Social Sound System
http://www.socialsoundsystem.com/
http://www.myspace.com/socialsoundsystem
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***Update 3/15/08: Rest in Peace Mikey
01-23-07
So I give my boys in Iration a call to see what they're up to for the night.
"Oh, nothing much... Just going to the studio to record w Mikey Dread. Wanna cruise?"
I stop to get a 22 of Stone Arrogant Bastard and a 12 pack of Sierra Nevada and then meet up with them. I cruise down in one car and Mikey is supposed to be picked up by the other car in Santa Barbara. We get there and the other car is nowhere to be found. They can't find Mikey.
They wait at the hotel and call his cell phone and this and that until finally, they get a call from Mikey. He's at some party in SB and he just hands the phone off to some girl to give directions. With that, they meet up with him and Mikey follows them down to the studio.
News of their arrival reaches the studio and a sense of anxiety and nervousness sets in as the other band members begin walking in the studio with this hushed excitement on their faces.
In walks Mikey and he struts around the console room and then takes a seat next to the couch I'm posted on. We don't know what to think... Here is a man who changed Jamaican radio on the JBC with "Dread at the Controls;" who produced the Clash's "Bankrobber" as well as many songs on "Sandinista." Shit, he's a legend...
Not knowing what else to do, we run a track over the monitors that they've already cut. Cayson had begun a j by now and he tries to pass it to Mikey. Mikey's face simply returns a blank and bewildered face that said, "You fuckin' kidding me?" He proceeds to tell us no disrespect, but a Jamaican who can't roll his own spliff ain't shit for a Jamaican. At this we took the hint and handed him a fat nug and some papers.
The track is playing as Mikey tediously breaks apart the sweet ganja and methodically fills the paper and rolls it to satisfaction, at which point he lights it up. Mikey is talking to us about random banter and we get on the topic of the world today. He begins to remorse over the troubles and problems our generation will have to deal with tomorrow. As the track ends he puts out his spliff momentarily (That spliff never leaves his right hand the whole night). Up jumps Mikey from his seat and marches into the recording room where Adam and Joe and I follow.
"You a bass man... Well play this... A bom-bom-bah-tah-tah..." and begins to mouth out the musical phrases. Adam tries and tries to learn it as Mikey continues to repeat the phrase until he starts nodding his head in agreement to the bass line.
"You drummer man, it's time you start a drummin'" and so the same scene repeats itself as Mikey sounds out various phrases and articulations that equates to hits on the drum kit. Soon Cayson and Catlin have joined in the jam on keys and guitar to round out the session. In short time his feet are shufflin' around the room as his body contorts in agreement.
Quite suddenly you can hear Mikey begin to sing out phrases... He's putting together the whole song in his head as the rhythm continues to pulsate throughout the room. With the bass a thumpin' and the hits and kicks from the drum accentuating and dictating the emotions on his face he begins to cry out...
"In this generation time..."
As I sit above the fray watching from a seat on the ladder, below I see the sound engineer scrambling in with a mic and stand struggling to get them setup in an effort to capture the moment. And there I sat recording the whole scene from my camera.
After that first track they did another take where Mikey went into the sound booth as the boys played the scratch track. Upon completion, Mikey came out and we hung out and talked and smoked. He was perplexed when we tried to pass him a vapor bag-load from our Milwaukee heat gun, saying he "don't mess 'round with none o' dat mumbo jumbo." He talked of his days at the JBC where he played real Jamaican music for real Jamaican people. I mean, seriously, "Dread at the Controls" took Jamaican music out of the "Pay-for-Play" days and into the mainstream to thrill audiences. He briefly discussed his days with the Clash and how they invited him over to the UK to work with them. But in short, the relationship seemed to have benefited them more than him. (King later leans over and tells me that on the car ride over, Mikey he told him that he was being invited to play at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for it though.)
Eventually Mikey had to depart and we took our pictures and shook hands and all that jazz. It was a remarkable experience though... To see him working with such ease and effortless wonder as he created a musical opus to our troubled times.
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how do u pronounce the name? er-ation or eye-ration
KarimisFan 1 year ago
@KarimisFan eye-ration
rasta1982 1 year ago 2
jah bless mickeydread,wicked tune thanx
dubitorleaveit 3 years ago 2
Tight name. Such an experience being there with my good friends and watching him WORK! RIP Mikey.
rasta1982 3 years ago
r.i.p mikey dread...nice video
steelcity142 3 years ago 4
So sad.
rasta1982 3 years ago