international news _ 6th November, 2006
Dreadzone Guitarist Dies
Text by Jonty Skrufff (Skrufff.com)
Steve Roberts from Dreadzone died this week, days before the veteran breakbeat collective were due to set off on another extensive tour. The acclaimed British born reggae musician was the brother of Dreadzone founder Greg Roberts and played with the band for two years, after a career that included stints with Prince Buster, Desmond Dekker and numerous other reggae greats.
“It is with deep sadness that we regret to announce the untimely death of Dreadzone guitarist Steve Roberts,” the band announced in a statement posted on their website this week.
“Those close to him are devastated and overcome with grief. Steve has been with the band for the last two years and is going to be greatly missed both personally and professionally. As you can imagine this will greatly affect the forthcoming tour and all future Dreadzone plans. We feel there is no alternative than to cancel all forthcoming Dreadzone Live dates,” they said.
Chatting to Skrufff last year Greg talked happily about the clean-living regime Dreadzone had embraced when touring in recent years, describing the band as ‘a solid family unit where we are all inter dependent on each other’.
“Dreadzone have managed to keep going by constantly re-inventing and keeping fresh with djing and working with new people. Plus when you have seen what makes bands collapse you can avoid those pitfalls,” said Greg.
“Touring can be messy but, as I said, if you avoid the pitfalls, such as partying every night it can be OK,” he added.
“We eat healthy, take our vitamins, balance the intake and have the odd early night. A few of us are aware of what damage constant partying can do. The main thing is a love for the music and what we do.” Details of how Steve, who was in his early 50s, died have yet to be released.
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