Don Letts hustling for his inspired life
How the multi-hyphenate began in the world of music
MONTREAL— As first concerts go, it’s hard to top the one Don Letts saw in 1971.
The prolific DJ, filmmaker and musician, who has worked with artists as diverse as Bob Marley, Paul McCartney, the Jam and the Clash, remembers hearing a rumour at his school in London that “some band” was playing down the road later that day.
Letts, who was 14 at the time, walked into the venue and witnessed the Who doing a full production rehearsal, the equivalent of a live show.
“So we’re talking dry ice, we’re talking lasers, we’re talking (Pete) Townshend doing the windmill,” Letts says in an interview from London. “I’m like 10 feet from the stage. I can see the whites of Keith Moon’s eyes.
“It’s the first gig I ever saw … At that moment, I knew I wanted to be part of that world. It changed my life forever, I tell you. It was a life-changing moment.”
Letts was in Montreal for three events this week: a DJ set Wednesday night, the Canadian premiere of his latest film Thursday night and a question-and-answer session at a music festival Friday.
The movie, Two Sevens Clash: Dread Meets Punk Rockers, is an archive-based film that features the Sex Pistols, Big Youth, the Clash, Culture, the Slits and Linton Kwesi Johnson, among others.
Letts says it was well-received when it came out last year.
“It seemed to have struck a chord with a lot of people,” he said. “Last year was the 40th anniversary of the U.K. punk movement and it got me looking through the archives to see what I’ve got going here.
“And I realized inadvertently that the very first material I ever shot, inspired by the whole punk DIY thing — I kind of picked up a camera and reinvented myself as Don Letts the filmmaker with this punk energy — and what I’d shot, by pure chance, were the two things that were captivating me at that time, and that was punk and reggae.
“My film looks at the myths and the reality of the punky reggae party, but it does capture a very special time when two very different-sounding genres of music kind of found some like-minded connection.”
Despite being primarily associated with reggae and punk, Letts isn’t one for being pigeonholed. For more than 10 years, he’s had a weekly show on BBC Radio, where he gets free rein.
“It’s not just about people’s perceptions of Don Letts being just into reggae or just into punk,” he said. “The BBC allow me to be all I can be. It’s one of the most enjoyable things I’ve ever done, to be honest.
“Labels are dangerous things, man. You give yourself a label and sometimes that’s all you can be. And even at my tender age of 62, I’d like to remain open to all the world has to offer.”
Letts’ parents moved to Britain from Jamaica as part of the so-called Windrush generation who arrived in the United Kingdom from Caribbean countries beginning in the late 1940s.
The man who, alongside ex-Clash guitarist Mick Jones, was one of the five founding members of Big Audio Dynamite says he was good at art in school but that his parents “tried to squash it.”
“From my mother’s and father’s perspective, art was something white people did and not Black people, and they couldn’t see how I could make a living,” he said.
“So God bless them; they were just trying to look after their kid.
“My generation came along and kind of rebelled against all that, informed by the militant politicized music of the times.”
The musical bug in the family didn’t stop at Letts. His son Jet became a DJ and now works for a vinyl company, inspecting the quality of first pressings.
“In London, the economy has had a massive impact on the quality of art out there,” Letts said.
“Basically, young people can’t afford to be artistic, never mind rebellious. A lot of these people are living with their parents until they’re 30, and I think it’s hard to be a creative rebel if your mom is doing your washing up.”
The exorbitant costs of living in London are also part of the reason the whirlwind Letts isn’t going to be slowing down anytime soon.
“People say, ‘Oh, don’t you do a lot of things.’ And the truth is, living in London, you have to. This city is expensive. I have two teenage girls and you can’t buy them a yo-yo anymore. And everything they want has a couple of zeros on the end.
“I’m just trying to pay the bills like everybody else. It’s a hustle, a creative hustle, but, I kid you not, a hustle nevertheless.”
Asked to name some highlights in his illustrious career, Letts mentions his first feature film, Dancehall Queen; the Clash’s “Rock The Casbah” video, which he directed; and a documentary he did on McCartney’s New album.
“Not too shabby,” he says.