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 Lady
Cham on location in Kingston, Jamaica, interviews Andrew Tosh
the son of late reggae great Peter Tosh.
Photos of Lady Cham with the Tosh Family
Andrew Tosh regarding
Summer 2006 tour and drugs in Jamaica
Lady C:
Andrew Tosh
Andrew T:
Greetings
Lady Cham, its a pleasure being here with you.
Lady C: You're voice is very
distinct and exactly like your father's; you talk the same, sing
the same, does it get confusing for people who can't distinguish
between you and Peter Tosh?
Andrew T: Yeah, a lot of
times, even at the concerts folks be trippin', they say if they
close their eyes they think it's Peter, but it's just DNA, can't
get rid of that.
Lady C: Did you do any
tracks with Peter before he died?
Andrew T: Not at all,
didn't get the chance to.
Lady C: OK, let's talk about
your upcoming tour, where are you going to?
Andrew T: Europe for 2
months, Luciano and myself and Dean Fraser doing back to back
shows in 30 countries and counting so I assume it will be 40
something countries before we leave.
Lady C: In 2 months
you'll have back to back shows, you will be very tired then come
back to Jamaica?
Andrew T: Yeah to record again.
Lady C: So you'll be
recording for your upcoming album?
Andrew T: Yeah
'Focus'.
Lady C: Why did you
name the album 'Focus'?
Andrew T: Because we
all need to focus right now, there's a lot of things going on
out there in society right now with ones getting caught up in
drugs. Some of you good real good friends that you never
thought would even get caught up in drugs are gone.
Lady C: Here in Jamaica a
lot of people think of drugs as crack cocaine; drugs that are
brought into Jamaica from somewhere else and dumped right here
and sold to the people in Jamaica. People outside of
Jamaica, for instance, people in the United States think that
Jamaica has a lot of drugs because of marijuana, not crack
cocaine, but they think of herb as being a drug that is
controlling the minds of the people. What do you have to
say about the two? Andrew T:
Well definitely herb cannot control the minds of the people,
herb has never done that and cocaine is just one element that
they sent to wipe out half of the black race. So we as
conscious and focused ones have to make sure and get those ones
in line as they derail.
Lady C: The ones that
are derailing, the crack dealers here in Jamaica, what do you
think should be done with them?
Andrew T: Frankly, I think
the crack dealers should be locked up in jail for a very long
time because they know the dangers of crack and they still try
to give it to folks to mess them up.
Lady C: What about
the crack users?
Andrew T: Well they
should be rehabilitated, locked away until they are quite clean
and ready to get back into society.
Lady C: When they get
back into society, what happens to those people? You have some
poor people......
Andrew T: Well check this,
there's so much rich folks in Jamaica, if you ask me right now,
there's more rich people in Jamaica than poor and if just a
fraction of those rich folks should come together and put their
hands and hearts together it would be a better society in
Jamaica but the rich wanna get richer and the poor is always
gonna get poorer you understand? Because they have and
they don't want to share. But I share mine.
Andrew Tosh regarding his
plans for 2007
Lady C:
Andrew, when you've finished touring in 2006, what's coming up
for 2007? And what are you doing the rest of 2006 to get
ready for next year?
Andrew T:
We are expecting 'Focus' to be ready for Jan/Feb of
2007 and so I'll be back on the road touring. I may return
to Europe being that I have not been there since 1992 and folks
are expecting a lot from me for this tour, so I may return back
around April of next year.
Lady C: What type of music
is on the album 'Focus'?
Andrew T: I get into a
little bit of Reggae/Jazz on one of the tracks, I will be doing
collaborations with males and females, and should be looking at
about 14 or 15 tracks.
Lady C: How many are
completed already?
Andrew T: I've done
approximately 20 tracks that I'm choosing from but I'm getting
ready to record about 9 more tracks with Sly & Robbie to
complete the album.
Lady C: And those
tracks will have that roots, rock, reggae feel just like Peter's
music?
Andrew T:
Definitely, and as I said, a little bit of Jazz
flavor to one or two tracks.
Lady C: Any hip-hop?
Andrew T: I am working
on it, I do like hip-hop alot and Tupac is one of my
favorite rappers out there. A rapper with a message.
Andrew Tosh regarding the
distribution of his album 'Andrew Sings Tosh - He Never Died'
Lady C:
'Andrew Sings Tosh - He Never Died' will you be pushing that
album next year also?
Andrew T: 50% along
with 'Focus'. That album was released in the US back in
2004 but I had to take it off the market because the president
of the (distribution) company is slightly....a crook, and he
display himself very boldly so I had to take my stuff back.
Lady C: If I may ask;
who was that?
Andrew T: This guy Jim
Snowden from Parris, that's the name of the company.
Lady C: And he was
slightly crooked?
Andrew T: Very much.
Lady C: As an artist
it's your right to take back but I think the people would really
love that album, so if you are able to then I think you should
bring it to them also.
Andrew T: Definitely,
and I have a distribution deal with an independent company in
Brazil and I'm definitely going to do a distribution deal in the
US within the next few months.
 Andrew
Tosh regarding working with Bunny Wailer and the Marley Family
Lady C:
Do you think that it would ever be possible that Bunny Wailer,
the sons of Peter Tosh and the sons of Bob Marley get together
and do a recording or a tour together?
Andrew T:
The masses have been yearning for that for years and I don’t
think that anything happens before its time, it will happen one
day.
Lady C: You think it
will?
Andrew T:
Definitely, its something destined to happen one day, I think it
will happen one day, sooner or later.
Lady C: How are the
vibes between everybody?
Andrew T: The vibe
is cool, but you know there was this Wailers feud which I think
should be put behind them right now and the focus put on the
family, family comes first, and its all one big family.
Lady C: Do you all
see each other on stage?
Andrew T:
Definitely. Ziggy and I have worked together before in
Switzerland and we’ve also worked together in the US and
Jamaica.
Lady C: I am hoping
it will happen soon because as you said the masses have been
yearning for it and its something people want to see and life is
not promised to anybody.
Andrew T: You never
know what the next second brings so yes, its something we should
embark on now.
 Andrew
Tosh regarding poverty in Jamaica
Lady C: Andrew,
while in Jamaica I passed a railroad right near the new Highway
2000 Toll Road and across from the railroad there were zinc
houses, it was like a square zinc box and people were living in
these zinc boxes. The person I was driving with noted to
me that those people wanted to live in those zinc squares
because if they didn't want to live in those zinc squares they
would have gotten out of it a long time ago.
Andrew T: That's bull
twinkies, that's false, there aint no place else for them to go,
that's home for them.
Lady C: But generation
after generation, you must have someone that is able to go to
school, get a good education, make money.....
Andrew T: That does
happen, there's folks that branch out and lift their people out
of the slum, it happens.
Lady C: But what about
the many that I saw lined up? All of them have to be
there?
Andrew T: I wouldn't
say all of them have to be there, some of them are very much
worthless too, they don't want to elevate, you understand what
I'm saying? So there's those folks that will always be
there.
Lady Cham sincerely thanks
Andrew Tosh and his family for their hospitality and
sharing with West Indian Times.
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