I just sent out a short bulletin about the unfortunate passing of Reggae/Dub pioneer Mikey Dread this past weekend. Many of you probably don’t know who he was. As many of you know I am a huge Clash fan. One of my fave songs by them is "Bankrobber" Mikey produced that song convincing Joe to turn it from a rocker to a haunting reggae groover. Mikey also added his voice, some effects and keyboards to the track,. Watch this:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=7t_JLkZ5AVE

When we heard about a Sandintista! (The Sandinista Project) cover compilation was in the works, I was fired up. However we got in late to the game, so no "Police On My Back", "Magnificent 7", "Charlie Don’t Surf", "Washington Bullets" all the big songs were gone. What we got to was cover an instrumental dub style version of "Silicone On Sapphire" and try to make it to stand out on the compilation..it was a daunting task to say the least (though, not as tough as The Hyphens got) So we recorded the tune. Pip actually called in his vocal take via mobile phone! Our manager Larry had a great idea of sending it to Mikey to see what he’d come up with. We did that clueless to what he’d do. In about 2 weeks I received the package. I loaded up the tracks and was floored, I could not get the smile off. His dub plate style lyrics were perfect! Ok they may seem a bit light at times, but that is what is so wonderful, so uplifting. Pip, Nate and I worked up the follow up lyrics "from the Mesclaros to the 101’rs..........") Maybe it’s a song that only it’s fathers could love..but listen again and feel the spirit.

The Christmas after recording the song, Mikey played out on Martha’s Vinyard so I took my wife to see him. It was a wonderful weekend and Mikey’s show was stellar entertainment. Sure, he was more of an MC than pure singer, but that does not take away from the wonderful vibes he gave us that night. We had hoped to tour with Mikey or at least do a few shows together, alas it will never come to be. A few months ago, after hearing he was ill, I tried to call him to see how he was and his phone had been disconnected. I knew this meant things were serious. This morning going through my contacts in my cell phone I stopped on his number, I think I’ll leave it there as sort of a link. It is so strange to think that perhaps his last recorded words were "gotta go!" Please just listen to the end of our song, you’ll know what I mean.


Right now I Pray that Mikey is sharing The Chalice with Joe Strummer and Joseph Hill, creating some great sounds somewhere in the Negril of eternity.