The Barometer Online

Contributed Photo With a career spanning four decades, reggae star Mikey Dread comes to Corvallis tonight for a show at Club Platinum downtown. [Click to enlarge]

Tonight features some high quality reggae artists in Corvallis. Mikey Dread, with the Dread at the Controls band and opening act Jahbong, will play at Platinum Club.

Dread has been a part of music around the world since the '70s, but his name may not be that familiar as a reggae artist. He started as a DJ in Jamaica, studied and worked in the U.K., and began establishing himself in the U.S. Some of his biggest successes, like his work with The Clash for albums like Black Market Clash and Sandinista, occurred in the '70s. Dread's own most popular album, World War III, was first released in 1980.

Dread also likes to pick and choose where he plays, limiting his visibility to the public eye.

"I try not to overexpose myself by playing at every show and festival,"Dread said.

Even when Dread only plays a scattered set of shows, they could still take him all the way around the world. In recent years he has traveled to such places as Montpelier, France, and Montreal, Canada, and London for the Glastonbury Festival, one of the biggest festivals in Europe, with 800,000 to 1 million people in attendance. He has also headlined the all-reggae music first day of the Swiss Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switzerland.

"When you don't see me here I'm in Europe; that's how it's been for the last five years,"Dread said. "I sit on a plane for eight to 10 hours."

Dread's stop in Corvallis is part of a smaller venue tour.

"A door-to-door tour that goes all over,"Dread said.

Dread wants this to be a tour that stops at colleges and in college towns, so he can reach students.

"I look at education as a pivotal role in my life,"Dread said. "Music is another facet of my own life that I enjoy, but I feel normal in a class, too."

After arriving in the United States, Dread went to school and graduated with honors from the Art Institute of Ft. Lauderdale, and he graduated magna cum laude from Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida.

"That's not what people see when they see a Rasta,"Dread continued. "They just think he smokes weed everyday."

Dread is a fantastic music act who is also a traveling success story.

"I try to encourage the kids, too,"Dread said. "If I can do it, you can do it."

Dread has many current successes to celebrate as well. He has a new single coming out called Natural Rasta that is available on both vinyl and CD. He also has a new DVD of a show filmed in Paris that will be out in August. All of his CDs, including older ones, can be found at CDBaby.com, according to Dread.

"I re-acquired all the rights to my catalog,"he said.

Many of his classic CDs now have bonus tracks added to them. Dread is also working on a compilation album with other acts that he has produced, as well as his own new CD, Rasta in Control. He also recently completed a new music video.

"I had college students come help with the video to give them good experience,"Dread said.

Dread is looking forward to putting out the word of consciousness and unity to more college students on this tour.

"It's all about arming yourself with wisdom, knowledge and understanding,"Dread said.

He is looking forward to his stop in Corvallis. This part of his two-week tour is only his fourth-ever show in Oregon.

"We're going to rock that house,"Dread said.

The doors open at 9 p.m. on Friday, April 9. Jahbong will take the stage first at Platinum, and Mikey Dread and the Dread at the Controls band will follow. Tickets are $12 at the door.

"I want to be a living example to other students,"Dread said. "It suits you to be educated if you want to exist on this planet. You have to know."

Robin Canfield is a Diversions writer for The Daily Barometer. He can be reached at canfielr@onid.orst.edu.

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