Creation Rebel

Born in London in the late 1970s around Jamaican musicians settled in the UK, Creation Rebel initially took shape as a studio project associated with producer Adrian Sherwood before becoming Prince Far I’s backing band. The first album, Dub From Creation, was released in 1978, produced by Sherwood with recording by Dennis Bovell. In the wake of that release, Creation Rebel developed a dub sound firmly rooted in roots reggae but open to a more abrasive and experimental approach, marked by deep bass lines, stripped-down rhythms, toasted vocals and a spatial use of sound that at times brought it close to the British post-punk scene. This evolution can be heard on Starship Africa (1980), Psychotic Jonkanoo (1981) and Lows & Highs (1982), recorded during the years when Creation Rebel orbited the nascent On-U Sound ecosystem. Creation Rebel’s activity ceased in the early 1980s after the departure of bassist and singer Lizard and the death of Prince Far I in 1983, but the group’s trajectory remains tied to a period when dub produced in England transformed through its encounters with punk, studio experimentation and musicians from the Jamaican diaspora.