Bounty Killer On Stagecraft: ‘I Was Out-Performed By Beenie Man A Lot Of Times Over The Years’
Bounty Killer says that in order to fully master stagecraft, he practiced moving about onstage instead of staying in one place, an issue for which, years ago, he was severely criticized by Dancehall fans, and even teased in Ce’Cile’s breakout song Changez.
During an interview with I Never Knew TV, Bounty was asked to give his opinion on why so many Dancehall artists struggle with performing with bands, and how he had mastered live performances, the skill of stage presence, breath control, timing, and crowd participation.
“Well, I developed my stage craft still. I never came out as a best performer. I was out-performed by Beenie a lot of time over the years and Beenie is a seasoned veteran on the scene way before me. So when I just came out, I wasn’t the best on stage, but I wasn’t the worst either. And then, I was ambitious, and I used to take constructive criticism. I never used to be cocky and feel like ‘oh I’m hot so they can’t tell me nuttn’”, the Warlord had explained.
“So I always have got stage presence and stage command. Well, the stage craft now, I never used to move around, never used to move around too much. I never used to dance. I used to stay at one place. People used to have a problem with that until I learned that you have to master the stage and back and forth and interact…,” the Its Okay artist added.
According to Bounty, recognizing this deficiency, and having dealt with it, resulted in him growing to be totally comfortable on stage, since he already had a commanding stage presence.
“So I’m happy on stage and I’m a man who loves to talk to the people, so the stage presence – it’s my thing… and I like to lead the flock. I don’t like to play the crowd to what they want to do. I like to lead them in the direction,” the Calaloo Bed native said.
Bounty said that listening to, and carrying out the recommendations of his seniors, and not being arrogant, also played a huge role in his successes.
“Then now, on stage, I’m good with the people I’m happy with the people. I’m not one of the artistes that timid with the crowd… I’m happy to be on stage. The people who are happy on stage they are the better performer. Anytime yuh have stage like it’s a desolate place, you gonna lose your drive,” he said.
Bounty made it clear that there is a distinction between studio artists and stage artists, which lovers of music must realise exists.
“You’re gonna find your little holes and you’re gonna fix them. But I don’t think everybody loves stage because you have recording artistes and performing artistes and people start to forget that not everybody that has a good recording will be a good performer. Not because you have a hot song you’re going to be a good performer,” he explained.
“The song is the song, and the performance is the performance, and they should go together. Some people just depend on: ‘I got a hot song’ and not putting a performance together. And they do not know that the song cannot perform itself. So, if you only come up with the song and not the performance, it’s going to be a mediocre, whack, lukewarm thing. And some artistes have no problem in that either. They just wanna collect,” he added.
According to Bounty, as an artist, he has made it a point of his duty to be sharp and eloquent on stage, irrespective of the size of his audience or the scale and scope of events for which he is booked.
“You are as good as the last scene. So your last impression will be your best impression and some people don’t look at it like that… If I get paid or I don’t get paid, I can only perform one way because performance is performance and performing is performing,” he said.
“So I only know how to do it one way, paid or unpaid. If 10 people in the show or a hundred in the show, I only know to perform one way. And performance means a lot to me, because it’s like an advertisement. It leaves them with something to go and talk about,” he said.
He added: “So I take it serious. Bounty Killer is a stand-out… everybody knows Bounty’s standard. I am always at that point when I’m going on stage to get in that Bounty zone… autopilot, however you do it get there. It’s the standard. And I think that’s what keep me for three decades and stay relevant. And you still wanna see me among the younger ones. So that’s very achieving.”