5 Questions With Skygrass

The last time The Gleaner caught up with Simon Bowden, better known as Skygrass, was in 2017, when the singer-songwriter was knee-deep in shaping his sound and aiming for the reggae music crown. Fast-forward eight years and Bowden remains solid in his beliefs, musical prowess and talent, which have carried him across the world and placed him on stages alongside acts, such as Third World and Maroon 5. These days, the Dreadful singer is busy promoting his new album Walking On Water, a project he has nurtured with love since it was just an idea nearly two years ago.

Most recently, he performed at the Treasure Beach Food, Rum and Reggae Benefit Festival, where he wowed the audience with an energetic set that saw him jumping offstage to interact with the crowd. We caught up with Skygrass to hear what he’s been up to in this week’s 5 Questions With… .

1. How did you get the name Skygrass?

Skygrass is all about unity, and the difference in things that seem to be different or opposite, but are really just oneness. Because the sky and earth don’t exist separate of each other even though they seem like they’re far away. And that’s just like me with the music, I like different kinds of music. I’m even made of different kinds of races, but I’m Jamaican all the way through.

2. You had a fiery Treasure Beach Food, Rum and Reggae Benefit Festival performance. What was going through your mind?

When music start playing and I start performing, I don’t really know what’s going to happen next, but I like to move; the energy makes me move … I don’t know it’s just a thing. All the band members know that when the music hit, and the first jump beat roll off, I might be on a speaker or something; it’s just the energy.

3. What have you been up to musically in the last eight years?

Well, we just dropped an album on October 10 called Walking On Water and I really want the people to hear it. It features Turbulence and Mykal Rose from Black Uhuru that won the very first-ever Reggae Grammy Award. The title track is called Walking On Water with Jesse Royal, [and it] is all about faith, staying in the zone and doing greatness.

4. What was the process of creating the album, ‘Walking On Water’?

It was great. It took about two years between all the bookings and different things. Most of it is live instrumentation. I play multiple instruments on it– guitar bass, keys, drum programming, stuff like that. I produced 11 of the tracks myself [alongside] three other producers, one of them [being] Mikey Bennett, that I do a lot of work with otherwise. You also had, Aspekt Mafia from Los Angeles and Sean Alaric, that actually produced the Grammy-nominated album for Jesse Royal just the other day. So, I released mine after the Grammy deadline, but I’m looking forward to next year.

5. As we continue to recover from the impact of Hurricane Melissa, do you have any words of encouragement for those worse affected?

Just remember the light is always there. If you’re in the darker side of anything, the brighter side is on the flip side; there’s never just one side to anything. So, the people are there for you, even though you don’t see them in the moment. But if you reach out you can find them. The messages are there to uplift you. The energy, the feeling, the vibe – what you need, the resources are there. So don’t give up hope!

kenrick.morgan@gleanerjm.com