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Bad Brains' Darryl Jenifer
By Jimmy Leslie |
August, 2007
Formed in 1979 in Washington, D.C., Bad Brains made hardcore history by combining punk bombast, succulent reggae rhythms, and seething performances—influencing a generation of bands from Black Flag to Nirvana, and from the Red Hot Chili Peppers to Rage Against The Machine and 311. This year the original lineup has reunited to release Build a Nation. Produced by the Beasties Boys’ MC and bassist Adam Yauch, Nation thrashes and grooves with enough verve and soul to school yet another generation of bands. Darryl Jenifer is also finishing a dub-heavy solo album, Soldier Styles, for a fall release under the name BlakVova Universal Sound.
It’s inspiring that you guys overcame differences to produce such a powerful album.
People always say, “You guys broke up this year and that,” but we don’t break up—we just go our own way. We’re brothers before we’re Bad Brains. We never hate each other or sue each other. I might be mad at my big brother, but I’ve got to learn to understand him because he’s a little more progressive or eccentric than I am. Maybe my other big brother is a little less tolerant of certain things—but we’re still brothers. If you establish a relationship of brotherhood first, you’ll be okay when the trials rear their head.
Build a Nation has more of a classic Brains sound. Was that intentional?
We just move with the spirit in the cosmos. Sometimes old cats feel like they have to have new shit to keep up with the kids. They’ve got to put in hair plugs, they’ve got to get the fancy amps, they’ve got to rap. But the young people don’t even want that! You’ve just got to keep your head up and make music the way you want.
With just a bass and an amp, you can get an amazing variety of tones and feels. I wrestle with a bass line; it’s a real physical thing, and I could do it with half the work. It’s not about the gear—it’s your energy and the point you’re trying to get across. How do you approach reggae lines as opposed to dub?
Dub has to be a mantra: You have to believe it, and you can’t be impatient. Even the simplest bass line with one or two notes can bring out the most intricate feeling. Reggae can be a little fancy, with more movement. A lot of cats say, “I know how to play reggae”—da doo-doo-doo—or “I know how to play rock”—da-da-da-da. But I’ve been a Rasta since 1980. It’s how I’m culturally based as a man, so I understand the roots, the true feelings of how to play a reggae bass line, because I’ve lived it outside of music. It’s the African and Caribbean culture. It’s the same with punk rock—I’ve lived it.
just the factsCAN BE HEARD ON:
Bad Brains, Build a Nation [Megaforce, 2007];
I Against I [SST, 1986] CURRENTLY SPINNING:
Black Slate, Amigo [TCD, 1980];
Black Ivory, Don’t Turn Around [Today, 1972];
Joy Division, Substance [Qwest, 1988];
the Carpenters, Singles 1969–1981 [A&M, 2000] GEAR:
Basses:
Green 1981 Modulus Jazz-style with original electronics, one original EMG pickup, and medium-light-gauge Rotosound Swing Bass 66 strings; producer Adam Yauch’s Ampeg AEB-1 with La Bella Black Nylon Tape Wounds for dub flavors on Build a Nation Rig:
Ampeg SVT-AV head, Ampeg 8x10 cab, Tech 21 SansAmp GT-2 pedal (for “Universal Peace” on Build a Nation)
“I play with a pick, sometimes with my
fingers—sometimes both at the same time. I overdrive my amp with my playing, not pedals.” Beastie Boy Adam ‘MCA’ Yauch On Producing Bad Brains’ 'Build A Nation'“There’s a certain magic when these guys play together.
The hardcore is so powerful, and the dub puts you into a trance. There’s a raw energy that goes beyond technical skill. Other musicians could play the same riffs and chord changes, but it wouldn’t have the same power.“
“My role was to make the record sound like them. In the early ’80s, Darryl Jenifer’s amp sounded like it was about to blow up, and the drums were so loud that they were compressed to hell in the shitty PA. All of that overdrive and compression added to the raw energy. Most Bad Brains recordings since their 1982 debut didn’t really capture that sound.
“I had Darryl, [guitarist] Dr. Know, and [drummer] Earl [Hudson] record live in the same room. We routed Jenifer’s bass through a DI and a Tech 21 SansAmp GT2 stompbox to get the sound of a loud bass amp. I gave him a drum throne with a thumper [tactile monitoring driver] on it, and sent the bass through it so that he could feel what the bass was doing. Any bass player who’s accustomed to playing live through an amp knows how much it sucks to record through a DI.
“For the hardcore tracks, I split the bass in two and re-amped it. One track had a lowpass filter, so that it had just the bottom, and the other track had a highpass filter that only let the attack, distortion, and the amp sound through. We panned the treble bass track left, the lowpass bass track center, and the guitar right. For the dub mixes, we never re-amped the bass—it was all DI because Darryl played my Ampeg AEB-1, and it already sounds fat as hell. But to get it to sound thick like Beyoncé’s leg, I used a lowpass filter feeding a ‘soft’ noise gate and a compressor.”
—SHAWN HAMMOND
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