A roots sermon with Drunk Monk

DRUNK MONK is the British guy who somehow managed to kick-start a reggae revolution in mainland China – land of heavy dub, to be sure, but not exactly a place the late Bob Marley would describe as “irae”.
At any rate, Dubway Sessions has lined up the DJ skills of Gareth Williams, aka Drunk Monk, for a round of bass-heavy music tonight at Bangkok’s Studio Lam, and Dubway founder DJ Dragon finds him a pretty interesting guy to talk to.
Dragon explains that he came across the Drunk Monk experience while visiting Shanghai in 2005, at a club called Shelter, the in-destination for the city’s hip and trendy, part-owned by Drunk Monk.
The Monk left his native Manchester more than a decade ago, landing in China to start a short-lived career as an English teacher. He found organising Shanghai’s first reggae parties more educational. Now, he tells DJ Dragon, he’s got another project called SVBKLT on the go.

Your father played a big role in getting you interested in reggae.
My dad has been a big vinyl collector, especially reggae, since I can remember. He was taking me to jazz festivals and world-music festivals when I was a baby. He taught me a lot about reggae, but also about music and record-collecting in general. He’d take me out to car-boot sales every Sunday morning and he’d be digging for records while I’d be looking for toys.
The music education went both ways. When I was a teenager we’d go to the Essential Festival every year in London. It was one day of roots, like reggae and dancehall, and the other day dance music, like jungle and techno. On the roots day he’d be in charge and he’d take me to see people like U-Roy, Cocoa Tea, Sizzla and Anthony B, and the next day I’d be in charge, so it would be at Goldie, Kemistry & Storm, Randall and Doc Scott.

You not only run events – you also release music on your own label, mostly reggae, but now I hear you have a new label, SVBKLT, that’s taken on a completely different vibe.
In 2007 some of the members of Uprooted started a night called Sub-Culture where we could play more electronic/club music that didn’t really fit with the reggae and dancehall nights. At first it was mainly dubstep and associated genres, but it’s branched out to anything from Mykki Blanco to RP Boo.
SVBKVLT formed around three years ago as a kind of offshoot of Sub-Culture. There was some great music being made in China and other places around Asia that didn’t really have a label to push the sound out there, so that’s why I started it.
Most of the artists on the label are based in China, but I’ve also been releasing music from Manila and recently signed some Japanese artists. The music is quite varied, from ambient and experimental stuff to grime, footwork and bass. I guess it all has a coherent aesthetic.
If anyone in Thailand thinks his or her music might fit the label, please do get in touch at [email protected].

You also co-own and run Shelter with a no-compromise music policy. That seems risky in China because the punters prefer a more commercial sound.
There was a need for something like this in Shanghai, and being quite strict on which promoters or what music we’d allow really made us stand out. When we first opened it was maybe 70 per cent expatriates and the rest Chinese, but our music policy caught more and more local attention and now the percentage is probably the reverse.
I think our passion for music, as well as the other great promoters that book music for Shelter, keep the crowds coming. Shelter was never really aiming at a huge financial success and we’ve never made loads of money. We just wanted to put on the music we liked and hoped others would like it. I like to think this is why we’re still around after eight years.

Are you seeing any signs that the scene has reached its zenith, or is there still more to be done?
This is impossible to say, really. The scene has grown and branched out so much in the last few years that it’s hard to tell where it’s going and what our role will be. There are a lot more commercial dance styles, like trap and stuff, as well as a plague of dull tech-house right now, so I guess we will be battling that for a while.

What have you got lined up for Dubway Sessions tonight?
I’m going to be playing a strictly vinyl set of mainly ’80s digital dancehall, roots and dub. I know Maft Sai and you are serious diggers, so I have to bring some special bits and pieces.
I’ll be really excited to be back in Bangkok – I’ve always loved the city and it’s been years since I’ve been there.

Have you ever had a request for “Gangnam Style”?
Never heard of him.

Drunk Monk is DJ’ing tonight at Studio Lam on Sukhumvit Soi 51.
Admission costs Bt200.
Find out more at www.Facebook.com/DubwayBKK.