London, UK · dub · reggae

Zion Train

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UK dub soundsystem veterans providing the bass-heavy comedown to a weekend of guitars — echo chambers set to heal.

Zion Train began as a sound system in Oxford in 1988, started by Neil Perch and Ben Hamilton. Perch, who taught himself production after completing a degree in biochemistry, moved the project to London in 1990, where Colin Cod and Dave Tench joined the lineup, and vocalist Molara came on board in 1992, building the group's reputation across Europe as a prominent post-punk-era dub act.

The group's early singles, "Power One" and "Power Two," became dub-scene hits in the early 1990s. The 1992 single "Follow Like Wolves" fused dub with acid house, establishing Zion Train's name as an innovator. Their second album, Natural Wonders of the World in Dub, reached the UK indie charts in 1994, followed by EPs and remix work for The Shamen, Afro Celt Sound System, Loop Guru and Kava Kava.

Their sound combines heavy bass and drum foundations with brass, melodica, live vocals and extensive studio effects, mixing traditional Jamaican dub technique with electronic production. Performances are typically built around live mixing, with horns and toasters layered over the rhythm tracks, and releases moved between their own label, Universal Egg, a mid-1990s deal with China Records, and back to Universal Egg from 1999.

Internal disagreements in 2001 led Perch to continue with a mostly new lineup around trumpeter Dave Hake and trombonist Bigga, plus international session players and vocalists. Original Sounds of the Zion followed in 2002, with earlier catalogue reissued from 2005. The 2007 album Live As One, credited to Perch, David Fullwood, P Lush, Pier Paolo Polcari, Bigga and Vedran Meniga, won the Jamaica Reggae Grammy for Best Dub Recording.

Perch has named Jah Shaka, King Tubby, Ravi Shankar and Jimi Hendrix as formative influences, and has remained the constant presence through Zion Train's changing lineups, recording and touring for more than three decades. Early albums such as A Passage to Indica have since been cited as influences on minimal techno and minimal dub.

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