Biography
Dub Shepherds are a French roots reggae and dub duo from the Clermont-Ferrand area of the Auvergne, formed in late 2010 by Jolly Joseph and Doctor Charty. Emerging from the live music scene and their work with the La Granja Orchestra, the pair developed a distinctive take on roots reggae, rocksteady and dub that deliberately looks back to the analogue studio sound of 1970s Jamaica while adding their own distinctly French character.
The duo are closely associated with BAT Records, the independent label and recording studio they operate from near Clermont-Ferrand. The studio is housed in a barn and is built around an intentionally analogue approach, including magnetic tape, live instrumentation and old-school effects. Their production style, which they call "Hardmix", favours saturated, physical mixes rather than the cleaner sound often associated with contemporary digital reggae and dub. Spring reverb, phasers, high-pass filtering and space echo are central to the Dub Shepherds sound.
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Their principal influences are rooted in Jamaican studio culture, particularly the work of Lee "Scratch" Perry and the Black Ark studio, alongside earlier roots, rocksteady and dub producers. They have also drawn on the French dub tradition, including producers such as Fabasstone, Manu Anti Bypass and Pilah Dub. The result is not simply an attempt to recreate vintage Jamaican reggae: Dub Shepherds combine those influences with the musicians and singers around BAT Records to create what they describe as a handcrafted, made-in-France sound.
Joseph provides much of the duo's distinctive musical identity. As well as singing, he plays guitar, percussion and keyboards and is known for a high, expressive falsetto that has frequently been compared to the classic Jamaican vocal style of Junior Murvin. Doctor Charty is the duo's bassist, producer and principal mixing engineer. The pair also work with a wider group of musicians at BAT Records, allowing their recordings to retain the feel of a live band rather than being constructed entirely from programmed parts.
Dub Shepherds' music covers a surprisingly broad section of the reggae spectrum. Alongside roots and traditional dub are rockers, rocksteady, rub-a-dub, ska, one-drop and heavier soundsystem styles, with occasional excursions into jazz and more experimental territory. Their catalogue can therefore sound both deeply traditional and slightly odd at the same time — a quality that has become part of their appeal.
Their first major releases established this approach, with Time To Reap (2017) followed by Tales Of A Wild World (2020). The latter was a collaboration with J.A.H.N.O. and Ivan Jah and presented two contrasting interpretations of the same material, with Dub Shepherds handling the first half and J.A.H.N.O. taking the music in a more experimental direction. The Dub Shepherds material was recorded and mixed directly to analogue tape and featured a larger group of musicians around Joseph and Charty.
The duo's 2021 release Nah Jester showed a more energetic side of their sound, while Night and Day (2023) brought together many of their influences in a single album. The album moves between deep rub-a-dub, rockers, jazzier passages, one-drop and more psychedelic dub production rather than sticking rigidly to one particular period of reggae.
Dub Shepherds are also central to the wider BAT Records community, working as producers and musicians with numerous reggae and dub artists. Their collaborations include Jolly Joseph, I Fi, Jahno, Junior Roy and Pinnacle Sound, among others. The collaboration with Junior Roy eventually produced Trodding On (2025), the French singer and MC's first full-length album, after several years of recording together at BAT Records.
Live, Dub Shepherds operate both as a band and as a soundsystem. In soundsystem sessions, Joseph takes the microphone while Doctor Charty works the mixing desk; in the larger live setup their roles change, with Charty playing bass and Joseph taking control of the desk while continuing to perform. They have appeared at major French reggae events including Dub Camp and have become established figures in the French roots and dub scene.
What distinguishes Dub Shepherds is the combination of musical scholarship, DIY enthusiasm and genuine eccentricity. They clearly understand the history of Jamaican reggae, but they aren't simply attempting to reproduce it. Their records retain the imperfections, saturation and physicality of analogue equipment, while the range of styles and the sometimes deliberately strange arrangements stop the music becoming a museum piece.
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.