Earl Gateshead

[Ridimforce]

Saw him play recently and was pretty underwhelmed to say the least with his poor selections and weird mic chat. Quite possibly the worst revival selector I have seen who gets a lot of gigs. Also he went on some tangent about 'positive music' and 'real reggae', somewhat ironic for a white man who fronts a sound in tribute to a label who ripped off countless Jamaican artists. He seems to me to be the figurehead of a very strange roots scene present in London, I'll add 'reggae roast' to that, just plain bizarre. Anyone else here had the misfortune of witnessing one of his sets?

[LukeB]

Yeah yeah I saw Gateshead once, on the way there we got lost on the A1 and ended up in Corbridge, it rained all f*cking day, complete disaster.

[Ridimforce]

I'm not being shallow either but for an older gentleman DJing Jamaican music he's hardly the most presentable person. It's not all about that, but I find it strange seeing a reggae selector in stained trackies, it's all a bit day release and disrespectful tbh.

[dan i dubdub]

I remember when he had a residency at the Dive Bar in London's China Town, which was basically a mad Friday night drinking den. Selection wasn't that great, but was ok if you were out drinking with mates who weren't especially into reggae. That scene seemed to suit him fine, and I have been surprised to see him adopted as if he was a foundation sound system artist.

[Ridimforce]

I remember when he had a residency at the Dive Bar in London's China Town, which was basically a mad Friday night drinking den. Selection wasn't that great, but was ok if you were out drinking with mates who weren't especially into reggae. That scene seemed to suit him fine, and I have been surprised to see him adopted as if he was a foundation sound system artist.

Not only adopted but he willingly promotes this false status, it's not right really. He comes across as pretty arrogant about it also, truly strange position to take. He also used spirit levels to check the turntables, what is that about?!

[dan i dubdub]

I say adopted because clearly some people seem to believe this. I haven't seen him play in nearly 20 years, so have no idea what he is really up to, but like I said, I am surprised.

[Ringo]

.

[LukeB]

Is this him? Looks as if Bez from Happy Monday's fronted some On-U Sound bollocks..

http://youtu.be/VahiXv49iLo?t=3m25s

[lippe]

Is this him? Looks as if Bez from Happy Monday's fronted some On-U Sound bollocks..

http://youtu.be/VahiXv49iLo?t=3m25s

Yet another Fela's song butchered !!

[LukeB]

There's certainly something very frightening about him....

[DUBAHOLIC]

YEAH YEAH.... Really starts grinding u down by the end of the night. lol


Respex...

[Negrote]

There's certainly something very frightening about him....

lol

[marty]

he came to walk n skank in glasgow twice and smashed it with some very slow reggae in front of a young crowd, I've seen him in Outlook as well, always a good memory, he seemed humble and nice to me, I am a bit surprised to read all those comments...

[djmush1]

He came to NYC and played the dub invasion festival ~2 years ago, and he also appeared as a guest on my radio program....he was super nice and super humble on both occasions and played some seriously heavy music, I have nothing but nice things to say about him, & I think most of the people he met and played for here would say the same. This thread is sad.

[Ridimforce]

He came to NYC and played the dub invasion festival ~2 years ago, and he also appeared as a guest on my radio program....he was super nice and super humble on both occasions and played some seriously heavy music, I have nothing but nice things to say about him, & I think most of the people he met and played for here would say the same. This thread is sad.

He plays bog standard roots tunes with no context or style. I've just seen the line ups for the dub invasion festival and it looks fairly atrocious to be fair mate. A festival in New York, a place with legendary foundation sounds like downbeat the ruler, yet Adrian Sherwood and earl Gateshead are booked from abroad. It sums up my stance on this strange scene; 'foundation reggae' with no respect, regard or interest in the actual foundation artists/sounds and complete disregard of Jamaica. A scene by white people for white people. It's a farce that this is seen as common practice and you are supporting the complete shunning of artists/sounds who were out on the street 24/7 promoting the music we love to the massive.