Every first Thursday of the month Muck & Dunder owner Shelly Field plans to get behind the wheels of steel and bring us some funky, laid-back, groovy, toe-tapping, head-bopping vibes, starting with this Thursday, 7th March!
From 7 until 9pm, The Muck & Dunder rum bar in Devizes invites you to join them for rum and records, and even bring some vinyl records for Shelly to spin, but you need to sign up on the night with a max of 3 tracks per person. “Think all genres,” they’ll say they’ll consider, “but we don’t want any face-melters or offensive stuff…you get the gist!”
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What an electric and energetic night of dub-fuelled goodness at the Muck & Dundar in Devizes, with Omega Nebula; I need a historical rewind to express how much, and why, I loved it!
The Omega Nebula is between five to six thousand lightyears away, so I’m glad they came to us, as I was on foot, but it surely was an unmissable night in town. Now, I know you know I know you know I Googled that for the sake of the joke, I’m not professor Brian Cox. But what I can adlib is this: in 1989 Osbourne Ruddock was shot outside his home in Kingston, Jamaica. The gunman made off with his gold chain and gun, but the world lost a music pioneer, known as King Tubby.
King Tubby
What has any of this got to do with the tropical holiday-at-home Devizes rum bar The Muck & Dunder you may well ask to bid I quit waffling! I’m getting to it! For in an interim period between ska and reggae known as rock steady, where brass sections waned in favour of more economical vocal harmonies, Tubby noted people danced to the instrumental breaks. With this simple notion, his sound system and experimental sound engineering techniques created dub.
Tubby’s echo delays, erratic pitch changes, and techniques like “rolling the stone,” which predates drum n bass by twenty years, became the blueprints of modern pop. His influence on Kool Herc alone is definitive; a Jamaican immigrant to New York, who, fusing it with funk and disco, would create hip hop, the rest cascades from this point. Hence why the dub style of Omega Nebula was so thoroughly accepted and enjoyed by, mostly, conventional millennials last night, rather than the niche subgenre which has, for the past few decades, been recognised as a steady plod and penchant for the crusty hippy types. But, there’s more to it than this.
Bristol husband and wife duo, Omega Nebula, play to steppers riddims, with all the offbeats, one drops and Tubby’s dub effects, pre-dubstep, yet cherry pick dubstep elements to retain a certain freshness. They turn dubstep on its head with these nostalgic dub traditions; it’s a win-win formula.
See, dancehall may chant “rewind” but reggae rarely looks back, it faces progression head on, often fiercely competitive to create the next sound. I love reggae for this neverending development, but for me, personally, of a certain age I find it difficult to take dubstep underwing. I’m stuck, groundhog day, in a bygone era whereby the trance-techno fusion of Zion Train and Dreadzone was my final frontier, at least I thought so until last night.
Talking final frontiers, I could suitably review last night at the Muck & Dunder as Mr Spock from Star Trek! “There’s a sonic pulse coming from the nebula, Captain, transmogrificating into kinetic energy upon interaction with organic life!” That kinetic energy was felt by all in attendance, it didn’t matter if you were the ageing hippy like me, or youthful enough to acknowledge Little Mix as influential! What Omega Nebula has crafted is simple yet incredibly beguiling, as is reggae in general.
Steppers remains the most upbeat of reggae drum patterns, ergo the Muck jumped, the vocals chanted encouragement, like an MC, yet were as beautifully delivered as dancehall greats Sister Nancy or Lady Saw. The result was the whole vibe was energetically stimulating, contemporary throughout with this nod to the traditions of dub; a truly lovely recipe, which made for a truly wonderful occasion.
But the bottom line is the most important, and that being, perhaps Omega Nebula is groundbreaking, or perhaps they’re simply part of a bigger and blossoming scene in cities like Bristol, neither way matters when you’re an old nutter living in the sticks. I’m not so far gone that I’m unaware of Glasgow’s Mungos HiFi or the Gentleman’s Dub Club from Leeds, but fear I’d do myself injury clubbing as I once did! Here in Devizes it’s something altogether different, and it was immensely well received. For which, again, we find ourselves saluting the Muck & Dunder, and to James Threlfall for suggesting them, who, incidentally DJ’d through to the end, for bringing us such diverse acts in such a hospitable and attractive setting, with piña coladas and rum cocktails to die for; I don’t care if it’s November in Blighty, when in Rome…..!!
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Received a substantial golden handshake when Anchor Foods closed the Swindon site in 2000, by the following week I was maxing-relaxing on Long Bay near Sam Lord’s castle in Barbados, sipping the local beer, Banks. Upon my second influx at the beach bar, a conversant gent questioned why I drank beer, “mek ya belly get big,” he advised.
“What do you recommend?” I inquired. He suggested I gave this local lad a dollar, I did, and before I knew what was what, he had ascended a palm tree with a machete and used it to knock off a coconut. With a thud it hit the sand, the top was severed, the remaining part handed to the barman who filled it with a generous dosage of Mount Gay white. I’ve been a rum drinker since.
You can’t get white Mount Gay for love nor money in the UK, so I made a beeline for the Muck & Dunder’s mobile rum bar at the Devizes Scooter Rally to ask them. I’d been chatting online with Stu and Shelly, listing their Born 2 Rum event at the Wyvern Club in Devizes. Sad to have missed it, what with the now defunct SN Dubstation playing. I don’t intend to make the same mistake this year, as the Muck & Dunder plan to do it again, with bells on, same place, on 23rd May.
What these kids don’t know about rum you could write on the back of a matchbox, with space for diagrams. It’s a borderline obsession which sees them travel the Caribbean searching to increase their collection, and they call that work! Since 2018 they’ve been a welcomed sight at our food festival, fetes and events, providing fabulous insight on their passion, often bringing an exotic musical accompaniment, and generally providing the joyous ambience you’d expect from drinking rum, as well as the rum itself of course!
You can guarantee they’re sorting through their collection right now in anticipation, claiming to bring us over forty varieties of rum, some locally brewed rum-ale, with all the added cocktail ingredients they so expertly concoct. Tickets are a tenner and on sale now. It includes a Rum Punch on arrival, and a Rum Map (with tasting notes.) Doors open at 7pm, last entry at 9pm, event closes at 11pm. Strictly over 18’s. There promises to be beer, soft drinks and food available from the club.
As of last year, WierdyShit spins some tunes. Not come across this DJ before, so I’m intrigued. One thing is for certain though, the most innovative and exciting band to come out of Swindon for a decade or so, The Tribe, will be playing a live set. This year sees a new release from the Tribe with Shakka and Chunkz, yet their debut album Tribal Wave is three years old. If hip hop is usually tricky to reproduce live, The Tribe are a firm favourite on the contemporary festival scene, with a plethora of bookings, and I’d speculate their live performances are the greater priority for them; and take it from me, they rock.
First time I came across The Tribe was Calnefest some years ago, where I’d returned to my car, taking a break from overheating in the Wilber the Wiltshire Air Ambulance Bear suit! Some fine bands played, but I chose my timing badly to leave the site. This funky, hip hop sound I was appreciating from afar, contemplating heading back it was so good. But when it unexpectedly split to an offbeat ska, the crowds exploded and I hotfooted it back to see what the deal was. Here’s where The Tribe excel, embracing the original hip hop ethos of a fusion of styles, they encompass localised preferred genres, of rock, gypsy-folk-ska, then blend it with funk, rap and dancehall reggae. It’s frenzied, stylised, unique and invigorating, and has to be seen and heard to be believed. So, grab a ticket to Born 2 Rum!
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