As a trustee of a charity that needed to raise funds for rainforest conservation in Ecuador, in ’92 and ’93, I was on the look out for fundraising ideas.
The cocept of doing roots reggae events to raise money came up one evening, in the mid nineties, at my friend Sinclair’s flat in Clapham. We were playing some Jah Shaka sound tapes whilst looking at slides from a recent trip to Ecuador projected on his wall. The images of cloud forests (misty mountain tops, pristine rainforest and orchids) seemed to combine perfectly with the conscious lyrics of roots reggae.
Around this time, I used to go to the weekly Sunday sessions at the Vauxhall arches ‘House of Roots’. Aba Shanti I would play every Sunday until 3am in the morning. Thunderous bass and a great way to start the week (including if you were a reggae loving student, as I was, at least!). I had approached Jah Shaka but his promoter wanted too much money up front. So I decided to post a letter through the post-box at the arches to ask about doing something with Aba. The following week, Styler, suggested that we had a chat when I was next at the House of Roots night. I met him (and Rosie who ran the venue) – he asked me about the charity, the cause, and we decided to do something.
After several months of trying to find a venue in central London (we looked at the Astoria in Charing Cross as well as the Notting Hill Arts Club), one of my friends, John Williams (also doing a PhD at Imperial College), mentioned that the School of African & Oriental Studies had a student union and a big hall. We approached the union and they agreed that we could do a Friday night.
Styler and I discussed the name for the event – we finally came up with Tropical Storm (a hint at the rainforest we were trying to save) and Styler put an extra twist on it ‘Tropical Dub Storm’ was born.
To promote the night we went on Greater London Radio – Dotun Adebayo interviewed us (see the Podcast section of this blog, Episode 2).
These days there is access to desktop publishing software – in those days we had to do it all by ‘cut and paste’ – literally curting our text and images and gluing them on the page.
We got the tickets published professionally. Here is one I recently found for sale on EBay.
Our first night of TDS was hugely successful and we went on to do several more events at SOAS. All great vibes.
Eventually the student union changed management and we had to find a new venue. Over the next 20 years, Styler and I continued to co-promote together and the club-night ended up going around the country – each night had its own story.
Waterman’s Art Centre Brentford – the bass was so powerful that chairs were moving across the stage on their own.
There is a recording of the session in the podcasts section of this blog.
We tried to do a night at the Rocket (Polytechnic of North London) but our headline act, Fred Locks had to cancel at short notice.
Imperial Gardens, Camberwell – this was a residency – it ran for the best part of a year, every Sunday. The doorman, Kaleb was an absolute professional.
The Junction, Cambridge, 2002 – the first time that Aba had played in the town.
University of Luton Students Union – it turned out to be impossible to find and so numbers were way down.
Rhythms of the World festival, Hitchin, 2006 – this was an all-dayer and all night after party. Various local DJs and sound systems played in Penthouse nightclub during the day – including Clive and Tucker from Toy Boy. Aba Shanti I played during the evening. I promoted the event by walking around the event with a large placard.
Leicester University Students Union – Dixie Peach MC’d – as did Earl 16 on another night. Earl agreed to play but we had to pick him from his previous gig with Dreadzone that same night. It turned out to be far away in south west Wales. The gig finished at 11pm and I personally drove Earl back to Leicester through the snow and rain. It was great to talk and music and the rainforest cause. When he jumped on the mic at 230am, with Aba Shanti I on the decks, the crowd loved it.
The Maze, Nottingham – great sessions and Iration Steppas turned up (having stayed awake all night at University of Dub and stopped in Nottingham on the way back to Leeds) – along with Dub Judah who is a local. The Leicester crew showed up which was great. Aba Shanti I’s son Benji did the artwork on the flyers.
Over the 20 years that Tropical Dub Storm has been running, the money was directly channeled back to forest conservation in Ecuador, Costa Rica and Jamaica (Cockpit Country) – dub reggae music having a really positive impact on saving the rainforest.
Save the Rainforest from mining 