Tramshed, Cardiff
Thurs 31 Aug
Tramshed has earned its right to be as much of a treasured part of the Cardiff gig scene as say Cargo is to Shoreditch, and this month it hosts a singer songwriter who many generations have grown up with, whether they know it or not – a reggae legend who has lived through every era of the soundsystem, adapting to every permutation of it.
2017 is Horace Andy’s 50th year in music: he recorded his first single aged 16 in his native Jamaica in 1967, but didn’t really get success until 1970 when he signed up with Studio One, changing his name from Horace Hinds to avoid confusion with his similarly honeyed voiced cousin Justin Hinds. Under the tutelage of Clement ‘Coxsone’ Dodd, he recorded Night Owl, Mr Bassie and the seminal Skylarking – which has been covered around a zillion times by pretty much every hotstepper going.
In the mid-1970s, Andy showed the same free and easy Jamaican approach to studios and versions as many other artists, in modernising their style by switching studios to whoever was hot at the time, moving to Bunny ‘Striker’ Lee – where he waxed You Are My Angel and the classic 1977 version of Skylarking, updating the rocksteady style of the original to a more roots reggae version.
Fast forward to today and Horace is still hungry for music, with Massive Attack adding to his career longevity by featuring him on all five albums – the only guest artist they’ve given the royal treatment to. Listening to his back catalogue, you can see how heavily they are indebted to his songs, with Andy’s Money Money track from the 1982 Dance Hall Style album on Wackies spawning Horace repeating the lyrics on Five Man Army from their debut Blue Lines, which married the Bristol soundsystem scene to its Jamaican forefather. Massive Attack’s Angel is also a menacing dub-hop retread of You Are My Angel so if you want further evidence why the dreadlocked rasta is so highly revered, get yourself over to the Tramshed to see Horace Andy give his back catalogue a work out.
Tickets: £20. Info: 029 2023 5555
words CHRIS SEAL