HASSLE HISTORY
UK reggae band HASSLE was born in 2002.
Since then they have supported such reggae greats as JAH SHAKA, TOOTS AND THE MAYTALS, ALTON ELLIS, BOB ANDY, MACKA B and PAMA INTERNATIONAL playing pubs, theatres, and live festivals all over the UK and Europe.
HASSLE are influenced from the reggae sound of the seventies, aiming for a more warm, pure, and earthy sound, something often lacking in modern music.
Influences such as LEE SCRATCH PERRY,BOB MARLEY, AUGUSTUS PABLO and KING TUBBY have helped inspire this, as well as our own backgrounds and culture.
The HASSLE sound combines a mix of lover’s rock, dub, conscious lyrics about the world today, and the beauty and power of nature.
previous releases
In 2009 hassle released two albums and two EPs which were warmly received.
The debut EP “THE GIRL THAT I ADORE” was followed by the albums “LIVE THE LIFE YOU LOVE” and its dub counterpart “DUB THE LIFE YOU LOVE” followed by the EP “IN & OUT OF LOVE”.
Fresh for 2021 these will be re-mastered and re-released by their new label.
HASSLE are currently writing and producing their new album, pencilled in for release in Autumn 2022 with various EPs scheduled for release prior to that.
RECENT GIGS
Over the last 5 years HASSLE have been playing as an Acoustic duo.
With a rootsy reggae/bluesy Vibe supporting acts such as Tom Hingley (Inspiral Carpets) Mark Morris (The Bluetones) and Miles Hunt (The Wonderstuff) .
RECORDING AUTHENTIC REGGAE MUSIC
When it came to recording HASSLE’s debut album “LIVE THE LIFE YOU LOVE” an old school approach was taken to making the album.
Firstly, the main core of each track was recorded as a live band to capture a performance with natural swing and movement, keeping overdubs to a bare minimum. This combined with the fact that the songs were not overworked or over rehearsed hopefully captures the spirit of the genre.
Aiming for a warm seventies feel meant recording on to tape as much as possible as opposed to modern digital recording techniques. If Lee Scratch Perry and his contemporaries could record some of the best ever reggae recordings on 4 track, then the 16 tracks used on most of these recordings were a luxury.
Recorded predominantly onto 2-inch analogue tape on a vintage 1971 Studer A80 16 track machine, similar to the one used on many classic recordings of the seventies, such as John Lennon’s ‘Double Fantasy’ and Stevie Wonders ‘Songs in The Key of Life’. This gave natural warmth and tape compression to the low end of the music.
Mixing was predominantly on the vintage Soundcraft 1624 board at Alchemea in Islington, London. The available modern reverb units were eschewed and microphones and speakers were set up to capture natural ambient room reverbs, with additional slapback and dub effects added using WEM Copicat tape delays and Roland Space Echos.
From these sessions many dub versions were created ‘on the fly’, which have appeared on B sides and as a full dubtastic album “DUB THE LIFE YOU LOVE”.