After 30 years of pioneering the UK dub scene, with forays into industrial music, and collaborating with artists like the eternally youthful Lee “Scratch” Perry and Skip McDonald, producer and founder of On-U Sound records, Adrian Sherwood, shows no signs of losing his passion. The man is still on a mission to reggaefy the planet.
To mark the label’s 30th anniversary in 2011, we will be reissuing a number of classic On-U Sound albums, a selection of new releases, renewed live activity and the release of an extensive box-set. The year of celebration begins in early March with the release of a new African Head Charge album and 3 classic reissues – New Age Steppers debut, Creation Rebel’s highly influential Starship Africa and African Head Charge’s hard-to-find Off The Beaten Track.
The plan will then be to release further new albums and classic reissues throughout 2011. The new releases planned include a collection of contemporary remixes of Lee Perry’s On-U Sound output, the long-awaited On-U produced Little Axe album and a New Age Steppers long-player – their first since Foundation Steppers in 1983 – featuring vocal contributions from the late Ari Up and Mark Stewart amongst others. Details of further new releases will be announced shortly.
Amongst the classic reissues are albums from some of the label’s most acclaimed artists including Lee Perry, Dub Syndicate, Bim Sherman, Tackhead, Little Annie and Singers & Players. There are also plans for a deluxe box-set which will include extensive sleeve-notes from Adrian Sherwood, rare and un-released tracks from the archive, a collection of classic tracks and a selection of some of Adrian’s finest remixes.
In this interview with Zwarte Jas, Adrian discusses his upcoming projects and the reggae/punk/rap connection and its political relevance in Britain.
The brief clips of Lee Perry performing demand to be seen in full. So far, I’m coming up snake eyes.