| Roger and Ian Lewis of the famed Inner Circle band pursuing new horizons as studio aficionados |
| By Charles H E Campbell Observer writer Sunday, September 04, 2005 |
The heaviest of heavyweights, fat man riddim duo, brothers Roger and Ian Lewis are the original members of Inner Circle - a band that was a central part of the pivotal movement of the 1970s young and burgeoning musicians, who would soon overtake Jamaica and the world at large with the weight of their popularity, music and musical accomplishments and successes.
Now the heavyweights have shifted their focus away from the performing stage and have built a highly successful studio/production business in Florida.
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| ROGER LEWIS... 1C Oxford was were Inner Circle started (Photo: Karl McLarty) |
In this special feature Roger and Ian speak frankly about their early involvement with reggae, the Inner Circle, Jacob Miller and their studio/production business.
"1C Oxford Road, which is now Mas Camp, was where it really all started. That was a place with a lot of vibes. It was a time (late 1960s, early 1970s) when vibes used to run through all of Jamaica. It's interesting that now Mas Camp still represents and is known for that kind of cultural and musical vibes that was prevailing then.
A whole heap of vibes - Yuh had the poets, like Mutabaruka, Kiddus I, Ras Michael, Jeffery Chung and Now Generation. Ruth Sherman had a restaurant nearby and Cindy Breakespeare used to be in there. Bob [Marley] used to come around with [Allan] Skill [Cole] and a bag a man, it was a vibes man," a reflective Roger Lewis said as he reminisced on the formative days of his involvement with music and the formation of the Inner Circle.
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| IBO COOPER... given props for early direction of Inner Circle |
Inner Circle, according to Lewis was an apt name for a working band that would have passed through its learning streams some of Jamaica's finest musicians including Stephen 'Cat' Coore, Prilly Hamilton, Funky Brown, Carl Barovier, Douglas Guthrie, Charlie Roberts and Michael 'Ibo' Cooper.
"I have to give Ibo (Cooper) his props, as a musician and the kind of musician who can lead a band or do anything musically. I can say that it was from him that I really learnt. Ibo was very disciplined, but moreover he knew the music. He had the training and was so able to teach many of us. He was fearless, because he knew the music. Musically, I must give him his props, big props," Roger Lewis said.
In 1971, Inner Circle took on the invitation to be a backing band on Michael Manley's PNP Bandwagon, which significantly aided Manley to reach the masses and gained him his landslide victory in February 1972. All along this islandwide showcase, Inner Circle backed many of the premier Jamaican artistes of the era including, the Wailers, Junior Byles, Clancy Eccles, Marcia Griffiths, Brent Dowe (of the Melodians), Max Romeo and Ken Boothe.
"The bandwagon was really the beginning of a melting pot, a fusion of the earlier music and the new music, as well as a bridging of the Jamaican society and Rasta.
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| Tommy Cowan (left), Roger and Ian Lewis. (Photos: Karl McLarty) |
The climate and the music were so free. The musicians weren't politically connected. It was not as though we were using the music to politically mastermind the people. It was just fun to be playing music, we never even thought about politics," Roger Lewis said.
A transition came for the band when both Cat and Ibo decided to leave Inner Circle to form their own outfit, Third World, in 1973. By this time, Inner Circle had steadily moulded itself into a show band, with the sole duty of entertaining.
They so perfected the craft of performing a barrage of dance hits spanning different genres that they were packing choice venues of the era like Witches' Hideaway (Holiday Inn), Casa Monte Hotel (Stony Hill) and Turntable on the famed Red Hills strip in Kingston. In addition, Inner Circle was running the north coast hotel circuit red hot.
"I always marvelled at the sight of the people who came out to the dance, having a difficulty dancing, when they wanted to watch the group," commented Tommy Cowan about the group's showmanship and influence at the time.
In 1974, the band flew off to San Francisco to work as a backing band for a series of shows with Fredrick "Toots" Hibbert among others.
"On that tour, we saw Dennis Brown a sing him own songs, Toots a sing him own songs, an' we seh but wait, this ting yah nuh hard.
People were excited and knew their tunes while we were playing someone else's tunes," Roger Lewis said.
The band made a qualitative leap forward when they linked with singer Jacob Miller.
"We really found ourselves with Jacob Miller and that was when we really draw a gear. That was when Inner Circle really began as Inner Circle.
That was when we got into the original music, the writing of songs and coming out with Tommy Cowan. When we used to play dance music, like top 40 hits at Drumblair dances and Casa Monte, all 'bout, Jakes (Jacob Miller) used to come as a likkle yute and cuss we and laugh after we and seh "yeah unnu a fight 'gainst me, but me a di greatest singer", "dem bwoy deh a eediat".
And we used to seh "dis likkle fat eediat breddah, everywhere we go the man come 'round and jus a trouble people and all dem ting deh". And he used to predict, "yuh can gwaan, unnu a go come fi me". And mi used to always a seh, "which eediat breddah dat? Everywhere we go this fat bwoy just come 'round and a give pure trouble.
Jakes was a prankster, a real trouble-making man. One day I finally said to him, "awright Jakes, come round, mek we do a likkle ting, see if you can really sing. Is twenty-odd man Jakes bring wid him - Jakes bring him band with drummer and horns section and everything," Roger Lewis with tears in his eyes said.
"Jakes evolved as a folk hero. He had such magnetism, a simple roots way that made him popular with the masses. Jakes used to always mek us drop him at the top of Rousseau Road, never at his house. One day I go to pick him up.
Yuh see when I turn into the yard, there was a house with no gate, I went up to the so-called verandah and front door, a likkle youth come out and point towards where Jakes was living, on the side of the house, a built-on section with no windows, a zinc roof, unrendered concrete walls and a single cot on which Jakes was sleeping.
And I said to myself, this youth walk around everyday, and laughing all the time, not a wrinkle on his face and this is where him sleep. And I seh come man Jakes, let's go, we a go a di house. Even though he was poor, he never had in his mind any element of criminality.
Jakes' mother used to be a bus conductress on a 'Jolly' bus. Jakes used to go on the bus, right where the driver is and sing and entertain the bus. Elvis Presley business and them ting deh. In his mind he never looked down on that. And him come back come sing 'bout Rousseau Road, 21A in the tune Jolly Joseph, Ian Lewis said
Jacob Miller's and Inner Circle's first major hit was Tenement Yard (1976).
"We sold over 70,000 copies of that song, pressing it ourselves. I remember when we started first, we gave it to Pat Cooper - Pat was the first person we carried that tune to. When we'd press 2,000 and give it to Pat on the Friday, by Tuesday those would be finished. To show you, when a man can seh him sell 4,000 records is a hit in Jamaica, back then when you can sell 100,000, that's how much people were buying music."
A number of other hits are credited to this group of musicians including Forward Jah Jah Children, A Chapter A Day and We A Rockers, the title track from the 1978 movie Rockers, which also featured the band playing an up-tempo version of Tenement Yard and most memorably Miller himself in an amusing acting role.
Even with these accomplishments, Roger and Ian feel that they have not received their just due, locally.
"The Peace Concert of 1978, which we put together ourselves along with Tommy - all the equipment, everything - nearly every piece of equipment on that stage was ours. We were bridging the gap between the classes, between uptown and downtown.
At that time, when a man a seh Rasta, at least 30% of Twelve Tribes were white uptown Jamaicans and Chinese. Everyone was actively weaving the social fabric of Jamaica. It was a lifestyle, it was every single day, it wasn't something that happened once in a while, it was a constant vibe."
Yet, another transitional period would ensue with the passing of the front man with the smooth voice. Jacob "Jakes" Miller who had endeared himself along with Inner Circle to the Jamaican masses had died and gloom descended.
"You have to live and understand who Jacob Miller was..everything was going magnificent. We had just signed to Island Records, which was home to Bob Marley and Third World after doing two albums with Capitol Records," Roger remembered.
"Chris Blackwell was marrying us together with Bob, but he was putting us out as a more edgier band. Chris met us in England and put us up, like we were his sons. That was 1979," Ian said.
In March 1980, after that initial meeting, Jacob died in a car accident.
The group was in limbo, coming out of Jacob's untimely passing and would take until 1986 to regroup. This time joined by vocalist Carlton Coffie, they would again make headway onto the international scene with their 1987 song Bad Boys.
"Bad Boys was a cut from the album, One Way. We were approached about using the song on the soundtrack of what we initially thought was a docudrama or a pilot for FOX television, Roger said.
That 'pilot' turned out to be a box office busting movie starring comedians Will Smith (Fresh Prince) and Martin Lawrence, of the same name (1993). The exposure spiralled the song to the top of the US R&B charts and subsequently earned them a Grammy. Shortly thereafter Sweat from the album Bad To The Bone became another big hit for the group.
Currently the brothers reside in Florida, running their Circle Sound Studios which are often utilised by some big names in reggae, dancehall and hip hop including Sly and Robbie, Shaggy, Elephant Man, Cash Money, Puff Daddy, Kanye West, Neptunes, Lauryn Hill, TLC, 50 Cent, Mariah Carey and Lenny Kravitz.
"It's more than a studio; it's a mixture of food and culture, among other things. It's the perfect way for us to establish working relationships with Jamaica, especially the younger generation and keep the continuity of the music," Roger Lewis said.
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