(SOUNDBITE OF CYMANDE SONG, "CHASING AN EMPTY DREAM")
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
The first British band to command the stage at Harlem's famed Apollo Theater wasn't the Beatles or the Rolling Stones. It was Cymande.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CHASING AN EMPTY DREAM")
CYMANDE: (Singing) Sometimes, I wonder if it's all been in vain. It seems nothing matters. Everybody chasing fame.
SIMON: Born by Steve Scipio and Patrick Patterson in 1971, the group toured with towering figures, including Al Green. They appeared on "Soul Train," and then they broke up, only to find themselves sampled years later by Grandmaster Flash, Dilla Soul, Fugees and more.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CHASING AN EMPTY DREAM")
CYMANDE: (Singing) Is it real what they feel?
SIMON: And now Cymande is back. Founder Steve Scipio and Patrick Patterson join us from the BBC in London. Gentlemen, thank you both very much for being with us.
PATRICK PATTERSON: Thank you for the invitation.
STEVE SCIPIO: Thank you. Thank you.
SIMON: And what brings you back?
PATTERSON: I don't think we ever really went away. We took a short break, short hiatus to do other things because, coming home, we didn't find the sort of reception that we needed or the future that we were looking for. So we came off the road to take a long look at what we want to do in the future. And a few years ago, we decided to just make sure that we - everybody was ready, and they were, including the producer John Schroeder and the engineer Alan Florence and the original membership. And we cut a new record, or we started the process for cutting a new record.
SIMON: You both left the U.K. and became lawyers in the Caribbean, right?
SCIPIO: Yes, that's right.
PATTERSON: We became lawyers in the U.K.
SCIPIO: Yeah, we were lawyers in the U.K., but we went to the...
SIMON: Oh, right. OK./
SCIPIO: We went to the Caribbean. Yeah.
SIMON: You know, I've got to tell you. I think I've met a lot of lawyers who'd like to be big music stars but never the other way around.
(LAUGHTER)
SIMON: What were you thinking?
PATTERSON: (Laughter) It's backward thinking, actually (laughter).
(SOUNDBITE OF CYMANDE SONG, "CHASING AN EMPTY DREAM")
SIMON: How do you think your music has changed since the '70s?
SCIPIO: We're hoping it hasn't changed too much. I mean, it was a difficult process for us getting to this point of the production of the album because people are more familiar, obviously, with the three albums that we did in the '70s. But it's a long time that has passed. You know, it's 40, 50 years since then, and we didn't want to be coming back now and trying to recreate something that had happened, you know, in the '70s when we were different people because we are now vastly different in terms of our life experiences.
But at the same time, in doing this album, we still wanted it to be recognizably Cymande so that people could hear this and say, yes, I can see the connections with the album of the past, although there are some little differences in terms of, you know, like, instrumentation, for example, we're now utilizing keyboards.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I WANNA KNOW")
CYMANDE: (Singing) I thought she must be crazy or just mistaken. It's playing with my mind. And I'm trying, trying to read between the lines. Doubts in my head like a raging storm.
SCIPIO: We wanted to have the space, the kind of atmospheric kind of thing that we had with the first three albums. We wanted to have that with this album. And we feel that although all that time has passed, that there's still a connectedness between the Cymande of the '70s and the Cymande of today.
PATTERSON: And we've tried to maintain originality and quality.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I WANNA KNOW")
CYMANDE: (Singing) I wanna know, should I just let go? I really wanna know.
SIMON: Well, and - all right, let me follow up a bit because this is an album that includes funk and reggae, but also jazz. Let's listen to a little to the track "Coltrane."
(SOUNDBITE OF CYMANDE SONG, "COLTRANE")
SIMON: What inspires you in the music and the life of John Coltrane?
PATTERSON: It's a metaphor for the quality of music that we want to achieve, and that is produced in our community and by our people. Coltrane himself is such a towering figure. It's in all our lives as musicians. He's in all our lives as musicians. But it's not just about his artistry. It's about what is demanded of others as musicians.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "COLTRANE")
CYMANDE: (Singing) Every new beginning from a bitter end carries the message that creation says. Songs of freedom from a world away. You find them in the music Coltrane plays.
PATTERSON: Whether he had said a word or not, whether he had blown a note or not, what he represents is a mountain for people of our generation, people of our background, not just musicians, individuals as well.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "COLTRANE")
CYMANDE: (Singing) You will understand. It's all around you, but do you appreciate that is what we need to make a brighter day. And that's the way.
SIMON: Let me ask you about another cut, the "Road to Zion."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ROAD TO ZION")
CYMANDE: (Singing) I wanna be a face in a crowd of faces. I wanna be a man with no name.
SIMON: It's a beautiful song.
PATTERSON: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ROAD TO ZION")
CYMANDE: (Singing) I wanna be lost without...
SIMON: How do you want us to hear it? What's it about?
PATTERSON: It's about redemption. You know, I think what we articulate in this track is something that all individuals feel, either that you screwed up or if even you haven't screwed up, you need to put something properly on track, undo things that you have done in the past that you aren't proud of. Get a bit of forgiveness that you really wish you could get. Sometimes you can't because that which you have done and persons you have done it you have gone.
SIMON: I guess we could all use a little of that as we age, couldn't we?
PATTERSON: We all need it.
(LAUGHTER)
SCIPIO: Definitely.
PATTERSON: We all need it.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ROAD TO ZION")
CYMANDE: (Singing) On the road to Zion. On the road to Zion.
SIMON: Is music fun for you? Gratifying more than ever?
PATTERSON: Music is creatively and artistically very fulfilling and has been a food for us. And it has remained that way.
SCIPIO: Music is life-fulfilling. Patrick and I started playing together and learning our - its instruments and so on from since the early - our early teens. And it's been with us ever since.
SIMON: That's Steve Scipio and Patrick Patterson of Cymande. Their new album is called "Renascence." And gentlemen, thank you so much for being with us.
SCIPIO: Pleasure.
PATTERSON: Thank you.
SCIPIO: Thank you. It was very, very nice speaking to you as well.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HOW WE ROLL (FEAT. JAZZIE B)")
CYMANDE: (Singing) I wonder why we play this game. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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