| Oh Mr DC
Dub Creator is OK with the UK |
 
Dub Creator, the ace producer outta Amsterdam, has just mentioned that he doesn't feel as if he's got enough knowledge about contemporary Jamaican music to make any comment about it and I simply can't hide my surprise. What I am beginning to understand is that he is very much part of a new generation of reggae producers and that his musical journey is unlike that of anyone I've interviewed so far. "Yeah, before the link-up with King Shiloh I was doing a kind of down-tempo dub. In that period I was still looking for the right turn to make. It was at that time that House music was upcoming and I was drawn to the House scene; but thought that the music didn't have much vibe or good b-lines. So I started to combine House and slow Dub but still wasn't really serious and didn't have the intention to get things out in the We've heard plenty about how the Mods, Skins and Punks succumbed to the Reggae beat, but the Rave refugees have been remarkably quiet so far. However DC is far from unusual. Lets face it, House music dominated in the UK and across Europe from the late eighties and through the nineties. For many the Rave scene failed to deliver either musically or spiritually and they found themselves in roots dances ''looking for the right turn to make'' as DC puts it.
His introduction to reggae music must also sound familiar to many people. "It was because of my brother that I became interested in reggae music. It must have been somewhere back in ’81, he bought 'Babylon By Bus'. I listened to that a lot and started looking for more reggae music and came across Lee Perry and King Tubby dubs. From that point on I was hooked on Dub. Still not making music myself but just listening with friends on the sofa and smoking our brains out." In 1986 he started buying equipment and making his own music, but it wasn't until he came across UK Dub that he found any contemporary reggae that was truly inspiring. "At a certain point I discovered Jah Shaka and Disciples music and was thinking…this is it! This is the type of music I want to make! It was heavy and had a certain vibe. That was the early days of Russ D and the beginning of electronic/sequenced dub. Just dubs, that bass caught me immediately. Also the scene itself, heartical and good vibes always." This is what marks him out so clearly as part of the new generation of reggae producers. Unlike the others we've met he used the UK Dub scene as a kind of starting point. Whilst the pioneers of the scene were attempting to reproduce an authentic Steppers sound with limited resources; the next generation take their inspiration directly from the results of these early experiments. As DC explains. "I guess the people who started to build tunes in the UK back then had the intention to build tunes similar to Jamaican music, but it came out different and UK Dub was born. I guess it went that way because it was just a new approach; Shaka using midi sequencers and a rig of DX7 synths to build tunes instead of live musicians. Also it was that time when midi became a standard and synths and drum computers could communicate with each other through midi."
It will surprise nobody that many of the next generation of UK Dub producers come from outside the UK. However, any new studio needs sound systems to play their music and artists to record with. DC has the advantage that Amsterdam is also the home of King Shiloh Sound System and their charismatic mic chanter Lyrical Benjie. He is quick to pay tribute to both. "King Shiloh plays from the heart. When King Shiloh Sound plays they’re bringing a message. If you listen to a Shiloh session you can feel that there’s a certain vibe they create that makes you feel good; strictly playing tunes with conscious lyrics. They live for the sound and bring ‘the message’ and for them it’s not a competitive thing like who’s got the heaviest bass or the most exclusive tune. Lyrical Benjie's special quality is that he’s a vibes man. As you maybe have seen when he’s got the mic on the sound, he just goes on and on, a lyrical waterfall. That’s the same way he voices tunes. We just get him in the studio, let him listen to some riddims he never heard before, and when he starts to sing we know it’s gonna be a good vocal. With Benjie it’s always on the spot lyrics and voicing. He always needs good vibes around him. Besides that he’s a good friend and a man with great knowledge." King Shiloh have done more than just play the tunes that DC has produced, they have been intimately involved in the direction that his career has taken so far. "Neil from Shiloh phoned me and asked if I had time to do some recording with Idren Natural and Ras Milo. It was the first time that I recorded Roots vocalists and I didn't even have any Roots riddims available at the time. So the day before they came to the studio I started to build two riddims. I felt very insecure about what I'd come up with, but the next day when Neil came along with Idren Natural and Ras Milo they said that the riddims were tuff." Given these circumstances, it's incredible that this session produced the gigantic sound system hit 'Red Lights'. Nobody was more surprised than DC. "Well yes as I said, I felt quite insecure about the riddims and didn't have much experience yet in the sound system scene. At first it was played by King Shiloh and I attended their session when they let the tune loose so I could judge the sound quality on the system. I was thinking to myself that the tune needed more work, but the crowd loved it. When Idren Natural told me that it tore down Brixton when Aba-Shanti played it, I was happy with it."
The tune went on to be played by all the major sound systems, gaining instant respect for Dub Creator productions. Being thrust to the forefront of the scene whilst being relatively new to it, gives DC a different perspective than most of the established producers. In some ways he sounds more in tune with the majority of people in the dances than with the studio men who inspired him. Russ Disciples, Dougie Wardrop and the rest all seem to have their reservations about the UK Dub label that is routinely applied to their music and are all known to feel confined by the expectations that come with it. DC has an entirely different outlook. "I'm OK with 'UK Dub' as it's a sub-genre of Reggae and I started out with the intention of building UK Dub tunes. In my opinion Jamaican music is something completely different; not that I don't like it. Roots Reggae is divided into two camps, Ja and UK. There are absolutely loads of of people outside the UK (and inside as well I guess) who only go for UK Dub. Often it's not even the vocal pieces but just the hard and heavy bass driven Dub Steppers like Mark Iration plays; six or seven minutes of strictly drums and bass with piano or guitar here and there kicking in hard with loads of delay and reverb. You should see people jumping in a dance to that!" Iration Steppers are a sound that seem to divide opinion like no other. They are able to attract converts from beyond the reggae scene more successfully than most, whilst upsetting the 'old guard' in equal measure. DC's description of UK Roots as a digi-Dub sub genre is likely to have the same effect, but we should let his music do the talking. His productions illustrate that the new UK-style Roots studios aren't doomed to constantly reproduce endless, identical Dub Steppers copied from a blueprint that Disciples and Conscious Sounds grew weary of years ago. I asked him what it means to be an up and coming producer on this scene. "Ha ha, well let’s say I hope that I am, I guess that’s up to the people listening to my tunes. I do my best to get to the same level as known and established producers like Russ D, Dougie Wardrop, Gussie P etc. But Standing still is simply not an option for DC. Nobody is moving so quickly and achieving so much in such a short space of time. 'Red Lights' was followed by 'Ten Plagues' recorded with Lyrical Benjie and released on King Shiloh's Majestic Music label. The tune quite simply went ballistic, dwarfing 'Red Lights' with its success and earning an instant classic status that's close to being equaled by the follow up 'Can't Conquer Me', which features the voice of Earl Sixteen. it's the progression in these releases that is even more impressive than the popularity. For example 'Ten Plagues' added live percussion and by 'Can't Conquer Me' he was dealing with a glorious horn section. Rather than divide opinion DC's tunes have been enjoyed by everyone; from the lovers of vocal roots and a more traditional live sound to the people jumping to Iration that he described earlier. I wanted to know what to expect from him next. "The ambition is to continue growing, to release tunes on a regular basis for our own Asaiah records as well as other labels. There’s some releases in the pipeline with Lyrical Benjie. ‘Signs of the Conquering Lion' will be out soon on the French based label Lion Roots Music, alongside Kenny Knots on a 10”. And there will be a 10” with two riddims featuring Benjie (‘Jah Meekness’ / ‘Who’s gonna help?’) on Asaiah. These days I have one criteria in mind...when Jah Shaka plays it - it's a good tune. Still, I try to achieve better quality, I think my tunes can sound much better, but things take time. I have a family to support and work forty hours a week so I have very little time in the evenings to do studio runnings. Fortunately I have a really sweet wife, Sis Nadia, who supports me in all the things I do." So its a massive big up to Nadia because, by his own measure, DC is doing very well. Shaka has absolutely hammered all the previously mentioned releases. His optimism is refreshing and infectious and he displays a generous enthusiasm for the work of other producers. "At the moment Ras Muffet is doing some really great stuff. I had the pleasure to reason with him in my studio a couple of weeks ago when he came to do a show in Amsterdam alongside King Shiloh and Gussie P, who also passed by the studio the day after the session. That was a great honour for me. The work that Ryan 'Twilight’ is doing is tuff and of course Disciples and Conscious Sounds are still going strong. Steve Vibronics delivers hard and tuff tunes every time, Munky Lee from France, Cultural Warriors from Switzerland..." You get the feeling he could go on for a while, but its unlikely that he'll get to Digital B, Xterminator or Don Corleon. So its true...a man can live by UK Dub alone.
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