Lloyd ‘Bullwackie’ Barnes and his legendary Wackie’s institution has been at the heart of the dub and reggae scene since the 1970s. 

Starting out as a tailor to reggae’s brightest stars, Bullwackie quickly started working as an engineer at Treasure Isle and Studio One studios in Kingston, Jamaica. On moving to New York with his family he became immersed in the burgeoning reggae and dub scene briefly running his own soundsystem. Bullwackie opened up the first reggae studio in New York, Wackie’s House of Music. 

Since Wackie’s was founded in 1976, Bullwackie has produced and released records with the likes of Sugar Minnott, Lee Scratch Perry, The Love Joys, Horace Andy, Max Romeo, Dennis Brown, and - as Zakia discovers - even impromptu sessions with the likes of Mohammed Ali. After enjoying a resurgence of interest in more recent times, following a reissue series via Mark Ernestus and Moritz von Oswald’s Basic Channel dub techno label, Wackie’s today enjoys multi-generational cult status.

In this podcast Zakia and Bullwackie reflect on his life and career, and the exciting discovery of his stolen archive of unreleased Wackie’s recordings that Lloyd has recently recovered, and is now in the process of mastering, in some cases nearly 50 years after they were first recorded. 

Check out the NTS Guide To Wackie’s

Presenter - Zakia Sewell, Producer - Lizzy King, Sound Recording - Josh Farmer & Zara Wladawsky, Editing - Femi Oriogun-Williams, Mastering - Felix Stock, Composer - Jennifer Walton, Talent & Outreach - Samuel Strang. 

This is an NTS Podcast, discover more at www.nts.live.

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