Lloyd, you're often credited as being the inventor of the burru style of drumming.
Lloyd Knibb: "I learned to play burru (According to the History of Jamaica, the slaves brought a form of drumming from Africa called burru. This originated from West Africa and its presence in the Caribbean came as a result of the slave trade of the 1500's. Burru was often used in arrangements called "talking drums" probably due to their method of drumming, where there is a "call" followed by a response as in a conversation. This drumming conversation can be heard when one drummer plays a series of "licks" followed by another drummer's response of vivacious drum "licks". Call and response can be seen in virtually any music of African roots, red.) from Count Ossie. I used to play the repeater in those days. Later on I integrated elements from that style into my drumming style."
Acquiring a set of drums can be quite costly. Where did you get your first set back in the days?
Lloyd Knibb: "My first set of drums was handmade and was constructed from plywood and the cymbals and the pedal for the bass drum were crafted from pieces of metal and tin and so on. It wasn't an easy set to use, but in those days I just had to make do."
In the early days, when The Skatalites were still mostly a studio band, how did you guys get paid?
Lloyd Knibb: "We were paid per tune we recorded. It started from a pound (The Jamaican pound was the official currency of Jamaica between 1840 and 1969, red.) per side. We recorded everywhere they would have us, Prince Buster, Randy's, Duke Reid, Beverly's, you name it. There were about ten different studios in those days, so it was enough to make a living. We used to be a studio band until Tommy (McCook, red.) came up to me one day and asked me: "Lloydie you got this brand new beat. Why don't you form a live band?" Because I didn't write music and didn't know how to arrange either I asked him to step in as the leader of the band. Now when Tommy asked me what I wanted to name the band, I replied: "The Satellites", because in those days the launch of the first satellite, Sputnik, was the talk of the town, but Tommy replied: "No Lloydie, you play ska music, call the band The Skatalites!" That first Skatalites formation lasted for about a year and we reformed in 1983 to play the Sunsplash festival. A lot of the original members, Don Drummond, Tommy McCook, Jackie Mittoo, Ronald Alphonso, have now passed away."
Tommy McCook was a close friend of yours. How do remember him?
Lloyd Knibb: "Tommy was a very close friend of mine. After work we used to hang out together and go from club to club. Tommy loved to play jazz, he was a true jazzman and a very nice guy."
As a drummer you're always in the back of the band. Don't you ever miss being in the spotlight?
Lloyd Knibb: "Well, I'm one of the originators of the Ska sound and I've backed all the legendary vocalists from the era from Bob Marley over Toots Hibbert to Ken Boothe. That's all the spotlight I need."