Victor – American Dread – 12″

MFM 030 sees Music From Memory’s reissue of the self-released and sadly one off 7″ single “Amerikan Dread” by Victor Davis aka “Victor“.

Recorded by Victor around 1986/7 on the outskirts of Nashville, Tennessee after the singer was invited by local infamous studio ‘The Bennett House’ to record a single, Victor enlisted the help of his friend and mentor Aashid Himons from the band Afrikan Dreamland to produce the session. Multi-instrumentalist Aashid would produce and play almost all instruments on the single except guitar which was played by local wunderkind Gary Serkin.

Combining elements of New Wave, Dub and Boogie, Victor’s “American Dread” sounds like little else from the time. The single would sell around 800 copies on it’s release with a further 200 going to radio stations across the US. The single received plays across the country and was even on heavy rotation on Nashville’s WVOL radio for some years following, until it sadly faded into obscurity.

Victor would move to the UK shortly after the release of the record to study at the London School of Economics, whilst continuing to write and record music, even at one time becoming involved with Elvis Costello’s band The Attractions. Moving back to LA after his time in the UK, Victor Davis would become involved in casting work for the Hollywood film industry, working on a number of high profile films. Always continuing his passion for music, Victor would continue to write and perform, a personal highlight being able to work alongside the illustrious Mizell Brothers in their studio on a number of his demos.

Including both original and ‘NY Dub’ mixes from the original recordings, Music From Memory’s 12″ EP of “American Dread” also includes a Dub edit from Lipelis and a Dub rework from Androo on the flip.

Released in collaboration with Satoshi Yamamura from cult blog Okonkole Y Trompa and friend of the label.

Music From Memory

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