Rompas Reggae Shack Interview

Can you tell us a bit about the origins of Rompa’s Reggae Shack, how did the idea first come about?

Rompa’s Reggae Shack was actually born at Snowbombing festival in 2012. The manager of the event at the time, Alex Bennett, always asked us for feedback after the festival, at the time I had been representing at the event since 2008 with a brand called Urban Nerds that I was a co-founder of, we hosted takeovers there and brought our resident DJs Klose One and Rattus Rattus to the event for a few years. Alex used to ask me what I thought was missing from the festival or what acts would be good to add to the billing, I would always say “You need more reggae, dub, dancehall and jungle”. After one particular weekend in 2011 when Alex had asked the same question, the following Monday he sent me an email with the title “Rompa’s Reggae Shack” he literally created the name in that email and earmarked me a venue on the mountain and gave me the honour of booking a few acts and Rompa’s Reggae Shack was born.

Back then in 2012 I had no budget to play with and no real residents team, I really relied on my previous relationships with artists I’d got to know through running Urban Nerds that were already at the festival. Also before Urban Nerds I was the music editor of a magazine called HOOKER, this was 100% independent and I had the honour of filling my pages with whatever I saw fit, it was during these years I got the chance to meet, interview and book some of my musical heroes, so when tasked with booking some acts for the first Rompa’s Reggae Shack at Snowbombing I relied on asking a few of the acts that were already going to the festival if they would play an extra set for me outside what they would normally play, luckily for me, I had a great response to this and I think in the first 2 years of the stage being added to the festival we had some super big acts come and play including: Rudimantal, Eats Everything, Mistajam, Mr Motivator, Dub Pistols, Breach b2b Artwork and more.

From there the stage grew and we got bookings at other events and festivals. So we have to give a BIG shout-out to Alex Bennett and Gareth Cooper for giving us the opportunity and believing in us. Now, 14 years later, we have a clothing brand, record label, mobile stage and a team of trusty residents who fly the flag for Rompa’s Reggae Shack as a number of events around the globe.

How has Rompa’s Reggae Shack evolved since its early days? Are there any key milestones that really stand out?

To be honest, musically we haven’t changed a lot, we still represent and fly the flag for all the genres and subgenres related to reggae music, I guess we play a little more DnB than we did originally, but we try to keep the ragamuffin vibe and to represent conscious inclusive lyrics with the tunes that we select, we represent and promote music with a message as a keystone to our music journey and brand.

There have certainly been some key milestones, for sure, getting to host a room at Fabric in 2014 was a big look for us, so too was hosting a room for Hospital Records at the Brixton Academy in the same year, getting to host a stage takeover at Glastonbury at the Strummerville stage was also a great honour, we’ve been doing that now every year for the past 7 years and have just had the invite to play again this year, so just want to give them a BIG shout out, they do great things for charity, check them out if you can.

Also having acts we respect and rate so much like Gorgon City, Dusky, Rudimental, Eats Everything, Flava D, My Nu Leng, Mr Motivator, Dub Pistols, Eva Lazarus, Bez, Harriet Jaxxon, Barely Legal aka Chloe Robinson, D Double E and Channel One play on our stage has been a dream come true for us.

Last year at Snowbombing we had super special guest Fatboy Slim on the stage, that was a nuts experience and one we won’t forget in a hurry.

We’ve just come back from Amsterdam where we are partners on “The Jungle Weekender” that’s been an amazing event to be involved with and we have so much respect for the other brands involved: Jungle Mania and AWOL were a big part of our early raving years so to get to work with them now has been a big look. Launching our record label last year was a big milestone and we’ve recently just completed building our inhouse mobile stage called “The Dub Bus” which we are literally just about to pick the keys up to, it’s been a great journey and we are constantly moving forward and growing the brand into new areas.

Also, not forgetting being given our own show on the legendary Kool FM has been amazing, I have to give DJ Dansey a BIG shout, we run the radio show together, he’s been an amazing friend and DJ partner over the years and we’ve just come back from a Thailand tour, that was a lot of fun.

You’ve been part of Reggae Land since 2023 — what are your thoughts on how Reggae Land has evolved over the years?

I remember first seeing the lineup on the 2022 event and thinking WOW, this is epic. We had received a booking request to represent that year but it was my 40th Birthday on the exact day (30th July) so we had to decline so to then be able to host a stage the following year was a dream come true.

To be fair each year you bring the fire and keep the lineup super varied in terms of bringing together reggae, dub, dancehall and of course jungle and DnB. We love the way you are constantly evolving, listening to the customers, adding new areas and ultimately improving on the overall experience for those at the festival. For me personally it’s not just about the music though and this is another element I feel you get just right, I’m a big foodie, and I used to run the London Jerk Festival so getting the chance to taste so many amazing dishes over the course of the weekend is always a treat, I have to give a shout to the Rudies (now called Dub Pan) a shout on that front plus Jacquie and Natalie from Doreen’s Jamaican Rum Cakes and Natty’s Pattys’ who we’ve been working with for a number of years now.

Hat’s off to you guys for smashing it every year, every year we meet new people at the festival and there’s a real family vibe created with what you are doing and that’s another BIG power of the music you represent, it’s a key highlight of our calendar now and we can’t wait to get back to Milton Keynes with our team to represent for Reggae Land.

What can festival-goers expect from your stage at this year’s Reggae Land? Any special performances or surprises in store?

As always we’ll be representing music with a message and our trusty resident’s team will be bringing the fire representing the sounds of dub, reggae, dubstep, dancehall and jungle.

We’re opening the stage a little later this year so we’ll be stepping up the pace a little quicker than normal but you’ll have to come past to see what we have in store. We’re excited to welcome back the Channel One family, last year’s session was super special, the sun came out and the vibes were impeccable.

We’re also looking forward to Iration Steppas, Dub Pistols and Uncle Dugs, they always deliver. We are also excited to welcome back DJ Ardi aka MC Ardimann who flies over from Italy each year to perform, Ardi was born blind but he doesn’t let that get in the way of coming correct and providing the vibes with his LIVE show where he DJs, MCs and sings to a range of beats from reggae to jungle, make sure you come and check out his set if you are at the festival, we nickname him the “Vibes Ambassador” and the “Soul Doctor” – if you\’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting him you’ll know why, he’s a truly remarkable artist and we know how much he looks forward to performing at Reggae Land.

We also can’t wait to play on the sound system you guys add to the stage each year, believe me when we tell you: IT RUMBLES nicely, that’s a big thing for us, to be able to feel the music as well as hear it, it takes the experience to a whole new level.

For someone who’s never experienced Rompa’s Reggae Shack before, how would you describe the atmosphere and energy they can expect?

We’re all about the music and family vibes, we like to fly the flag for new up-and-coming talent alongside the household names that have moulded the scene for a number of years. Positive vibes, good music, BIG bass and smiles for miles it what we strive for at each event, so if you haven’t partied with us before make sure you grab your whistles and horns, a rum punch, and come and get yourself up by the speaker to meditate on some bass weight, conscious riddims and rhymes and remember “Music is a mission, not a competition”.

Rompa’s Reggae Shack has built a strong community vibe over the years. How important is that sense of connection to what you do?

This is super key for us, music is the one true common language in the world today, it unites people no matter of race, creed, colour or religion and this makes it a very powerful entity, even more so with what’s going on in the world today in terms of the division and discord that we often see plastered and perpetuated all over the mainstream press and media. It is for this reason we try to fly the flag and promote music with a message with conscious lyrics.

We have forged some great friendships with Reggae Land guests over the past few years and we’re genuinely looking forward to skanking out again with them this year. Also with Reggae Land being a family-friendly festival, it’s great to see different generations of the same family enjoying the event together at the stage, this is everything we love about the power of music and the unity it can create so we just anted to thank you guys for giving us the opportunity to do what we love in such an amazing space.

Looking ahead, what’s next for Rompa’s Reggae Shack? Are there any exciting projects or future plans we should keep an eye on?

We’re always moving forward and trying to take the brand to new places. We’ve just come back from Amsterdam representing at The Jungle Weekender and our SOLD OUT boat party there with Iration Steppas was a real vibe. We have Snowbombing festival in a couple of weeks and are just about to drop the lineup for that.

We have Glastonbury in June and the Margate Reggae Festival in July plus a few other bookings lined up so the summer is looking like it’s going to be a lot of fun. We’ve recently launched our clothing line, see here:

www.concretecollectivestore.com/collections/rompas-reggae-shack

and we have also recently launched our record label and this is something we will be focussing on moving forward, we have some amazing tunes lined up and are working with RSD, Sgt Pokes, T-Cuts, Chimpo and a few more big names we have to keep under wraps right now.

We’re looking for a range of tunes from reggae, dub, dubstep and jungle so if there are any budding or established producers reading this please drop us a DM on IG.

We just want to say a BIG thank you to ALL the Reggae Land promoters and staff and crew for putting on such an amazing event, it’s a great honour to be able to represent our brand, we know how much organisation goes into putting on events and know this is no easy task, so concrete respect for having us involved and giving us a platform to play the music we love so much. See you in August. Ready we ready.