Beres Welcomes Romain Virgo and Tarrus Riley Onstage At Wembley Arena, And They All Chat With RGAT
On the final night of the Beres & Friends tour at London’s Wembley Arena, Beres invites Romain Virgo onstage to perform “Can’t Sleep” and bigs up the young singer to the fullest. But that’s not all. Beres also called Tarrus Riley onstage to perform “Groovy Little Thing” and then Dean Fraser sealed the deal with a tasty sax solo. And you already know the ReggaeGirlAboutTown was there to capture the moment. Another Boomshots.com exclusive. Photos and Video by Ravi Sidhu (@REDNivars) After The Jump…
Beres Hammond “Can’t Stop a Man” and “Come Back Home” Live
Beres Hammond & Romain Virgo
Beres Hammond & Tarrus Riley
Follow @ReshmaB_RGAT
Beres Hammond Interview By Reshma B
RESHMA B (RGAT): Beres, it was great to see you perform at Wembley.
BERES HAMMOND: Happy to have done so.
.
What is it like performing in the UK? The UK loves Beres Hammond.
Yeah, I feel that way too. I throw them some love and they throw it right back at me. It’s a beautiful thing.
I’m not gonna ask you how old you are but when you’re on stage, you jump around like
you’re 18. How do you keep that energy and keep so fit?
It’s the music you know. The music has a tendency to bring out in you things you never thought you had. But as soon as the music stops playing, me tired. [laughs] I get tired, you know.
You were like that last year. Every time I see you on stage, you have that vibe.
Yeah man, I have to. Because I love the music to that extent that it does things to me and it just comes out. It’s just natural for me to behave in that fashion. Even in the studio, it’s the same behavior. Once the music is playing, you get everything out of me.
You need a high ceiling in that studio!
Yeah, it high. High enough, high enough [laughs]. When the music punch you more time—I men, you do some crzy things. If I should look back at my videos, I’ll have to be ashamed of myself sometimes.
Nothing to be ashamed of—we love it.
Thanks [laughs].
I saw you perform last year at Sumfest in Jamaica and I just want to say congratulations because I didn’t get a chance to say hello to you after you were honoured. But that was amazing experience to watch—what was it like getting that honour?
Beautiful, really beautiful. The thing I like about it is, you have a lot of people that will wait until after you’ve passed until they start to bestow all these accolades and things. I’m very happy to have been given quite a few of these things in my very tender age—like now. It’s beautiful. I thank them very much.
It was really good seeing Romaine and Tarrus complementing your show. They were both so honored to share the stage with you.
I myself, am very honoured to have shared the stage with them. They’re the upcoming voices and the least I could do is to make them feel and understand that. I wouldnt say how long it’s going to take for them to reach where I am, because It takes time. But if you start on a very positive note that I see them starting on, they’ll gradually get there.
Tarrus looks up to you. He said that you’ve been in his life for a long time, since he was a kid. He’s even on your riddim “Groovy Little Thing.”
Yeah mon, I’ve known him for quite some time now. I’ve known him since he started doing some
DJ thing, ’cause that’s what I saw him doing earlier. It’s nice to see that he hasn’t really switched but I prefer singing—songs.
Can I be honest with you? Whenever I go to a Beres concert, I always cry.
Why do you do that? Laugh, sweetheart. Enjoy yourself. Don’t cry.
I cry, I do. That’s why I always get a ticket every year [laughs]. I mean, it’s part tears of joy and tears of pain. The pain is joyful. The lyrics are so potent, they go straight to the heart.
I never thought about it that way. I just try to bring out whatever is inside of me at the
moment. I’m not too happy that you feel sad but at the same time, it was just meant to have been that way.
It’s also amazing how when you hear a song back, they recycle themselves. Sometimes they mean something at one moment and at other times…
They mean something else. Yes. It wasn’t planned that way, it just came out that way.
You have a big catalog. Do all of these things come from real life experiences?
It’s real life. Not necessarily my life. I try to live my life as an average person in the street. When you don’t isolate yourself, you experience a lot of people’s pains, the suffering, the joy and the feeling—it’s almost like it’s happening to you. So when you get into the studio you just sing. It feels natural. It just comes natural. So It’s not necessarily my heartbreak. It could be somebody else that’s close to me. So I suffer the same pain you knoq. When you see that your friend is in pain you actually feel the same pain. I express them in my songs.
So I won’t ask whether “What One Dance Can Do” is a personal experience.
Yeahhh it happened to me and it happened to other folks too. Other folks more than meself
[laughs].
I’m glad we got that cleared up!
[Laughs loudly] True that.You have a new album coming, and I know we’re gonna go crazy when it drops. You’re mainly known for your love songs but you have so many successful reality songs as well. This album is giving us a combination of all that.
Yeah mon, because the more you grow, you experience different things. For me, all my experiences tend to come out in song. The album wasn’t planned like that; they just picked a
couple of songs and put them together. I’m happy people loved them.
The album’s called One Love One Life…
That’s the kind of life I’ve been living all this time. I always travel with my love and I
spread it out to people—most times I get it back. It’s the lifestyle I feel everyone should live. Give some love and never be afraid to tell someone ‘Hey, what’s up?! Bless up!” instead of walking around with your screwface, ya know? It’s one love and one life.
You better make the most of it.
You don’t get a second chance at that life.
And talking about second chances, you have a track called “Wasting Time”…
Yeah. I haven’t had a chance to fully go through the album but there are some wonderful
little goodies on there.
As a star, people must put you up on a pedestal all the time. But whenever I see you you’re always so humble… And you also have a track called “I humble myself.” Do you think that’s important?
By nature, I’m like that. I was brought up in a little community in Jamaica where the entire
community grows you. They make sure you keep that same value when you’re out on your own.
And so these values will never leave me, you understand. Every time when you’re out there with other people, you sorta remember your upbringing and something just put you back in line, that this is the way you should behave. As a grown person now, I’m happy to not have let down my folks—the beautiful people that grew me up.
I cant wait to hear the whole album and I know your fans can’t either. Time is short and I know gonna get thrown out, but its been a pleasure…
Never gonna throw out a beautiful person like you! Nooooooo—that would never happen. Not
on my watch! [laughs]. Bless you and thanks for talking to me.
No problem – I got one more question.
You make it feel so easy…
It is easy…like you said its One love, one life.
Yeah… one love, one life.
Do you have anything to say to the UK fans?
I want them to keep loving just like they did the last time. Never dilute that love that we
have. It’s beautiful and I’m looking forward to sharing some more – hopefully next year for now thanks, thanks for everything you hear- Bless
Beres, it’s been a pleasure.
The pleasure is mine.
