Legendary reggae producer, presenter and DJ Brent Clough arrives in Whanganui

Brent Clough will call Whanganui home for the rest of the year. Photo / Bevan Conley

Climbing a fence to interview Bob Marley is one of many high points in the career of reggae champion Brent Clough.

The radio producer, presenter and DJ will call Whanganui home for the rest of the year, and he’s getting straight into the local music scene.

Clough, AKA Senor Bambu, has formed Te Awa Dub Club with fellow reggae die-hards Tom Langford (Naram) and Taupuruariki Brightwell (Queen Big Punch).

He said his love of reggae stretches back to his youth.

When Bob Marley came to New Zealand in 1979, then-17-year-old Clough bought a ticket and made the pilgrimage from Tauranga to Auckland to see the concert.

“Once I got to Auckland, I thought, ‘Hey, I edit the school newspaper, I might as well try to interview him’,” he said.

“I headed down to Western Springs the day before, when the band was rehearsing, jumped a fence and told their manager Don Taylor I edited the Ōtūmoetai College newspaper Spartacus and wanted to interview Bob.

“He said, ‘Sure, come back the day after the concert’.”

Clough obliged and, along with “a truckload of journalists”, waited patiently at the White Heron Hotel in Parnell two days later.

“Bob was far more interested in football, so he, the band, members of the record company and [music journalist] Dylan Taite just played in a park next door,” he said.

“It went on and on and, eventually, all the other journalists left. I hung around - I was happy to watch Bob Marley play football.”

In the end, only Taite, Clough and a local Hare Krishna group got an interview.

Western Springs was Marley’s only concert appearance in New Zealand. He died two years later.

Clough went on to spend 25 years at ABC Australia as an arts producer and presenter.

“I still do a reggae [radio] show in Sydney, and I did another one for community radio for 20-plus years,” he said.

“I never gave it away and always kept connected to it, and to the sound-system world - where music is really heard in Jamaica.”

Brent Clough has a collection of 20,000-plus records to draw on for the first edition of Te Awa Dub Club. Photo / Michael Wells

Clough is currently completing an anthropology degree, part of which involved researching reggae in Vanuatu.

He also has a Master’s degree in cultural studies.

“Some of the roots reggae bands in [Vanuatu’s capital] Port Vila are very reminiscent of Bob in the 1970s,” he said.

“I was interested to see how young people were making new music in the Pacific that was totally influenced by Jamaican music, and particularly by Bob Marley and the Wailers.

“In Vanuatu, the first recorded reggae used a traditional rhythm from Pentacost - an island in the northeast - which fitted perfectly with reggae but probably went back hundreds, if not thousands, of years.”

Clough, who has a collection of over 20,000 records, said roots reggae fit perfectly in New Zealand as well.

He said he was a big fan of Raetihi-based reggae artist Brutha Rodz, who had a new release coming out later this month.

One of Clough’s favourite albums is Herbs’ debut What’s Be Happen?

At one time, Herbs featured the late Rātana/Whanganui musician Carl Perkins, who went on to form House of Shem with sons Te Omeka and Isaiah Perkins.

“Herbs were another big influence on me,” Clough said.

“That album came out just after Bob died and, in a way, it was a huge tribute to his influence when he came to New Zealand.

“It showed how reggae could find a home here.”

Clough said Whanganui was lucky to have Langford, a reggae musician and producer “with an international reputation”.

Langford runs vinyl-based record label Red Robin Records and is a member of reggae act Roots Provider.

“Being around him is very cool and Ariki [Brightwell] is something else too. What she does is unique and very much belongs to this place.”

Along with DJing, Brightwell created her own custom PA - sound system - called Bigbada Boom, built from all-analogue vintage components.

Clough said he was also a fan of Ohakune-based reggae artist Brutha Rodz, who had a new release coming out later this month.

Clough said after interviewing Marley, he tried selling the school newspaper on the streets of Tauranga.

“I had a big photo of him on the cover, but people thought it was a joke, that it wasn’t real.

“Fast-forward a few decades and I managed to give a copy of it to his wife Rita Marley at a conference in Jamaica.

“She got this unknown interview; she was very grateful to read something she had never seen before.”

The first Te Awa Dub Club is at Porridge Watson on May 11. Tickets are $10 on the door.

Mike Tweed is an assistant news director and multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.