Rock di boat with your Oystah Card

Recently myself and a few friends spent a gloriously sunny afternoon aboard the Erasmus boat up-and-down the Thames for the Soundcrash Reggae Boat Party. The line-up consisted of Trojan Sound System, Wrongtom, The Dub Smugglers and Tom Central.

The great thing about boat parties is that everyone is there from the very beginning until the very end and the party starts as soon as the first record is dropped. Soundcrash are famous for their funk and soul boat parties with Craig Charles, and their boat parties in Croatia as part of their Soundwave festival. It is also a great opportunity to mingle with the artists involved.

The party was warmed up with a set from Tom Central followed by Manchester production duo, The Dub Smugglers, who are definitely ones to watch for the future. Wrongtom was up next with an upfront selection of classic tunes including a few of his own productions. The highlight of which was his new single, Oystah Card, which featured Mark Professor, on his own label RongoRock. The track is an infectious party tune with a very catchy chorus that the crowd were all singing along to.

I caught up with Wrongtom for a chat before his set and he filled me in on a number of his upcoming releases of his own productions and on his labels including the re-release of a 1981 jazz album by saxophonist Ralph Thomas. He also let me into his plans for the next in the “Wrongtom meets…” series. I have been sworn to secrecy but I can tell you that it is going to be another classic collaboration.

Next up was a superb set from Trojan Sound featuring Daddy Ad on the decks and fx and Earl Gateshead selecting and joining in on the mic with their 2 MC’s. Up to this point a lot of people had been enjoying the sunshine on the open deck at the front and top of the boat. By the end of the set the whole boat was crammed up near the decks skanking to the rhythms and riddims and doing exactly what the MC requested when he chanted “Rock di boat! Rock di boat!”. The event ended with a classic Bob Marley tune sung by all present and chants of “more” with lots of banging on the ceiling. The ship’s captain however was having none of it and we all left looking forward to the next event.

Oystah Card is out now on 7″ record and can be purchased from RongoRock.

Words by 25thC.