Youthman Veteran by Dillinger

In the summer of 2000 I was contacted by Dom of Blood & Fire Records to see if I was interested in working with Dillinger who was in London for some shows with Blood & Fire sound system. The legendary Jamaican DJ who’d voiced in the 1970’s for producers including Coxsone Dodd, Yabby You, Augustus Pablo, Joseph Hookim, Joe Gibbs, Bunny Lee, Niney The Observer & Lee Perry to name but a few was too good an opportunity to pass up.
After some reasoning over business we arranged some studio dates and I picked him up & took him to Conscious Sounds. The Youthman Veteran album was voiced over two full days. It was an experience to have Dillinger in the studio and he told us a lot of stories about events in 1970’s Jamaica during the heyday of the emerging roots scene, which he later expanded on when I interviewed him for the CD booklet.
So much work went into my productions at that time. We used to spend a fair amount of time laying the riddims down, usually no more than 2 a day. After the voicing was done, I’d then call different people in on different days to lay down particular instruments. So on one day Jonah Dan would come and lay down percussion, another day Hughie Izachaar would play guitar, then on a different day Crispy Horns would come and we’d spend a full day on the horns, much of which I arranged myself.
In the early days of the label many of the mixes were done quickly but as time passed on I became more picky about what I wanted and I’d spend an entire day with Dougie tweaking every little element of the mix until I was happy enough with the sound to let him mix it. A little more depth in the bass here, a little extra treble on the hi hat, bring down the level of the piano – that kind of thing, all very painstaking and time consuming. But music has to stand the test of time afterwards so it’s better to do it properly than rush it quickly.
Maybe Dillinger didn’t adapt to the UK roots style as well as some other veteran DJ’s like Ranking Joe and U Brown did. Vocally it wasn’t the greatest album I’ve ever produced but I still like some of the tracks and the dubs are thick, beefy and creative thanks to the time put into balancing everything and Dougie’s mixing. Youthman Veteran is finished on vinyl but it’s still available on CD – 8 vocals and 8 dubs, as well as Bandcamp where it can be downloaded in its entirety or by individual tracks.

8 vocals and 8 dubs from 1970's Jamaican DJ legend Dillinger. Recorded at Conscious Sounds studio in London. Produced by Jah Warrior.

Jah Warrior Records was founded in 1995 by producer and musician Steve Mosco. From day one the style was always roots reggae and dub. Influenced by Jamaican greats like King Tubby, Lee Perry & Augustus Pablo plus sound systems like Jah Shaka, Jah Warrior fuses vintage Jamaican Roots with today's UK Roots style which has influenced and attracted a massive audience worldwide. Tune in and enjoy!

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