Words by LargeUp Crew—
In what is sure to be the highlight of next week’s Dub Champions festival in NYC, Scientist and the Roots Radics Band are set to meet on stage Friday, Sept. 21, for what we think may just be the first-ever live performance of their crucial 1981 dub album, Scientist Rids the World of the Evil Curse of the Vampires, at BB King’s. In any case, it’ll certainly be the first time they’ve taken the stage with Johnny Osbourne, whose “He Can Surely Turn The Tide” was dubbed into Evil Curse‘s “Plague of Zombies.”
If you’re a fan of dub music, this reformation is about as major as it can get short of the simultaneous resurrection of both Augustus Pablo and King Tubby. Seriously, we already know of people flying in to NYC all the way from California just for the night. Support also comes from our own DJ Gravy, ‘longside Deadly Dragon and Subatomic Sound System.
For those of you in the dark as to why this news has us howling at the moon, here’s a little primer breaking down why this collaboration between the ’80’s most innovative dub producer and one of Jamaica’s greatest session bands is one of the heaviest, and most entertaining dub albums ever. Or just stream the YouTube link below to hear the whole thing, in all of it’s B-movie-inspired glory.
Tickets are available here (sign up for the mailing list here to get a discount code) but Subatomic Sound and the Dub Champions fest, which also brings Lee “Scratch” Perry, Kode 9, Francois K, Clive Chin and more to NYC venues next week, have given us a pair of tickets to give away to one lucky winner. To be eligible to win, entrants must follow LargeUp on Twitter and tweet the following: Do you have what it takes to rid the world of the evil curse of the #vampires? http://bit.ly/RRTKH4. Make sure to use the exact bit.ly link. One entrant will be chosen at random and contacted by DM on Wednesday, the 19th. Good luck with those vampires, they’re a toothy bunch!