of our members became grandfathers and none of us expected ever to be a grandfather and still in a band playing ska music. And the song speaks to that feeling."

DGTS: Many ska fans from the '90s became aware of the band through Moon’s Latin Ska compilations and the Bang movie soundtrack. What have been some of Los Pies Negro’s highlights in the years since then (releases, festivals, etc.)?

WRDT: "After that era, we recorded one of the most recognized albums named Siempre Igual (1996).

We started to play some big events in Puerto Rico, and later with the help of underground distribution, our music was being recognized in Latin countries like Mexico, Colombia, Costa Rica, etc. In 1999, we played our first big show in Mexico with bands like Desorden Publico and la Vela Puerca. Some years ago, we played one of our best concerts ever in Mexico, the "Non Stop Ska Festival." Later we played another big event named "Skatex," in Mexico. We did some recordings like Un Alien me Rapto, Detras de ese Disfraz, etc."

DGTS: What is the Puerto Rico ska scene like? (And how have things been there for you, your family, and friends in the year since Hurricane Maria devastated the island?)

WRDT: "In Puerto Rico, the ska scene is very small. Only a few people follow ska as a lifestyle. But we have a lot of fans that are not necessary only into ska. We have fans from different genres like punk, reggae, rock, Latin rhythms, etc.--because I think our music is different. We have followers of all ages. We've played everywhere and have met people at our shows who had never heard of us and after seeing our show started to follow us. The events in Puerto Rico are for a few people, but are very interesting because the people here feel the music when we play.

The first months after Hurricane Maria were very difficult, but now we are good. As a country, Puerto Rico is a fighter and we are rebuilding it again with or without the 'mainland' help."

DGTS: What is the significance of the band’s name?

WRDT: "The band's name means liberation from slavery. Los Pies Negros (Blackfoot) symbolizes the two feet released from involuntary labor, abuse, and discrimination."

Thanks to Werner Rodríguez Del Toro for taking the time to do this interview!

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Los Pies Negros' current line-up is: Werner Rodríguez Del Toro (bass/founder), Wilmer Laboy Del Toro (guitar/songwriter), Mario Montalvo (guitar/backing vocals), Iván Salaberry (drums), Robert Ramirez (trombone), Ramón Acevedo (saxophone), Diego Borges (lead vocals), Luis Rodriguez (vocals), and Leonel Crespo (trumpet).

Discography:

1993: Los Pies Negros
1994: Moviendo los pies
1995: Siempre Igual
2004: Detrás de ese Disfraz
2005: Latin Ska Force II (split CD with los Vicios de Papa)
2009: En vivo y sin Disfraces (a live CD)
2011: Un Niño Solo (EP)
2012: Un Día Normal (EP)
2013: Kamikaze (split CD with Los Fiskales)
2015: Un Alíen me Raptó (EP)
2016: Los Abuelos del Ska (EP)
2017: Siempre Igual (Single)

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The Duff Guide to Punk: The Blankz "(I Just Want To) Slam" b/w "Baby's Turning Blue"

Slope Records
Yellow vinyl picture sleeve single/CD single/digital download
2018

There's a brilliant purity to The Blankz's sweetly dopey and immensely fun late '70s/early '80s New Wave-ish American punk (think a combo of early Devo, first-three-albums Ramones--each member's last name is Blank, too!--and bands from the LA/San Francisco punk scenes, like The Zeros, The Normals, The Bags, The Units, The Offs, your fave band here, etc.). This ain't no arch parody act (thank god), but a band of talented believers in the music and attitude of that unparalleled era. Like many of those groups, there's no hidden agenda, it's WYSIWYG. The Blankz sing about wanting to slam dance in "(I Just Want To) Slam": "Now I'm full of rage/Flying off the stage/Landing on the floor/Ready for some more/Pogo in the pit/Shoot a gob of spit/Full of energy/Ready mentally!" While "Baby's Turning Blue" is what they consider their "anthem of the opioid epidemic"--about someone who hasn't been seen at the methadone clinic for a bit because they've OD'd (sung by a 13+ years sober Tommy Blank). Of note, Cris Kirkwood of the Meat Puppets (Up On the Sun was a fave of mine in the late '80s) and fellow Phoenix resident did a bang-up job of producing these terrific wham-bam songs--and this is the second single in a planned series of nine (!) that The Blankz are releasing (the debut issued last month was "White Baby," about Tommy Blank's real-life experience growing up after being adopted as an infant by a Mexican family: "White baby/Brown mommy/White baby/Brown daddy/Why am I so confused/Around all these brown dudes?").

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Duff Guide to Ska Fast Takes: Reggae Roast Soundsystem Featuring Tippa Irie "Real Reggae Music"

Trojan Reloaded
7" vinyl single/digital download
2018

(Review by Steve Shafer)

The first physical release on Trojan Records' new imprint Trojan Reloaded (created in celebration of the label's 50th anniversary to release new reggae music, as opposed to reissues of classics) sports two versions of Reggae Roast Soundsystem's winning "Real Reggae Music" featuring Tippa Irie. This summery, King Jammy-like digital dancehall cut (the DJ Madd Remix has more boom and bite to it, by the way) is a smart way to kick off this label, as both the Reggae Roast Soundsystem and Tippa Irie have been long-standing and popular champions of the London dancehall scene ("Inna London, inna yard/Reggae make you party hard"). Trojan Reloaded also has released the fantastic digital-only Murder EP (which deserves a physical release) from Reggae Roast Soundsystem that includes versions of the riddim by Charlie P and Brother Culture, and Natty Campbell. Trojan Reloaded's off to a cracking start--here's looking forward to more quality releases soon...

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Note: If you've already ordered/bought the impressive new Trojan 50 box set, the "Real Reggae Music" single is included; otherwise, the more budget-minded or long-time Trojan collectors will be able to pick up this 45 for considerably less!

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Duff Review: NY Ska-Jazz Ensemble "Minor Moods" (Reissue)

Brixton Records
Vinyl LP
2018
Available in the USA through Jump Up Records

(Review by Steve Shafer)

I missed this album the first time round in 2002, not too long after the crash and burn of the so-called Third Wave ska scene in the United States (which, no doubt, is why it was only released in Italy and Spain). So, it's great to have a chance to be introduced to this really fine record over fifteen (!) years later. If you don't know this band, NY Ska-Jazz Ensemble began back in 1994 as a super-group of sorts, made up of members of The Toasters (Fred Reiter, Jonathan McCain, and Rick Faulkner), The Scofflaws (Victor Rice, Carey Brown), and The Skatalites (Devon James), all of whom wanted to highlight jazz's considerable influence on/relationship to traditional ska music. Minor Moods is NYSJE's fourth studio album (and by this point in the band's history, only "Rock Steady" Freddie Reiter remained from the original line-up).

Like all of NYSJE's albums, Minor Moods contains both more than credible ska interpretations of jazz standards (in this case, Thelonious Monk and Denzil Best's "Bemsha Swing"--its title is from a nickname for Best's home of Barbados--and Miles Davis' Middle Eastern-sounding "Nardis") and top-notch ska-jazz originals. In particular, "Zinc," "This I Like," "Brain Freeze," "Kaneho," and "Sticks" all have memorable melodies and hooks (in addition to Reiter, guitarist Andy Stack, and keyboardist Peter Truffa each composed several tracks for this album); two cuts here are also reprised from earlier records: "Mouse," Reiter's tune inspired by the theme to "Mighty Mouse" first appeared on The Toasters' Hard Band for Dead; and a cracking live version of their own "Buttah" is from the 1998 Get This album). The vocal tracks are a bit weaker--this is really an instrumental group (and their musicianship is off the charts!), but they do get major points for the pro-multiculturalism/pro-immigration song "Streets of NYC."

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Trojan Records in MOJO!

Apologies for no new posts over the past two weeks--I was on holiday with the family. On our last day in Dublin, I picked up a copy of the September 2018 issue of MOJO at Tower Records (!) for the airplane ride back to the USA. In it is a great feature on the rise and fall and rebirth of Trojan Records (in recognition of their 50th anniversary) by reggae journalist Dave Katz that provides more info on co-owner Lee Gopthal than I've previously encountered. Plus, the giveaway CD Reggae Nuggets sports both classic and lesser-known Trojan tracks by Alton Ellis, The Heptones, Prince Far I, Ricky and Bunny, Dennis Brown, Phyllis Dillon, Johnny Osbourne, The Ethiopians, The Inspirations, The Beltones, Val Bennett, Ken Boothe, Lee Perry, The Crystalites, and Lester Sterling and The Skatalites (MOJO also has a list of what they consider to be the 50 greatest reggae albums up on their website--discuss amongst yourselves). Also on my reading list for the journey home was Margo Jefferson's fascinating cultural history of Michael Jackson, On Michael Jackson--check out the Guardian's interview with her; and Mark Andersen and Ralph Heibutzki's incredible We Are The Clash, the now-definitive history of the post-Mick Jones/Topper Headon Clash (Joe Strummer, Paul Simonon, Nick Sheppard, Vince White, and Pete Howard), which managed to achieve some legitimate triumphs--many blisteringly good live shows, like their 12/6/84 benefit show for striking union coal miners at the Brixton Academy (with a number a great new tracks in the set like "Are You Ready for War?," "Three Card Trick," "North and South," "Dirty Punk," "Jericho," and "This Is England") and their daft-but-brilliant, have-guitar-will-travel busking tour of the north of England--despite Strummer's struggle with depression/self-medication and Bernard Rhodes' absolutely ham-fisted hijacking of what could have been a pretty great album of new songs: Out of Control.

On our travels around Ireland, I managed to miss the chance to see Madness perform twice. They played Galway a day before we arrived and were in Dublin while we were in Galway! (I did catch a BT advert that uses their cover of "It Must Be Love" on TV a few times, but it's not the same.) And Jerry Dammers did a DJ set in Dublin while we were on a brief detour to the (brutally hot) continent. So it goes...

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The Duff Guide to Ska NYC "Dog Days of Summer" 2018 Ska Calendar #7

Shinehead

Saturday, July 28, 2018 @ 1:00 pm

Reggay Lords

Riis Park Beach Bazaar
16702 Rockaway Beach Boulevard
Queens, NY
Free!

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Saturday, August 4, 2018 @ 4:00 pm

Sister Nancy, Shinehead with DJ Papalotl, DJ Misbehavior

Crotona Park
Bronx, NY
Info through City Parks Foundation
Free!

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Saturday, August 18, 2018 @ 6:30 pm

The Pietasters Booze Cruise

The Lucille
Board boat at East 23rd Street and FDR Drive in Manhattan
$37.50 in advance/$40 day of show
21+

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Friday, August 24, 2018 @ 8:00 pm

Fishbone ("Classic '80s/'90s line-up!), Oxymorrons

Brooklyn Bowl
61 Wythe Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
$25/21+

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Saturday, August 25, 2018 @ 6:00 pm

The Slackers Booze Cruise

The Liberty Belle
Board boat at Pier 36, 299 South Street in Manhattan
$30 in advance/$35 day of show
21+

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Friday, August 31, 2018 @ 7:00 pm

Los Pies Negros, Mephiskapheles, Ensemble Calavera, The Pandemics, DJ Ryan Midnight, DJ Comadre

Brooklyn Bazaar
150 Greenpoint Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
$20

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Friday, September 7, 2018 @ 7:30 pm

Rebellion Rises 2018 Tour Featuring Ziggy Marley, Steel Pulse & Tribal Seeds

Pier 17
89 South Street
New York, NY
$40.50

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If you don't see a NYC ska show listed here, send us all of the details to duffguidetoska@gmail.com!

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Duff Review: "Trojan 50th Anniversary Picture Disc" (plus Trojan Reloaded)!

Trojan Records/Sanctuary Records Group/BMG
Heavyweight vinyl picture disc LP
2018

(Review by Steve Shafer)

Of all the This Is Trojan 50! releases coming out this year celebrating the label's golden anniversary, the Trojan 50th Anniversary Picture Disc seemed like the most sensible one to pick up, since I felt compelled to partake in this significant milestone somehow ("The Story of Trojan Records" book by Laurence Cane-Honeysett comes out in October and I'll probably buy that, too). I've been collecting Trojan comps--the vast majority of them nothing short of excellent--since the early 1990s (some of my favorites include The Trojan Story, The Trojan Story Volume II, The Story of Trojan Records, Rebel Music, Reggae Chartbusters, Club Reggae, Blow Mr. Hornsman, Freedom Sounds, Music Is My Occupation, Clement "Coxsone" Dodd - Musical Fever 1967-1968, and Clancy Eccles And Friends - Fatty Fatty 1967 - 1970). Having said that, the downside of being along for the ride for several of Trojan's five decades has been seeing many of the same classic cuts packaged, go out of print, and then be repackaged over and over and over again.

The Trojan 50 box set (priced at $135 in the USA and containing six CDs, four LPs, two 7" singles, and some label merch) is quite beautifully designed and contains a veritable treasure trove of Jamaican ska, rocksteady, and reggae; but unless you're new to the genre (and if you are, by all means buy this, since you'll own some of the greatest music ever recorded) or an obsessive Trojan collector that has to have everything, you already possess the majority of these songs. Being a sucker for vinyl and picture discs (and Trojan vinyl can be hard to come by in the states--on a recent trip to New Orleans, I picked up a pretty beat up copy of the phenomenal 1969 Reggae Chartbusters comp because it was the first copy I'd ever seen in all my many decades of crate digging and it contains Dandy Livingstone's awesome "Reggae in Your Jeggae"; fortunately, the surface noise doesn't distract too much and I paid less than $10 for it!), I'm pretty pleased with my purchase.

The selection of tracks on the Trojan 50th Anniversary Picture Disc--all UK top 10 chart hits back in the day--is unquestionably spectacular. Of all the late '60s/early '70s Trojan classics here (Desmond Dekker and The Aces' "Israelites," The Pioneers' "Let Your Yeah Be Yeah," Harry J All Stars' "Liquidator," Ken Boothe's "Everything I Own," The Upsetter's "Dollar In The Teeth," John Holt's Kris Kristofferson cover of "Help Me Make It Through the Night," Althea and Donna's "Uptown Ranking," Susan Cadogan's "Hurt So Good," Dave and Ansel Collins' "Double Barrel," Bob and Marcia's "To Be Young Gifted and Black," and Nicky Thomas' "Love of the Common People"), the only cut I was unfamiliar with (and am glad to have) is Sophia George's relatively late (1985) but great top #7 UK hit, "Girlie Girlie." This is a record you can put on at house party and just let it play.

As part of its celebrations, Trojan is releasing new music again through its new imprint Trojan Reloaded (the first 7" dancehall single on this label is "Real Reggae Music" from Reggae Roast Soundsystem, featuring Tippa Irie, which is available in the US on August 10, 2018--and their excellent digital Murder EP is out now). Here's hoping that this move creates lots of opportunities for some new reggae classics to be born...

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"Ska: A Music, Not a Typo" (Trouser Press)

A few weeks ago, we picked up six back issues of "Trouser Press" at the Archive of Contemporary Music, during one of their sales. While this incredible music mag was primarily concerned with covering New Wave in the late '70s/early '80s, it did offer a good deal of 2 Tone coverage (I have an issue with a great feature on The Beat and just found reviews of The Specials' More Specials and Madness' Absolutely in the January '81 issue with Gary Numan on the cover). And then I came across these pretty spot-on write-ups of several great Trojan and Mango ska comps from the November 1980 issue with The Cars on the front...

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Duff Review: Heavyball "Black Eye Diaries"

Magnetic North Melodies
CD/LP/digital
2015

(Review by Steve Shafer)

Heavyball's second album When Can You Start? was one of our favorite albums of 2017 (read The Duff Guide to Ska review of it here) and is still in frequent rotation on our turntable. So, when we learned through Kevin Flowerdew's essential Do The Dog Skazine that Heavyball's debut album Black Eye Diaries (Ten Uplifting Songs About Death and Disappointment) was back in print, we got our hands on a copy as soon as the Royal Mail could deliver it to our lair in New York City. Whereas When Can You Start? is a brilliant mod-ska-Brit pop opera of sorts about a week in lives of workers both high and low in the UK, Black Eye Diaries focuses on the indignities of living in the middle of nowhere, stuck in an existence with not much good going on, and of life (and people) letting you down badly. Sounds like a bummer of a record, but as the subtitle of the album states, it delivers as advertised: these are terrific, upbeat songs about life's hard truths.

The tension and limits of living in lesser metro areas are conveyed in tracks like the no future of "Small Time Hero" ("Your girlfriend is still in detention/You park up and smoke by the gates/Her song is playing so she can hear/Her teacher wishes you'd disappear...And you're never gonna leave this town/Where you can't afford to buy a round/And you're never gonna get too far/Flipping burgers in a fast food bar/And you're never gonna leave this place/Non-starter in the human race/And you're never gonna leave this town/'Cos you didn't even last the round") and a fantastic ska cover of Bronski Beat's mid-'80s synth-pop hit "Smalltown Boy," about a gay teen's experience with homophobia, gay-bashing, and familial rejection leading him to abandon his home town for the (hopefully) more tolerant (or anonymous) big city. "Another Country" expresses disgust at the increasing economic inequality between the very rich in London versus everyone else outside its city limits ("It's like living in another country/It's all ugly and it's all for show/Too many folk with too much money/Looking down on the one's below...Now I'm home I feel much better/So much better than I did before/It may be cold, I know it's wetter/I'll never be a city boy...Home sweet home/We're not wanted").

Then there are songs of bad decisions and dashed expectations. The top of that list is the hilarious, self-aware/regretful, still-in-love with your ex/drunk bar fight song "Black Eye Friday" that manages to work in a bit of Toots and the Maytals' "54-46 (Was My Number)": "I hit him one time/He hit me three times/I was talking, when I should've been listening..." (that last bit is something that singer/guitarist Bigface heard during a stint in the army: "I stole that quote from a corporal I worked with in the army. When the lads turned up for first parade on Monday morning, at least one would always have a black eye. He’d taunt them in a broad Sunderland accent 'Ah! You was talking when you should have been listening, eh?'"). Or the tale in "Wanted" of how she's left her boyfriend/husband and is literally running off with you, but it's changed the dynamics of everything in ways you didn't expect: "You got what you wanted/But you lost what you had/And if you got all that you wanted/Why do you look so sad?" (Which reminds me of this admittedly nerdy, but apt Star Trek quote spoken by Spock's character in "Amok Time": "After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing after all as wanting. It is not logical, but it is often true.") The bitter, but completely rocking mod track "Lost Heroes" expresses the sting and anger of learning that the people you looked up to--pop stars and politicians alike--are complete frauds ("And I have seen everything I need/And I don't need anything I've seen"); there's an incredible live acoustic version of it here! The eerie ska cut "Hands Up" is (I think) about managing to survive the horrors of war and making it back home (which was all you wanted), but being so damaged by the experience that you end up taking your own life.

The album ends with "Unhappy Now," an extraordinary Revolver-era Beatles/Sound Affects-era Jam-influenced song about (guiltily) having to leave a dead-end town and a good friend mired in a rut: "No money to pay the rent/Now the money's all been spent/Because life is hard in our town/Being home just dragged him down...Moved deep down south for a life in the sun/I'm sorry that I'm the only one to go/People so unhappy now/Everyone's so unhappy now/And deep down I still miss him/But I've made my choice/And now I've got to go."

It's relatively rare to come across such a powerful collection of songs that ring so true and real in their depiction of--and ambivalence toward--modern life. Heavyball's Black Eye Diaries is a phenomenal ska-mod soundtrack for one's less-than-hoped-for existence.

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Duff Guide to Ska Fast Takes: Caz Gardiner, The Far East, The Classy Wrecks

(Reviews by Steve Shafer)

The always amazing Caz Gardiner (ex-Checkered Cabs/ex-Caz and the Day Laborers) has an excellent new(ish) single out called "Stop" (digital, Carbonero Records, 2018)--which is a full-on funky soul track about someone who should be seen, but definitely not heard ("...The way you talking/I keep thinking/Stop!"). A whole lot of ska fans love their soul--so make sure to check out this cut and keep tabs on whatever Caz is doing next.

Brooklyn's The Far East have released an intriguing new single "Far East Ride" b/w "Rain On My Party" (vinyl single/digital, Channel Tubes, 2018). I'm really partial to the B side, which is billed as a Lovers Rock cut, but seems more influenced by the sounds of late '50s/early '60s girl groups (check out the "wah-wah-wah" backing harmonies) married to some serious rocksteady grooves. But don't just take my word on this--legendary BBC reggae DJ David Rodigan recently gave the track his stamp of approval by Tweeting out the link to the official "Rain On My Party" video. (Speaking of Rodigan, his autobiography is a fascinating read! In particular, the story of his first trip to JA to buy dub plates from King Tubby is absolutely incredible!)

Toronto's Classy Wrecks play a really enjoyable mix of hook-filled pop and rocksteady--and they've just released two songs as a preview of their forthcoming album Bedrocksteady (digital, Bandcamp, 2018). "In the Evening" is about a guy who kind of knows he's on the less equal side of the relationship equation ("You said that we're always having fun/But I'm waiting on your every move/Baby, you control my mood"), but is kind of okay with it. "Time Moves On"--essentially a good kick in the ass for procrastinators to get things in gear now--has a fantastic, almost Motown-ish horn riff embedded in it. I'm definitely interested in hearing where the rest of the album takes us...

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