Jamaica is not short of talent and this is sure!
The Island known for its pulsating Reggae Beats with Bob Marley being a major contributor to the genre is filled with other talented artists who all have their unique sound.
One such artist is “Panic” who is dubbed as a SingJay because of his amazing Singing and Deejaying Prowess. With the given name “Tom Jones” which he attributes to his Mother’s love of the Singer “Tom Jones” and with his father’s name being Jones was only fitting. The singer known for hits like “Nah Go Change” fell in love with music since his early days as a high school student at Calabar High School where he was known for his Deejaying Skills.
After leaving High School, he linked up with Nemesis Disco where they were the requested Sound System to play at Upper St. Andrew/Norbrook Events. From there he migrated to the United States in 1999 where he landed a job at John Shop Records in the Bronx where he was the Resident Engineer. Here, he worked with a few major names in the Dancehall scene including Buju Banton and Vybz Kartel (just to name) a few. From there, he’s made a name for himself but as fate would have it, he would be faced with a few challenges.
Panic made his remarkable return to the Music Industry in 2019 after being incarcerated for 13 1/2 years and has made making major waves ever since. On August 29, 2019, he released his Album Panic 8.29 I Release which is a testament to his belief in numbers and how everything aligned to foster its creation.
Today, we speak with the artist who has a lot to share about his career and the Album.
Haute People: What first got you into Music?
Panic: Me and my friends had a sound system in the early 90s when I was going to High school called Nemesis Disco, we used to play at a lot of the Uptown parties so that was my first real love spinning the records and going out and getting dubplates and meeting all the artistes like Bounty Killer and all the artistes back then. I knew it was something that I loved being a part of … the Music. I used to do a lot of covers. At parties, I would always sing a cover of somebody’s song before I did my own writing. I was always a performer.
Jamaican Alternative Reggae Artiste Panic Releases New Album
Haute People: How would you describe the music that you typically create?
Panic: Before “I went away“, the Music I was doing was Alternative Reggae, which was a cross between Rock & Roll and Reggae. I was in a Rock Band and I was a Reggae Singer so we had created this fusion music which was “a different kind of music”, but then when I came back from Prison, it became the “status quo” and a lot of people started doing it. We crossed that genre and we were the first people to have what 21 Pilots and all these different bands are doing today. We were the ones that started it — when we were doing it; I didn’t hear anybody else doing it. You would have bands like Inner Circle singing Reggae,
but it wasn’t the same. Ours was a cross between Rock & Roll and Reggae because the drum and bass were Reggae and the Guitar was Rock! The Guitar supported the Rock Singer and the Drum and bass supported me who was the Reggae Singer so that was the template.
The new genre of music is similar but I’m no longer with a band so the live music is no longer there. The music is written to my vocals: I’m writing to a beat, I have to write lyrics to a beat. I am really in love with Reggae and Rock Music. My sound today is “Alternative Reggae”
Haute People: What is your Creative Process Like?
Panic: I’ve built my own studio as working in another person’s space is not always conducive to what I want to do so I built my own space so I can vibe out. If I have a song in my head I need to get it out whether it’s a bad song, good song, alright song — I need to get it out.
The thing is to get the music out my head. I created a space and now everything has happened organically. It’s not something I planned, it could be the Universe. I have an amazing 20-year-old Producer/Writer/Engineer. It’s like we’re on the same wavelength. That’s Daniel Zaidie; he did a lot of the production on this Album — he could see my vision and the direction that I’m going.
Most of the creation of the songs was us starting out with a sample or maybe I had a chant in my head that I wanted to get out. I then say “ok, this is what we’re starting out with”.
We’re in our own space so we “Create. If we don’t like something, we can erase and start over.
Haute People: Tell me about your “I-Release” Album?
Panic: It’s called Panic 8.29 I Release and I named it I-Release and not My-Release because it was really a trilogy. On the 29th of August 2019, I was released from prison after doing 13 1/2 years. I decided I would release an album on the 29th of August 2020 which was a year to the day I was released. I’m a numbers person, I believe in numbers in the Universe and understand that if you put the right numbers out there and the right coordinates then the right thing will happen. When I came home on the 29th of August 2019, I told myself that on the 29th of August 2020 I was going to release an album and I did that.
Haute People: What is the main take away you want people to get from the Album?
Panic: I think the Album itself is a “vibe”, I didn’t want to dwell too much on “betrayal”, and I had a lot of that in me when I came home. I was offered up as a sacrificial lamb and sometimes tend to make you feel angry. I realized that if you want music to appeal to people and if you want music to get further, you can’t dwell on those things. I suppress a lot of those emotions and I brought them across, at times more jovial. The first track on the album is called “Game of Life” and I mention things like ” wouldn’t last one day inna mi shoes, road-tough with nuff cuts & bruises, opportunists want somebody fi use”.
Songs like that are just metaphors, subliminal, going out there telling people like “hey, be careful of your step, be careful of your surroundings because not all mistakes are inconsequential, a lot of them have consequences”
There is another aspect of the Album where we talking about “how can we change the message in our society”? Where not every song we sing is about violence. When I came home and was listening to the radio and heard Dancehall or “Trap-Hall” it came down to who had the biggest shots in a song.
Growing up, other artistes would have songs that are cultural that speak about life and hope. This Album is a contrast to what is typically being played. That’s what I want people to take away. I also have songs for the ladies and a really wonderful love song called “Oh Girl” and “Night Life Lady”
Haute People: Which Song speaks to your current situation?
Panic: There are so many, I would say “Every night I Pray” and ” Save a Life“.
“Save a Life” is pretty much what it says “Every man a sing a song seh dem take a life, Nuh man nuh sing a song seh dem Save a Life, Internet Social Media got them hypnotized, all over the world dem hear the rates a rise”.
It’s talking about the state of the music and how I think it should be. “Every Night I pray” is current and will always be current.
That’s a song that always resonates — reading your Bible will always help you. My mother always tells me that — she not sending you to do wrong. She’s telling you to find words of wisdom. What better place to find wisdom than in the Bible?
There are 13 songs and a bonus track. I’m a numbers man and 13+ represents the amount of time I was in prison
Haute People: Where can people find your music?
Panic: On major Digital Platforms. iTunes, Spotify, Tidal etc
#Jamaican Alternative Reggae Artiste Panic Releases New Album
#Jamaican Alternative Reggae Artiste Panic Releases New Album
#Jamaican Alternative Reggae Artiste Panic Releases New Album
#Jamaican Alternative Reggae Artiste Panic Releases New Album
#Jamaican Alternative Reggae Artiste Panic Releases New Album
#Jamaican Alternative Reggae Artiste Panic Releases New Album
#Jamaican Alternative Reggae Artiste Panic Releases New Album
