INTERVIEW: DWAYNE ANGLIN, THE WAILERS BAND – November 2015

Shane | 20 February 2016 | Reply

INTERVIEW: DWAYNE ANGLIN, THE WAILERS BAND – November 2015
By Shane Pinnegar

The Wailers continue to tour the world relentlessly spreading the words of love and peace as composed by their co-founder Bob Marley, a man still revered almost as a prophet by many. SHANE PINNEGAR sat down for a long-distance chat with Dwayne Anglin, who has been frontman of the band since 2010.

The Wailers – Australian Tour Dates 2016

Tanks, CAIRNS – THU 17 MAR
The Playhouse, DARWIN – SAT 19 MAR
Astor Theatre, PERTH – MON 21 MAR
Rooty Hill RSL, SYDNEY – WED 23 MAR
Bluesfest, Byron Bay – Thu 24, Fri 25, Sat 26 & Sun 27 MAR
Powerstation, AUCKLAND – WED 30 MAR

Calling from Shillong in north-east India on The Wailers Band’s first-ever tour of the country, Anglin is tired yet passionate and inspirational about the importance of spreading Marley’s message of love, peace & Rastafarianism.

“We follow his lead as far as where the music takes us,” he explains, “because we’re only invited where the music is. His spirit lives on through his music and I think his aim was to spread the message of Rastafari to the four corners of the globe. No piece of land needs to be untouched. We are able and willing to go anywhere the music takes us.”

One of the prime tenets of the Rastafari religion is marijuana smoking as a way to reach a higher plane of communion. Surely this must pose problems getting visas into certain countries?

“Not for us; we haven’t experienced that,” answers Anglin. “I think it’s a matter of the way you carry yourselves and how you prepare for the business of travel and respecting the order, the social norms. We know that certain things are not as accepted in certain places as others. Once you operate under that assumption or under that belief then you will be fine. We haven’t had any problems with that because our band members are very respectable and very mindful of the laws and rules and regulations in different countries.”

Touring further and wider than Marley ever did during his lifetime, The Wailers Band play an important role in turning young people onto reggae music and the message it contains.

“I think each part of the puzzle is important,” says the singer. “It’s always the music that is played on the radio, the CDs, and of course the touring all linked together to get the message across and to reach people. We [played] the Legend album [live] last year, and the Legend album was #5 on the Billboard charts in the year that we toured it. The previous year, it was #14. Now keep in mind that this album has been on the Billboard charts for 26 years straight!

“On the 26th year, it was the #5 album – when all other albums that were released that year or the previous year weren’t even on the charts for 2 years. If you consider the combination of things that happened to boost his music, and with the social and economic climate the way it is, people turn to different things for inspiration. Reggae music is one of the top genres that provide that inspiration, so I feel like young people will always gravitate towards this music.”

There’s undeniably a lot of unrest in the world at the moment: war, poverty, corruption and unhappiness abound. Songs of peace, love and understanding are needed more than ever, and have a very real power to make a difference.

“Well, let’s take, for example, what happens in any environment or any social gathering,” the singer tells me. “If you are playing love songs in a social gathering and people have a certain feeling of calmness, you might see two couples dancing as you are playing. If they’re playing dance music with drums, they might dance a different way. If they’re playing music that’s talking about killing or talking about negative things, it’s only a matter of time before somebody starts fighting. Music is very influential and it gets in your subconscious and it just creates physical movement and physical reactions. We feel like if we keep feeding the people with positive music, then their actions and their reflexes will conform to the same. We can get positive movements and positive interactions with different people. Music is the greatest medium of reaching people, so we want to do it in a positive way.

“It’s the vibrations,” he continues, the passion in his voice nothing short of inspirational, “and vibrations is not something that stays still. It affects an area, a given area, depending on the impact vibration. We want our impact to be global, so we would have to make the loudest noise. We have to continuously be spreading the word and then to let it echo all across the globe. The problem can’t be just fixed in one region; it has to be fixed bilaterally and in all regions.”

Reggae music – perhaps more than any other – seems largely independent of demographics. Rock fans like reggae, punks like reggae, hippies like reggae. It seems to cover all the bases. Anglin couldn’t agree more.

“Yes, because it’s people music; it’s music for humanity,” he insists. “It’s not just music for a specific look or a specific language. Everybody loves reggae music, even the ones who don’t understand the words.”

Anglin was a solo singer when tapped to join The Wailers Band in 2010, but says he didn’t feel massive pressure to step into Bob Marley’s shoes – at least, “not exactly.”

“When I got the call,” he explains, “the decision was to either continue to pursue my solo career or to get this experience that you couldn’t pay for. The opportunity to be with Family Man [Aston ‘Family man’ Barrett – the only veteran of the band who played with Marley himself] and be part of the legacy of Bob Marley and the Wailers and to perform for the fans of The Wailers and to learn in the process was truly an opportunity I couldn’t turn down. As far as the pressure of performing or filling Bob Marley’s shoes, I never really had that as a thought because I knew there was no filling Bob Marley’s shoes or replicating or duplicating him as an artist, as a person, or as a prophet.

“I don’t think anyone else could put that pressure on anyone. That wouldn’t be fair, so I never saw it that way. I just saw it as an opportunity to learn from Family Man and to just be a part of this legacy and to pay my dues as an artist, really. It’s just one of the greatest things to do, to be able to say you were a part of something special and you were asked to do something [like this], and you do it well. That is my mission, is to do the best job that I can, but there is no replacing or replicating or duplicating the great, the legendary Robert Nesta Marley. That is impossible, and no-one should even think about doing such a thing.”

Despite The Wailers Band’s gruelling touring schedule – currently in South America, they then spend most of February in the US and Canada, before Australia and New Zealand through March, and back to The States in May – Anglin still finds a little time here and there to work on his solo material.

“Yes, I am currently working on my debut album,” he declares. “I’m hoping to be finished sometime early [2016]. I’m a much better songwriter than I was before, as far as my maturity level and understanding what’s necessary and what’s not, what’s relevant and what’s not. Every movement needs a purpose and every purpose needs a mission and my mission is to spread the teachings of Marcus Garvey and His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie. Just to establish myself as an African in music and just to inspire people from a place of knowledge and not a place of ignorance or arrogance. It’s a major difference now for me as an artist and I’m truly grateful for this opportunity to produce that.”

Whilst we are talking about spreading understanding and defeating ignorance and the like, I notice that The Wailers Band have played a lot of festivals recently and will be playing Bluesfest on the eastern coast of Australia when they tour in March. Festivals are notorious for the co-opting of cultural linchpins: for instance, there was a big outcry here a few years ago when at a few festivals, a lot of people were wearing American Indian headdresses with the feathers and everything. We’ve seen the Jamaican cap with the dreadlocks sewn into it at these events as well – does this sort of thing bother you, do you find it culturally offensive or ignorant?

“You know what it is?” he responds, “I think when we operate with a sense of innocence, I don’t think a lot of these people do anything with the intention of offending. I think it’s more trying to be a part of [something]… sometimes, [it’s] an intent to flatter or an intent to try to demonstrate commitment. I personally don’t like the hats with the dreads, I can tell you that. I can’t speak for the entire Wailers community and everybody else, but I’ll be honest, I don’t like the hats with the dreads on them. I feel like if you want some dreads, then you grow them.”

As someone who has had long hair for almost all of my adult life, I couldn’t agree more – festival goers wearing long wigs seems pointless and ‘wannabe’ to me.

“Yeah. I feel like you can show your commitment to something without mimicking it,” Anglin elaborates. “You just being at a concert is enough. Just being there and wearing the colours, and even if you don’t choose to wear the colours. For me personally – I’ll go on record as saying that I personally don’t like it. That’s as an individual. Yeah, it’s not flattering, to me.”
As part of their Australian tour the band perform no less than FOUR consecutive nights at Byron Bay’s Bluesfest, performing one classic album in its entirety each night. That sounds like a lot of fun but a lot of hard work.

“You know what? There’s much to be done,” says Anglin, with evangelical fervour. “Many people need inspiration, and those albums cover a lot of ground, a lot of political and social commentary. We have Survival, which is very, very revolutionary-driven, Uprising, and of course the Legend album and Exodus. It’s a lot of work when you think about four nights, but when you think about decades of oppression and injustice, it’s a very light load. It’s a light load in comparison to those who have suffered and died and endured. Our mission is to spread the music, so the more nights – we’ll do 6 nights if we have to.”

Anglin talks about performing almost as if it’s an obligation – a mission was the word he just used. Is touring still fun for the band? Are they enjoying themselves whilst spreading the word? It’s not just a penance, is it?

“Yeah, I mean, that’s the whole point. If you have a mission and a purpose, that is life,” he says inspirationally. “Those 2 things; just life. You should always be involved in your mission and your purpose in your life so that, for me, is fun. It should be fun. If you’re truly committed to it, it should be fun, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy. It being fun just means that you accept the challenge in its entirety instead of just the parts that you feel the most comfortable with. That is the whole point of being a part of a mission and being committed to a purpose – just understand that not every aspect of it is going to be easy. The challenges are the parts that are most interesting and most rewarding.”