The Disciples

Back in the late 1980s, there wasn't a UK dub scene to speak of as this style of music had yet to gain greater recognition. Apart from stalwarts like Jah Shaka and the Mad Professor who had both continued to release roots reggae and dub, there were lean pickings elsewhere as the mainstream reggae crowd had been seduced by the evolving beats of dancehall and ragga.

The pioneers of UK dub at this time were The Disciples (who had already released two albums on Shaka's imprint before the decade was up) and Manasseh who had put out a superb modern dub set called "Sound Iration In Dub". At the beginning of the 1990s, the scene picked up pace as records by Conscious Sounds, Dread and Fred, Alpha & Omega, Zion Train and Blakamix all helped to mould a discernable scene. These records (and great roots 45s from Jamaica) were documented by the Boomshackalacka fanzine and in the north of England, Bradistan's own The Rootsman ran his revolutionary pirate radio show focussing on this new scene. In Leeds, Mark Iration formed his Iration Steppas sound system that was later to take the music to new heights.

The Disciples in these times consisted of two brothers Russ and Lol Bell-Brown. Both had come from punk beginnings and the crossover between this music and reggae. Both were collecting reggae records and starting to build their own tunes on a little 4-track machine. In 1986 they took these to Jah Shaka who featured them on his sound system to great acclaim. This led the brothers to release a total of four albums on Shaka's label, of which the self-titled "The Disciples" set and "Addis Ababa" particularly stand out.

Soon after they set up their "Boomshackalacka" label and released classic sides like "Prowling Lion", "Downbeat Rock", "Return To Addis Ababa", "Dub Revolution" and "Chant Of Freedom". A real peak was reached with the superb and highly creative album "Resonations" which set new standards for UK electronic reggae. For me, this set and the later "Infinite Density Of Dub" represent the most forward-thinking and revolutionary examples of the whole of the UK dub scene. Lol left soon after the release of "Resonations" and from then on Russ then operated the name by himself.

Other records of note that Russ produced over the years include Empress Rasheda's "Hail Him" anthem, "Jah Love" with Prince Malachi, and songs with Prince Alla, Mykal Rose and Bunny Lie Lie. He even recorded an album in Bradistan with The Rootsman called "Rebirth" which has long been out of print.

Russ spent some years running his own system until it became too cumbersome to continue but he regularly DJs worldwide, spinning his latest creations alongside tunes from the past. He is employed by many labels to produce tunes for them, build rhythms or just apply his skills on the mixing desk. Of all the new generation of the UK dub scene, Russ remains the greatest mixing engineer and possesses real skill when it comes to sonics. His latest project is a series of remixes for the producer Frenchie which will appear in the next weeks.

I have had the pleasure of knowing Russ for over twenty years and it was great to see him again a few days ago when he was appearing at Sub Dub in Leeds. I went to visit him and his long-time sidekick Jonah Dan at their hotel and it was my first time ever where I actually did a little photo session with him. Knowing him so well it was probably the easiest photo-shoot I have ever done and it was great to catch up and exchange our own views and perceptions about the modern reggae era.

Next week I will publish some pictures and a review of that Sub Dub event. In the meantime here are the pictures of Russ and Jonah.