Caplin & Massiah are a  duo with a big history.  Paul Caplin and his rebellious pop trio Haysi Fantayzee zoomed up the charts in the 1980s with songs about American racism and greed. Now he's doing it again, this time with singer Zeeteah Massiah. 

 is a passionate anthem that sums up how many feel about the American President. We caught up with Caplin & Massiah to talk musical influences, politics, and what we can do to stop Donald Trump.

Hello! I hope that you are both well. So, your new track ‘All You’ is being released on the 13th of July and it seems to have a clear political message….! Can you tell us about the origin of the track and how the project came about?

Hi! We’re great, thanks. Hope you are too.

The origin of the track… well, we’re writing music all the time, and like most songwriters we write about what we feel. A lot of the time we write about love. Corny, but true. But what we were feeling at the end of last year, when the song was written, was a deep revulsion for Donald J Trump and everything he stands for. So it just popped out.

What is the one message that you want people to take away from this release?

It’s a song, and we hope people will enjoy it as a piece of music. But if there’s a single message it’s that the way Trump and people like him behave is not ok, and we shouldn’t get used to it or think it’s the new normal. It is unacceptable.

What else can we do about the current political situation?

We can all do different things depending on our skills, talents and motivation. In our case, we wrote a song. Some people are organizing rallies. Others write articles and blogs. Some run for political office. Do what you’re good at.

Who inspired you to write the track? Would you be interested in writing more politically motivated material moving forward?

We weren’t inspired by a particular person (other than DJT, obviously). It was just a reaction to the greed and selfishness that’s becoming more and more prevalent, particularly among the political classes, and most of all in the Republican Party of the United States. Lincoln must be turning in his grave.

Would we be interested in writing more? Yes, maybe – there’s certainly a lot to say. Let’s see what kind of reaction we get to All You.

Can you tell us a little bit about the writing process of the song?

Paul does most of the writing, and he wrote both verses and the chorus of All You in about a day back in December. It developed further as we recorded it over the following few weeks. The last part to fall into place was the rap section, which was originally an instrumental. It dawned on both of us simultaneously that it needed a rap there, and then the words came very quickly.

What are you hoping to achieve with this release 'All You'?

We’re hoping people will notice it, listen to it, enjoy it, and think about it. We’re hoping that pop music in 2018 can be about something non- trivial, and that maybe this song will provide a focus for people’s discontent and inspire them to demand something better.

How do you feel about Trump’s visit to the UK beginning on the 13th of July?

We feel very relieved that it’s not a state visit. Perhaps the Queen talked Theresa May out of that idea. He can come here if he wants, and we can make our feelings known when he does.

And finally What would you say to those who have lost hope in politics….

It’s been much worse than this at times in the past. Merkel, Macron, Trudeau… they are all basically good people and good leaders. We just mustn’t tolerate the bad ones. We can get rid of them if we care enough.

Twitter
Website