Drum Talk

Leroy Mattis's first drum was a plastic butter container. My mother wouldn't buy me a drum because back then the situation in Jamaica was very tense... In 1960 Jamaica was still an English colony, and the drum is a roots instrument. Tommy McCook was living two doors down; during the first years of The Skatalites, Mattis would practice there. In 1970 he was National Junior Drumming Champion, with Count Ossie winning overall; four years later his ensemble battled in the Senior finals with the drummers of The Light of Saba. Our group was initially called Genesis, it was a 7-piece drum group, but I changed the name to Mabrak, which means Thunder in Amharic. We knew that we were coming with a heavy sound. Experiments in percussion, in the middle of the night at Harry J's - funky versions of rhythms like Curly Locks, Too Late to Turn Back Now, and Fattie Fattie, led by talking drums - beautifully mixed by King Tubby, who couldn't believe his ears. Originally released in 1976, in paper inners only. Smartly sleeved in quintessential Dug Out-style this time around - with an insert, including a recent interview with Mabrak.

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