Dry & Heavy
Dry & Heavy is a Japanese dub and Japanese reggae band, formed in 1991 by drummer Shigemoto Nanao (Dry) and bass player Takeshi Akimoto (Heavy). Their names come from the Burning Spear album of the same name. The line-up which recorded the album Dry & Heavy came together in 1995, with Naoki Uchida on dub controls, Mitsuhiro Toike on keyboards, Kei Horiguchi on guitar, and the vocal duo of Likkle Mai and Ao Inoue.
They were influenced by the 1970s Jamaican dub sound of King Tubby, Lee Perry and others.
In 2001, during Fuji Rock (Japan's largest music festival) founding member Takeshi Akimoto (Heavy) announced he was leaving the group, Audio Active's current bassist Pata, stepped in to fill the void. Takeshi Akimoto was the former bassist for Audio Active, and Shigemoto Nanao the former drummer of the same band.
As well as appearances at every major Japanese rock and reggae music festival, the band have enjoyed success with their own headline dates in the United Kingdom, France and Switzerland. Concert dates include the Reading and the Hanover based Womad Festivals, and guest appearances in Germany with Asian Dub Foundation and Buju Banton. They also played in Hong Kong with Primal Scream and Adrian Sherwood, and created their own Japanese dubfest, Echomaniacs. This has featured Adrian Sherwood, Andrew Weatherall, Dennis Bovell and 3 Head, and Dry & Heavy have played in concert with Lee Perry, Horace Andy, Jah Shaka and Mad Professor.
No new music has been recorded since 2002's New Creation, although the band continues to tour.
Read more about Dry & Heavy: Band Members, Discography
Famous quotes containing the words dry and/or heavy:
“But oh, not the hills of Habersham,
And oh, not the valleys of Hall
Avail: I am fain for to water the plain.
Downward, the voices of Duty call—
Downward, to toil and be mixed with the main,
The dry fields burn, and the mills are to turn,
And a myriad flowers mortally yearn,
And the lordly main from beyond the plain
Calls o’er the hills of Habersham,
Calls through the valleys of Hall.”
—Sidney Lanier (1842–1881)
“Now the hungry lion roars,
And the wolf behowls the moon;
Whilst the heavy ploughman snores,
All with weary task fordone.
Now the wasted brands do glow,
Whilst the screech-owl, screeching loud,
Puts the wretch that lies in woe
In remembrance of a shroud.
Now it is the time of night,
That the graves, all gaping wide,
Every one lets forth his sprite,
In the church-way paths to glide:”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)