Neville Jules Speaks on Pan
Mr. Neville Jules and friends
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TrinbagoPan.com Reporters
Interview Date: May 26, 2007
Posted: June 11, 2007
TRINBAGOPAN: Since you left, have you coming to Trinidad annually?
NEVILLE: Yes. I wasn't here this year and last year [for Carnival]. I should have been here this year to enjoy the Panorama performance. I enjoyed what I was doing. But right now I am having a problem because of the Steelband. In the early days, when I was tuning a bass, I would stick my head close to the pan while I was tapping. I am now getting a constant ringing sound in my ear all the time. I am not hearing as I should. I am thinking about whether or not I should continue. Right now something is telling me everybody liked the Bomb you did this year, best you stay in a high note and call it quits. (Laughter) I am getting so many requests. People who are in the band would come and recommend songs that I should do as Bombs. Sometimes, if I hear a song, I would be thinking that it would make a nice Bomb. I might say one thing now but another time it would be something else. It is something I enjoy doing. It is a good feeling if I come in the yard here or meet other people and they say they liked how they played. For instance, before the Christmas I was getting feedback from here or the guys who like the band in New York would call to find out how the Bomb was going. They would say, "Boy, the Bomb sounding good." I would feel good when they say that. Right now I am studying what to do. Sometimes I would still listen to see if I hear something. If I hear something I might say, "That is it."
One of the things I want the people of Trinidad to know or to look at, is do not believe everything they hear people say they did or their friend did. A lot of them from the old days say they were in Hell Yard or they were here or they were there and so on. They were not there because their parents didn't allow them to be there. Norman Darway knows nothing about pan and he talks like he knows. For instance, the competition I talked about where we went after we saw the guy called 'Snatcher'. The competition was in Mucarapo and 'Chick' Mc Gru had won. He wrote an article and he mentioned a bicycle. He called the winner's name and that the bicycle was the first prize. He heard me talk about that on the radio. The name he called for the bicycle was the wrong name. Even though he said it was a typographical error, why didn't he talk about the competition before that in Tunapuna? The reason why, as I told you before, Ellie Manettee won it. Ellie Manettee is his idol. If he mentions that competition somebody would say, "Wait, that is the competition that this guy came with this big pan and Jules and Ellie had a small pan." That is the reason why he didn't mention that; it had to be. He is taking everything away from the people who actually did it and want to put it down 'in the West'.
You hear the Calypso they are singing? 'Pan in the West is the Best'. That is not true. Pan in the West was the best once upon a time but you cannot be the best all the time. There are people in the east, the north and the south who put their share into that pan we are enjoying today. Don't let one person hug it when they didn't do it. That is why I say do not believe everything you hear. It started with 'Spree' Simon. If you look in a lot of books you will find the name ''Fisheye''. He was in my band. Everything he did, I showed him. 'Fisheye' wasn't a big time pan player but he was there at the time when it was going on. He was a fella when he walked in here you would ask, "Who is that guy there." He was in All Stars. Remember I told you the band broke up and they left him. Do you know where he went after to play mas? He went to Invaders. Invaders have a lot of good players. Back in the 40s, 'Look Magazine' decided to write an article on the Steelpan. They went into Invaders Panyard, wrote their story and they took out pictures. Do you know who was on the front page? 'Fisheye' was on the front page. Not Ellie Mannette, 'Birdie' or any of the good players. He was that kind of fella. I guess it was because when they went into the panyard and see this fella with these two big eyes; plus he is a show off. I can imagine how mad they must have been.
'Fisheye' was the captain of Second Fiddle and we left him, so he had no band. Nobody would go with him because the guys who were around knew that he was messing up. He didn't stay long because they realized he was a fraud. But, 'Look Magazine' saw this guy and it was his face that was on the front page. In those days, they had the officer's cap with gold leaves and he was wearing it. 'Fisheye' didn't really contribute anything; 'Spree' didn't really contribute anything. The guy who saw me said he charged 'Spree' a shilling or something to tune the pan for 'Spree'. He told them that because he was one of the guys who went with TASPO. He said he tuned the pan for 'Spree' and that 'Spree' was trying to claim something. 'Spree' was the first person who did that and then you have a lot of other people who want to say they did this, that and the other.
When Invaders was going up to New York for the Christmas and we were in the Trinidad Consulate, can't remember why, the person who was bringing up Invaders said that they were coming to play in New York and that he was going to give me a ticket to come to the show. I talked about Ellie lying on T.V. when he was here and they had published it. He said something to the effect that I should either put up or shut up or something like that. I told the guy that I was glad he was giving me the ticket because I am going to attend the show and I wanted to see Ellie Mannette because I am going to tell him I am going to put up, I wouldn't shut up. The night I went to the show, Invaders was there playing. Then they came on the stage and said, "Ladies and gentlemen we regret to say that Mr. Mannette would not be here tonight because he is scared of flying in the plane," and so on. There was no Ellie Mannette show. I was going to tell him, "I am going to bet that you were not the first person to tune a 55 gallon drum pan. I have proof of that. I have the reporter. As a matter of fact they are even saying that the guy got it from somebody else."
The public right now is not getting accurate information about the instrument. You cannot add one pan and say you contribute something. The first bass was one drum then somebody added on two, then four and today it is nine. With the second pan, they have more than two pans now. The guitar pan is the same thing. They are adding on more. The people are trying to enhance the instrument. Whatever you do, you make it sound better or look better but it doesn't say you invented it. Once the public knows this, these guys will have to stop lying. There are things I did but I would not claim it because somebody told me to try it and I did that. When I used the two sticks it wasn't my idea. It was a guy who mentioned it. I think the guy was 'Dougla' the Calypsonian, but he is dead now. He said, "Neville, I have a dream boy, that everybody was playing with two sticks."
TRINBAGOPAN: Mr. Jules, thank you very much for your time and your enlightening discourse on the history of the pan. We would also like to wish you all the best and continued good health.
NEVILLE: It was my pleasure.
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