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But what catapulted them to stardom was their reggae cover of Peter Frampton’s “Baby, I Love Your Way” which was part of the Reality Bites soundtrack and in the band’s “Unity” album. Both were released by Giant Records in 1994.
Two more albums were released from the same label, 1995’s Resistance and “Free Up’ in 1997. However they left the Giant label because the band got tired with the commercialism of their music. Even before they left the label, they already established a huge following in Japan making them as the second biggest reggae act next to Maxi Priest, excluding Bob Marley. That’s how they got the support from the Japanese record label and formed their own, Rebel Ink.
Then two albums were released afterwards: 1999’s “Things to Come” and “Cool Breeze” in 2001 which both appealed to the Japanese market. It was only on their third album, “New Day,” released in 2003 which showed the band’s return to a more rootsy groove with themes leaning to issues of the indigenous people of the America to globalization and the universal language, love.
After a long absence from the concert scene, Big Mountain is now back and Cebu is lucky enough to be among its first leg of the tour. Last Friday night, the Ayala Terraces crowd swayed to the island cool rhythm as the reggae band played their old and new hits: One Love, Here Comes The Sun, Sweet Sensual Love, Love is The Only Way, Perfect Summer, Touch My Light, I Would Find a Way and their phenomenal hit, “Baby, I Love Your Way” which made the whole crowd go wild. They also performed a couple of roots music: Don’t You Judge and Young Revolutionaries.
Minutes before they performed at the Terraces, iSTORYA.net had a chance to talk with Joaquin “Quino” McWhinney, the reggae band’s lead singer. He was so candid and high-spirited in sharing about his life, first steps in his music and its struggles as a band making a comeback in the music scene.
Here’s the rest of the rare interview with Quino:
iStorya.net (I): What kind of message do you want to tell the people with your songs?
Quino (Q): We always try to bring out a real complete message about life. We’re not afraid to be political. We are not afraid to sing love songs but we also really want people to take our music to be their own and to feel pride, you know… To heal the world we live in… And you know the pressures we have to deal with. We try to write that in our music. It’s all about protecting the helpless.
I: You mentioned about singing love songs especially to all the women, does the Sara song of Frank Paul inspired you to do the cover tune of Peter Frampton’s “Baby, I Love Your Way” way back in 1994?
Q: Yeah yeah! (excitedly) Actually that specific song from Sara album which I heard one summer made me write the song, “Touch My Light.” And it was like you know, it was really the first time that I got to learn how to sing something like a ballad… a fun ballad… a song that is childish and young and has a young spirit in it.
“Baby, I Love Your Way,” we were asked to do the song as part of the soundtrack of the movie, Reality Bites. They asked us to do a demo then we got the job. So I guess we were lucky.
I: Do you think that it was a big break for you?
Q: Well, yeah… I have to admit, yes. You know, at the same time, I would be lying if I didn’t say that at times I resented the song because it was difficult for us to overcome “Baby, I Love Your Way.” But you know what, I’ve already made peace with “Baby I Love Your Way” hahaha!
I: Speaking of summer, just like your song from the album, Perfect Summer, what’s your vision of a perfect summer?
Q: Well, I recently moved to Ensenada, Mexico. I grew up in San Diego. The Ensenada is about an hour and a half south but on the other side of the border. Living in Mexico has been a beautiful experience. The Philippines reminds me a lot of Mexico because of its high spirited people. It’s (Mexico) a country that might not have itself all together in terms of economy... in terms of administration and the whole logistic part of being a country but there’s something United States, I think lacks, in terms of “soul” with what I have found in Mexico. And I believe it exists here in the Philippines.
It was that first summer, moving there with my wife and kids. And finding new friends and living on the ocean. Well being able to afford living on the ocean because I couldn’t afford (living on the ocean) when I was there in United States.
I: I’ve read in an old article years back that you dreamt of being the “first revolutionary salsa artist.” Just curious, do you still have that dream?
Q: (Laughing) Well, I have to put that goal on the sideline. I know there are a number of revolutionary salsa artists that I recently found out. But yeah revolutionary salsa is one of the music that hasn’t quite established itself yet. We kind of know it more of a party music but I love the Latin music of the Caribbean and I had the opportunity to work with a salsa band. And now I’m excited to incorporate some of the things into Big Mountain music.
I: What keeps Big Mountain strong, relevant or how do you and your band “stay fresh” in the music industry?
Q: I don’t think its necessary that you have to be attuned to what’s really going on. I think you have to take chances. I think Perfect Summer, in the album, we took our chances. Our first time around we did everything we could not to sound American. We wanted to sound Jamaican. We wanted to be like all the reggae bands in the world. This time around, Perfect Summer, we really wanted to incorporate all American elements – a lot more guitar, even some country overtones. I think it’s a more mature system that we put out as a band. And I’m more excited about continuing the formula.
I: So do you have no regrets leaving the label years back?
Q: You know what, I have to admit. I’m not proud of so many attitudes that I had when I was younger, you know what I mean. There were times when I was immature. Maybe not taking myself so seriously and it was part of growing. That was me coping with the success and the pressure of success. And you know, I can’t blame myself for that but I do feel guilty sometimes.
Sometimes I feel like we shouldn’t be taking a break because once you took a break, it will be hard to come back. It’s hard to get it back on again. It’s been like a three-year process of trying to get Big Mountain back on the road. It’s been a struggle. But we’re here now.
You know what, I still have my health. Give thanks for that. Give thanks to God for that. You know, I’m still able to hop around the stage as I can. I have a great group of guys (pointing to his bandmates). We have a lot of energy. We have a lot of renewed purpose. Yeah, there are regrets but I like to call them lessons.
I: What’s your message to your Cebuano fans?
Q: I know it took us a long time to be here. For some reason we’re here. For some reason this is the first big tour we’re doing. In that sense, I think destiny sort of taking control of the situation. What happened last night (Thursday concert at the Monastery), well we really needed that. It was an amazing welcome from the people. They knew the lyrics better than I did.
We heard Cebu really appreciate reggae. So I created some home videos and mentioned that Cebu is a reggae town of the Philippines. So it was nice to come, we knew it was a reggae town. So we never knew there’s going to be a lot of people. We never knew how the crowd’s going to be like who would like roots. It was much more than what we expected.
Towards the end of the show, the Big Mountain wrapped up with a new song from their latest album, Perfect Summer, “Visions” then before leaving the stage, Quino bid goodbye to everyone at the Terraces with a message, “Without Cebu, we (Big Mountain) are only a small mountain. With you, we’re a gigantic mountain.”
Well one thing’s for sure this reggae band definitely moved mountains and stole the hearts of all the Cebuanos for decades. See you next year, Big Mountain!
Beyee
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