Scratch Perry To Dub Up House of Blues End Of Week

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Several of you have already clued in to the fact that we are giving away pairs of tickets to see the one and only Lee “Scratch” Perry this coming Saturday at the House of Blues. To say I am a fan would be an understatement. While we were setting up this contest, I believe my quote to the good folks at Narnack Records (his current label) read something like:

…(I’m) a big fan of his early, compelling, truly bizarre and oft-frightening dub work…

That’s putting it mildly. Lee Perry is a founding dub father, arguably a genius and possibly insane (in the best of ways) — all good things in my book. While living at the beach a handful of years ago, I ordered a vinyl set released by Trojan in the mid-80s titled Upsetter Box. That box was my proper introduction to Perry’s catalog (not counting his work with the Wailers), and to this day it continues to blow me away. By the time the second album rolls around you’ve got Perry wigging out , chopping shit up, stirring in space-age sound effects and wails and Dillinger going nuts (super early in his career, no less), meanwhile the Upsetters are laying down these solid jams built on laid-back, slow, throbbing bass lines virtually guaranteed to get your neighbors rapping on the ceiling/floor/adjacent walls, no matter how soft the volume. Just killer.

Turn out this Saturday to hear some of the old stuff, as well as some cuts off the album AMG calls his “brilliant return to form” (does the man even have a form?), Panic in Babylon. Need more background info? Read Lee’s Allmusic bio. Follow that by watching Andrew WK interview Lee at South by Southwest. (Bonus tip: Can you spot “Drunken Ron on Sixth Street” nine seconds into the video?)

ENTER TO WIN tickets now. Contest closes Thursday at 2pm; winners will be contacted shortly thereafter. Update: Contest is now closed. Buy tickets here.

Finally, our winners may also have the chance to meet and greet Lee for a photo op courtesy Narnack Records, if interested. How could you possibly turn that down!