I first started recording at Conscious Sounds around 1994 and at that time the studio was a quite basic set up in a very small space in Dougie’s house at the bottom of his stairs. In those days I went purely to make tunes for dubplates to play on the sound system and there was never any intention to release them as I hadn’t even thought about starting a label yet.
As time went by, things progressed with both the studio and myself. For a very short period the studio moved to Camden Town where it was located in one of the members of Centry’s flat. It then moved back to Dougie’s house but a larger space in the attic and that was where The Bush Chemists first developed. The equipment was better with an improved desk. It was 1995 and more people were starting their own labels as the emergence of what became known as UK dub was on the rise with people like Alpha & Omega, The Disciples, Zion Train, Blakamix, Jonah Dan and other pioneers.
I began to get more involved in the music and decided to start a label, mainly due to encouragement from Dougie. I was recording every week and building up more and more tunes. There’s a large catalogue of music from that era that’s never been released so it’s time to open the vaults and let the people hear it.
I’ve called this album Dub Showcase The Early Years 1995-1997, though now I come to think about it, some of the tunes may actually date from 1994! Coming in a showcase style there are 7 riddims with 2 cuts of each. Get Up Stand Up And Rock Dubplate Style are unreleased dubs of Hughie Izachaar’s track from the Can’t Take The Pressure album. That album was some of the first work I ever did when the studio moved to a larger space in Dalston. Shortly after recording and mixing the album, Dougie got a better desk and so we decided to remix the whole album on the new desk to get a better sound. The mixes here are from the first mixing sessions with the old desk.
Kicking Dub has never been released before and is a dubplate I used to play on the sound, raw steppers style. Progress is also unreleased and comes in more of a one drop style. A different cut of Guidance was released as a CD bonus track called Tutsi on the African Tribes Dub album and I remember a session at Queens Hall in Bradford with Rootsman and myself playing on Iration Steppas sound when this one mashed up the place big time. Steppers Movement is another one where a different mix titled Ibo Dub was released as a CD only bonus cut on African Tribes Dub, but these are different mixes and also tore up the place at that session in Bradford.
A different mix of Full Control came on the Dub From The Heart Part 2 album called Marching To Zion but that track was mixed several times and the cuts here are from a different mixing session. Finally, a different mix of Gold From Africa was released called African Gold on the Dub Storm album for Lush Records.
All the tracks on this album date from the early years of Conscious Sounds as well as the early years of Jah Warrior. As many people will know, the studio has now moved on to a different location and I think I’m the only other person apart from Dougie who’s worked at every single location of Conscious Sounds since day one. Respect goes out to Dougie for the mixing.