Biography
Having celebrated 25 years of existence in 2014 playing all over the globe in this time they are very excited to be making their preparing for new developments in the coming years. Spring 2015 sees the release of a new album entitled ‘Land Of The Blind’ featuring regular vocalists Dubdadda, Fitta Warri and Jazzmin Tutum alongside Kathika R Abbit, Longfingah and Damian.
Among the over 2000 shows Zion Train have played are Woodstock (Poland), Madasound (Martinique), Fusion Festival (Germany), Sierra Nevada World Music Festival (USA), Rototom Sunsplash (Italy/Spain), Outlook (Croatia), Boomtown (UK), Glastonbury Festival (UK), Seasplash Festival (Croatia), Bababoom Festival (Italy), Wickerman Festival (UK), Reggae Geel (Belgium), Universo Parallelo (Brazil), Reggae Sun Ska (France), Ostrada Reggae Festival (Poland), Asigiri Jam (Japan), Woodstock Festival (Poland), Sziget (Hungary), Exit (Serbia), Bielawa (Poland), Solipse (Zambia), Universo Paralleo (Brazil) and Rainbow Serpent (Australia).
Zion Train’s vast array of music from the last 25 years still sounds fresh to today’s discerning ears.
Zion Train was founded by Perch (live dub mixing /production), in 1988. The live line-up has always been very flexible, varying from Perch and a vocalist for sound-system gigs, to an extended lineup for larger events. Zion Train live always features a variety of renowned vocalists but primarily, the band have been fronted by Dubdadda.
Zion Train have been one of the planet’s most prolific groups, along with a mammoth recorded output and innumerable production credits, remixes and song writing collaborations they have produced magazines, CD-ROMs, Internet sites and built sound systems. Their early releases were on their own Universal Egg label, until in 1995 they signed to China Records. They released the world’s first promotional dub music video for the ‘Get Ready’ single and caused a furore with the publicity campaign for their ‘Homegrown Fantasy’ album. Back on their own Universal Egg label since 1999, they have continued to release quality dub, electronica and world dance music.
2007 saw the release of the band’s long awaited album ‘Live as One’, their ninth. It was awarded a coveted Jamaican Reggae Grammy for ‘Best Dub Album’. The album featured vocals from Earl 16, Tippa Irie, Dubdadda, YT, Marlene Johnson, Raiz and Lua. It was incredibly well received and the tour engendered enthusiastic responses in all territories visited.
2009 was rounded off with a further tour to promote the release of the ‘Live as One Remixed’ album. Taking in 15 nations to present the next installment, they received rave reviews throughout.
From the beginning of 2010 Perch was back in the studio writing for the next Zion Train album ‘State of Mind’ which was released in September 2011. This was previewed with a single, entitled ‘Rainbow Children’, an update of the Aswad classic with Brinsley Forde joining Dubdadda on vocals. Also, in June 2011 ‘The Very Best of Zion Train – Dub Revolutionaries’ was released on the highly respected world music label Nascente, home of recent releases from Skatalites, Manu Dibango, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Ladysmith Black Mambazo.
