Interview with Daddy Ernie

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" ',',.•:.'~•. ir....,..~e'rlva I'"C,
'.::.lo'"
nortll,west
.~o~don,
the
mus. unlikelY
piac2i!;
to Jook for orie aT London's
newest. recording studios.
;~
Bu: beh::.G ~he electronicallysnntroiJed gQtes is the home of
Stingn,y reccrc~ngs, distribution
and studios. an enterprise
formulated abGut three yo::ars ago
and run by the McLeod brothers. It's
strictly
a family
affair.
Reggae Riddims spoke to studio engineer Carlton McLeod,
known as' Dilly to most people
iri the business.'
Difficulty
"At ~~ early age I was into
music," recalls Dilly. "From
as young as six years old. in
the days when the Blue Spot gram
used to run t'ings. My mum IIscd 10
have difficulty keeping [)IC from hcr
records an'a she always kncw thai
one day I w(),lld e.,d up in mw:ic.
Hlr~ ~;.:.~~·~c.,;).;.
"·v·~: f(,,"inl;d it grou:'
calh:d
IIet
a10ng
with
Don
Campbell. Carlton 'Bubbler' Ogilvie
and Ken McKenzie. [ was Ihe drum-
mer.
"We managed 10 secure a contract
with Patri,;k Canns (Arawak label),
bill thai didn't progress too far. But
; \V~\S I'.~h ~~.:.::d
fl'();".l
~h(;n."
D'ily's
formative y(;ar~; wcrc spent
Oil '.h.: ~';;'Iud ,;yslem
cilcu'it with
Lord Koos allli Savanuah. which he
owncd with SOIIlC school friends. It
was this that led to Dilly's stint as a
radio DJ, thc Carl Perry era and ultimalely t h(~S Iin gray set-up. '
.. [ left;chool
and becamelrsocial
worker, part-time
radio presynter,
messed a!>out in studios and did' anything ,~lse I could earn from.
Expensive
'"Mikey Koos was responsible
for
the name change when, I joined his
,slatj,)!} b'lck in the late ' 80s and it
was from then that I started to focus.
Being a DJ was an expensive hobby
so ] made some contacts with record
cOElpanit's and got linked up with
Llnyd Evans
of Blue Mountain
Records;
'1 didn' t know then that this was
my big break: [ had already released
a lUneI iJad reccrded with a friend
c'llled Donovan - a re-working
of
'Been ArDllnd The World' - so by
now I wa~; confident in studio work.
'\:'"111 III'; ~aIIJl: Ii,':"; ! jl)illCd
Blut: M'~UIlI:\ii1. Pelt:r Cl1t:lI!isl
had began to do some work for
them too. This enabled
me 10
progress
even more - watching
and learning
all the time. !vly
work as a social worker went out
the window."
The learning curve was enhanced
by regular trips to Jamaica but it
was the link with Bobby Digital on
one such trip that was to be the catalySt for the Stingray studio.
"I couldn't have had. better tuition
than Peter Chemist
and Bobby
Digital's,"
says Dilly. "It is because
of them that I really decided I must
have my owri studio. apart from the
fact that renting
is expensive."
Sammy Levi was the first artist he
recorded
an album with and since:
then projects with the likes of Sylvia
Tella, Vivian Jones, Frankie Paul:.
Dennis
Brown and Mikey Spice
have helped consolidate the Stingray
sound.
,Skill
)·Towadays Dilly (aka Carl :Ferry,
th:~ Dj) has found it moreiwonh'.vidle to pHt his musical skills into
producing
rather than playing and
has terminated his radio career.
Dilly feels he will always have
tllore than enough to do because, he
says, there is so much tal~ht jus't
itchin'g to be discovered. He dlso has
projects
involving
Don Campbell.
Alton EllIS and BB Seaton on the
go, as well as Nisha K, a new artist
Stingray
is working with. So nuff
t'ings a gwan!
Ba.rbara'Napps,
Lloyd Saxon.
Peter Hunnigale,
Mafia and Fluxy
were some of the many artists who
p~ssed through
on my 90-minute
visit to Stingray. This constant flo\v
of established
artists is due to the
'yard vibe' of Stingray and with the
i\tlcLeod brothers making everyone
feel welcome. even the undiscm'ercd
with a demo tape is given a challce.
For more infoi'mation,
phone:
0181-9300009
..
\Ve here, we gone. laters!