For those who know it may seem like they have been away for the past 3 years, but after going through lots of changes and concentrating on reinventing themselves from the deep dubby reggae and electronica beats they once were famously known for to new and exciting levels of music they are back. After 15 years of making music and 7 albums down their fans are still there, except this time, their kids are all grown up and are part of a new generation of festivalgoers. They have never really been away, just fine tuning their next musical instalment for your listening pleasure..

Their new single ‘Beyond A Rock’ depicts these changes and reinventions that the band has undergone that have clearly been embraced. When you first hear it you have to double-check the title. Yes it is Dreadzone, and no, this isn’t a mistake. It is completely different, and this was their intention. I speak to Greg, forerunner for the Dread world where this has all come from..

JRC: Hey Greg, how are you?
GD: I have just come back from Glastonbury. It was excellent, one of the best ever. Everything about it, good sets, wonderful moments, the sun made blissful Glastonbury moments that made me think ‘Yes, this is why I am here!’ like we went up to the Stone Circle to watch the sunset when we heard our song from 1995 Little Britain come on. Prodigy were good, Spinal Tap were good, when we played at the Arcadia Fire Stage we wandered past Keith Allen doing a set which was hilarious.

JRC: Did you go to Belgium to play the Grensrock Festival straight after?
GD: No, that was cancelled so we were lucky enough to spend the rest of the weekend at Glastonbury.

JRC: Firstly, what was the main reason you decided to make a come back, or had you never really been away?
GD: We have never really been away, so that makes that idea null and void. We have been making music for 15 years and we have 7 albums. After the passing away of my brother we went through a lot of changes. We started reinventing ourselves..

JRC: What influenced Beyond A Rock?
GD: We have always had these loose ideas of wanting to do this, then the new guitarist created a new riff and out came this story experienced by me and the singer. We wanted to record it live and we had it mixed by breakbeaters Ctrl Z.

JRC: It sounds so different to everything else, where did the sound for this come from?
GD: With this new album, it is more pop, it is inspire by melodies: There is not much Dub in the single but it is good to reinvent yourself otherwise you become stagnant

JRC: Do you think your original fans will appreciate this new change?
GD: I think they will appreciate this new reinvention, people are still buying the albums we made 10 years ago. It is important to change it shows you have longevity and a bit of quality in the music you make.

JRC: Do you think Dreadzone coming back will attract a new generation of dub and electronica lovers? Is that something you want to achieve from coming back?
GD: at the festivals we have played I am amazed at how many young people know us It is nice to see. Young crowds bring with them a new rhythm and live energy, at Oxygen festival for example and with young people wanting to hear our music it shows that we still rock crowds.

JRC: You have been making dub and electronica for a long time now, what is your opinion on the boom of mainstream use of electronica and the explosion of dubstep?
GD: As a DJ I love it, it is coming up with interesting stuff and is a way of people trying to make new music. With dub, dubstep and electronica they can cross over and inspire each other and inspire other areas of music. Dubstep is a brilliant new language..

JRC: How would you sum up your music in one sentence as its so different? I.e. Beyond A Rock to Little Britain..,
GD: Well, I don’t think you can sum up Dreadzone. It is a cross over of ideas, how to sum it up? Dub Bass?? It is just good tunes, and that’s all you need. Just mash it all together as a way of creating new music. Little Britain was a way of celebrating British culture and now we are doing live band stuff and have a live bass player. If we had stuck to dub and dubstep one-year later people would have moved on.

JRC; What about reggae in your music?
GD: The album isn’t finished yet, there is some dub and reggae in the rest of it. We choose Beyond A Rock as the first single because it is so different; it’s got a different energy.

JRC: Finally, what festivals are you most looking forward to playing? Obviously you have done Glastonbury that must always be a treat but are there any others?
GD: We really like Glade, but we aren’t playing there this year, though I might come down. We are in a video for Glade when they had those floods, we are driving through what looks like a river but it’s the floods… then there is Oxgyen Festival in Dublin, Beautiful Days in Devon the Levellers festival, Wickerman in Scotland, Board Masters in Cornwall and the Lama Tree…

The list goes on.. on top of their festival jaunts there is the European Tour in September early October and the UK tour from October to December.

The single ‘Beyond A Rock’ is going to be released through Itunes on JULY 6TH that’s pretty darn soon! All of this hard work on the album, festivals and touring is leaving little time for any other projects but this all proves Greg right, it is quality that proves longevity in the fickle world of music, and after 15 years of being known as a’ unique British band’ and still managing to please fans old and new, they must be doing something right.

eyes and ears: http://dreadzone.org.uk/ or www.myspace.com/gregdread

contact me at: Jemilla_russellclough@yahoo.co.uk