2019 - Channel One's 40th year celebration

This year, sees our 40th year celebration.  40 years since brothers Mikey Dread and Jah T (Trevor) took over the runnings of the sound system, now named Channel One.

Mikey and Trevor grew up in East London in a busy household with 3 brothers and a sister.  Their father ran a sound system called Admiral Bailey, playing at weddings, christenings and community events.  Consequently there were always speaker boxes lying around the house and sound system became an integral part of their upbringing.  Mikey was forever building speaker boxes, both at school in woodwork lessons, and at home in his basement.  This was far more appealing to him than hanging out with his friends at the youth club. 

Mikey's elder brother KB International started playing the sound system at Blues dances and shebeens in the mid-70s, Mikey was taken a long (under close supervision) and given an insight into how the sound worked.  In 1979 Mikey and Trevor were given the opportunity to purchase a ready made sound system - King Edward that was no longer in use.  This was the start of Channel One Sound System.  Named Channel One after the studio in Jamaica where Mikey was buying a lot of his records.

Mikey and Trevor decided early on that they didn't want to go down the usual route of sound clashes, but wanted to use their sound to explore the country and to play to audiences that hadn't heard a reggae sound systems before.  Many of the early shows were playing at Universities, often supporting a band, Channel One appeared alongside the likes of Aswad, Misty in Roots, Bad Manners, Black Slate and Saint Etienne. 

Fast-forward many years to 2019 and Channel One have now been playing now for 40 years.  Some of the highlights have included

- winning the Redbull Culture Clash (as the underdogs) in 2010, beating Metalheadz, Souljazz and Skream and Benga.  

- Playing on the London Eye for the Redbull Revolutions in Sound.  

- Touring South America on a regular basis and helping build a reggae sound system with a crew in Colombia. 

- DJ sets all over the world - Australia, Japan, Brazil, Croatia, India, Gambia, Dubai, Hungary, Portugal, Mexico, US and many many more!

- Taking the sound system to France, Spain and Holland.

- successful London residencies, firstly at Vibe Bar, then Village Underground and The Electric, Brixton.