Don’t Change The Channel!

The majestic Channel One Sound System returns to the Jah Spirit stage at this year’s Wilkswood Reggae. Prominent producer and selector Mikey Dread will be performing for an entire day with the indomitable custom-built Channel One rig. It’s rare to see reggae soundsystems perform with their own rigs outside of the summer carnivals and anyone that witnessed Channel One at last year’s Wilkswood Reggae and the previous year’s Carnival in the Barn will attest to the utter awesomeness of their sound.

With over 30 appearances at the Notting Hill Carnival, Channel One are one of the must-see soundsystems at Europe’s biggest street festival. Formed in 1979, when Mikey Dread and his brother Jah T began to play at blues parties and local dances having spent many years under the watchful eye of their father, owner operator of the famous Admiral Bailey Sound. They chose the name Channel One in homage to the legendary Jamaican record label of the same name whose tunes featured heavily in those early selections. Inspired by Bob Marley’s belief in uniting people through reggae music, Mikey was keen to introduce new people to dub reggae music and started touring around universities, where he secured a solid fan base. Their unique, bass-heavy sound was finally saluted when they won the Red Bull Culture Clash in 2010, competing against the likes of Skream, Soul Jazz and Benga.

Channel One use hand-built, custom speaker stacks to provide a rich, heavyweight bass sound to complement their tight selection of old and new dub reggae classics, all played from a single vinyl deck and accented with echos and sirens. This year Mikey will be without longtime cohort Ras Kaleb but will instead have a team of MCs helping with the vocal mood.