THE STRANGEWAYS
Interview from sunday 22nd april 2001

The Strangeways formed in 1994 (and were originally named Planet Dread) as a versatile six-piece Florida-based band and quickly gained a firm foothold in the Southeast music scene with their original blend of good-time reggae and ska. The band soon gained the attention of Moon Records, after the label's owner, who was on tour with The Toasters in Florida at the time, caught the band's live performance and became a convert. Through their close association with Moon, The Strangeways soon found themselves with two national tours under their belts (including the much heralded "Ska Against Racism Tour") and an internationally distributed debut CD (Europe, Japan, Brazil), "Corporate Monkey," which earned them glowing reviews, college radio airplay, and new fans across the world. Despite the US ska bust of 1999 and
unfortunate demise of Moon Records in 2000, The Strangeways are determinedly keeping faith in the music and in the future. The Strangeways have teamed up with 7 Wonders of the World Music to release their sophomore album, "Another Round," which is chock-full of excellent and catchy ska, rocksteady and reggae tunes that will make you get up off your feet and move to the beat!

The Strangeways are:
Will Haynes: trumpet, flugelhorn, vocals
Bruce Glasberg: trombone
Jason Nwagbaraocha: bass, vocals
Patrick Lynch: tenor sax
Tony Shepperd: guitar
Tim Meyer: keys
Dan "Duckie" Garrido: drums, vocals
Clyde "Supa C" Pinder: vocals, keys and toasting

The strangeways interview By Will Haynes bandleader/trumpet player

Skanews : "The story so far..."

Will Haynes : "Started playing gigs together as Planet Dread in 1994 and worked steadily in the Florida club scene. Started focusing more on our original ska sound and changed name to the Strangeways (taken from a Boddingtons beer can label) in '96 and released first record "Corporate Monkey" shortly after. Signed with Moon Records NYC and followed up release with a tour of the northeast and southern United States in the summer of '97. Continued you play extensively throughout Florida and the southern US for the next few years and went into the studio to record "Another Round" which we just released and is available through 7wow.com and our web-site thestrangeways.com. We will be recording our third record starting in June of this year and hope to tour Europe within the next year."

Skanews : "Musical influences"

Will Haynes : "Anything that has a beat. Mostly bop jazz artists and trad ska, rocksteady and reggae artists. We admire and can appreciate all the musicians that play and have played the music we love, namely ska. Some of our favorites would be the Beat, the Toasters, Bim Skala Bim, N.Y. Ska Jazz and Hepcat, just to name a few."

Skanews : "How do you meet Moon Records and The Toasters ?"

Will Haynes "We played a show here in Florida with the Toasters and Rob "Buck" Hingley signed us on the spot. We have the distinction of being the last band Moon signed."

Skanews : "Can you talk me about your first CD ?"

Will Haynes : "Self produced, recorded in a garage on ADAT, most of the songs were written by our bassist/vocalist Jason "Googie Rankin", one Miles Davis cover "All Blues" and one cover by Tyrone and the Slickers "You Done Me Wrong" (we didn't know the title when we recorded it so we called it "What More Can I Say Now")."

Skanews : "Is it possible to find your first CD now ?"

Will Haynes : "Yes, we have about 400 copies available through our website and it will be going up on 7 Wonders soon. We hold the masters and are considering remixing and adding some additional tracks and re-releasing it if we ever get time."

Skanews : "Can you talk me about "Ska against racism tour" ?"

Will Haynes : "Wonderful experience and great mix of styles and the best Toasters line-up to date. (The Toasters stole the show) Five Iron Frenzy and Less than Jake aren't real ska in my opinion. Mike Park is a great guy and has done much for ska music."

Skanews : "What do you think about the end of Moon Ska ?"

Will Haynes : "I think, despite the rumors, Buck and Moon maintained their integrity and are getting a much needed break. They had a good run and almost single-handedly started the third wave. They treated us very fairly and would never say a bad word about them."

Skanews : "You meet Steve Shafer when he worked at Moon ?"

Will Haynes : "Steve was my main contact at Moon and did all he could to help us succeed. We kept in touch after he left Moon and was always happy to give me advise when I asked. I consider him a friend and am so glad to be working with him again."

Skanews : "Can you introduce your brand new album ?"

Will Haynes : "Moon helped us get going but we ran way over budget and it took forever to get the record out. Mostly the engineer was holding the tapes and wouldn't give us any studio time. When we did get in the studio he gave us his best but we were averaging about one session a month. It was very frustrating and we learned some valuable lessons. I think we've grown musically since we recorded it and we've added a sax and keyboard since the recording sessions. Most of the tunes again were written by Jason and our other singer Clyde "Supa C"."

Skanews : "Have you some message to tell to the public ?"

Will Haynes : "There is no substitute for quality... Life is too short for shit."

Skanews : "Some people said that your band sounds like Hepcat..."

Will Haynes : "...some say we sound like the Beat."

Skanews : "Do you think e-label is the future of the music industry ?"

Will Haynes : "I hope so, I want 7 Wonders to do well and for us to sell a lot of material."

Skanews : "Is it possible in the future for the people to buy your brand new record on traditionnal shops ?"

Will Haynes : "We are selling them at our shows and through our web-site and are seeking national / international distribution without much luck."

Skanews : "What do you think about Ska music in USA today ?"

Will Haynes : "What ska music in the USA ?"

Skanews : "Have you some plans to play in Europe in the next month ?"

Will Haynes : "We'd love to, but it looks more like next year than next month."

Skanews : "Can you introduce your website ?"

Will Haynes : " This is the intro: Thanks for visiting our website. We are very excited to announce that our new album "Another Round" is out on our own Prime 8 Records label. It and our debut CD "Corporate Monkey" are both available now. Just get in touch with us through e-mail or the address listed in the "contact" section of the site. We'll be happy to send you a copy (for a small fee) or you can hear a MP3 of an entire song in the "sounds" section of the website. To get a free download and hear samples from the new album click on the 7 Wonders link below. Thanks for stopping by and drop us a line at strangeways@home.com  or chat via ICQ #21417275. Hope to hear from you soon!
Will Haynes

Skanews : "If you have other things to say..."

Will Haynes : "Thank you for the interview and you have a great site. Follow what you love..."

The Strangeways website: www.thestrangeways.com

Interview by J-Pierre Boutellier / Skanews april 2001

Copyright One Drop / Skanews
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