The Upsetters

Lee Perry's house band from 1968 to 1972 included the Barrett brothers, Aston "Family Man" on bass and Carlton on drums, along with a rotating cast of session players who built the rhythmic bedrock Perry would later tear apart and reassemble. They cut the instrumental tracks that Perry reworked into dense, hallucinatory productions, and later Black Ark lineups carried the Upsetters name through 1976's Super Ape.

At a glance

Active

1968–1972

From

Kingston, Jamaica

Records in the issues

1 (1976)

Original label

Island

Listen

In the issues

• 005
  70s Dub Reggae

  Supporting cast · 1968-1980

  70s Dub Reggae is a genre from Kingston, Jamaica, 1968–1980. Its principal artists include King Tubby, Lee 'Scratch' Perry and Augustus Pablo. This issue covers 10 essential albums and 12 dated events.

Records

• 

  Super Ape

  1976 · For the obsessed in 70s Dub Reggae

  Original release: Island · ILPS 9417 · 12″ Vinyl · 1976

  Perry's 1976 Black Ark masterpiece pushed the studio-as-instrument idea to its limit: dense, hallucinatory production built on a four-track machine, where tape hiss became texture and unlikely sounds, desk-tapping, rattling chains, birdsong, sat right alongside Boris Gardiner's bass and the drumming of Mikey "Boo" Richards and Anthony "Benbow" Creary. It stands as the clearest evidence of what Perry meant when he treated the mixing board itself as a musical voice.

  Listen on Spotify

Family tree

Bands that shared members with The Upsetters, and who.

• The Hippy Boys1967–1969
  Aston “Family Man” Barrett, Carlton “Carly” Barrett, Glen Adams
• Harry J. All Stars1968–
  Boris Gardiner, Carlton “Carly” Barrett, Vin Gordon
• The Wailers1963–1974
  Aston “Family Man” Barrett, Carlton “Carly” Barrett
• Bob Marley & The Wailers1970–1981
  Aston “Family Man” Barrett, Carlton “Carly” Barrett
• The Wailers Band1981–
  Aston “Family Man” Barrett, Carlton “Carly” Barrett
• Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers1986–2000
  Aston “Family Man” Barrett, Glen da Costa
• Zap Pow1969–1979
  Glen da Costa, Vin Gordon
• Sound Dimension1967–?
  Boris Gardiner, Vin Gordon

Terms

Session musicians

Professional musicians hired to perform on recordings without being official members of the credited artist or band, often forming informal but highly skilled house bands for record labels or studios.