YOU probably thought reggae was supposed to be mellow you know, kick back, let the heavy bass thud slowly and steadily in your head, and chill out to the Rastaman vibrations. Now welcome to the Dreadzone, where reggae is accelerated to the speed of life, dub beats are pumped up to hyperactive proportions, and hard techno is injected into the herbal mix. It's sheer pleasure with a wicked edge to it.
The UK's premier dub crusties played Dublin's Olympia theatre last Sunday night as part of the Heineken Weekender, and the place was packed with clued up clubbers who were well tuned in to Dreadzone's underground appeal. The band were spawned in the UK festival circuit, becoming regular attractions on techno tours like Megadog, and the core duo of Greg and Leo used to be in Big Audio Dynamite before they were turned on to the dub beat manifesto.
The heavily dreadlocked Leo is the focal point, shambling up and down the stage with his stiletto bass, while the two keyboardists keep the sounds at the very brink of paranoia. Everything is nailed down by some quickfire drumming, and guest vocalist Earl Sixteen conies onstage every now and again to add some words to Dreadzone's beat.
But it's the sheer instrumental mania of Dreadzone which keeps people on their feet and gets their heads swimming in the clouds. Tunes like 360 Degrees and Little Britain are mad swirls of sound which blend taut techno, loose dub and random sampling to produce a sweet sensory overload; a large screen enhances the effect with fast cuts and hallucinatory visuals. Captain Dread is about as commercial as it gets, the cheesy pirate calls mixing with Irish folk samples topped off by the vision of a black Rastafarian bass player doing an Irish jig.
It's not all blissed out escapism, however, and Fight The Power uses footage of the anti Criminal Justice Bill demonstration to illustrate that, in its dealings with its own party people. Little Britain is still flirting with old fashioned fascism. Sometimes we need a bit of new age hippie rebellion, and who better to lead us than Captain Dreadzone?
