Dub Sessions: I’ve been running this event for 20 years now, though we’ve had some gaps in between. Each one has been very special, and it all started in Japan.

Casting my mind back, the 2007 Dub Sessions stands out in particular. It was with Ari Up and The Slits — a special moment for me because Ari and I were able to reunite after our work on The New Age Steppers (1981), the recording of which was a very memorable period of time. Ari had been living in Jamaica, so I hadn’t seen her in a long while. The show had the same joyful madness to it, and it was so great getting The Slits back together. It was just beautiful.

Naturally, some of our wonderful Japanese friends have also played at these events, such as Audio Active, Killa Sista and Naoyuki Uchida (of DRY&HEAVY). GEZAN and Nisennenmondai as well. I actually ended up producing an album for Nisennenmondai, #N/A (2015), when I came out for that Dub Sessions. We intended on doing more gigs across Europe after the album’s release, but the band members started having their own families and that sort of thing, so studio work together fell by the wayside — a shame, as I am a big fan of their work. Some people may be surprised by a collaboration like this, but for me, dub isn’t just about ‘Dub/Reggae’: it’s about working with artists who understand sonics and do really interesting, experimental work. It’s On-U’s mission to open this up.

Speaking of dub and Japan, I’d say that Japan is a key part of dub culture. The Japanese involvement has been there right from the beginning, and you have Mighty Crown, one of the world’s best sound systems respected from Jamaica to New York. All my friends in Japan are real dub connoisseurs as well, be it Audio Active, Likkle Mai or Ao Inoue. Also, even though it closed years ago, my favourite club in the world to this day remains MIX in Aoyama. I have the happiest memories attached to that place and made some really special friends there who I can’t wait to see again in November!

For the twentieth anniversary of Dub Sessions, I’ll be joined by Dennis Bovell and Mad Professor. It will be a night of firsts: the first time all three of us have been on the same line-up, and the first time I’ll be performing live with a band (Doug Wimbish, Alex White and Mark Bandola).

Dennis and I met in 1977. I was 19 at the time. A friend introduced us and he mixed my first ever production, Creation Rebel’s Dub from Creation (1978). I met Neil (a.k.a. Mad Professor) in the mid-80s, as we were both involved with the same record label and had mutual friends like Lee Perry. Our paths have crossed over the years a few times, but we’ve gotten to know each other much better in recent times.

As for Doug Wimbish, we go back to the 1984 New Music Seminar in New York, after which I invited him and Keith LeBlanc to England to record. We started doing gigs with Mark Stewart for fun, made some records together and also set up World Records, a label which released Fats Comet and Mark Stewart & The Maffia.

Although I do think about what effects will work well in advance, my work on stage is all improvised — it’s done in the moment through feel. Not only has it been 20 years since Dub Sessions started, but it’s been 13 years since I released my last solo album, so I’m very, very excited to showcase this new work for the first time in Japan alongside such a talented bunch of artists! Be it in Tokyo, Nagoya or Osaka, I look forward to seeing friends old and new next month.