After moving the studio to the countryside around Oxford I spent much of 1997-2001 writing tunes with the likes of Pablo, Jonas and Spider. We played the tunes out regularly at the Red, Gold and Green night run every Wednesday at the Po Na Na club and at Arawak sound in the East Oxford Community Centre. Some of the best tunes to come out of these sessions were the drum and bass influenced ‘Everyman’ and ‘Smile’, the raw roots dub of the ‘Wadaka’ rhythm and the soulful digital reggae of ‘Waiting’.
Pablo is the master of the one take method. I’d run a backing track, he’d listen to it once and then go in the booth and lay down a vocal in one go. He rarely needed to go back in!
This is the first time any of the music from these sessions has been released. |
| ‘Zion Dub’ is released on the second of the Planet Dub compilations on Planet Dog records. It featured contributions from the Mad Professor, Zion Train, Eat Static and more. |
| John Peel plays ‘Dubkiss’ on his primetime Radio 1 slot. |
| ‘Buckets’ is released on New Smoking Classics Vol.1 from Hypoxia records. |
| Planet Dog records bring together the cream of the uk dub scene into their Planet Dub compilation. Silicon Drum’s track ‘Dubkiss’ stands alongside contributions from Alpha and Omega, The Disciples and Jah Works. |
Having bought a 4-track, bass, guitar and an FX unit the Pure Dub Ep is released under the name Dub Generator on Space Star Records. It goes straight into the dub charts of Boomshakalacka magazine at number 8.
review in Curfew magazine |
| This was the record that first got me hooked on dub music. A classic album that helped kick start the UK digi-dub scene. I soon found myself at a hall in Wood Green for a late night dance from the legendary Jah Shaka. It was here that I had my first taste of BASS! |
