About Me
Pablo Stennett: “Mesmerized†by SWR! (article 4/2007)
Pablo Stennett: “Mesmerized†by SWR!
For four years now, Paul “Pablo†Stennett has held perhaps the preeminent bass spot in modern reggae music as bassist for the world’s biggest reggae artist, Ziggy Marley.
An accomplished stage and session professional, Jamaica-born Stennett has played with established reggae royalty such as Marley and Jimmy Cliff, but has also lent his talents to artists such as Mighty Mo Rodgers, Diana King and even country legend Willie Nelson (Stennett played on Nelson’s 2005 reggae album Countryman).
Further, Stennett’s impeccable playing is one of the elements that helped earn Marley’s second solo album, Love Is My Religion, a Grammy Award for best reggae album of 2006. Between that particular pinnacle of success and a non-stop 2006-2007 tour schedule that has him backing up Marley all year long on stages from Beijing to Boise and Sydney to Stockholm, Stennett is, to say the least, a very busy bass player who simply can’t say enough good things about his SWR gear.
SWR News was fortunate enough to catch up with Stennett during a short touring break in early April, just after his return from exotic locales including Australia, Japan and the Philippines …
SWR: How’s everything?
PS: I’m pretty good. Just trying to rest up from my tour in Australia (laughs).
SWR: How does it feel that Love Is My Religion has won a Grammy?
PS: Trust me, it’s unbelievable. It’s one of the best feelings you could ever have. Actually getting that Grammy for a project that you totally believe in and (for which) you’ve been traveling throughout the world spreading, you know—it’s a conscious message that you don’t have to be tied to any one specific organization; the minute you have love in your heart, you know, everything is pretty much fine. ’Cause you have to have love to conquer a whole bunch of stuff.
SWR: You’re off on more U.S. and international tour dates this summer …
PS: Exactly, exactly. We probably won’t finish touring this year until November or December. After we finish the U.S. tour, then we go on to Europe—Italy, France, Switzerland; all those places. Then we come back and do another leg in the United States, then, I think, we do the Caribbean islands—because Ziggy has not been in the Caribbean for a little bit.
SWR: Man, you’re a busy guy.
PS: Well, you know what it is, man—I’m just happy to be playing behind Ziggy, trust me. He’s still by far the dominant name in reggae right now; definitely the biggest name in reggae music. He’s just a really cool person to work with, and I have learned so much, you know.
I’m honored to have played with a whole bunch of different people, including Jimmy Cliff and Diana King. As a matter of fact, Jimmy just called me about four weeks ago and wanted me to come back and tour with him this year, but I can’t …
SWR: You’ve even recorded with Willie Nelson …
PS: Yes, I did. Oh man, it was unbelievable, man. Unbelievable. It was some of his songs, and he wanted to actually change the style and do a reggae format on that. So we did; I think out of 12 songs on the album, I probably played, like, 11 of them. And I played some keyboards and guitar on it, too, but bass was the top thing, you know. It was fantastic, man. We did that album like ten years ago. That was fun, man.
SWR: Have you played since you were a kid?
PS: Yeah. I started on keyboards in my dad’s church. I think, probably around 13 years old is when I started to learn.
SWR: Were you aware of bass at that age?
PS: Well, you know what, I loved the bass at that time. When my cousin would come around, then we’d switch up, and I’d play bass and he would play guitar, ’cause he was better at guitar than I was. But the guys I played in church with, playing guitar, they weren’t happening, so I’d let them play the bass and I would play either guitar or keyboards. It started like that. But bass was always my thing, you know. I always loved the bass. And besides, it only had four strings (laughs) …
SWR: Coming up, did you deliberately emulate other bass players?
PS: Well, there were a couple guys who used to play in gospel groups, because I used to listen to a lot of Jamaican gospel. And I remember this bass player; I’d always see his name on albums—his name was Val Douglas. He did a lot of recording with groups like the Grace Thrillers. And then there was another guy I used to listen to—his name was Tony Hutton; he used to play for this group called Insights, and they were, like, just bad, man. And then Tony’s nephew—his name was Rohan Reid—was just a killer; just phenomenal, man. So it started from there. Rohan started the whole slapping and popping thing. He was a monster.
SWR: Do you see yourself as playing in the reggae bass tradition?
PS: I won’t tell anybody that I’m a traditional roots bass player. I learned a lot from the roots—like Family Man (Wailers bassist Aston “Family Man†Barrett), Jackie Jackson, Derrick Barnett, all those guys who set the pace for me in the very start in Jamaica, but I tend to take it a little bit further.
That’s because, you know, back in the days after growing up in Jamaica, I used to play in the hotel circuit, and you’d have to play, you know, (You Can) “Call Me Al†from Paul Simon, and stuff like that; Level 42; a lot of Luther Vandross; Marcus Miller. And I’d listen to a lot of Nathan East, because he was so disciplined and you could know when the phrasing was coming. I’d listen to a lot of Verdine White. You had to play top 40 stuff in the hotels.
SWR: Reggae has such a deep, warm bass sound, yet SWR amps are known for brightness and clear highs …
PS: Exactly, but also it has that bottom end if you know how to tune your amplifier well.
SWR: How did you discover SWR gear?
PS: To be honest, I was on a cruise ship—I think this was in 1990 or ’91—and I saw a picture in a magazine of this amplifier called “SWR.†And I took the magazine and I showed it to a very good friend of mine; one of my mentors—his name is Benji Myers. And Benji was telling me about it, and from that day, SWR is my thing. If I can help it, you’d never see me playing another rig. If you can find an SWR rig anywhere in any country, you’ll never see me playing another rig.
I have, like, three or four different amplifiers. They are not for sale (laughs). And, trust me man, I have been treated so well by SWR. Anything else is unmentionable. I’m mesmerized by the sound and the quality of the amplifier.
Check out the schedule for Ziggy Marley’s current world tour, featuring Pablo Stennett, at www.ziggymarley.com
Source: www.swrsound.com