SOUND SYSTEMS IN YOUR AREA.

[ital kemar]

here in ireland the best known of the soundsystems are firehouse skank, rootical, and revelation. firehouse skank from dublin is run by paul and enda with lariman holding the mic in the dances. firehouse play a nice mix of roots right through to modern roots artists with some digi dancehall thrown in. down the years they have hosted some top sessions with names like brigadeer jerry, kenny knots, downbeat the ruler, channel 1 etc all making appearences. rootical, from galway, is run by jason with harry j on mic duties. with a top sound system j pumps out some excellent vibes in much the same stylee as the firehouse, catering for most eras of reggae.regular visitors to jasons sound are jah tubbys and crew from london. revelation from the rebel cork city is run by 2 ital bredrins, benjamin and jeremiah. their sessions are strictly roots, with a lot of shaka type dubs and consciousness spoken over the mic. usually benji chants and jer plays some melodica during the nite, but last time i saw them they had a young dreadlocks on mic and he was very good. there are some other sounds here and there, worries outernational, a fairly new sound from dublin are one of the upcoming champs and also my good friend chris from dublin has started a sound called 'reggae factory' and he's starting to play out also. wots happening in your area??????

ites

ital kemar

[MightyZ]

We have just recently started what is more a Reggae night than a true sound system - mainly because we use House PA and have not built our own system (yet), and are still trying to get the right person along on the mic.
We have two DJ's, that is Leggo rocker and myself, plus live dub band The MightyZ All Stars.
The All Stars recently recruited two new members, Charlie Massiah, vocalist and local reggae hero in and around Portsmouth, plus Christian Cowlin, who toured with The Wailers as a keyboard player for 7 years (unfortunately, he is a sound man by trade and gets called away to do tours - currently doing sound for Boy George on tour - poor thing! Boy George pays more than us though!). So its all pretty exciting as we move the show forward with the addition of vocals and super high quality keyboard playing! I've located an MC, but he is ill at the moment so I haven't had a chance to invite him along.

There is another regular Reggae night - still not really a true Sound System, but a great night with DJ's and live bands. We have been booked to do the next night there - although I will only be playing in the band that night and leggo will do all the DJ slots.

Would love to hook up with these guys in Ireland you talk about, wonder if they would be interested in a live band or guest DJ?

MightyZ

[ital kemar]

will check it out next time i meet up. goin to see firehouse skank on feb 8.

ites

ital kemar

[leggo rocker]

None in Lincoln.

But nearby Nottingham has a big Afro-Caribbean culture and is very big on reggae music.

I've been to see the Highness Sound System a couple of times now. They are a real sound system. They play early 80s mainly. Proper reggae, great to dance to.

They are the authentic thing. With self-built FX unit, Valve amps (Matamp), single turntable and lots of very big speakers. The sound quality is brilliant and the tunes are spot on.

They have the proper sound system crew. There's an engineer who spends all night at the controls. There's a selctor who spends all night shuffling through his box and presenting the next disc. Another selector, or the engineer, help the single deck record swap. This is proper sound system business.

The icing on the cake is the gaggle of DJs chatting over the vinyl.

The thing that totally blows me away when I go there is the audience. The dance is rammed and the average age is probably 26, and that's skewed upwards by the presence of fossils like myself. So really most of the audience are very young. That is very encouraging especially as they all obviously lap up the sounds.

I danced so much at the last one I literally could hardly walk the next day.

Big up all at Highness, you are the real deal!

http://www.myspace.com/highnesssounds

(there's a digital riddim playing on their myspace page. But don't worry, it's strictly original analogue vinyl in the session)

[staas]

that sounds like a great crew to see in a session leggo

[bandit3]

none! we're off the map in san luis obispo! great bbq tho

[leggo rocker]

that sounds like a great crew to see in a session leggo

Like I said Staas, it's the real deal. Reminds me of the Sound Systems I saw in Bristol and Bath back in 1981/82. Totally authentic.

They make me feel like a real amateur. Seeing them in session made me realise how far I have to go before I can approach this level.

It also made me want to build my own Sound System.

Why is it that everything I want to do is so damned expensive?