2004 Chopstick Interview (posted on (02/01/04)

Chopstick Dubplate - Poised to wage war
(taken from Ragga-Jungle.com - early 2004)

Jacky Murda (NYC) and RCola (MTL), the two badmen of Chopstick Dubplate,
are making some serious moves these days. As they deliver their unique blend
of dancehall-flavoured jungle tunes to the world-wide massive, they're also
helping to fuel ragga's revival by forming alliances with many of the genre's
new talents and assembling a rather convincing army of new-school soldiers
poised to wage war.

While their sound stays true to the roots, it has a huge potential for breaking
outside of the hardcore junglist movement - or should I say: they are crossing
over proper! It is worth mentioning that these producers are recording original
vocals with foundation artists, such as Terry Ganzie, Johnny Osbourne, Pinchers
and General Pecos (to name but a few) over their junglized reggae beats;
effectively bringing the song back to the dancehall.

Fresh off a European tour, and with a consistent run of vinyl releases on 10 inch
under their belts, Chopstick have just dropped an exclusive dubplate mix-cd
entitled '21 Murda Shots' featuring 16 different vocalists. They return to their
respective studios with a renewed enthusiasm and some sick ideas for 2004.
To quote Rcola:

"We have finally locked down some proper distribution for the Chopstick vinyls in
Europe and we're starting to scratch at the door into the UK. We're getting a
lot of support for our sound, and I want to use that influence to build up an
armada of ragga labels around us; giving everyone more profile, and helping to
push this movement forward internationally."

"When I first started djing, I played music that I felt best represented where I
was going as a producer. As time goes on, I'm finding that my sets are largely
made up of exclusive dubplates and tests presses of producers that I feel are
killing it right now. While they thoroughly deserve the credit they're receiving,
I know there is still so much more out there for us to accomplish. Of course there
are a lot of great old school records that still run the dance, but I'm trying to use
as much of my time as I can to promote the new artists that are really making a
difference today. I want to raise this sound out of its relative obscurity and help
to put it on the map proper. I feel it's time for ragga-junglists to get more than
just peer-recognition and a few pennies here and there for their efforts."

Which is nice and all, but for now it would probably be more interesting for
you guys reading to hear the history of the Chopstick Dubplate. How it all began,
where it's at, and what is to come . . .

"I knew of Murda before I moved to Montreal 2 years ago. I heard he was
cutting plates for Double A, Twist and Jordan Dare, and throwing down
some sick sets at the Blue Dog with dj's Stabba, Krinjah and MC Ironee.
While I was producing and holding things down at my "Air Massive" d'n'b
residency in Winnipeg, I was feeling pretty isolated, and had started looking
for a new location to work out of. I visited Montreal and caught up with
Jack at his mastering studio. We cut a bunch of my tunes to dub, hung out,
talked shop and decided to keep in touch."

"When I eventually moved the next year, Murda helped me settle in and
sorted me out with some contacts. I was going over to his studio almost
everyday, getting exposed and picking up techniques. I learned how to use
Logic and soon enough, we figured out that we both had a strong attraction
to old-school ragga styles, and started to junglize some classic reggae riddims.
The first one we re-did was the 'Stagalag'. When Demolition Man rolled through
town on tour, Jack and I met up with him and did our first voicing session
together. Thus, the Chopstick Dubplate production team was born."

"Murda had been planning to set up another studio in New York for awhile, and
when he did, we started working with reggae singers. I would go to New York
every month to sit in on the voicings, write tunes and tighten up our mixes for
dubplate. Then we'd cut a pile of dubs and drive up to Montreal and kill it!! We
did that for almost a year until we decided to take it up a notch and actually
release our productions on vinyl."

One subject that really interested me when I first discovered the Chopstick was
the recording and remixing process they go through. The formula, so to speak.

"Murda has compiled over 150 reggae riddims and often recommends what I
should junglize next. He's into the reggae much deeper then I, and knows what
the singers' big tunes were back in the day, so those riddims take priority. Initially
we voiced over our junglized riddims, but now we record the singers over the
reggae versions and work up the productions from there. We have found it's much
easier to keep the vibe we're looking for and we get better performances from the
singers that way."

"It wasn't easy at first, but when they heard the results, word spread through the
community, and the door was opened wider for us. We got better access to artists
and things started to move forward. Johnny Osbourne and Paul Elliot were very
receptive to our work, gave us stellar performances in the studio, and praised us
for our efforts. Most of the vocalists are quite excited about us taking their voice
to new ears, and anything to spread the word is seen as good promotion."

"When we had about 20 tunes on dub, we put the "Murda Shots" mix-cd together
and started to get our dubs re-voiced for vinyl release. Then we put out our first three
10"s and haven't looked back. Now that we have international distribution for the label,
we are getting ready to take our show on the road more regularly to support our releases
and help to push the sound."

"Live, we play a bit like a reggae sound, both of us taking turns as selector and running
the plates. Murda keeps the dance floor involved by screaming at the crowd on the mic
and keeping up with the reloads. Our shows are pretty insane. We now have enough
dubplates to run it for almost two-hours solid. On tour, Murda would warm it up with
some reggae 45's, then I would play a bunch of tests, then we'd tear it up with dubplates
until we closed the place down. It's a fun show, and we work hard to keep the intensity
right up there. We're going back to Europe in the spring next year, and once we have
the network solid, I plan to hook it up for as many other N.American ragga-junglists as I can."

When they're not performing as Chopstick Dubplate, RCola runs the label and distro
JungleX.ca out of Montreal and Jacky Murda runs the studio in Brooklyn. RCola has
been focused on making important connections throughout the internationa ragga
underground, and Murda has continued to voice more great singers in Brooklyn
and Jamaica.

Along with their mix-cd "21 Murda Shots", Chopstick Dubplate has two more 10" vinyls
to release in 2003, and will be working like mad over the winter to get ready for what
I know is going to be a very big year for both them and ragga-jungle in general.

Interview by Martyn Pepperell


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