Joint Venture are pioneers of the Polish sound system scene. Their first dance party took place about 16 years ago and was one of the very first in their country.
Over the time, especially nowadays with blooming dancehall reggae vibe, dozens of sounds appeared nation-wide. However, in new reality Joint Venture stay true to their principles of being unique and eclectic. You cannot really compare them with any other sound system in Poland as in selection, as in the way they perform.
JVSS are on the radical side of roots music: electro dub, old school dub, world club beat, Asian beats, new and old reggae always no compromise, no commercial elements, radical in sound and exploring new territories. They do not escape from fruits of modern electronic scene artists inspired by reggae dub & world music and remain open for various kinds of inspiration.
At their sound system sets one can hear many special versions, unreleased tracks, dubplates, remixes coming out of Activators Black Volga / As One Studio (many still unreleased).Activator is one of the most experienced Polish producers. He travelled round the world as a dub master / sound engineer for the most successful Polish world music act Warsaw Village Band. He also worked both live and in the studio for top Polish reggae acts, e.g. Paprika Korps, Maleo Reggae Rockers or Vavamuffin.
Activator released a compilation of his remixes entitled Remixy (Home Appliance Records, Poland, 2003, then licenced to Productions Spéciales, France, 2005) with the works he has comitted for artists like Macka B, Zion Train, The Rootsman etc.
Many of his mixes can be found on several albums The Rootsman, Warsaw Village Band, Habakuk, Vavamuffin, Paprika Korps etc.
The most successful Polish reggae album in recent time Vabang! of Vavamuffin was recorded and mixed by him.
His remix of Adrian Sherwoods Silly Billy featuring 2Badcard on the voice and Crispy Horns (Zion Train, Love Grocer) is featured on the new Adrians solo album Becoming a Cliche on Real World.
In JVSS he acts as a dub master uses his excellent skills of playing with effects, adds space to the music itself as well as to microphone chatting. The air is full of white noise, samples and echoes, turning the sound system more into live-act direction. And the overall sound is always properly equalized!
DJ Bass Reprodukktor Priest Maken I, the founder of JVSS, is both a selector and MC / stage performer, using catholic priest uniforms on stage. He also runs a booking agency specializing in getting various roots/electro/world artists to Poland.
At some parties JVSS perform with guest singers. The most often you can see brillant Reggaenerator - one of the Vavamuffin vocal forces. Ghetto Priest (On-U Sound System, Asian Dub Foundation), Jarex (Bakshish), Broda (Habakuk), Mamadou Diouf, MC Globbyman also sung with them.
Over the years JVSS played hundreds of parties in Poland and abroad (Czech, Slovakia, France, Germany, Russia, UK), with highlights like always remembered main stage at Hanf Parade in Berlin or many days on tour as supporting act in Poland for artists like Zion Train, On-U Sound System, The Rootsman or Dub Syndicate.
They were also co-producers of Dub Out Of Poland compilation series - first ever home-made dub samplers in Poland.
First their homebase was Zgorzelec - small town on the German border, now they live in Warsaw.
