We met through his brother Harry in 2004. Harry had already been making music with the Hempolics and had told me that his brother sung reggae for roots soundsystems up in Norwich. So one day he brought him down to the studio where I was working, behind the Rocket on Holloway Road.
Instantly we got on just like I did with his brother. I gave him some Hempolic rhythms that he took back with him to write on. He came back down to my yard a few weeks later when we voiced ‘Outta London’. This one was ok but we were just getting started. We kept going. I had loads of raw reggae rhythms I’d been making over the years that Dandelion could get into, and I rated his diverse reggae styles. His voice had different singing tones, and he was totally up for experimenting in the studio.
The first killa one was ‘Love to Sing’. After that came, ‘Serious’, ‘High & Gritty’, ‘Wonder Ride’, and ‘Vaporise My Dream’.
Serious. Studio 1, conscious summertime vibe. I wrote the baking track he wrote the lyrics. We spent a long time getting the right vocal sound on this one. It got picked up by Reggae Roast and put out as their first vinyl release. Played by Rodigan on Kiss fm and Don Letts on BBC Radio 6. Love playing this live with the Hemps. Big tune.
High & Gritty. Dandelion helped me write the lyrics to tell the true story of how I met my girlfriend. I love how I produced the sound on this one.
Wonder Ride. We took some mushrooms and stayed up all night writing lyrics capturing how I was feeling at that time about my life. This one feels more commercial than most of the other ones, but we love the trippy lyrics and the pace.
Vaporise My Dream. This is our song about weed. We’re still writing together developing the new Hempolics sound.