Dub-heavy duo dream up beats to eat

Sly & Robbie have recorded with everyone from Black Uhuru to Bob Dylan. Photo / Supplied

Sly Dunbar jokes that he is coming to New Zealand for a holiday. The Jamaican drummer and producer never takes holidays and his downtime comes when he's on tour.

"But we are still working," he hoots in his thick, almost indecipherable accent.

You see, along with his production cohort and bass-playing sidekick, Robbie Shakespeare, he never stops working. For starters, ever since the mid-70s they have been in demand as the rhythm section of choice for everyone from Peter Tosh to Bob Dylan. And besides, they love what they do.

"We just keep on working. We're always doing something. It's in the blood to always find something musical to do. Whether it's playing rhythm for your friends, or whatever; the sky is the limit so we're always searching for something to do."

It's no surprise then that when TimeOut talks to Dunbar he's in Kingston's Anchor Studios recording songs for yet another artist's album - today it's rapper and hip-hopper Michael Franti.

But he's looking forward to returning to New Zealand for Rotorua's Raggamuffin Festival next weekend. "We gonna do dub. Strictly hardcore dub. And grooving, and rockin', and the beat will never stop," he chuckles.

The duo's beats and rhythms - most notably the harder reggae beat called "rockers" they came up with in 1976, and the "rub a dub" sound of the 80s - have influenced the evolution of reggae and its many offshoots from dancehall to dub.

Yet ask Dunbar, who has a lethargic yet piercing drumming style, why he stands out and he's baffled.

"I don't think I've been doing too much different. I just play what I feel."

They started working together in the mid-70s, touring with Tosh, doing sessions with reggae backing band the Aggravators, when their big break came after playing on the Mighty Diamonds' 1976 debut album, Right Time.

"For me music has always been in my life, and I always used to sing along with songs on the radio station. But we started thinking about the future, and from then on our life was just about making this music."

Together the pair have released a long list of albums, with Two Rhythms Clash and Silent Assassin, both from 1989, among their best. But they are more renowned for their playing and have provided the beats and rhythms on classic albums by influential reggae bands Black Uhuru (Sinsemilla, 1980) and Culture (Two Sevens Clash, 1977).

They have also had a major influence over music in general and played on Grace Jones' Nightclubbing from 1981, and Dylan's tough and poppy 1983 album Infidels, among many others.

Dunbar believes the pair are in constant demand because the beats and rhythms they create have their own personality. "The beats have feeling, and there are emotions in the rhythms. We're not just making music for ourselves, we make music so everybody else can get involved in it. Music to me is my life. I eat it, I drink it, I create it. It's my comfort. It's everything."

Lowdown

Who: Sly & Robbie, drum and bass duo, producers to the stars, and dub pioneers
Where & when: Raggamuffin, Rotorua International Stadium, January 23, 6pm
Key albums: Sly & Robbie - Two Rhythms Clash (1989), Black Uhuru - Sinsemilla (1980), Culture - Two Sevens Clash (1977), Grace Jones - Nightclubbing (1981).