Contents - Beth Lesser

Sonic Sound Records &
the Local Market
With people like Barry G supporting reggae on the radio, the ‘80s saw a
wave of new producers getting into the business. Sonic Sounds was one
of the main manufacturers and distributors of locally produced records. As
well, they handled the local pressing and distributing of foreign records. The
warehouse, inside the headquarters at 14 Retirement Road (they later moved
to 25 Retirement Road), consisted of row upon row of shelves lined with small,
cardboard boxes, often cut to shape from recycled album covers. Each box
held 25 seven inch discs. The labels ranged from the well known, like Volcano,
Taxi, Powerhouse, Redman International, Time 1, Penthouse, Waterhouse * , to
the relatively obscure, like Star Trail, BCR International, Diamond Music and
Rude Boy. Sonic also handled material by independent producers on their own
house label, Sonic Sounds, like John Holt’s self production, ‘Can’t Get You Off
My Mind’.
The ‘80s saw a blossoming of independent production, even before the
introduction of digital equipment. With the backing of distributors like Sonic
Sounds, new labels were appearing every day. “In the ‘60s, when you had 10
release in a week, that was plenty,” Sonic Sound’s Neville Lee recalls. “But
in my time, 200 release a week was considered normal.” That meant a lot of
independents.
Small labels were common in the local reggae market and, unlike in the
more competitive markets abroad, they were accepted by the main distributors
Sonic, Dynamic, Tuff Gong, Techniques and Aquarius. There were labels
like Prince Huntley’s Modernize and Greedy Puppy, run from his Modernize
Printing shop around the corner from Channel One. Prince Huntley produced
a few hits in the early ‘80s – Horace Martin’s ‘Me Rule’ and ‘Na Fry
No Fat’, Admiral Tibet’s ‘Too Quick’ and Hugh Griffith’s ‘Step it in Ballet’.
Huntley also worked a lot with the under-recorded singer, Bobby Melody.
Horace Martin was getting hot at the time and he recorded a song on the
All Sport label, ‘Ready Fe Dem’. So did Puddy Roots – ‘El Paso City’. All
Sport was owned by Kenneth Teddy Hayles of the musical Hayles family.
Dennis ‘Star’ Hayles ran the Dennis Star label and worked with Flourgon,
Red Dragon and Charlie Chaplin, among many others. Brother Stephen Hayles
ran the sound system Bass Odyssey.
* while Tuff Gong handled King Tubby’s other label, Firehouse.
216 | RUB A DUB STYLE – The Roots of Modern Dancehall