Chronixx Interview

We look forward to welcoming you to Reggae Land! What can fans expect from your performance this year? Can we expect to hear any new music?

Fans can always expect to hear new music… New music is a part of creativity, you know. Creativity always has some spontaneity and also some amount of revelation. Revelation is always a part of true art and creativity, so that’s one thing they can expect… art and revelation.

If you had to name just one, who is your all-time favourite artist and why?

I’ve never had the simplicity of just having one all time favorite artist. I think because of how much time I spend listening and exploring my own love for music, I end up almost every day discovering things where it feels like my favorite, you know.

So, I think it’s easy to really look at the artists that you keep going back to all the time, but there is some music that you don’t listen to as often but whenever you do, you feel something special. So it’s probably easier for me to say who I listen to the most. Yeah, if I’m to narrow it down to one artist, currently I would say Kelissa.

You’ve been at the forefront of modern reggae. How do you feel about reggae’s evolution, and where do you see it heading in the next decade?

I consider myself to be more in the mix of the evolution of Jamaican music. Reggae happens to be one of the music genres that emerged from the evolution of Jamaican music. So I think that’s really more of what my generation is a part of. When my generation of artists and the generation before me start to function as real sound leaders, start to produce more, start innovating more upon the sound side and the sound system side, I think that’s gonna be beautiful for the sound of Jamaican music.

A lot of us now do it for the genuine love of performing, but at some point we are gonna be able to lead it and innovate from the tech side of music. I think similarly to what used to happen in the 70s, we’re on the way to having some Jamaican youth and some Jamaican creatives really having a hand in where the technological side of things are going. I think that that will be beautiful for the sound of reggae music.

⁠Your music blends deep roots reggae with a fresh, modern sound. Who or what has inspired your musical journey the most?

My musical journey… it ties in with my upbringing and everything, you know. What my family was like, and what my family is like now. I think for me, a big part of it is my home life…

I spend a lot of my home time singing, and my family makes music… so like when you’re with your brother and your sister dem, your parents dem, it’s like every interaction has some music in it.

I think some people’s musical upbringing comes from the club, and from making music in the streets, and music that their friends outside of the home love. For me – my first audience is always family members, so I think that at this stage of my life I can finally identify that one thing that give the music the kind of harmony that it has and the kind of progression and feeling that it has because it is tailored to be an expression of family moments.

What drives you, both in life and in your music?

I think beauty is one of the things that drives me, it’s like always feeling like there’s one more beauty to uncover and reveal. That optimism of, yo not everything that is beautiful is already known, is already seen, already felt. It’s just knowing say something else is in tomorrow, you know. I think that’s my number one drive, just always having something to look forward to and to give myself big dreams… And embracing them as if they’re doable and achievable. Just always thinking that there’s some other beauty out there, for me and also for the rest of the world. My almost automatic next move is, how can I somehow reveal this to others.

Do you have a favourite song to perform live—one that always connects with the crowd in a special way?

I have several chunes like that, but one such tune I personally like to sing is “Capture Land” because it just feels good. It just feels like one of dem real rub a dub chunes! But I think there’s several tunes and I think what people connect with the most in my set is kind of the continuity between the songs. All of them kind of add different shapes and tones to the same picture.

That’s how I feel whenever I write, like I’m writing the next part to something that already exists… just exposing a new edge of it or a new piece of it. That is what I feel like connects the most with the audience. How each sound connects with the next one and the ups and downs of the overall music experience.

⁠Reggae is built on tradition but continues to evolve. How do you balance honouring its roots while pushing the genre forward?

I think sometimes people confuse reggae with folk music… reggae was really an experimental music. Whereby it’s so simple but at the same time the timing is so complex, the swing is so evasive, you know.

I think reggae music was built on experimenting and exploration. Musicians really stepping outside of what the standard of the day was. I’m talking about man like Max Romeo, the Wailers, the Upsetters, like Lloyd Charmers and all of dem man deh who really took it from just being a ska and rock steady thing to something more sophisticated. They added a mystique to already existing styles.

I think I would argue the whole thing where it is built on tradition, I think it’s built on innovation. I think we have to remain optimistic and as long as we have artists who are into music and musicians who are in it for innovation we will always land at a good place. I think the sound of reggae music is always gonna be something that’s built on innovation and bringing something fresh to the world music space.

Are you currently working on any new projects, and if so, what can fans look forward to?

Well, I work on new projects all the time, every year, all year round so I do give thanks for that life… the creative life. This year I’m looking forward to releasing new music, obviously at

this point I can’t say any dates or any titles or anything but definitely. I’m looking forward to releasing new music this year.

Your music carries powerful messages. What is the most important thing you hope young people take from your songs?

I don’t really hope for them to take anything per se, I make music out of love and out of wanting to show something beautiful to people. I would say the one goal in all of that, is that somehow beauty gets revealed and something that you never knew before again gets revealed.

I can just hope for revelation. I think once beauty gets revealed and people discover something beautiful about themselves or something beautiful about the world… I think that really completes the expectation for me. It’s not the message but experience, that’s the whole purpose with art, that somehow someone can see something beautiful that they never saw before.

If you could relive one moment in Jamaica—whether from your childhood, career, or personal life—what would it be and why?

I would just love to live some future life. I think all my experiences were beautiful but not so beautiful that I would go back. I always like to think that the most beautiful things are ahead… So if I could go into the future in Jamaica, I would love to be in a Jamaica where it’s easy to commute, and there’s beautiful public spaces. I would love to feel that warm embrace of our social system and an ecosystem that really was tailored for the people who live in Jamaica and I think that future really attracts me more than going back.

I would love to go to the future and see thousands of Jamaicans enjoying music in a good space, tens of thousands of people from around the world coming here to experience culture in a transformative type of way, I definitely would love to see that.

If someone were hearing your music for the first time, what’s the one message you’d want them to take away from it?

It’s kind of like the earlier question, and as I was saying I think I put everything I can put into the music to somehow expose a beauty in harmony. I think harmony is one thing I would

love people to take away from this, you know. Harmony and sympathy and resilience… those types of qualities. I would like for them to somehow be awakened to their more human qualities. I think the higher human virtues are some of the ones I hope people feel arise in them when they listen to my music for the first time.

Your music has touched lives all over the world. How does it feel knowing the impact your music has on so many people?

I wonder how the music feel, you know *ha ha* Sometimes I wonder how the songs actually feel to be free… What I feel is a similar thing to what people who listen to the music feel, just a sense of connection and like you’re making something that has a purpose and a place in the world. That the things that you feel are being felt by other people as well.

How has music shaped your own life and perspective?

I think music kind of is the center of my existence. At this age, I kind of have to place it there in my reasoning because I’ve been living an artist’s life for my whole entire adolescence and adulthood. With every other thing I was doing, helping my family, etc. I think the main center of my work and even existence, was revolving around creativity and music and sound. I would say music is the one thing that has connected me with the most people and has disconnected me from the most people. It has taught me so much and has helped me to learn new things that almost overwrite things that you knew before you started to create so deeply. So yeah, I would say music is the one thing that shaped everything the most.

If you could have a dream collaboration with any artist, whether in reggae or beyond, who would it be and why?

I really have come to a place where I don’t think about any names or faces when I go to make music. It was a very new feeling, just getting to that place where you’re so committed to music that you don’t even think your own self is important to the process much. And also that whenever you get a chance to do something beautiful that you’re kind of lucky and blessed, as opposed to the music needs this and this person and that person. I feel like it’s us who need the music. As far as jamming, you know I really do miss rehearsing and jamming with the band, whoever the band might be…

Reggae Land brings together so many passionate fans. What’s your favourite part about performing at festivals like this?

I think the best part of performing at festivals is the discovery. I think a good festival is one where the artists find people and people find artists. So I always look forward to sharing the music also with people who are not really your fans or like people who don’t listen to your music. I think that’s the biggest blessing of festivals, just playing for other people’s fans *ha ha* And kind of expanding the (h)ear and (he)art space where the music permeates throughout the world. I think that is the biggest beauty of festivals.