Black Roots

Black Roots is a roots reggae band from Bristol, England, formed in 1979 and based in the St Paul’s area of the city. The group starts as a circle of friends who know one another from the 1960s and have been playing in different cover bands before deciding, after a dominoes game conversation, to make original music only. The band’s core identity is built around that decision and around a strong Bristol connection.

Early releases and radio support

The group’s first major release is Bristol Rock, a four-track 12-inch on their own Nubian Records label in 1981. It brings them national radio exposure through BBC Radio 1’s John Peel, and the record also charts in the reggae and independent charts. Black Roots then appears on radio and television, including sessions for John Peel, David ‘Kid’ Jensen and Peter Powell, BBC TV’s Oxford Roadshow and In Concert, as well as regional broadcasts on BBC West and HTV. The band also writes the title song for the BBC sitcom The Frontline.

Albums, collaborations and line-up changes

Black Roots releases its debut album, Black Roots, on Kick Records in 1983. The following year the band records material connected to The Frontline, including a BBC Records and Tapes single and a BBC album of the same name. In 1985 it releases In Session, made from Radio 1 recordings. The group’s first collaboration with Neil Fraser, known as The Mad Professor, comes in 1986 on Allday and Allnight on Nubian Records. That period also includes the live video release Celebration, recorded at The Studio in Bristol and mixed by The Mad Professor.

Black Roots supports UB40 on European tour in 1984, which helps build its following on the continent. The band continues touring in Europe into the early 1990s and also plays venues and festivals across the UK, including colleges, universities, clubs, Glastonbury, WOMAD and the Elephant Fayre. Its line-up changes over time: Charles Bryan, also known as Delroy Ogilvie, Trevor Seivwright and Derrick King leave before the 1989 live album Live Power, after which the band reduces to seven members and adds Senouci Hardy on bass and Anthony ‘Drumton’ Ward on drums. Black Steel contributes bass, drums and additional keyboard parts on the 1990 studio album Natural Reaction, which is the first Black Roots album recorded at Ariwa and the last one The Mad Professor works on with the band.

Later releases and reissues

After Natural Reaction, Black Roots stops touring. Nubian Records later issues dub remixes of the band’s recordings, including Dub Factor – The Mad Professor Mixes in 1991, Dub Factor 2 – The Dub Judah Mixes in 1994 and Dub Factor 3 – ‘Dub Chronicles’ The Mad Professor and Dub Judah Mixes in 1995. In 1993 the label releases Black Roots With Friends, produced by Dub Judah and featuring vocals by BB Seaton, Trevor Dixon, Dub Judah, Mikey Forbes and Delroy Ogilvie.

The band re-emerges when the French label Makasound reissues the first two albums as the compilation On the Frontline in 2004, followed by a reissue of In Session with bonus tracks in 2007. Bristol Archive Records later reissues The Reggae Singles Anthology in 2011 and Allday AllNight in 2012. Black Roots then returns with new studio material on On the Ground in 2012, released by Sugar Shack Records and Nubian Records, followed by On the Ground in Dub in 2013. In 2014 the band releases Ghetto Feel on Soulbeats Records. These later recordings involve Jeff Spencer, Louis Beckett and the return of Delroy Ogilvie, and the band continues to perform selected shows in the UK and Europe.