UK Dub Files: Jah Voice

What was your first soundsystem experience?
Ras Tread: Probably around '72, '73. Me and Wooligan were at the same school and went to school discos together. And before that, our parents had blues parties at home. That's the first time I saw speakers and amplifiers, as a young child that made a big impression on me.The first time I went to a rootsreggae session is slightly later, around '74 in Canterbury's Newtown Community Centre. Hearing reggae on these huge speakers was a very different experience from listening to the small radiogram we had at home. We already thought that was loud.
Wooligan:  We were born into it. In every English Caribbean household they played reggae music and sacred records on sunday: there was always music around. The first time I saw a soundsystem was at a very young age. There was a soundsystem present at most of the wedding receptions from Carribean families. And these days they were using bigger speakers than they're using now. 24 inch speakers with big handmade cabinets, decorated with lights and varnish… Big football speakers you know! At that time here were a lot of places where we could go where soundsystems would play, there was always something going on. Already at the age of thirteen I was playing with a sound called Matador. But even before that, on school discos, we tried to bring our own equipment and build a little soundsystem. It wasn't always easy, because sometimes when I came home my parents would have smashed my turntable to pieces. They wanted me to go to school and learn, they thought soundsystems were rubbish.

You have been in reggae for a while. Do you think it should stay underground, or do you long for bigger venues and bigger crowds?
Wooligan: It should grow, but it should also be done in the right way. In life there's always two ways to reach a goal, and the truth is always in the right way.
Ras Tread: Indeed, and not underground- I understand exactly what you mean. Many people have a negative impression from soundsystems: they're afraid from the noise, they see it as environment pollution… I know they can work this out, because there's also plenty of noise in the football stadiums and I don't hear a lot of complaints about that.
Wooligan: They would allow big dances everywhere if they could collect tax from it. Simple as that.

And what is the right way to play reggae according to Jah Voice?
Ras Tread: Reggae was always about messages. It's not just music, it's a social expression from that time and how the people were living. We listened a lot to old reggae and it's telling us political and social stories, things that were going on in the community at that time. To a certain level we could always relate to the message this music was bringing to us. Whatever we do, we will always try to push forward this message.
Wooligan: It's an expression. You go out there to express yourself and bring vibes to the people. We are die-hard reggae lovers and try to stick to the authenticity of reggae. Some people try to take it to another level, but we're here to play reggae the way we believe is right.

The soundsystem universe is totally different from the dancehall scene. One big difference is the importance of the version that soundmen play after a vocal track. Why is this so important?
Ras Tread: Reggae music started with singers singing over a riddim, expressing themselves about serious things that were going on in society. Before they started with versions, there was just another vocal on the b-side of a record. Dub music happened by accident in a sense: way back in Jamaica, somebody left the machine running.
Wooligan: They were still working with two track mixes - vocal on one track, instrumental on the other one. One of the channels wasn't working, that's how dub music started. And then you move on to people like King Tubby, the dub inventor: he started to use reverbs and echoes to put more expression into the music. Dub is actually a self expression of the engineers and the talent they can bring out in the music.
Ras Tread: And they were doing this with very limited equipment. Some of the big guys went to Europe or the States, bought bits of machinery, brought them back to Jamaica and started playing with them in their own way. That's why all studios had a distinct sound - like Channel One sounded totally different from Jammy's.
Wooligan: Joe Gibbs, Upsetter… they all had a different sound. Each engineer expressed themselves differently in the way they were mixing.
Ras Tread: Some people think the different versions all sound the same. Actually it's about the engineer giving the instrumentalists the opportunity to show off their skills. If you listen very carefully, each track will be different. In one track, the guitar will emphasize. In another track, the horns man or the keyboards player will emphasize. The more versions a track has, the more different aspects are coming out.
Wooligan: While the original drum and bass remains the backbone of every song. Studios went from two tracks to four tracks, eight tracks, sixteen tracks or even twenty-four…The more tracks a studio had, the more they could express.

Is the dub version also a moment to meditate?
Wooligan: You know how Bob Marley says: "When music hits you, you feel no pain?" Sometimes you'll feel ill, and music will make you feel better. Music does that to you; it's a heartbeat, it comes from within. You can go to a dance with worries on your mind, and return home with the weight off your shoulders. It's like a healing drug. And when they play the right way, that's what a soundsystem does: it increases this positive vibration.

In most sessions, the vibes and the music start to change around 3 am. For most soundmen that's the time to start playing dubplates: music that is still unreleased to the public or that will remain exclusive. Are dubplates a medium to bring people in a different vibe?
Father Johno: That's different to every soundsystem.
Wooligan: People will indeed get in some kind of trance at the end of the night. Only the fittest of the fittest stay until the end and they might experience this special vibe. But it's a misunderstanding that this vibe would come from dubplates. Dubplates are exclusive mixes, a sound might use them to get their own followers. To be honest, there's no particular time to play a dubplate. Back in the day, some soundsystems didn't have so much dubplates because they were really hard to get a hold off. So they kept them until the end of the night. Some of these dubs were pre-releases, some dubs remained unreleased because they were different mixes than the more refined radio mixes.
Ras Tread: But when you went to a clash, they would probably play vinyl for the first hour and dubplates for the next five hours. I remember them saying that: "last plastic!" You could hear two different sounds play the same dub- but they were playing different mixes. They would try to feature which mix was the better mix of that particular tune.

In the nineties, you would hear different styles of reggae at one party. Now roots and dancehall seem to have gone their own way. Do you regret this?
Ras Tread: In the UK we called this fusion. Some people will go to dubstep-, hiphop- or bashmentparties, and they might also go to a roots dance once in a while. Sometimes a soundman will try to please the crowd and play some of these different styles in between the roots tunes. So different styles and different crowds fuse in the dance: rasta and dubstep lovers mingle.
Wooligan: But they want to hear different music, and sometimes this creates a chaos in the dance. Some of the elements of contemporary music - like gangster lyrics - might give off a bad element that could start a fight in the dance. While in a roots session, there's no time for that. It's just peace, love and praise the almighty. That's why there's no need for security either, because there's never any problem.
Father Johno: There's no need to please the crowd and play these different styles. Just be yourself, that's what soundsystem is about. It's self-expression, an art form really. Don't be afraid to play the music you want to play.