Business based on sound clashes

Mel Cooke, Gleaner Writer

The foundation of Irish and Chin's entertainment involvement is sound clashes, beginning with New York, USA. Chin was playing on King Agony in Queens and Irish on Super Tone in Long Island. "We met because there was a local demand for the two sounds to clash," Chin said. But there was a clash of egos - each saying that the other's sound system was not worth the fee they were requesting - until "in the midst of us trying to organise this event, we decided to just keep a clash".

This was in the 'post-Biltmore' era in New York, the famous clash venue from the early to mid 1990s having closed down and the clash fans in New York left without sound-system battles to attend. Irish and Chin (who had not yet formalised the partnership) turned to Jamaica to source the warriors for their first sound-system battle in 1997.

Black kat versus kilamanjaro

"The most popular cassette rivalry coming from Jamaica was Black Kat and Kilamanjaro. They were clashing seven days a week somewhere in Jamaica," he said. The recordings made the rivalry famous in New York and, when that first event was staged, Chin said "the clash worked. We used Q Club. We filled it to capacity, about 1,400 people".

"So our first event is a memorable event. We both decided 'we are going to keep another one'. And it leads to another." By the second clash the business partners were known as Irish and Chin. By the third, their logo, which still stands today, was established. Still, Chin said, "we never got into it to have a company, but to entertain ourselves and persons who wanted to see sound clashes".

That changed soon enough, after they hosted the first World Clash in New York in 1998, featuring foundation sounds Downbeat (USA), Kilamanjaro (Jamaica) and Sir Coxson (London), pulling in about 700 people. In 1999, he said, "this is where Irish and Chin came to the forefront". For their celebratory party, preceding World Clash that year, Irish and Chin booked Adonai as 'The Good', Tony Matterhorn (who had just left Addies) as 'The Bad' and Kilamanjaro with Ricky Trooper as 'The Merciless', inadvertently tapping into the Bounty Killer/Beenie Man feud through Matterhorn and Trooper.

"Matterhorn, career months old, defeats Jaro. He creates the biggest upset," Chin said.

Then, for World Clash 1999, they got Trooper and Matterhorn to face off, adding Bass Odyssey (which could not come because of work-permit reasons, Father Keith agreeing to show a presence with a few dub plates) and Mighty Crown to the mix.

Building a brand

"The feedback was tremendous. We knew we would get a ram dance, but not the level," Chin said. At this point, he said, "We were realising we have a have a brand. We are realising this is business."

And it was big business. "When we got to the venue at 9 p.m. the line was blocks and blocks long, to our surprise," Chin said.

Mighty Crown won, beating Kilamanjaro in the final stages, and Irish and Chin expanded the clashes to Jamaica in 2001, naming the event at Pier One, Jamaica, Death Before Dishonour, so as not to cause a confusion with World Clash. "We pulled 8,000 people," Chin said. There were four years of clashes in Canada, ending in 2007, a one-off event in Antigua and six clashes in London, done in tandem with another organiser.

New York was the first to be phased out and Jamaica last in 2010, Chin citing rising costs from sound systems, passing on increased fees from artistes to do specials, and a lack of sponsorship for the hardcore event, as the reasons for the demise.