Between hit records and live shows, they’ve kept us hooked on their hot sounds. Ten years later, can they keep that fire burning? T-Vice’s Roberto Martino tells us what they have in store to keep the temperature rising.
It’s been a while since we’ve talked. What’s going on with T-Vice?
RM: Well, first of all, I’d like to say what’s up and send a big shout-out to all the fans reading right now. What’s going on with T-Vice is the usual: playing all over, traveling, producing, and being in the studio. We have a new live CD coming out tomorrow or Monday. We have a single that we are working on, to be released in December. We have a lot of new projects. We have a new video coming out too. We’re just working, playing music, and doing what we love.
I’m happy to hear that you guys are friends with Sweet Micky. How did that come about?
RM: Well, it was something that happened spontaneously. It was at a rehearsal for Haiti Twoubadoo; he participated in the project, and I did too. All the musicians were there—Jean-Marc Apollon, Gerald Kebreau, and Fabrice Rouzier. They came up to me and said, “It’s time for this thing to end; this is childish. You guys are cursing in songs, sending messages to one another. Why don’t you guys confront each other like two grown-ups?” So, I went up to him and said, “Michel, it’s time for this to end; tell me whatever you want to tell me,
I’ll tell you whatever I have to say, and then if we have to fight, we’ll fight and finish with this.” And he told me, “You know what? It’s already finished. Because you came up to me and spoke to me, I appreciate that a lot; that’s all I was looking for.” So, he told me what he didn’t like, I told him what I didn’t like, and basically, we talked for like an hour. Then we went to my house, and he apologized to my mom; that was the biggest point of the whole thing. And it all finished.
You know, in life, you never know what’s going to happen. It’s normal for two people to have a problem. It’s like your girl or wife; you love her a lot! After a fight, you’re going to do whatever it takes to destroy that girl. But when you get back together, you’ll make the best love to her. In our case, the love is not going to start before the party. After the party, all talks are going to finish—Micky on the right side, T-Vice on the left side; musically, we’re going to finish it.
Many people think that this was just a strategy to increase record sales. How do you answer that?
RM: I don’t think so! Because it was done spontaneously, a lot of artists were there, and they can explain it. They were shocked, and everybody was emotional. We never knew that it was going to happen. You know what? We’re not in need of that kind of strategy; my pride is more important than that. It’s not like I don’t have enough money right now or that my parties are not doing well anymore and that I need a strategy. No, things are still going well. We just want to put some things aside so we can concentrate on better things now.
You’re right because, despite the weather tonight, you guys filled up the whole room.
RM: You know, there are a lot of parties that got canceled tonight because nobody showed up. But still, there was a good crowd here tonight. I was amazed; I didn’t even think there would be that many people because the weather was really messed up. Coming from Miami, our plane couldn’t land; it was a lot of headaches. Thank God everything went well.
As far as the new album, will you be working with Micky?
RM: Not on the new album, but we will be working on something. Wyclef is also supposed to do something. We have a lot of projects. We actually have a T-Vice phone card coming out; Micky is supposed to be participating in that too. There are a lot of things that we’re going to be doing. You just have to sit around, and you’ll see.
You guys did an incredible job on the Parkway this Labor Day weekend. How did you manage with the bad weather, and how do you feel representing your country among the people that were there?
RM: Well, first of all, we have a lot of pride when we come out like that. Seeing Haiti represented that way, where we have 30,000 to 40,000 people marching with their flags. I think it’s one of the biggest moments when all of us Haitians get together for a cause. We forget about everything; we’re just representing Haiti—showing the world that we have a culture, showing the world that we are people, and that we have a lot of good sides. I felt proud; I felt good. And you know, the experience that T-Vice has now in those kinds of festivities helped us a lot. We had some experience on the Parkway already, so we know what to perform and when to perform. That’s what I call a band that has matured. It paid off, and I’m really glad.
It really seemed like it was a sea of red and blue.
RM: It was nice! From where I was, telling everybody to raise their flags, it was really emotional.
Helicopter a desan?
RM: Helicopter a desan’n, malgre move temps helicopter a ateri quand meme.
I’m hearing that there is something going on between T-Vice and Robert Charlot of Top Vice. How true is that?
RM: I don’t know; I cannot comment too much on that because I haven’t seen Charlot in a while. I’ve been hearing stuff that he’s been saying; I don’t really know, man. I’m just going to be honest with you. I know that it’s been said that we stole his song, we stole his stuff. I don’t know, man; I haven’t been to any Top Vice rehearsals in 5-6 years. I haven’t been to a Top Vice BAL in a while. I know that I have no problem with Top Vice personally, because Top Vice just recorded a new song at the Vice 2K studio, which is my studio.
I sang the song; Reynaldo played the keyboard and programmed the songs because Charlot was busy working on his album. So I don’t know what kind of problem I could have with Top Vice. It’s normal that every band or every person trying to get some promotion always gets on T-Vice’s back; it’s normal, it’s been proven already.
They’re trying to get some publicity and make people talk. I think that’s what’s going on again. But I have no problem with Charlot; I played this song tonight. I like this album; I like his work. It’s thanks to him that the digital concept came out, so what kind of problem can I have with Charlot? He’s not even in the same age group as me. If I had a girl problem, I would say he took my girl. But I don’t think it would happen, man, I’m telling you. (Laughing)
I think if there was a problem, it would be with the people out there bootlegging your CDs.
RM: That’s my biggest problem right now.
How are you dealing with that?
RM: Well, I took the stand, and I’m going public. I want to go straight to the fans and tell them what’s happening. I tried to do it legally when it happened the first time; I ended up paying $5,000 for a letter, $10,000 for a request, and $15,000 for this.
What kind of industry do we have to be paying that kind of money? In the end, I’m losing $35,000 extra to what I’m already losing with the bootleggers. And we still lose because they say that they can’t find them, “we don’t have an address.”
So we have to get out there and let the people know what’s going on, so they could sabotage the movement and that we, the artists, could benefit from working.
In closing, how do you guys deal with the competition? Do you think it has gotten stiffer in the music industry?
RM: Well, we always try to come out with something new; we always give the best of ourselves when we perform, whether it’s three hundred, a thousand, or twenty thousand. We’re always there on time. I think that all of this has to do with keeping up with the competition. Also, we’re up-to-date. We don’t say, “This is what worked five, six years ago; we’re going to stick to it.”
If the market is changing, I will change too. I’m flexible. I see that the market is changing right now; I see that it’s an R&B/rap kind of Konpa that’s being played, that the young people like; that’s what I will play, and I will play it well. And when they come back to the hard Kompa, I’ll come back to the hard Kompa. That’s what it is; I give the people what they like.
Thank you, Roberto, for this wonderful time.
RM: Thank you! Keep up the good work; I visit the site often, it’s really nice; keep it going, man.
Keep doing the good work; we’ll be there behind you! ~Cheyna Pierre
