Tuesday, 14 December 2010
I ran into the dub legend that is Dillinger completely by accident. I was working on a slightly ill-conceived article for NME, about the legacy of Bob Marley in his native country. I was with the writer Ian McCann. We’d gone along to Bob Marley’s birthplace, to his old studio, around many of his old haunts, met his wife and met a couple of the Wailers. Quite naturally, we also went down to the Tuff Gong record plant (which was a bit like a couple of old garages and not like anything European).
Whilst we were there, someone pointed to an old guy leaning against a tree and casually said “…and that’s Dillinger over there.” I was gobsmacked. I’m not a huge reggae fan or anything but I loved a lot of that late ‘70s dub. And Dillinger was really the king of that era.
So I wandered over and asked him if I could take his photo. He didn’t seem at all surprised to be asked. It was almost like he’d been waiting for me.