Adrian Sherwood

Adrian Sherwood

Adrian Sherwood is a producer, remixer and label owner from London, United Kingdom, born in 1958. He is closely associated with dub, reggae, electronic music and trip hop, and is known for his long-running On-U Sound label and sound system.

On-U Sound and early work

Sherwood forms On-U Sound in 1979 after first appearing in the late 1970s through a series of short-lived labels. The label begins with a live sound system focus and then moves into record production. Early On-U Sound activity includes work with New Age Steppers, formed with Mark Stewart and members of the Slits, and releases involving acts such as the Pop Group, the Slits, and other artists linked to post-punk and reggae. His production helps connect the post-punk and reggae scenes, and his style becomes associated with a dense, dub-influenced approach that also reaches into rock and dance music.

Production, remixes and collaborations

During the 1980s Sherwood works with a wide range of artists outside the dub scene, including Depeche Mode, Simply Red, Cabaret Voltaire and The Woodentops, as well as reggae and dub figures such as Lee Perry, Prince Far I, Bim Sherman, Gary Clail and Keith Le Blanc. He also produces and remixes material for Mark Stewart and the Maffia and Keith Le Blanc, and his work extends into industrial music as the decade continues. He is associated with acts including African Head Charge, Dub Syndicate and Doctor Pablo & the Dub Syndicate, and he mixes and reshapes line-ups into new studio-based projects.

Groups and projects

Sherwood is connected with a number of group names and projects, including Tackhead, Playgroup, Fats Comet, Barmy Army, London Underground, The Missing Brazilians, Singers & Players, Strange Parcels, African Head Charge, Forehead Bros and The Enemy Within. He also works under the On-U Sound name as a sound system and collective.

Solo releases and later work

His solo recording career begins in 2003 with Never Trust a Hippy, followed by Becoming a Cliché in 2006 and Survival & Resistance in 2012. He later collaborates with Lee "Scratch" Perry on Mighty Upsetter and the remix collection Dub Setter in 2010. He works with dubstep producer Kode9 on Late Night Endless in 2015 and Man vs. Sofa in 2017, and with Panda Bear on Outside the Echo Chamber in 2017. He also works with Horace Andy on Heavy Rain in 2019.

Reissue work and recent productions

In 1994 Sherwood starts a label dedicated to reissues of classic reggae and dub recordings, and a series of On-U Sound Master Recordings follows from 1997. His later production work includes albums by Brian Eno and Horace Andy, along with Midnight Rocker and the dub counterpart Midnight Scorchers. In 2022 he also releases Dub No Frontiers, a collection built around female vocalists from the U.K. reggae scene and beyond.