Over the course of the last thirty years, Bristol’s music scene has continually reinvented itself and the music which has found a home in the city. Reggae, punk, soul, hip hop, jungle and more recently dubstep have all been adopted by the locals, gradually evolving and mutating into new and exciting sounds. Throughout this time Rob Smith has been right at the centre of things: an embodiment of the ‘Bristol Sound’.

His vast discography serves as a timeline of the city’s musical history: a history which he has been instrumental in forging. Beginning as a guitarist in local roots reggae band Restriction, he later teamed up with Ray Mighty to form the now legendary production duo Smith & Mighty. Their early work on their Three Stripe label helped to lay the foundations for both the trip hop and jungle scenes which the city would become so famous for. After a period of chart success and major label involvement in the early nineties, Smith and Mighty returned to the underground as uncompromising as ever in their musical vision. Joined by Peter D Rose they continued to release groundbreaking music, this time on their More Rockers imprint. Rob Smith also went on to collaborate with local roots reggae producers Henry & Louis. This fruitful relationship culminated in 2001 with the release of the fantastic, yet criminally overlooked ‘Time Will Tell’ LP.

2009 sees Rob Smith (now RSD) fully immersed in the dubstep scene: a sound which has quickly found a natural home in Bristol. When talking to him it is immediately apparent that his passion for music remains undimmed; he can’t enthuse enough about dubstep and is truly thankful for the opportunities that it has presented him with. Given that he has never really been one for press or publicity, it was an absolute privilege to be able to interview him and discuss both his own career and the musical environment within which he has operated. A huge thank you to him for taking the time out of his hectic schedule to entertain my curiosities…

Reggae and Dub have clearly had a huge influence on your sound. How did you first get into Reggae?

In school, when I was about 11, there was a kind of common room for older kids to use at break and lunchtime. Most of the boys would play football in the playground but I wasn't really into it so I'd hang around in this room. Some of the girls brought in piles of 7" records to play on the portable record player. I was really intrigued that on the ‘a’ sides were songs and the ’b’ sides were strange kind of spacey instrumental versions of the ‘a’ sides. One time I got up the courage to ask one of the girls if she would go and buy me a record as I didn't know the names of any. She bought me 'Festival Wise' by U Roy; I played it until it wore out. 

You have a history of playing in local bands; has this involvement in live music affected the way that you approach production?

The thing that I really wanted to do when I was younger was to be able to play around with a tune and have control over each separate musical element. I used to make band recordings on a Portastudio (4 track cassette recorder), mixing down the whole drum kit onto one track, bass guitar on the next, keyboard and guitar on the third, vocals on the forth and then patch in a space echo and a reverb unit and make dub mixes.

What equipment were you producing with during the early Smith & Mighty days and how does this compare to what you are using now?

He he! The first sampler we had was a Yamaha kind of toy thing with a plastic mic on a coily wire; it had 3 seconds sampling time which we thought was fkn marvellous!! Eventually we went for a 24 track mixing desk, 16 track tape recorder, Cubase sequencer on Atari, S1000 sampler, 808, 909, SH101 etc… Now I make everything mainly within Ableton. One of the main advantages for me of a computer based studio (apart from space saving) is that you get total recall, which means you can work on many tunes without losing the previous tune’s set-up. I do miss that tape ‘sound’ sometimes though.

The way in which Henry and Louis’ ‘Time Will Tell’ album was put together is very interesting, with Andy having taken the tracks over to Jamaica to record the vocals. How exactly did it all come together and what was it like to work on the project?

Andy Scholes (Louis) came round one day and said, 'I'm going to Jamaica.. got any dubs?' I gave him a batch and a few weeks later he came back with all these vocal recordings of Willie Williams and Johnny Clark etc. I thought it was my birthday! He’d hooked up with the guys from UB40 in Kingston and they let him use their studio to record and mix the vocalists - then I did post production and dub mixes back in Bristol.

Albums such as ‘Time Will Tell’, and earlier Carlton’s ‘Call Is Strong’ were of great importance to Bristol’s music scene but did not necessarily gain the widespread recognition which they deserved. In your opinion which tracks or albums have been the most important to the development of Bristol’s music scene?

Well it’s hard to name specific tracks, but the sounds from people like Mark Stewart and The Pop Group were early statements of how pioneering this city could be. Stuff from groups like the Cortinas, Chaos UK, Maximum Joy, Black Roots, Wild Bunch, Fresh Four, Andy Shepherd, (Smith & Mighty), as well as lesser known bands like Mouth and Fish Food. These definitely make up some of the deeper foundations of the Bristol music scene, as well as more obviously; Massive (Blue Lines), Tricky etc, and later on, Henry & Louis, More Rockers, Krust, Die, Ronni, Flynn & Flora, Suv... Bringing it up to date though, it's like there are too many people to list... Pinch, Pev, Blim, Joker, Headhunter, Gemmy, etc, etc, etc!

You have always seemed to shy away from unnecessary publicity, is this something that you feel strongly about?

I’ve never really been into that side of things; I just like making tunes. I think it's ok to choose what you want to do and what you don't want to do.

In the early 90’s you had some involvement with major labels; why didn’t things work out and what did you learn from the experience?

Mainly, I think us (Smith & Mighty) and major labels didn't work out because of a lack of understanding about each other's aims and roles (ours and theirs). It was a dark time which almost led to me completely giving up music and I’m glad it's now history - although we were very happy with the Steppers Delight EP!

I think there is something to be learned and gained from every experience - even the ones that seem bad at the time.

Looking back are you pleased that you ended up following an independent route?

Yeah I guess so. After 5 unproductive years with a major label it was quite a relief to get back to an independent status. Running a label is great but doing it properly does involve a lot of time and energy. Lately I’ve been really enjoying working with independent labels run by very cool people with vision! 

Much has been made of the importance of the Dug Out club to Bristol’s music scene. Which venues / places have been particularly important to you musically?

Yeah the Dug Out was pretty good although to be honest everyone used to complain at the time, 'Uuuh Dug Out again!' It was open every night and was a bit like a youth club with a bar, a dj and a sticky carpet. More than that though it was where a lot of people met and exchanged ideas about music and bands etc.

Other great places for me were Fosters/The Guildhall Tavern, The Bamboo Club, The Granary, The Western Star Domino Club, The Topcat Club, Green Rooms… mainly because these places had a healthy mix of people and sounds: kind of a mish mash of reggae, soul, funk, punk, arty guitar stuff and then later hip hop.

You have strong links with Japan, both playing over there regularly and releasing on Japanese labels. How did this first come about and why do you think you have such a strong following over there?

I first went there with Peter Rose as More Rockers in about 97. We went with Jah Shaka and played in Tokyo, Osaka and also went with Shaka when he played in Kyoto. I met Naoki E.Jima and his wife Miwako in Tokyo and we’ve been friends and worked together ever since. Naoki runs the excellent 'Disc Shop Zero' record store and also the 'Angel's Egg' record label. He has been totally nuts about Bristol music from time and knows everything there is to know about it, right up to the present day. I've been really fortunate to have made some great friends and contacts over there and have been able to go back once or twice a year to DJ and work with various labels.

When did you first become aware of the emerging Dubstep scene?

I was enjoying things like early Hyperdub and Horsepower and then people like Toasty, but it wasn't until I went to see Digital Mystikz play that I really 'got it'. After they played, Tayo introduced me to Mala who told me about Pinch!

I’m assuming that it was something which immediately appealed to you, seeing as you have been producing very similar stuff for years?

Yeah - to be honest I couldn't believe my luck!

Why did you decide to use the RSD alias when producing Dubstep?
 
DJ Flynn suggested it. He said, 'you ought to call yourself RS Dub!'

How would you say the Dubstep scene in Bristol at the moment compares to the other sounds that you have been involved with? Musically speaking which has been the most exciting period for you?

For me, Dubstep is maybe one of the most exciting things to happen musically - not just in Bristol, but in the UK and world wide. It's comparable to the excitement of the Jungle movement in the early 90's and it’s a bit like a musical ’conclusion’ in a similar way that Jungle was, but with a broader scope of styles, sounds and attitudes. It seems to be influenced in a kind of butterfly effect way by all the people who love it. Other periods that were exciting and important for me were the punk/reggae of the late 70's/early 80’s and the early rave/free party period.

You have worked with or alongside many of Bristol’s best musicians; has there been anybody that has stood out to you as being particularly talented?

Loads of people. It’s difficult to narrow it down but as for vocalists I'd have to mention Tammy Payne and Louise Decordova. Also a friend of mine who played piano on one of the albums that went out in Japan: Beni Williams… wicked!!

Which producers are you feeling at the moment?

Loads of people. In Bristol, I’m always loving Pinch, Pev, Appleblim, Joker, Gemmy, Hench and at the moment, Guido, Chasing Shadows, Phaeleh, Time… loads.

Outside of Bristol, always Mala and at the moment Synkro, Monkey, DJG, Widdler, Sparrow… loads. I’ve also recently heard some really impressive bits by Wrexile, Kalbata, Fragile and O-kapi.

If you could give new and up and coming artists one piece of advice what would it be?

One thing I would say is be honest with yourself. Are you passionate beyond the thought of making money? If not, then maybe do something else.

What do you have planned for the future release wise? Will there be an RSD album? Anymore Smith and Mighty stuff?

All things are possible.

What do you think you would be doing now if you’d never been involved with music?

That's a really difficult thing to think about… postman maybe?