I mean in Glasgow now reggae and sound system has grown a lot, but you’re still the only one playing Jamaican music I guess, like soca, like dancehall.

So that’s where we used to play then, and it was a bit of everything: Soca, reggae, dancehall. So I used to play there, along with Caroline from Unity Reggae. You probably never heard, but the Mambo club was a club where if you wanted to hear like African music, reggae music, everybody used to go on a saturday night. Because I first used to play in Edinburgh, in this place called the Mambo Club. But I think they just got old and stop all the late night business. But back in the 2000, 2001 when I used to play out there was loads of people. I think most of the people we used to play for in 2006, and even back in the 90s, they tended to go out late at night. Well, early days it used to be really good. Well about dancehall and soca as well, how did people react to that kind of music here? Were they quite warm towards it? And me coming from the Caribbean, I wanted to hear reggae dancehall style. I knew of Messenger, so that was the only real system I knew about back then. Scotland never really had that, besides Messenger Sound System. So sound system was never really big here for me. I wasn’t familiar with Mungo’s at that time. But they were playing reggae music, which was still good.Īnd I think just before that I’d heard of Mungo’s HiFi as well. But they really weren’t a sound system, they were just playing reggae. So before that we were just DJing, and hire if people wanted reggae music then I just play.īack then we had Unity Reggae. So that’s where it used to sit, for probably a couple of years. So after having a discussion with the people, we decided to build a system and sit it there. So by this time we were playing in the Carnival Arts Centre, in Albion Street. It was good but then once I started knowing more people I wanted to put on my own night, because before then I was just getting paid to play. There was reggae music, I used to DJ from ’96 upwards. When you started, was there already a sound system scene here ? To get a good sound, to get the sound that we really wanted, that’s why we decided to start bass warrior sound system. Except nowadays it’s quite difficult to find a place to play a big sound system.īut we started may 2006, and the reason for that was just to make sure we had our own system, instead of having to hire crappy PA system. So after that, we just been doing gigs, it’s been quite good so far. We started off with 6 bass bins, and some top boxes. So I decided to build some speakers, and set up a system.

But we started because we used to have to hire equipment, and most of the time the equipment was rubbish, but you still had to pay. So, I guess the first question would be when did Bass Warrior start, and why?īass warrior started 8 years ago, so that would be 2006.

Kenny from the mighty Bass Warrior Sound System very kindly sat down for a lengthy chat with us, and shared his thoughts on the early reggae scene in Scotland, the growing dubplate business, and the difficulties in connecting Scotland with sound system culture. “…And as a matter of fact, I played dubplates before and people were like “how did you get your name into that song?”, because they don’t even have a clue what it is. And me, coming from the Caribbean, I wanted to hear reggae dancehall style.” Check out the clash below and share with a friend.“But that was dub music. Let’s hope the floor is open to even more with huge sponsorships, and the rise of more Sound Systems. While many may have varied opinions on last night’s event, it’s always good to look back at some of the classic Sound Clashes. With dubplates and songs from the likes of Monster Shack Crew, Bounty Killa, Sizzla, Beenie Man, and Shabba Ranks with plenty tough talk accompanying them, this clash was a hot one. Held in May Pen, Clarendon, Selectors Ricky Trooper ( Killamanjaro) and Fire Links ( Bodyguard) both went dub for dub, and song for song with their teams in a clash that is still a memorable one for many. While many are still feeling the vibes from last night’s staging of the Redbull Culture Clash, we’ve decided to take you all back a lil on Oldies Sunday! Today we go back to the year 1997 to check out one of Killamanjaro Sound System and Bodyguard Sounds‘ many sound clashes.

Sizzla killamanjaro dubplate mix