XLR8R Chops is up with the Daseca Crew

Brothers David and Craig Harrisingh and their friend and musical partner Craig “Serani” Marsh combined letters from their respective names and dubbed their dancehall production studio Daseca (for David-Serani-Craig). Located on Red Hills Road in Kingston, Jamaica, Daseca has quickly established a radio, club, and chart presence by producing hits for Mavado (“Dying”), Busy Signal (“These Are the Days”), and their signature artist Bugle (“Doh”). But the trio has resisted categorization, adding hip-hop, R&B, and even techno influences to their original Jamaican sound. Now, as Serani and Bugle tunes rule the international charts and bigger deals loom with American major labels, the crew says they’re not in a rush to bust out big, but instead seek to organically build their brand. Oh, and they want to make another thing clear: They don’t use AutoTune or samples! XLR8R caught up with Craig Harrisingh to get the lowdown on Daseca’s methodology.
XLR8R: Where is your studio located?

Craig Harrisingh: It’s in a plaza, with lots of shops in there. We share a vocal booth with another studio in the same building run by Razz and Biggie from Bembe Squad.

What are the crew members’ different roles?

Everybody does everything, basically. We share the work. Even if just one or two of us builds a beat or a riddim, everyone gets credit as Daseca.

How did you come up with the Airwaves riddim?

We build most of [soundsystem owner and producer] Fire Links’ riddims, [including] Chaka Chaka, Clear, Drumlane, and others. We and Links have a good vibe and a good chemistry. Serani was in the studio and [Airwaves] just happened, it was a natural vibe. We were just playing the keyboards and played a lead riff and Links just say, “I need that!” But we’re not really juggling riddims anymore; we’re concentrating on producing individual singles.

Full interview available at XLR8R.com