Pat Powell is a busy man. Besides being the musical director of the inaugural One Drop Rankin Riddim Spring Fest – a one-day festival showcasing the best of Sydney’s reggae scene – he is the frontman for the The Pat Powell Band, Chocolate Jazz and The Protesters, as well as being part of the ongoing success of the Melbourne Ska Orchestra, led by the esteemed eccentricity of Nicky Bomba. With all this going on, it’s a little surprising that Powell hasn’t yet burst into flames.
“You know, of late I kind of agree with you,” Powell says in a voice that would find a vibrant career in audiobooks were he ever to throw in the musical towel. “It’s been kind of … blistering. I think at the moment the most important thing is that I’m still working. Today [the industry] is geared towards youth, and as you get older you kind of get pushed out of the way if you’re not established enough. To still be gainfully employed as a singer is a really good thing for me. The practicality is just that if you want to survive as a musician you’ve got to be flexible enough and versatile enough to be doing three or four other things. Out of that, you hope that one or two of the projects are good for your soul, and the other things can be there to pay your rent.”
Even the most cursory glance at Powell’s recent schedule is enough to prove his versatility. With the MSO having just returned from a series of international gigs and festivals, there are already several new shows in the weeks ahead, on top of performances from The Protesters and a stint in The Marvin Gaye Experience at the State Theatre. Not to mention, of course, One Drop Rankin Riddim. Keeping his head together from one act to the next is almost a career in itself.
“You do have to have a shift in personality from act to act, but obviously it’s different with different acts,” he acknowledges. “I’ve always loved being part of ensembles that have lots of voices, and I’ve always enjoyed doing backing vocals. In those situations, especially given I have quite a big voice, I had to learn how to tame and control it. There are many times I’ll meet someone who’ll say, ‘Oh, Pat Powell, should I know you?’ And I’ll say, ‘Not necessarily, but I guarantee you’ve got me in your lounge room somewhere!’” he laughs.
While ska has without a doubt seen a great swell in fans over the last few years, it is not the only genre that has been steadily gaining popularity. Though reggae has never really disappeared from Australian music, it has often been overshadowed by the sheer weight of the commercial music scene. What many may not realise, however, is that even in the most pop-infused hits, reggae is often hiding in the background.
“I’ve noticed a big resurgence in reggae,” Powell says. “With the Melbourne Ska Orchestra, it’s more that Nicky’s taken on something and brought it to a scale that has never been done before in this country. We’ve engaged a lot of younger audiences, but those younger audiences were already seeing people like King Tide, The Strides, Midnight Tea Party. There are a lot of great reggae bands around. Judge Pino and The Ruling Motions down in Melbourne, The Ska Vendors. There’s a whole batch of reggae bands that have been flying the flag. Caribbean Soul [at the Civic Underground] is one of the biggest gigs in Sydney of a Monday night and has been running for the past 11 years. So it’s never actually been dead, it may have just been underground. It never gets the promotion that indie rock or pop gets; it never has. But it has always had a strong following, and people don’t realise how reggae influences other music. How many songs out there now are out-and-out rock, or out-and-out pop, and all of a sudden a Jamaican comes along, gives it a little flavour and then goes away again? We’ve become insidious,” he laughs.
With a lineup that includes many of Sydney’s pre-eminent reggae acts, One Drop Rankin Riddim has the potential to become a go-to festival not only for established fans, but for a whole new generation of people whose musical tastes have already been infused with the genre without them ever knowing it. Each act is unique, but each is inspired by love for a sound that will not be going away anytime soon.
“There might be two or three bands that people haven’t heard of, but by the end of the festival I aim to change that. It’s all about reggae played well. The colour of Sydney has changed a lot. You’ve got Italians who have grown up with reggae, you’ve got Chileans who grew up with ska. You’ve got British backpackers who know reggae inside out. It’s not like it’s this new thing that we’re trying to sell to Australia; we’ve got this huge multicultural mix in which reggae has been a part of their lives for years. It’s not something that came along that people had to get to know; it’s always been there. And so, One Drop Rankin Riddim Festival, here we go.”
One Drop Rankin Riddim Spring FestwithKing Tide, The Protesters, The Strides, Kinsky, DK and The Rising Sun, Midnight Tea Party and ForeignDub is being held atFactory Theatre onSaturday September 13, tickets online.
