Indeed, throughout his conversation with the Beat, the sound of Bell’s phone vibrating with text messages is a near constant presence, as the musician multi-tasks, preventing the Katchafire machine from grinding to a halt.
And a machine it is. Though the group began life as a Bob Marley tribute band way back in 2000, it has grown exponentially over the almost two decades since. The band has dropped acclaimed album after acclaimed album, featured in chart-ranking compilations, and has slowly but surely accumulated one of reggae’s most dedicated fanbases. People don’t listen to Katchafire passively – they listen to Katchafire, consuming the music and elevating the bands’ members to the status of legends.
Though Bell couldn’t have guessed at the group’s success, he’s always been driven to make music, and to hear him talk about playing guitar is to hear a man talk about his very life’s work. “As soon as I had access to a guitar, I got into it,” he says, simply. “I used to gravitate toward any instrument. Dad was in a band when we were quite young, when I was eight or nine, before I think mum told him to get a real job to make some real money. But that was the first time we were around instruments, being young – through dad.
“Then, I think when I was about ten, our school got a couple of nylon-string acoustic guitars and man, that was me straight away. We could play them at lunch time, when the teachers let us. And that was me every lunch time, sitting next to someone who could play guitar better than me, picking their brain and learning.”
Despite Bell’s insatiable desire for musical knowledge, there was one part of the puzzle that didn’t fall into place for quite some time: the fine art of performing live. Bell says he was initially uncomfortable with stepping into the spotlight, no doubt a revelation for Katchafire fans who are used to the charismatic frontperson dashing and dancing about the stage.
“I never saw myself as being a frontman when I was young, so I did a performing arts course when I was about 18, 19. It was in Hamilton, my hometown. It was a two-year thing, and it focused on live sound, songwriting, drama, and the performance aspects, as well as behind-the-scenes technical stuff. That was really good for me, the drama side of it. It pulled me out of my shell a lot more, and it opened me up to performing in front of people.”
Aside from the extensive class, Bell also threw himself headlong into another form of craft-honing – that age-old trial by fire known as busking. “Busking is always a good way to really work on your talents,” he says. “When you’re busking, people have no obligation to listen to you. Some will – some will be gravitated towards your talents and your music – but some will walk on by. So it’s not as intimate as performing to an audience.”
That said, Bell has never completely conquered his nerves. The spectre of stage fright still haunts him, particularly when he has to stand up by himself, in front of only a cluster of fans rather than a massive wall of spectators.
“These days we are a lot more used to it. To me, it’s more intimate shows that I get nervous about rather than having 10,000 or 20,000 people in front of me. It’s a bit more nerve-racking that way, you feel like they’re listening more intently. When you’ve got the big shows, there’s a lot of hype and a lot of noise. It’s harder to zone in and focus in on an individual.”
Katchafire are heading out on the road again in less than a fortnight, bringing with them a brand new single, Burn It Down. It’s a song that took the band some time to refine, and they allowed the creative process to take them in a range of different directions before the tune settled on its final form. “We played with various forms of music,” Bell says.
“It was really interesting with [Burn It Down] – we collaborated with a guy who has been playing keyboards with us internationally. His name is Stephen Maxwell and he’s from Jamaica. It was really cool to learn a lot of these amazing Jamaican techniques.”
Though nothing has been officially announced yet, Bell reveals that Burn It Down is but the tip of the iceberg: the band have a whole bevy of material just sitting in standby, ready to be released out into the world. Katchafire fans, prepare yourselves – this is going to turn into your year. “We’re really trying to get a lot of our studio work done and some of these projects finished before the end of the year, so definitely look for a barrage of singles coming out in the next couple of months,” Bell reveals.
BY JOSEPH EARP
