Culture and RasItes top the bill

I'm just out the door to watch a Bank Holiday football match, so this will be quick. Got in at 3am this morning after a trip to Shrewsbury's Buttermarket venue to watch the reggae band Culture perform, just eight days after they lost their legendary lead vocalist Joseph Hill. After 30 years in the reggae music business, Hill passed away suddenly during the band's current European tour and his son, Kenyatta, usually the band's sound engineer, has taken over lead vocals, supported by Albert Walker and Telford Nelson, and their backing band, the Forces of Justice. The boy did his father proud and the Buttermarket punters were treated to a great show. Also on the bill were the talented UK reggae band The RasItes (pictured), who played a free gig in the Town Centre a few hours earlier. The four friends from north London have been together for ten years even though they're still in their early twenties, and are looking to release their second album soon. The four are Jahmel Ellison (bass and vox), Kashta Menelick Tafari (lead and vox), Cyrus Richards (keys) and Otis Cox-Rodney (drums). I chatted to Jahmel before the gig and he explained that the band are probably better known in Europe, where they perform regularly at the major festivals, than they are in their own backyard though he hopes their next album will change that.