NEWS
EVENTS
Channel One Soundsystem Interview
Reggae | Thursday 17th November 2011 | Osh
Over 30 years in the game, brothers Mikey Dread and Ras Kayleb present one of the world's greatest and best known dub reggae sound systems.
I grew up listening to Tappa Zukie and Aba Shanti as my dad is big into his reggae music. How do you think the sound has changed since the early days?
Well it has changed since the early days because the music has changed slightly. Reggae music is changing from instruments down to the people on the keyboards.
Is it true that your father was a sound man and he passed his system on to you and your brothers?
Yeah he was a sound system man back in the 60s and we used to watch him play all the time. He inspired us to get into music.
What other stuff are you up to at the moment then?
Well we’re in Switzerland this weekend and Norway the week after then Italy the week after that. So there are loads of things to get through.
You have travelled the world, are there any specific places or countries that stands out for you?
Absolutely, South America and Chile they are good, they really stand out and New Zealand is a nice place to play too.
Weren’t you in South America recently?
Yeah, about three or four weeks ago.
It’s an amazing country isn’t it?
Very much so.
You celebrated your 30th Anniversary at Dingwalls which was obviously a very special night. Did you think when you started out that you would get to 30 years?
Well, no you don’t because you go from year to year, so its something that you are not sure that is going to happen from one year to the next. You might be in it five years, six years or even seven years who knows, a lot of sound systems have come and a lot have gone. Some of the sound systems that was around when I started have packed up, it’s the strength of your character to carry on when things aren’t going so good and adjust when things are going good.
What type of messages do you hope to portray within your music to people?
Our message is word, sound and power through Rastafari and that is our philosophy for our music. That’s our belief in Rastafari and we have that throughout our music.
What is the story with you Ras Kayleb, how did you guys meet?
We used to go to music school back in our day, so that is how we started and we linked up because back then everybody had a sound system throughout the community, there were a lot of them back then and even more than there is now. Everybody just linked up and as time went by sound systems started to fall and stop but we still carried on. We stuck to it and started doing work together.
Do you think there is a lot of competition around today between the different sound systems like with Jah Shaka and Aba Shanti?
We don’t look at it as a competition, we look at it as a survival journey, it’s not a competition we don’t have the time to compete. We used to compete back in the ‘70s and ‘80s, that was when sound systems were sound systems on a competitive level. All we are trying to do is to keep the music alive that is the whole idea, people think that by having a lot of sound systems makes its a competition, we don’t have the time for that. All we want to do is to try and keep the sound system alive.
Yeah it’s about doing the music that you love. How was carnival for you this year because that must be a big date on your calendar right?
Yeah carnival was good and is always special for us, 29 years is a long time. We have gone through a lot changes and the systems come and seen different faces come from 10, 15 years, 20 years ago still coming back every year we have been there for so long.
So basically there are the people that grew up with you?
Oh yeah. There’s a lot of people that have grown up with carnival, people as kids at the time grew up and now their kids are coming down to carnival to hear what their old man or old lady used to listen to.
Yeah its always good vibes. So where can we catch you next?
We will be at The Vibe Bar for our usual Sunday party on Sunday the 30th October in Brick Lane.
That’s always a free thing isn’t it, that you do?
That’s the one! The sessions we do there always have good vibes, you get people that come down once and they are hooked! Reggae music is the most enjoyable music, bringing people together you don’t see no tension or anything. You get new people down there all the time on the Sunday.
Could you give us a Channel One Sound System exclusive?
Well we have to get some stuff from Channel One Sound System production in the next few months but I won’t tell you what it is!
It’s a surprise?!
Yes! God bless and spread the word!
I grew up listening to Tappa Zukie and Aba Shanti as my dad is big into his reggae music. How do you think the sound has changed since the early days?
Well it has changed since the early days because the music has changed slightly. Reggae music is changing from instruments down to the people on the keyboards.
Is it true that your father was a sound man and he passed his system on to you and your brothers?
Yeah he was a sound system man back in the 60s and we used to watch him play all the time. He inspired us to get into music.
What other stuff are you up to at the moment then?
Well we’re in Switzerland this weekend and Norway the week after then Italy the week after that. So there are loads of things to get through.
You have travelled the world, are there any specific places or countries that stands out for you?
Absolutely, South America and Chile they are good, they really stand out and New Zealand is a nice place to play too.
Weren’t you in South America recently?
Yeah, about three or four weeks ago.
It’s an amazing country isn’t it?
Very much so.
You celebrated your 30th Anniversary at Dingwalls which was obviously a very special night. Did you think when you started out that you would get to 30 years?
Well, no you don’t because you go from year to year, so its something that you are not sure that is going to happen from one year to the next. You might be in it five years, six years or even seven years who knows, a lot of sound systems have come and a lot have gone. Some of the sound systems that was around when I started have packed up, it’s the strength of your character to carry on when things aren’t going so good and adjust when things are going good.
What type of messages do you hope to portray within your music to people?
Our message is word, sound and power through Rastafari and that is our philosophy for our music. That’s our belief in Rastafari and we have that throughout our music.
What is the story with you Ras Kayleb, how did you guys meet?
We used to go to music school back in our day, so that is how we started and we linked up because back then everybody had a sound system throughout the community, there were a lot of them back then and even more than there is now. Everybody just linked up and as time went by sound systems started to fall and stop but we still carried on. We stuck to it and started doing work together.
Do you think there is a lot of competition around today between the different sound systems like with Jah Shaka and Aba Shanti?
We don’t look at it as a competition, we look at it as a survival journey, it’s not a competition we don’t have the time to compete. We used to compete back in the ‘70s and ‘80s, that was when sound systems were sound systems on a competitive level. All we are trying to do is to keep the music alive that is the whole idea, people think that by having a lot of sound systems makes its a competition, we don’t have the time for that. All we want to do is to try and keep the sound system alive.
Yeah it’s about doing the music that you love. How was carnival for you this year because that must be a big date on your calendar right?
Yeah carnival was good and is always special for us, 29 years is a long time. We have gone through a lot changes and the systems come and seen different faces come from 10, 15 years, 20 years ago still coming back every year we have been there for so long.
So basically there are the people that grew up with you?
Oh yeah. There’s a lot of people that have grown up with carnival, people as kids at the time grew up and now their kids are coming down to carnival to hear what their old man or old lady used to listen to.
Yeah its always good vibes. So where can we catch you next?
We will be at The Vibe Bar for our usual Sunday party on Sunday the 30th October in Brick Lane.
That’s always a free thing isn’t it, that you do?
That’s the one! The sessions we do there always have good vibes, you get people that come down once and they are hooked! Reggae music is the most enjoyable music, bringing people together you don’t see no tension or anything. You get new people down there all the time on the Sunday.
Could you give us a Channel One Sound System exclusive?
Well we have to get some stuff from Channel One Sound System production in the next few months but I won’t tell you what it is!
It’s a surprise?!
Yes! God bless and spread the word!
