Dry & Heavy

Dry & Heavy is a Japanese reggae and dub band, formed in 1991 by drummer Shigemoto Nanao (Dry) and bass player Takeshi Akimoto (Heavy). Their names come from the Burning Spear album of the same name. The line-up which recorded the album Dry & Heavy came together in 1995, with Naoki Uchida on dub controls, Mitsuhiro Toike on keyboards, Kei Horiguchi on guitar, and the vocal duo of Likkle Mai and Ao Inoue.

They were influenced by the 1970s Jamaican dub sound of King Tubby, Lee Perry and others.

In 2001, during Fuji Rock (Japan’s largest music festival) founding member Takeshi Akimoto (Heavy) announced he was leaving the group, Audio Active’s current bassist Pata, stepped in to fill the void. Takeshi Akimoto was the former bassist for Audio Active, and Shigemoto Nanao the former drummer of the same band.

As well as appearances at every major Japanese rock and reggae music festival, the band have enjoyed success with their own headline dates in the United Kingdom, France and Switzerland. Concert dates include the Reading and the Hanover based Womad Festivals, and guest appearances in Germany with Asian Dub Foundation and Buju Banton. They also played in Hong Kong with Primal Scream and Adrian Sherwood, and created their own Japanese dubfest, Echomaniacs. This has featured Adrian Sherwood, Andrew Weatherall, Dennis Bovell and 3 Head, and Dry & Heavy have played in concert with Lee Perry, Horace Andy, Jah Shaka and Mad Professor.

In 2015 they released a new studio album In Time and the band continues to tour.

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