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Monster Shack We take a trip to Conscious Sounds Studio to check up on the Frankenstein creation that is UK dub |
  
My arrival at the East London studio was meant to coincide with the end of three hours recording time booked by Jah Warrior, however the Black Uhuru front man was not only running woefully late but a series of calls to his mobile had failed to convince him that Brockley wasn't just around the corner from his Dalston destination.
As two of the UK's leading roots producers they've experienced this kind of thing countless times before and the only concern for Dougie was that he got away in time to watch England play Switzerland in Euro 2004. In fact Dougie seems to be in a happy place these days and he exudes a vibrant energy. The popularity his music has earned and freedom from a restrictive contract with the subsidiary of a major label has meant that some of the worst financial struggles are behind him. "This year was going to be my last, but I started putting tunes back out on 10" and it's been picking up. I've started enjoying it again. Now I'm gonna keep on knocking out 10" for as long as it continues." The Conscious Sounds set up is synonymous with 'UK Dub'; the studio is used by Jah Warrior and Reggae On Top amongst others and the record label is recognised as being one of the originators of the sound. Closure would have been a tragic loss to fans. Dougie is right to be proud of the vibe he's managed to give the place. "I had Freddie McGregor here once doing a few specials and he said he couldn't believe how it sounds ... he said it sounds just like Channel One." Steve Mosco joins in the conversation, if only to take his mind off the Michael Rose no show, "Prince Allah came here, he said the vibes reminded him of being at King Tubby's, Peter Broggs came and said it was like being in Channel One. Certainly for the old time Jamaican artists what we're doing here is nothing unusual to them."
This may be so but the UK sound still has its critics in this country and this includes some of the most influential journalists and broadcasters. Dougie sees this as simple prejudice. "Making reggae music in England, everyone's dismissed you already. People are biased, they don't like to see other English people do well out of reggae, not because you're white, even black people like Blakamix, all say the same thing. I don't like 'UK dub' as a name, I'd prefer it to just be called reggae." Jah Warrior agrees, "I don't even know where the name came from really, I suppose a lot of people use it to differentiate between the music made here and the music made in Jamaica. I think the whole UK roots, UK dub really started off as a steppers thing. There wasn't really any roots being made in Jamaica at the time when it started to become big here." Early UK dub productions came about because the roots scene in London centered around Jah Shaka Soundsystem needed new music and Jamaica, which was undergoing a dancehall revolution, wasn't providing any. As Steve explains, "There was an explosion of roots and dub music being made here in the late 1980s and early 1990s and the influence for that stuff comes from Shaka because at the time he was the only roots sound that kept the flag flying, everyone else was doing raggamuffin and sleng teng. So if you wanted to hear roots music in London the only way to do it was Shaka." Both guys were right there at the beginning. Dougie takes over the story, "The tune that influenced me the most was that Dread & Fred tune 'Warrior Stance'. It was influenced by Think Twice or Hard Times, those sort of steppers tunes but it was totally digital. I used to love it when Shaka played it. I wanted to make music like that." When Dougie describes the different elements he puts into his music it's easy to see how the blueprint for the UK sound developed. "My intention was to try to copy the steppers and roots stuff from the seventies like Pablo, Lee Perry and Tubby. I like minor keys that give you that haunting kind of melancholy darkness that makes you think about things. With dub music, when you play the version you're supposed to create something different. If you listen to King Tubby when he starts mixing, the tune just changes from one thing and goes into something different. I like dub music to be exciting, a bit dirty.. noise and racket." Dougie is a live wire cockney who grew up listening to both reggae and punk. "I like anti-establishment music that's saying something, saying fuck off to the government. I don't want no girlie lyrics. Last time Lutan Fyah was here he started singing "oh baby girl .. " I said stop, stop! We want reality lyrics mate. Burn down babylon!"
Steve Mosco appears to approach business with a measured calm and is something of a natural spokesman for the British dub scene. He's also a man running to schedule and once it's been decided to abort the recording session he shoots off to his next appointment. This leaves the far less circumspect Dougie Wardrop to handle the questions. What emerges from the rest of the interview is that, ten or fifteen years down the line, the originators of the UK dub sound face something of a creative dilemma. They've all moved from being Shaka followers to influential producers in their own right. I asked Dougie about his current relationship with the big sound systems. "Sound systems are the best advert you can get. If you get a big enough response on a certain tune then you definitely release it. if you put out a hardcore steppers with minor keys Shanti will play it, Shaka will play it, Iration will play it. With the one-drops they're not so inclined to play it." This enthusiasm for steppers has its downside, "I've been doing steppers for a long long time and I'd rather just do one-drop stuff. France is the place man, it's like my big scene out there, You've never seen so many white rastas in your life! When I play out, if I play a steppers tune they go bananas. I always play a Capleton or a Sizzla from Jamaica but they seem to be picking up that UK dub thing - steppers." Countless successful artists from rock bands, to film makers, to novelists could relate to this story. Fans love what you've done before and won't let you move on. They want you to keep churning out the same product. But the best of the UK producers are capable of so much more. Dougie points out how successful some of his more experimental productions have been. For example 'If I Know Jah' by Singer Blue was the only British track on the big selling Soul Jazz compilation 'Nice Up The Dance'. Yet every experiment risks alienating his bread and butter, the UK dub fans. He's been a long time admirer of Disciples productions, "Russ doesn't want to make no more steppers tunes, he got bored. He does stuff that's still heavy where you get a nice vocal on it and a one drop, but you find that his best selling tunes are still the steppers ones." With his own studio and label, Dougie has ensured that he is totally independent and able to answer the creative questions that arise in his own way. Re-discovering the value of the 10" market and the success he's had this year has cemented his position and brought stability. He's brimming over with ideas that could help him to break out of the UK dub straight-jacket. From recording hip hop and bashment influenced tunes under different pseudonyms, having tunes pressed in Jamaica to mislead those people with an anti UK prejudice, to using b-sides or back catalogue to meet the demand for steppers. " It's not that I don't like the music, but it would be good if it had a bit more variety. We've created a Frankenstein's monster for ourselves."
July 2004
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