The contradictory character of Prince Fatty
Prince Fatty Crucial Dubbed
Prince Fatty is the highly praised UK producer and sound engineer responsible for wicked and clever albums from Hollie Cook, The Skints and Little Roy among others. His latest effort is Prince Fatty Versus the Drunken Gambler, an album described as a mix of hip hop fantasy and reggae reality. To United Reggae he talks about his inspirations, the album and the artists featured on it.
Mike Pelanconi, better known as Prince Fatty, is a renowned sound engineer and record producer. His artist alias is according to Wikipedia meant as a tongue-in-cheek reference to legendary Jamaican producer and sound engineer King Tubby, but he says it’s rather about his preference for fat girls when he was in school.
Regardless of his name, he has been a prominent and vital force on the reggae and dub scene in the UK for almost 15 years where he has worked with several reggae artists, including Gregory Isaacs and Little Roy. But he has also tried his hands on other genres as well working with rock and pop musicians such as Lily Allen and Graham Coxon from Blur.
- “I feel that we’re on the brink of something. It is going to be strict and wild and pretty.” — Prince, 1986 More than any other release in his four-decade-long recording career, Prince's iconic double album Sign O' The Times captured the artist in a period of complete reinvention. Primarily recorded between the end of 1985 and beginning of 1987, the era saw the dissolution of his band.
- Fatman. Presents Prince Jammy Vs Crucial Bunny Fatman. Presents Prince Jammy Vs Crucial Bunny - Dub Contest (CD, Album, RE) Auralux Recordings, P-Vine Records.
Busy year
Prince Fatty’s “Crucial Dub” weighs in at a hugely impressive 1.5GB, and includes over 800 24Bit Samples recorded on vintage equipment, including 370 Dub Reggae Loops, and 500+ Single Sounds. Also included are 25 Ready to play Drum, Dub FX, Synth, Percussion and Vocal Patches for Reason NNXT, Halion, EXS24, Kontakt and SFZ compatible soft.
This year has been a busy one for Prince Fatty. He has put a dub version of Hollie Cook’s self-titled debut album, a western inspired ska album with Mutant Hifi and helmed production on ska punkers The Skints second album Part & Parcel.
But the latest addition to his productions is his own various artists album Prince Fatty Versus the Drunken Gambler, a set where he tears down and builds up classic reggae, pop and hip-hop tracks along with some original material. As with his previous productions, the album oozes 60’s and 70’s reggae, a sound Prince Fatty creates using vintage equipment and recording techniques.
“It’s inevitable that I get the old time feel as we record 100 per cent live and with real drums, piano, organ and guitars and so on. This is how reggae should sound to me. The engineering skills required are more advanced than normal rock recordings. My equipment is mostly 70’s also. It came from the BBC when they were throwing stuff out in the late 90’s, and I still use tape machines and I built a big studio especially modified with reggae, soul and afro beat in mind,” explains Prince Fatty.
Broad inspirations
When listening to the new album and his previous productions it’s apparent that Prince Fatty has broad inspirations. I mean, you can’t just be a reggae addict when doing a covers of the Andrew Sisters’ Bei Mir Bist du Schon, The Whisperers’ The Beat Goes On or hip-hop classics such as Gin & Juice and Got Your Money.
Prince Fatty Crucial Dubai
“Rebels influence me and sometimes even moods. Music is just a vehicle for the message or melody. I don’t like Jazz but I love Charles Mingus. I hate rock music, but I like Jimi Hendrix and early Black Sabbath, so I confuse and contradict myself with vinyl,” he explains, and continues:
“I take the DJ mentality to record production, but instead of sampling I re-play it how I want it. The musicians I use are the best and have the skills to convert anything into reggae, so it’s more of a question of direction and personal ambition. Is it for the hot tub or the club? Download free sims 3 - no censor patch mod. With ice or without?”
Live performance is the backbone
He describes the new ten track album as a crude, but legal 30 minute sampler of what you get when you see him live sound system style.
“It’s basically a mix down of the specials I have been playing out for the last few years with a few new Hollie Cook and Horseman cuts thrown in to keep it fresh. The best cuts I don’t release, you have to catch us live for those,” he reveals.
The album includes some scorching versions of early reggae classics – Max Romeo’s rude and lewd Wet Dream and Dennis Alcapone’s tongue twister Babariba Skank.
“These are some of the popular cuts from the sound system and are some of my favorite classics. Think of it as a small part of my private dub plate collection exposed. When we play out it is to a mixed crowd, so I like to expose and remind people of the classics. For a purist reggae audience the selection changes and I can go deep into Channel One and Volcano territory,” he says.
Prince Fatty’s ideology
Oxycube for nokia s40. The artwork and title of the album suggest an interest in martial arts, and it turns out that it means a lot to Prince Fatty.
“Kung-fu is a great ideology, perhaps the best, and I hope to inspire some discipline and martial arts in the dance,” he explains.
Crucial connections
Over the years Prince Fatty has recorded a lot with Hollie Cook – daughter of former Sex Pistols drummer Paul Cook – and vintage styled deejay Horseman. These two artists are almost synonymous with Prince Fatty today.
He met Horseman at a studio session at Lion Studio in Brixton, London, and the connection was instant.
“From the first session I knew we were going to be a team. He talks the reggae talk and has the reggae walk,” he explains, and continues to explain how he met Hollie Cook:
“Hollie heard some of my work and a mutual friend put us in touch. I had been thinking for ages about the lovers rock vibes. We had made Milk and Honey and were waiting for the right voice to come along. Hollie smashed it in two takes and we have been working on our vibes ever since. We share similar music tastes and we all love early 80’s sound system tapes like Volcano and Metro Media. Hollie can dub the mixer and run a siren, so it’s a team vibe.”
Soul singers at disposal
Apart from these two relatively newcomers, he has also teamed up with Studio One veterans Winston Francis and Dennis Alcapone as well as George Dekker from The Pioneers and Little Roy, with whom he recorded one of last year’s best albums – the Nirvana cover album Battle for Seattle.
“I’m very lucky to have these great musicians and singers at my disposal, and I have to tell you straight up. Winston Francis and George Dekker are real singers, soul singers in the true sense of the word. It’s a real pleasure to record them. Winston is always at my studio writing and singing, and I’m preparing an album with him for next year,” he explains, and continues:
“George does most of the backing vocals on my productions and is also on Hollie Cook's songs. Dennis Alcapone, Big Youth and Horseman are my favorite MC's. Unique, versatile, original and above all know how to control a crowd. My job is made easy with them, when we work live I’m the selector and dub instigator, they control the microphone to the fullness.”
Mean girl Twice Nice hooked us up some killer Mean Girl/I Need a Roof licks spanning an amazing 40 years. From Larry Marshall's classic lick and hook on Studio One in 1968 to Pavlove, Prince Far-I and Little Joe, to a stepping Channel One version with Mighty Diamond next milestone I Need a Roof. Bunny Lee alway got in on the action this time with a killer soul vocal from Jackie Edwards, some big Joe Gibbs productions went down with Trinity and Junior Byles, Augustus and Hugh Mundell murdered the riddim on Rockers, then of course it came back to Studio One come Sugar Minott. The eighties treated it kindly with some killer early rubadub dancehall at Midnight Rock. The Revolutionaries had not given way to the Casio just yet, but when it did it kept its integrity and bubbled along nice time thanks to Jammys and Black Solidarity. The nineties riddim stayed fat and militant with Xterminator voicing crucial cuts with Sizzla and Capleton and Cocoa Tea. Come '07 we had Ray Darwin scoring a huge hit for Tads and in '08 Prince Fatty and longtime legend Little Roy rub up the dance nice time - 40 years on. Give Thanks Twice!
Larry and Alvin - Mean Girl - Studio One - 1968Prince Far I - Natty Farmyard - Studio One - 1973
Ben Bow - Mama Lulu - Studio One (197X)
Little Joe - Gun Court - Studio One - 1974
Dillinger - Regular Girl - Bunny Lee - 1974
Larry Marshall - Oh Jah - Java - 1975
Mighty Diamonds - I Need a Roof - Channel One - 1975
Pablove Black - Consumer Sounds - Studio One - 1975
Pablove and Sound Dimension Consumer Version - Studio One - 1975
Dillinger - Plantation Heights - Channel One - 1976
The Revolutionaries - Plantation Heights Version - Channel One - 1976
Jackie Edwards - Mean Girl - Bunny Lee - 197X
The Aggrovators - Mean Girls Dub (197X
Prince Jazzbo - Kick Boy Face - Bunny Lee - 1976
Big Youth - Four Sevens - Observer - 1976
Junior Byles - Heart and Soul - Joe Gibbs - 1977
Trinity - Render Your Heart - Joe Gibbs - 1977
Winston Wright - Charming Shuffle - Bunny Lee - 1977
Prince Far I & Joseph Culture Hill - Boz Rock - Joe Gibbs - 1977Hugh Mundell and Augustus Pablo - Bob Shuffle Lion Dub - Rockers - 1978
Jah Levi (Hugh Mundell) - Zion A Fe Lion - Rockers - 1978
Sugar Minott - Roof Over My Head - Studio One - 1978
I Need A Roof Version - Studio One - 1978
Barry Brown - Jealous Lover - Midnight Rock - 1980
Barry Brown - Love Dub - Midnight Rock - 1980
Larry Marshall - Mean Girl - 1983
Josey Wales - Rentman - Black Solidarity - 1986
Sizzla - Babylon Ah Listen - Xterminator - 1997
Capleton - Stand Tall - Xterminator - 1997
Cocoa Tea - Mr. Neck Tie Man - Xterminator - 1998
Luciano - Sweep Over My Soul - VP Records - 1999
Ray Darwin - People's Choice - Tads - 2007
Prince Fatty - Roof Over My Head - Mr Bongo - 2008