Scientist mixes Royal Hammer
Oxbow Live: Scientist mixes Royal Hammer
The master of dub, Scientist, takes control by live mixing and dubbing out Royal Hammer all night! This is a one of a kind reggae dub party in Portland, ME!!
DJ sets from Due Season Sounds and Cognizant Sound
Sponsored by IPK, Mega Raw Melts, Hidden Forest, and Best Friend Farms
** 21+ **
| Scientist |
One of the leading dub artists of the ’80s, Scientist was one of the most distinctive figures on the Jamaican music scene, known for his spacious production and mixing techniques as well as his wild album titles and cover artwork. Scientist’s LPs found him using his skills at the mixing board to combat monsters, mythic villains, and video game characters. Scientist was born Overton Brown in Kingston on April 18, 1960. Brown was only 16 years old when producer/performer Errol “Don” Mais discovered and developed the considerable talents of this adolescent dub wiz.
Scientist learned basic electronics from his TV repairman father, skills that made him very popular with the mobile DJs and their not-always-functioning sound systems. A friend suggested he visit the legendary dub producer/mixer , not to remix records, but to get some transformers with which Scientist could build his own amplifiers. Soon Scientist was an employee of ‘s, fixing transformers and televisions. One day, after an animated conversation about mixing records, challenged Scientist to take a shot at remixing a record. Brimming with adolescent bravado, he took up on his challenge, and that led to an extended apprenticeship in dub experimentation under ‘s guidance. It was while at ‘s that the Scientist developed his idiosyncratic dub style, playful and very psychedelic, loaded with echo explosions and blasts of feedback — a sound that caught the attention of Don Mais, who overheard the Scientist at the mixing board during a visit to ‘s studio. With Mais supervising the production, Scientist, now all of 18, cut some wicked dub sides for the label. At the end of the ’70s, Scientist (now also referred to as “The Dub Chemist”) left ‘s to become the main engineer at Studios, and working with Henry “Junjo” Lawes, cut some best-selling dub LPs, only to leave for the greener pastures of in 1982. In 1985, Scientist moved to Silver Springs, Maryland, where he worked as a recording engineer, designed electronics, and continued to record and release new dub material. In the 21st century, he took up a crusade to defend his rights as a recording artist and receive royalty payments for his work. Scientist filed suit against , insisting they had licensed and reissued his music without permission or payment; he also took the creators of the video game Grand Theft Auto to court for using some of his tracks as background music without asking his consent. Scientist’s studio work and efforts to protect his catalog didn’t keep him from creating new music; in 2017, he released two new albums, Untouchable and Allied Dub Selection. ~ John Dougan, Rovi
| Royal Hammer |
Royal Hammer is a seven-piece roots reggae group from Portland, Maine. Heavily influenced by Gregory Isaacs, Dennis Brown, and Roots Radics. Royal Hammer takes pride in the authenticity of their sound. Michael Taylor (The Awesome, Rustic Overtones) is backed-up by a heavy rhythm section including Gary Gemetti (Rustic Overtones) on drums, Tyler Quist (Jaw Gems) on keys, bass player Stu Mahan (Nat Osbourne Band, London Souls), Lucas Desmond (Model Airplane) on sax, and new addition ,Jamie Bifulco, on trombone.
Royal Hammer’s grooves are deep and infectious. They have shared the stage with reggae legends Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry and Barrington Levy and has backed up international reggae artists Marty Dread and Legendary Glen DaCosta of Zap Pow and the Wailers. Check out their newly released, debut album ‘My Bubble’!
[ Doors 6 PM ]
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