Jeep MacNichol & The Plates Take it to the Street

Jeep MacNichol is best known for his standout drumming with the band The Samples. After leaving the popular Boulder-based group in 1997 he went on to form a DJ-and-drums project called Mr. Anonymous. He now plays in a ska- and punk-inspired outfit, The Plates, in which he remains stoked about life and the pursuit of music. The Plates open for legendary Jamaican musicians Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare on May 27 at Casselman’s Bar in Denver. 

TipJar:  Hi Jeep. Thanks for sitting with me. I first saw you play with the Samples back in the ’80s in Boulder.  Are you a native of Colorado or did you migrate to the state?

Jeep MacNichol: I’m originally from Perrysburg, Ohio, which is just outside of Toledo. I moved to Boulder in 1985 to attend school at the University of Colorado.

What was your major at CU?

Sociology.

Was the Samples your first band in Colorado?

Actually when I first got to Boulder my first band was called Animal Kingdom. It was a mix between Rush and King Crimson. This was in 1985 and 1986. The guitarist had a double-neck guitar and the bass player had a double-neck bass.  We were a three-piece. Even though I was the drummer both of the other guys happened to be fantastic drummers. They were into John Bonham, Pat Metheny, Terry Bozzio, Chick Corea, Neil Pert and all kinds of crazy stuff. I learned a lot from them. I was the least-accomplished musician in the band and my goal was to become as good at drumming as those guys were.

When did you get in with the Samples and how long did you play for the group?

In 1987 I answered an ad that had been placed on the bulletin board at the UMC (University Memorial Center) at the University of Colorado. I was with the band from 1987 to 1997.

Do you have any ideas how many shows you played with them during that time?

Oh wow. We didn’t start going on the road full time until I graduated from college, but once we started touring it was nine months a year, six nights a week for about nine straight years.

THE SAMPLES FROM LEFT TO RIGHT Charles Hambleton, Jeep MacNichol, Andy Shelton (Wood) Al Laughlin, Sean Kelly.

Who were your drumming influences at the time?

When I started with the Samples my two main influences were Carlton Barrett (drummer for Bob Marley’s band) and Stewart Copeland (the Police). Those two were pretty much who I first absorbed. By the time I left the Samples I was l listening to Ministry and Pantera and I was inspired by metal drummers like Vinnie Paul.

When did you first start drumming?

I started playing drums when I was a sophomore in high school and the first music I started playing was reggae. I  would drive from Ohio up to Ann Abor, Michigan, and go to this music store called Schoolkids Records, where I would get all my reggae on vinyl. I’d go back home and listen to the records upstairs and then go down to our garage, where I had my drums set up,  and try to copy the beats. I’d record what I was doing on a little cassette player and listen back to it and go no that’s not quite right and then I’d go listen to the albums again and try and perfect it.

Were you already playing in a group at that point?

Yeah, I was in a cover band with my high school buddies playing Police, Ramones, Elvis and Jimi Hendrix tunes. We were called the Jeep Rules Combo. I was the best musician in the band and people would say “yeah Jeep rules.” (laughs).

Is reggae your biggest inspiration?

Oh yeah I love it. I started listening  to ska and reggae early on and that’s always sort of been my thing. And once I started listening to the Police and Stewart Copeland it all fused and became my direction.

Have you been to Jamaica?

Yeah, I’ve been to Jamaica quite a few times. I first went down to the island in 2002 to record my first album as Mr. Anonymous. My plan was to play all the instruments and make all the music for singers and DJs down there to track on top of. The first one I met was a dancehall singer named Cutty Ranks who I stayed with. From there I got to record with some of my heroes, including Sly [Dunbar] and Robbie [Shakespeare]. Cutty knew them and called them up.  He handed the phone to me, we talked and they invited me to their studio to cut a track.  Through my association with Cutty and the singer Michael Rose (Black Uhuru) I got tied into the whole music network in Kingston and then in London, where I also worked with Ranking Roger.

Do you like Kingston?

Oh yeah. It’s where all the musicians are. I love it. When I first went down there I stayed at the Liguanea Club, which is a really cool old hotel where the James Bond film Dr. No was filmed. Kingston isn’t all touristy and cleaned up like the northern part of the island. It’s the real deal.

Nice. Can you tell me a bit about the Plates and how that got started?

What inspired me was my move to Denver about three years ago. I had been living in Boulder and doing my Mr. Anonymous project for about ten years.

I was playing shows at the Fox [Theater] and stuff, and I had a great run from 2003 to 2013. By the end of that time however I was burning out on the DJ dub scene and really craving live instruments and rawness and a band vibe. One day I went to a show at the Larimer Lounge in Denver that included a couple acts including the Dendrites,  which is a ska band with like seven horn players playing ’70s-influenced ska, and there was also this retro ska DJ team called the Denver Vintage Reggae Society, who was spinning ’60s and ’70s ska on vinyl. It was a really cool underground club scene that I’d been craving. Also at that time for some reason I had only two CDs in my car that I’d been listening to for like six months straight — which were Minor Threat and the Best of I-Roy.

The combination of those two sounds led me to the Plates. I-Roy is kind of an old school  dancehall  DJ from the ’70s . He and artists like Big Youth, Dillinger and Dennis Alcapone would talk over the beat and comment about everyday life in these little dub rap sections. Just listening to this stuff was a big inspiration for the Plates. I was looking for that raw dub sound combined with something like Outlandos D’amour, the first Police album. I contacted Stero Lion, our singer, who I had first performed with during one of my shows at the Fox as Mr. Anonymous, and told him about my idea for the Plates.  He was totally into it. Stero grew up in the UK and then later in the Bronx.  His mom is Jamaican and his dad is from Trinidad. So I hooked up with him and with Ian Anderson, our bass player, who is originally from Kingston, and we started the band.

How’s it been? 

It’s been awesome.  We got our first CD out about a year ago and we’ve been gigging ever since. We book our gigs mainly by word of mouth.

What are some of the highlights so far?

Well the Lion’s Lair is one of our favorite places. And we played a garage punk fest at the Hi-Dive which was awesome and we opened for the Toasters at the Marquis which was off the hook. We opened for Morgan Heritage, which is a big Jamaican band, at Cervantes. That was a blast. And we’ve played the Skylark. It’s been an exploration of the underground scene. We’ll usually join a four-band bill, where it’s a bunch of punk bands and we play our reggae-inspired set.

Do you always play as a three-piece?

Yeah, except for when we are joined by Scott [Beach] who is our bagpipes player. He usually comes on for the last tune and plays his pipes.  He recorded on our first album. I found him online. He answered my ad and even showed up in a kilt. He’s a great guy.

Sounds like you’re happy with the group?

It’s totally my dream band. If I could hand pick my players it would be these guys. We have a blast. I love kicking back and listening to Stero and Ian talk about cooking Jamaican dishes, music, etc, and Scott’s great to hang with. It’s like a soccer team, like Chelsea or something.  We rehearse once a week and it’s always a slammin’ time. We’ve played a ton of shows this first year. What I also love about the band is the street vibe of what we do. We value every single music experience that we have. Being at the bottom of the hill and moving up is the most exciting place to be because you value the struggle to get your vibe across to listeners. With no label or manager telling us what to do or where to be everything we do is purely for the art and fun of it, kind of like the jazz musicians that still tour around playing small clubs. I saw this legendary bebop drummer named Louis Hayes play at a jazz club in Denver.  He was 80-plus years old and on tour and there were probably 15 people there, and he played his heart out, which to me is the beauty of being in the underground. You play because you love it, not because of where it’s taking you. It’s been a great first year. We’re finishing out our last two shows this month and then taking time off to record our second album. This new one is going to be off the hook. It’ll be the same punky reggae vibe but more experimental and psychedelic,  inspired by Black Uhuru’s album Sinsemilla meets the soundtrack to Dr. No with a splash of Sergeant Peppers.

— www.theplatesmusic.com

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