Derbyshire Reggae Scene.

Rudy Mills - John Jones
(from 'Tighten Up Vol 2')

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Trojan records


Not a lot gets written about the Derbyshire reggae scene - at least, not now, not here - and perhaps this is for the better when one ruminates upon the international situation. Such things are in danger of coming across as, at best, untimely and, at worst, a deliberate act of provocation. Nevertheless, 'tis fact that from Long Eaton to Whatstandwell, through the Grey City* itself, people would sometimes listen to reggae, occasionally in groups of up to thirty or forty people. If you go to the right pubs, at the right time of day, you'll hear tell. That's how Kenneth uncovered this subterranean scene. The general consensus is that the bikers brought it with them to Matlock Bath on one of their summer excursions, nineteen-feet of solid reggae, and nobody could be bothered to shift it. Naturally, it snowballed from there - and this in a community most of whom were over sixty, and most of whom thought Jamaica was slang for wallets. Even now, the reggae scene in Derbyshire stands as awe-inspiring testimony to the collective powers of ignorance, resignation and boredom. It was here that Derek Harriot did his first UK show, with Rudy Mills toasting up a storm, at the Duck and Drake in Belper. One guy promised Kenneth some photos, but he never showed. His sister was a local journalist, she had studied in Coventry. The Derbyshire scene was good, she said, but not in the same league as the West Midlands soundsystems she got at Uni.


*it could be brown.