Pitchfork

Having just released his debut solo album, Mind Control (Universal Republic), on March 20-- and about to embark on a tour of North America on March 29-- Stephen Marley took time out of his busy schedule to speak to Pitchfork.

His work with his brother Damian ("Jr. Gong") on Damian's 2005 album, Welcome to Jamrock, and on Mind Control's awesome "The Traffic Jam" has an exciting ferocity to it, but Stephen was kind and warm over the phone as he talked about his family, his career, and the arrest that landed him in a Tallahassee jail for possessing a certain Jamaican natural remedy.

Pitchfork: You've been away from the Melody Makers-- the group you were in with your siblings Ziggy, Sharon, and Cedella-- for a while now.

Stephen Marley: As a group, but not as a family.

Pitchfork: How is being a solo artist different for you than being a member of a group?

SM: Well, being a solo artist you have to carry the whole show. It's more focused on you. You're in the driver's seat. You're not the shotgun. You're not the passenger. You're the driver, so you have to keep your eyes open and know where you're going.

Pitchfork: Is there more pressure?

SM: Yeah, there's a little more pressure, but to me, it's good pressure. I like challenges.

Pitchfork: Challenges like--

SM: Being in the spotlight!

Pitchfork: Or being in jail? You have those three songs on the album that are inspired by your experience of being put in a Tallahassee jail for marijuana possession. What was that like?

SM: Well, it was an experience still. I mean, it wasn't a great bad experience. It was an inconvenience. It wasn't justified, where they put us for this plant that we had. It wasn't justified, because I was behind bars with people that cut people's throats. And at the same time, I can go out to any bar on any given day and have as many shots of Jack Daniels and be as drunk as I want to be. So it didn't feel right, and it made me very curious as to why, really, do they fight this plant so much when it has so many different uses, you know?

Pitchfork: Have you found any answers to that question?

SM: Mind control [laughs].

Pitchfork: When you were in jail, at what point did you start thinking this was the kind of experience that you could write about for a song?

SM: When they actually put us there, [behind] these iron doors. It wasn't real bars. It was like this iron door. "Harrumm!" And then you have this little small hole that they come and talk to you through. That was when I said, "This isn't really justified." It's not like I even had a nice amount. It was like two dimes. Two big dimes, but... [laughs]. It come like I would deserve. I mean, it is against the law here, no disrespect. But it come, like, I should get a fine. Charge me a little fine like [for] jaywalking [laughs]. You put me behind bars like I'm a murderer? It's some harm.

Pitchfork: Did you start thinking of lyrics immediately?

SM: Immediately! Tell you the truth, the lyrics of the song ["Iron Bars"]-- "What am I doing/ Behind these iron bars?"-- that was the first thing that came to me, really. Like, "What am I doing here? This place is not made for me," you know? I could tell by the coldness of the walls, by the crampedness of the floor, that this place was not meant for man, much less a righteous youth [laughs]!

Pitchfork: Is that the way it works for you in general, that you put any significant experience to music?

SM: Yeah, that is the way we express ourselves, you know? That's how it happens, bro.

Pitchfork: So anything is fair game? Have you ever had someone appear in a song who was displeased with it?

SM: No.

Pitchfork: So you never covertly write about any family problems?

SM: No, we don't have any family problems like that.

Pitchfork: How do you avoid them? It seems like every family has problems.

SM: We're spiritual. Our father is our greatest mentor, and what he stands for-- it would be a total dishonor for us to be a squabbling family. To be a family that can enhance the lessons, the things that my father stood for, the things that he taught well, and we as his seeds-- it's a good pressure. It's good standards. So that is how we approach life. We don't really have the time. We grow up without a father. I have no time for quarrelling with my brothers. I love them. I appreciate everything.

Pitchfork: Since most of you make music, do you ever have group listening sessions? Do you critique each other?

SM: Yeah mon! Yes. We are a team. Julian's record is as much Damian's record as it is my record, you understand? We are a team. We support each other. That's why we don't come out at the same time. We always nurture each other: "All right it is your time now. This is what I think, this is what this one think, this is what Damian thinks." We don't always agree, but we don't quarrel.

Pitchfork: Is it ever awkward when you have to tell Julian or Damian that you don't like a particular aspect of one of their records? How do you handle those situations?

SM: That's very rare, but anything I'm going to tell him, it must have a logical reason that, when I tell him, he'll go, "I understand." Otherwise, I have got nothing to say. We're not ego-driven. We just hope what I'm saying makes sense to Julian and he can understand why we shouldn't use that lyric, or we should have a bridge here, and that's how we approach it. At the end of the day, if Julian doesn't want a bridge, it's his effort. So we have to respect that and make it as strong as I can, supporting him, and not take it personally.

Pitchfork: It seems you're the go-to producer in the family. How did you assume that role?

SM: My personality [laughs]. I guess I'm the rallying person. I bring everyone together. I have that talent, pushing and getting the best out of us. But what I [mean] by personality-- I'm a Taurus, if you ever do astrology, or if you'd rather deal with it Biblically, I'm a Reubenite. From the Bible, I am from the tribe of Reuben. Reuben is the firstborn, so overseeing the flock is a natural thing.

Pitchfork: Do you find it difficult to switch between being in the studio by yourself, creating material, versus being in the booth and editing and paring down and changing material, for yourself or others?

SM: Sometimes. At the same time, a lot of times we know what we're looking for from the get-go. So we kind of shape it out like that from the beginning. We don't wait 'til the end to edit. But sometimes it happens, we sit on a track for months just trying to find-- "Something is missing. What is it?" And then one day, it just comes from somewhere, and "Oh yeah! That's it!" A beautiful thing.

Pitchfork: Is the recording environment pretty relaxed?

SM: No method at all to our madness. It just flows naturally. Sometimes it's serious in the studio, because it's a serious song or something happened in the world that inspired us to be in this mode. Sometimes, like I say, it's nonchalant-- anything.

Pitchfork: In songs like "The Traffic Jam" and a few of the ones on Damian's album, there's a fertile friction between acoustic, roots, and reggae textures and the more electronic, hip-hop textures. It's probably a bit of a false dichotomy, but do you feel more comfortable in one of those areas than the others? Where is your base?

SM: As far as music, acoustic is the base. That's how we start off writing songs. When we go into the studio, we start off live, with those acoustic things first. Then a track might just dictate a drum machine, a synthetic sound, but a track has to dictate that.

Pitchfork: What draws you to those sounds?

SM: Just a friendship with the music, with what's going on. When you play music, it's like a meal. Everything has to go with everything, the seasonings. And you don't want contrasting things. No, you want things that work together. So that's how you approach music, like a meal: salt, the black pepper, the thyme, the oregano. And whatever it is, by the time it comes together, it makes a perfect stew.

Pitchfork: Who are you bringing along on your upcoming tour?

SM: I'm going to bring Damian with me and also K'naan, who's a rapper from Somalia, a very conscious rapper.

Pitchfork: When someone like Damian goes on tour with you, do you perform his songs as well?

SM: Yes, we perform the songs that we do together.

Pitchfork: Have you noticed a difference between doing a full-on North American tour versus doing big benefit shows or performing in Jamaica or Africa?

SM: You can't go to Africa with an hour-and-twenty-minute set. You have to have at least have two and a half hours. Those people love to dance. So that is one thing. Some places, you change it up. And sometimes you find out what song they love over here, or which one of my father's songs they love, or something like that. But you want to make sure you give the people a good time, a full 100%. 'Cause without them, there wouldn't be no us. We have to make sure the people enjoy themselves and feel good when they come to see us, so a lot of times we might do some research into what's going on over here and suchforth.

Pitchfork: How do you do that research?

SM: We might ask the promoter. If we do any radio interviews, we might check them, and the fans-- "What's the Bob Marley that you like over here?" And that's going in the set.

Pitchfork: Have people ever requested a rarer song that's harder for you to remember?

SM: No, not yet, but you know, sometimes it crosses my mind. Like, what if? [laughs]. I'd have to improvise.

Stephen Marley with Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley dates:

03-29 Bloomington, IN - Bluebird Nightclub *
03-30 Cleveland, OH - House of Blues *
03-31 Chicago, IL - Vic Theatre *
04-01 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue *
04-04 Iowa City, IA - IMU Ballroom (University of Iowa) *
04-05 North Kansas City, MO - Voodoo Lounge at Harrah's Casino *
04-06 Boulder, CO - Boulder Theatre *
04-07 Vail, CO - 8150 *
04-08 Aspen, CO - Belly Up *
04-09 Park City, UT - Suede *
04-11 Spokane, WA - The Big Easy Concert House *
04-12 Portland, OR - Roseland Theatre *
04-13 Seattle, WA - Showbox *
04-14 Vancouver, British Columbia - Commodore Ballroom *
04-15 Whistler, British Columbia - Whistler World Ski & Snowboard Festival *
04-17 Medford, OR - Main One Center for the Arts *
04-18 Redway, CA - Mateel Community Center *
04-20 San Luis Obispo, CA - Cal Poly Recreation Center *
04-21 Santa Cruz, CA - The Catalyst *
04-22 San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore *
04-24 Ventura, CA - Ventura Theatre *
04-25 San Diego, CA - House of Blues *
04-26 Los Angeles, CA - House of Blues
04-27 Indio, CA - Empire Polo Field (Coachella)
04-28 Las Vegas, NV - House of Blues *
04-29 Kykotsmovi Village, AZ - Hopi Veterans Memorial Center *
04-30 Albuquerque, NM - Sunshine Theatre *
05-02 Fort Worth, TX - Ridglea Theatre *
05-03 Austin, TX - Antone's Nightclub *
05-04 Houston, TX - Warehouse Live *
05-05 New Orleans, LA - Fair Grounds Race Course
05-06 New Orleans, LA - House of Blues *
05-08 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club *
05-09 Boston, MA - Avalon *
05-11 New York, NY - Nokia Theatre Times Square *
05-12 Philadelphia, PA - Theatre of Living Arts *
05-13 Baltimore, MD - Rams Head Live! *
05-15 Toronto, Ontario - Phoenix Concert Theatre *
05-16 Philadelphia, PA - Mr. Small's Funhouse *
05-17 Norfolk, VA - The Norva Theatre *
05-18 Atlanta, GA - Roxy *
05-19 St. Petersburg, FL - Jannus Landing *
05-20 Orlando, FL - House of Blues *

* with K'naan