Thursday, July 31, 2014

The Wirebender Presents: "Play It All Back Part One!

The Wirebender Presents: "Play It All Back Part One", hosted by Simon Wade and David Asher, Friday August 1st,  4:00 Eastern Standard Time, 9:00 Pm U.K. time! This show features live recording of Mark Stewart and the Mafia., and an interview with Adrian Maxwell Sherwood. The first part of the show features THE PROCESS vocalist David Asher at the controls. The Wirebender presents Play It All Back! is broadcasted every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday in August 22:00-24:00 Berlin Time (-1 for UK), The Wirebender presents Play It All Back! is broadcasted every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday in August 22:00-24:00 Berlin Time (-1 for UK). 




The Wirebender presents Play It All Back part1
Posted on July 31, 2014
Here’s a beautiful story of a cassette lost and found that brought back memories of old. But let Simon Wade tell the story.
“The “PLAY IT ALL BACK 1″ show is from a bootleg cassette discovered by the Wirebender in a charity shop last year. I had spotted a photocopied picture of Bim Sherman on the cassette’s front sleeve (I had been fortunate in the past to have worked with Bim) who appears on the cassette’s live performances. We will broadcast his performance later here on Radio On.


This show features live recording of Mark Stewart and the Mafia.

(Adrian Sherwood picture by Andy Rigden.)

It also has an exclusive interview with Adrian Sherwood on the ideas behind the releasing of his budget LP’s and subsequent tours. Adrian Sherwood provides an insight into the idea of both the tour and the releases.
“I had tried it 10 years before with a show at the Rocket in London’s Holloway Road with Creation Rebel, New Age Steppers, Allan Pillay and London Underground. I remember it distinctly as John Lydon was there having a laugh at the back of the hall. It was the first On U sound party.
Bobby Marshall and I planned the “Pay it all back tour” for months. The “Pay it all back” idea came from Mark Stewart,


who introduced me to a lot of William Burroughs recordings. On one of them Burroughs was saying “Pay it all back .. pay it all back”. So I thought fair play pay?….Pay it all back to the people who support you by giving away an album.”


The first part of the show features David Asher at the controls. David is the singer/songwriter for “The Process”, an award winning reggae band from Detroit. David has recently started to collaborate on tracks with On U Sound . He presents a mix of inspiring tracks with style and panache!

The Wirebender presents Play It All Back! is broadcasted every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday in August 22:00-24:00 Berlin Time (-1 for UK).

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Dick Wagner Passes


I take solace in the fact that we were able to work together at last, after so many years of talking about it. Dick Wagner was a guitar player like few others, and he had the resume to go with it. Songwriter, Producer, and a musician's musician. He truly was the Maestro of Rock. I'm honored that he blessed us with one of his final recordings. THE PROCESS family sends our heartfelt condolences to his immediate Family and the rest of the Desert Dreams Family, our hearts are with you. 
David Asher

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Artists Against Apartheid Vol 2, Featuring THE PROCESS!



Artists Against Apartheid UK is a non-political organization with no affiliation to any political group or society! 
"The Process come through with ‘The Fire is Burning’ which is an anthemic rise-up organic rock/reggae/hiphop dub that could well have come out from anywhere between the 60s to present."
You can download the tracks from Artists Against Apartheid – Music for the People of Gaza (Vol.2) individually or as an album here with all proceedings going towards a charitable cause. 

Monday, July 14, 2014

The Process returns with a new EP and a pair of events. The Saginaw News



By Sue White | For MLive.com 
on July 13, 2014
The Saginaw News

SAGINAW, MI – A Vassar band called The Process may have a new album yet this year, but lead vocalist David Asher says "we're not making any promises."

It's a labor of love, he said, and it could prove one of the Vassar reggae-infused rock band's last efforts.

"If it is our swan song, we want to make it the best," Asher said. "We've been doing this since 1991, you know, the same guys together for the most part. You just never know."

The band's future hasn't stopped Asher and bandmates Garrick Owen, Bill Heffelfinger and Gabe Gonzalez, along with Seth Payton, from releasing a teaser EP featuring four international takes on the single "Fire is Burning."

Along with the release, now available on iTunes, comes a pair of performances, a Dub Fest celebrating the music process Friday, July 18, at White's Bar in Saginaw and a CD release party Saturday, Aug. 9, at Dockside in Bay City.

"At White's, we're going to have two PA systems going with DJs from around the Midwest and Canada," Asher said. "I'll open the outside show at 5 p.m. with Shaolin Sound and, if I still have it in me, I'll close the indoor show at midnight."

In between are masters of reggae and dub, he said, including Derrick Davis, Seth Payton, Michael A, also known as the Duke of Downtown in Flint; DJ Lionheart; I-Sinto from Thick as Thieves; Chris Dellas and Rudeboy Reggae.

"The Process has really used the dub since 2006 but we actually started squeezing it into our music in 1991," Asher said. And fans will hear it in its full glory at the Aug. 9 show. Beginning at 7 p.m. with reggae selections, the party continues with a live performance by The Process at 9 p.m. There is a $3 cover.

"It's been exciting project," Asher said of the release, "and an international one. We've worked with Chris Lewis at the Fire Hyena studios here and with two studios in London and two in Los Angeles."

Sending the recorded cuts around the world for expert mastering, Asher's original song underwent transformations under each producer's watch. The Scientist, whom Asher calls the best known producer of reggae and dub, first stripped it down to the raw essentials, taking out all the layered elements of The Process' signature sound and creating a version heavy on guitars.

"Then he did a straight dub in the Jamaican style, heavy on bass and rhythm," Asher said. "The Scientist was a friend of King Tubby, who was murdered in Jamaica in 1989, and he has the style down."

The third cut, "Scientist Destroys the Conqueror Worm Dub," brings in the synthesizers, taking all of the same musical parts and reconstructing them into a recording reminiscent in places of Yes.

"In each cut, it's like a brand new song with a whole new crew on it," Asher said.

And he's especially in awe of David Harrow's "Dragonyouth-Oicho Remix," the fourth cut on the EP.

"We worked with David before, on 'The Process Meets Ghetto Priest,'" Asher said. "He totally deconstructed it and brought it back in a whole new way. It's amazing."

Adding still more texture to the single was Lord K.I.M.O. from the Asian Dub Foundation and Mikki Sound, who added her soaring vocals to the mix.

Hopefully, Asher said, the dubs will open doors for The Process and make possible its dream of performing live shows across Europe. But Asher and his bandmates aren't sitting idle. They recently went in the Saginaw studios to work with Dick Wagner on another cut for the album, "Dr. Jeckel and Mr. Hyde."

Wagner in the 1960s was a Saginaw mainstay in the Bossmen and the Frost and later worked with the likes of Alice Cooper and Lou Reed. He returned to Saginaw, operating a studio into the 1990s before making his home in Arizona.

As for releasing "Fire is Burning" and other cuts as they come together, "it's a singles market now, instead of an album one," Asher said. "It's relevant, too, to have The Process put something out. It shows that we still exist, that we're still writing and recording.


"Some people might not even know we're here, even as we expand on an international level. Now they'll know."

Friday, July 11, 2014

Review of FIRE IS BURNING and DUBFEST Friday July 18



Review of "Fire Is Burning" 
By THE PROCESS Featuring Lord Kimo

By Bo White • Additional Reporting by Robert Martin

David Asher and boyhood pal Garrick Owen formed the nucleus of the Process in 1989 and they never looked back. They were child prodigies who understood mother earth was damaged at birth of creation and the evolution of man. It was not her fault. They had this deep-seated hunger that seemed to be linked to something earlier. Their search was like Sisyphus rolling the boulder up the mountain, only for Asher the struggle was redemptive and it provided him a vision of his own humanity like a wave cresting upward and smashing against the boulders hidden by the deep blue seascape.

Asher’s vision quest led him to a suspicion that theories and dogma seemed barren, empty of purpose and truth. He realized in his passion that he grabbed hardest for that which is there and then not there. The Process was the vehicle for Asher’s spiritual awakening and global awareness. He realized that music was the co-creator of his reality. He just needed to collaborate with his band of brothers in this world of total energy where the music will never stop and we will keep on dancing.

So on this disc Asher assembled his band of Reggae misfits with Garrick Owen (guitar), Bill Heffelfinger (Keyboards), Gabe Gonzales (drums), and Seth Peyton (bass, keyboards, vocals) along with Scientist and David Harrow working out the mixes. Lord Kimo adds his flair as a singer and a musical composer artist to the mix. Originally from England, he rubs shoulders with some heavy hitters including 50 Cent, The Wailers, Public Enemy and Sean Paul.

Asher is on his game combining melody and harmony with a heavy metal explosion of sound and fury. The familiar reggae riff and roar is not lost in the heat and remains an integral part of Asher’s vision. A celebration is experienced in the music, a universal language for all living creatures. He brings in an incredible team of musicians, engineers and mix masters to play in another playground, at least for a while.

The Process is creating a tomorrow where the mind keeps leap frogging over boredom and repetition while reframing bad things as a possibility that is not inevitable. It’s a default position to be sure. Asher and his mates use their craft as a springboard to enlightenment even if the public doesn’t always buy into it. It’s like helping someone across the street when they don’t want to go.

The disc opens with the title track The Fire is Burning (Scientist vocal mix) followed by a seamless connection to each of the other Fire is Burning arrangements like separate movements in a concerto that are linked by a common musical thread. The mixes are powerful yet contain dreamlike passages, in a stream of consciousness that imbue the same lyrics with an alternate sense of texture and meaning that give each of the final mixes from the Scientist Dimension X Mix and Scientist Destroys the Conqueror Worm Dub to, a grand finale with Dragon Youth-)Oicho Remix.

In the great tradition of Bob Marley, Asher is a passionate singer that never holds back. His temperature is rising when he shouts out his anthems of freedom. You can get a visceral sense of where Asher stands with equal rights, justice and truth. The lyrics are obscure for a newcomer unfamiliar with Asher’s Rasta poetry. 

So here’s a sample: The fire is burning, the flames get higher / Come let’s trample the dragon, then we catch the vampire / Let the fire burn and purify all weak heart conceptions / Kill cramp and paralyze, wipe them out of creation / Hold them Rasta hold them, hold them in a higher region / Catch them Rasta, catch them when they run / Hold them Rasta, hold them in a higher region / Catch them Rasta catch them when they run / Rise up and defend the youth, with equal rights, justice and truth / Just like John Brown, throw the dragon down / When the wicked come around

Lord Kimo’s rap: Truth is Divine  / Fight back with your mind

David Asher provided additional clarity on the meaning of the lyrics:  “Fire is burning is a symbolic statement of objection or purification. Rastafari burns fire on political corruption, persecution, immorality and exploitation i.e., weak heart conceptions. To trample the dragon means to overcome these things in your life. To kill cramp and paralyze all weak heart conceptions is to purify your heart by wiping these things from it. To hold them in a higher region is to recognize these things and deal with them. John Brown is the abolitionist who took an uncompromising stance on evil.”




Coda: The Reggae/Dub Festival • Friday, July 18th

David Asher and the Process continues to record and tour out of their home bases in Saginaw and Detroit. The Fire is Burning disc is just a taste of a larger project that the Process hope to complete in the upcoming year. They are #1 on the Detroit reggae charts and are collaborating with the legendary Dick Wagner who will provide some tasty guitar on the new full length Process album. Asher has also developed a Reggae/Dub Festival @ White’s Bar on Friday July 18th, 2pm to 2am. No cover!

We asked David to give us some background on the origins of this inaugural festival and some of the ‘Selectors’ that will be featured at the festival.

“Shane Swank and I were chatting one night and he actually suggested the idea to me,” explains Asher.  “It seemed like a great idea. We had been hosting these Wednesday Night Reggae gigs at Whites for over 3 years and we wanted to take it to a higher level. The people who are spinning are some of my favorite Selectors; many of them are friends of mine. Their knowledge of Reggae, Ska and Dub is deep and wide.”

DJ Ash Ra: David Asher is the vocalist and songwriter for the rock reggae group THE PROCESS.
He has also been working as a reggae selector for over ten years, and founded Shaolin Sound System around three years ago, to showcase other selectors, in addition to himself. Asher specializes in cultural roots music, Ska and dub.

DJ Ras D Baba: Derrick Davis, a Saginaw native and former Atlanta GA resident, Derrick joined the Shaolin Sound Squad are two years ago. Derrick is also a songwriter, vocalist and artist. He specializes in modern roots music and lovers rock reggae.

Selecta Ras Token: Seth Payton. Seth Payton returns to the Shaolin Sound fold after an extended hiatus. Seth is the vocalist of the popular Ska group Stamp'D and also fronts the Reggae group Roach King and the Resonators. Seth plays a selection of old and new school roots music.

DJ Michael A: Michael Absher is a well-known DJ in the Flint area, having been spinning music for several years. Michael is known in Flint as "The Duke Of Downtown". He was a popular DeeJay at WFBE in Flint, during the 90's and has continued in the club scene. His specialties include Dub music and old and new school Reggae.

DJ Lionheart: Niel Williams, aka Lionheart was born in the West Indies and moved to New York City, where he began developing his skills as a Reggae DJ. He has since lived in Flint Michigan and now resides in Toronto. Lionheart specializes in modern and old school Reggae music.

Selecta I-Cinto: is Thick As Thieves MC Jacinto. Jacinto has been planning for quite some time to break out his alter ego Reggae Selector persona. This is his debut as a selector and just as he entertains and educates with Thick As Thieves, he will be dropping some massive selections at Dubfest.

Selecter Chris Delas: Chris is the host of the popular Internet radio program "Tapdetroit.com". His knowledge of the music is deep and wide, and he plays mostly old school reggae, with some surprises thrown in.

Rude Boy Reggae: A part of the Ann Arbor Reggae Crew. Rude Boy Reggae has entertained audiences in the Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti area for several years, with a mix of modern and old school roots, and dancehall music. The crew brings with them spokes-models and Bob Marley products.

Shaolin Sound System, formed around four years ago, Shaolin Sound allowed its team of selectors to set themselves on a path to being a tour de force of 50 years of Reggae music history and diversity!

Wednesday, July 09, 2014

David Asher Co-Hosts The Echo Chamber on KFAI Minnapolis, St. Paul!


Streaming online NOW! 
THE PROCESS vocalist David Asher takes over the Echo Chamber on KFAI - 90.3 FM Minneapolis - 106.7 FM St. Paul for a 40 minute set! 
Asher's Shaolin Sound System brings you the Dubwise madness to keep you sane! 
Click here and listen: