When you’re looking for the comprehensive history of any music genre, Wikipedia isn’t the most reliable place to turn to. But the ‘Reggae’ page has got one thing right when it says: ‘A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals Do the Reggay was the first popular song to use the word.’
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The Jamaican act fronted by the charismatic Fredrick ‘Toots’ Hibbert was formed in 1961. In music, that’s a year earlier than The Rolling Stones formed. In history, that’s the year before Jamaica’s independence from the UK.
Toots, the youngest of seven children, was born in May Pen in Jamaica into a religious background, which had quite an influence on his music. After his first musical experience singing gospel music in a church choir, he moved to Kingston in his teens. There, he formed the group that went on to find fame alongside acts such as The Skatalites and of course, Bob Marley’s group The Wailers. They broke the UK around the turn of the 70s with hits such as Pressure Drop, Monkey Man and 54-46 Was My Number. Their career further revitalised thanks to covers of their songs by The Clash, The Specials and Amy Winehouse. They’re the group that holds the record for the most number one songs in Jamaica, and you only have to look at the artists they’ve collaborated with, including Keith Richards and Eric Clapton, to see the influence the group has had.
“Jamaican culture will always be in my music. It’s a good thing that people can know how my music originated,” explains Toots over the phone from the US, today sounding positive if not quite as lively as he was in his younger years. Which is perfectly understandable – this year marks the group’s return to the stage after a particularly unpleasant incident in Richmond, Virginia in May 2013. The then-70-year-old Toots was hit on the head by an empty glass vodka bottle thrown by an audience member, leaving the singer hospitalised with seven stitches in his head. As well as the physical effects, he suffered badly from anxiety and memory loss, his future in music thrown into question as he developed a fear of crowds and performing live.
As you can probably expect, Toots doesn’t like to talk much about the incident or the three years following it, but talks about his recovery and return to playing live music with joyful enthusiasm. He says: “I found it very, very easy to reconnect with my songs. When you think about something bad that’s happened, after three years, I try and do the best I can.”
But since then they’ve played a number of live shows, starting with a San Diego concert in mid-June. Look at live clips from this year on YouTube and the singer shows no signs of being a performer struggling to find his feet again, instead giving off the impression that he is genuinely enjoying himself, dancing around the stage and encouraging call and response singing in a way that the group’s audiences have grown to love during the over-half century that the act have been performing.
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Over August and September, we can look forward to the group’s return to the UK. This begins with shows at Kingham’s The Big Feastival and a support slot for Madness at Clapham Common, Madness’ Camden ska scene being one Toots says he identifies quite heavily with as a big influence on it. After that, we can then expect a tour covering everywhere from Norwich to Newcastle, stopping at Cardiff’s newly reopened Tramshed on September 1. The group only played in the city for the first time on their 2011 50th anniversary tour, but Toots recalls the great reception the group had and has had throughout the whole UK over the years.
“People in the UK always miss me and love to see me, so I will be there to give everyone their equal share. I’m very excited to get back on the road. Even though I haven’t sung for three years, I will be singing more than I’ve ever sung before,” Toots reassures us. “You can expect good songs and good music.” He’s even seen the way that his audience stretches far beyond just the people who enjoyed it the first time round. He notices: “My music appeals to people who are very young, it’s good for them. It’s always a good thing to come back to the UK and do good things for my young friends!”
As well as performing live, Toots confirms that he’s working on a new studio album with the Maytals which we can expect in the near future, the group’s first since 2010’s Flip and Twist, which had slight hints of the typical Maytals reggae sound, but also took influence from funk and R&B in equal measures. He explains “It’s very, very important to keep making new music and music that can link for a young fan”. But he also keeps fairly tight-lipped about what we can expect from the next album stylistically, revealing simply: “It’s good music, very good music.”
For a taste of what Toots has been up to in the studio this year, it’s worth giving Crazy Conscious a listen, a collaboration that he performed with Camilo Lara (of Mexican Institute of Sound) and Toy Selectah (Mad Decent) for their new album Compass, out August 26. The refreshingly upbeat track, an ode to enjoying life and music itself, features heavy contributions from Toots with lyrics like “everyone is moving/so positive/in this party tonight/it’s alright”. He says Crazy Conscious is a good song, “it’s simple and effective and keeps the listener grabbing onto it.”
If there’s anything to sum up Toots’ music, from the group’s early classics all the way up to the fantastic latter-day cover of Radiohead’s Let Down, it’s an overwhelming feel-good nature. For anyone hoping to witness an iconic group in reggae music and feel a whole lot of positive vibes in the process, the Cardiff show on Thurs 1 Sept is not to be missed. Never mind ‘Reggae’; by the end of this tour, you can expect to see Toots & the Maytals mentioned in the Wikipedia articles for ‘Comeback’, ‘Recovery’ and ‘Reestablished’.
words ALEC EVANS