“I’m not really a musician,” says Adrian Sherwood, trying to describe what it is he does and has done for over 40 years. “I’m more a sound man. I was once described derogatorily as a fan who’d got his hands on a mixing desk, and I think I’m more that than a musician.”
Whatever it is Sherwood does, it’s clear he’s very good at it. He’s been at the forefront of dub music, both on the reggae end and the post-punk end, since the late-’70s, and has worked with everyone from Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, Horace Andy and Bim Sherman to Nine Inch Nails, The Pop Group, and Ministry, just to name a few. More recently he’s done full-album dub mixes for Spoon and Panda Bear & Sonic Boom, and has one with Nightmares on Wax, In A Space Outta Dub, coming out April 3.
I talked to Adrian on the new episode of BV Interviews, and our wide-ranging conversation includes how he stumbled into record production, working with Lee Scratch Perry, The Fall, Nine Inch Nails, Dennis Bovell, and more, forming influential group Tackhead in the ’80s, his 2025 solo album The Collapse of Everything, those Spoon and Panda Bear/Sonic Boom remix albums, the disappointment of having to postpone his 2026 North American tour, five records he thinks everyone should own, and lots more.
You can listen to the whole episode here, below or wherever you get your podcasts.