Interview with Reggae Roast as they prepare to host room 2 at our Carnival warm up!

Since their conception the same year Nerds kicked off back in 2007, the Reggae Roast crew have become a force to be reckoned with, spearheading the sound in the UK across some of the most respected venues and festivals around.

Through playing host to global stars like Rodigan, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry and Mad Professor and launching their own label, they’ve earned massive respect in the scene for supporting the true reggae sound to the max! Ahead of their Urban Nerds debut hosting room 2 at our massive Notting Hill Carnival Warm Up party next Saturday, we got some words from one of the Roast team…

Tell us about yourselves, where you’re from and how long you’ve been about?

I’m Greg, I was born and raised in Hackney and started Reggae Roast in December 2007.

Sum up Reggae Roast in one sentence…

Essentially we’re a bi-monthly night that plays strictly roots, steppers, a little bit of dancehall and a little bit of dubstep; we’re a record label putting out new roots music with dubstep & D&B remixes and now we’ve got some t shirts.

That was a long sentence! Tell us about the UK Reggae scene at the moment.

Currently I feel like it’s a really strong scene, there are a lot of new producers from London and across the UK working with quite a lot of the foundation singers from Jamaica or first generation reggae singers from the UK and there is also some brilliant stuff coming out of Europe now, Germany has a wicked scene, so yeah, it’s very strong.

There are also a lot of new digital roots and steppers with dubstep remixes. Mungo’s Hi Fi from Glasgow have been smashing it for about 7 years now, they are well worth checking out. Another one is Dougie from Conscious Sounds, based down in Clapton, he’s been here since day one producing digital dancehall, roots and steppers, he has worked with all the best artists.

What MCs should we be checking out?

Wow, there’s a lot, the people we work with are Ramon Judah our host and MC Ishu. Clapper Priest is a great artist, he’s from Hackney. Other people that are big, especially in the European scene are Puppa Jim who’s from France, he’s making some great tracks.

Best DJ gig?

That is a tricky one, actually Bestival last year was a brilliant set, we played two hours in the Bollywood tent and it was just wicked man, we warmed up for Ramadanman, so it was a nice busy tent.

What are your influences, musically speaking?

The people we used to follow when we were younger were Solution Sounds, they were the first sound system that we were into, they used to do parties all round Clapton, Dalston, Stoke Newington – they influenced us into the culture. Then there’s, Sizzla, Luciano, Richie Spice and all the big Jamaican artists putting out music at the end of the 90’s.

What’s your tune for Carnival?

Another tough one, I just got a new Alborosie tune that samples an old Wu Tang track “Tears” – that’s a big track.

What is an Urban Nerd to you?

To me it’s someone who is fanatical about urban music, which is brilliant, I mean I’m an Urban Nerd, do you know what I mean? I love urban music, so that’s what it means to me.

If you could have any MC on your label, past or present, who would it be?

I’d love to work with Richie Spice, it will happen one day, he’s on of our favorite artists, and I play at least 3 or 4 of his tunes in every set.

Anything special in store for August 27th?

Yeah, we’re just going to bring the Reggae Roast vibe to the Urban Nerds party, we’re going to keep it consistent with conscious roots, keep it nice and bubbling and uplifting and let our MCs do what they always do which is vibes up the place and make it nice and positive.

So what’s in store for Reggae Roast in the future?

We’re really just grafting on the label and getting a load of releases ready to press, plus a load of remixes, we’re working with people like RSD, RackNRuin, Mungo’s Hi-Fi and BunZero.

Favorite word at the moment?

Brusse’r – that’s my favorite joke French word of the moment

Message for the youths?

Basically, get into reggae music, start listening to it, you don’t have to take it and live like you’re from Jamaica but just try and take a bit of what it’s about, which is loving each other and looking after each other and enjoying life.

Last one; do you have any shouts?

Just biggup everyone who is working with us on the label front like Mannaseh, Earl 16, Kenny Knots, Rob Rowland, Tarl Jamieson, oh and biggup Yuri.

Safe!

Catch the Reggae Roast crew bringing the true Carnival vibes to room 2 at XOYO this Saturday 27th August with residents Exel & Moodie alongside special guests The Heatwave (Rinse FM), plus Ramon Judah, San Francisco’s Lud Dub, Dub Hunter and Nerds’ very own Daddy Nature! £10 advance tickets on sale here