The Rootsman

Biography

The Rootsman is a musician and DJ based in Bradford, England. His musical career began when he was living in Edinburgh, Scotland and taught himself to play guitar in 1978 at the age of 13 and formed his first punk band. With his group "State Oppression" he made his debut gig in 1981, supporting the Angelic Upstarts. After 3 concerts, he decided that being a guitarist in a band was not for him and he retired from that aspect of the music business. He moved to Bradford in 1983 and quickly immersed...

The Rootsman is a musician and DJ based in Bradford, England. His musical career began when he was living in Edinburgh, Scotland and taught himself to play guitar in 1978 at the age of 13 and formed his first punk band. With his group "State Oppression" he made his debut gig in 1981, supporting the Angelic Upstarts. After 3 concerts, he decided that being a guitarist in a band was not for him and he retired from that aspect of the music business. He moved to Bradford in 1983 and quickly immersed himself into the local reggae scene. He worked for over two years in the local Roots Record Shop, where he began to be known as "Rootsman". In 1985 he started selecting on local sound systems and the following year began to play on university radio and local pirate radio stations. This continued for a number of years until he founded his own club night "Dub Me Crazy" at the end of 1991.

"Dub Me Crazy" was extremely successful in promoting roots and dub music in the north of England and also giving a platform for up and coming artists to play their own material. A residency with the innovative Soundclash club in Leeds followed a couple of years later, and Rootsman began playing alongside leading DJs like Dr Alex Patterson from The Orb, Andrew Weatherall, Justin Robertson (Lionrock) and others. In this period, Rootsman also founded the Third Eye Music label and released the debut album from Dayjah and The Disciples, entitled "Storm Clouds" which was very popular on the roots scene.

The success of the Soundclash club (although short-lived - it was to collapse a year after its' inception) led The Rootsman to think about releasing his own dub plates. This was because there was heavy demand from local club-goers who wanted to buy the music they were hearing at Soundclash and Dub Me Crazy. Subsequently, The Rootsman's debut EP "Koyaanisqatsi" (a cult favourite of his DJ set) was released in May 1994. This track, although released on a 10" white label, was an underground crossover hit and received critical acclaim from the music press. Now completely unavailable, this EP now changes hands for over £20 in the U.K.

The Rootsman's second release was the "Soundclash City Rockers EP" which hit the streets in October 1994. This again was a cult club hit and was one of the first releases to match classic 70s dub samples to a new school dub style. After this release, Rootsman left the Soundclash label to continue his career on his own Third Eye Music label.

After producing a well-received 5 track session for Andy Kershaw's programme on BBC Radio One in February 1995, Rootsman released his first release on Third Eye Music. This was the classic "Natural Born Thrillers EP", which was the first UK roots release to successfully marry the steppers and jungle styles. The follow-up "Authorised Versions EP" carried on this innovative tradition and served to consolidate and increase his grass-roots following. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.