ADRIAN SHERWOOD
Adrian Sherwood has shaped the UK dub landscape for well over 25 years, with an assortment of futuristic releases on his On-U Sound label. Having worked with such diverse artists as Mark Stewart, Lee “Scratch” Perry, Skip McDonald, and KLF, his production prowess continues to push genre-defying boundaries. Back from a brief hiatus, Adrian Sherwood has been in the studio touching up numerous new releases that have landed in the UK and Japan, and expects global releases due shortly. I was lucky enough to catch up with this production genius to find out what he had to say about his past and upcoming musical accomplishments.
interview by Lud Dub
…Some of the singles from Lee Perry’s new album are being remixed by Kode9 and Moody Boyz. How did you decide to work with these artists and what drew you towards their production style?
Tony Thorpe, a.k.a. Moody Boyz, is a friend of mine. I love his work and his DJ’ing. He’s been around since KMF times (being half of KMF) and is a big music fan. I love his sonic style and I asked him to remix “God’s Smile,” the first remix from the album. Kode9 did a version of “Yellow Tongue.” I got Horsepower and even Widdler from the States to work on one. I’m also in discussions with Mala from Digital Mystikz on another remix. Honestly, I’m trying to get club-friendly with these remixes, and it probably will evolve into an album with the versions we get.
What do you think of the recent popularity of dubstep? Are you going to venture into the sound?
It’s very important! With reggae you end up getting nostalgic, like everybody is like “it’s supposed to be sounding like Channel One, or this and that.” You end up getting locked into nostalgic mode, where everybody is like “we love this, and it has to be like this.” If you stay like that, your music dies, and it doesn’t become something else. Dubstep, and even jungle, is like a new reggae to me. It sounds great! It’s an evolution, and it gives [people] a chance to make Jamaican stuff sound evolutionary. Unfortunately, there have been unhealthy lyrics from Jamaica recently. Dubstep and jungle have been very healthy and both evolved from England, second- and third-generation Jamaican legacies. We now can play the old stuff and drop in the new stuff back-to-back!…
