6 August 2024

JAH WOBBLE‘s (born John Joseph Wardle, 66 years ago in London) supreme
dub bass work on Public Image‘s groundbreaking, second LP Metal Box
from 1979, was his start for an everlasting solo career.

He released multiple solo albums and a series of collaborative ones.

Last Monday he played at Lokerse Feesten in Belgium. The show was billed
as ‘Jah Wobble’s Metal Box.” Three years ago he recorded/released his own,
imaginative version of that brilliant album. Superb stuff. Stream it below.

He gave us the whole ‘Metal Box: Rebuilt In Dub‘. We got one long jungly jam, with some
dry Wobble humor in between. The mind-bending, spellbinding vibes created a trance-like experience and went, now and then, in all directions (made me think of Zappa‘s wayward live performances you can watch on YouTube). Trippy extravaganza all the way.

Jah is a groove expert, an experimental musician at heart. I’m very familiar with his PIL work, and some of his solo work but seeing the man in action, backed by a fantastic band, for the first time was an astonishing revelation.

METAL BOX: REBUILT IN DUB

And some more Metal Box in the UK this Fall.

Jah Wobble: Story

(Live photos by Turn Up The Volume)