By Mel Cooke, MFreelance Writer

The members of Gumption Band, from left, Phanso, Duke, Bassie, and 16. - contributed

When the members of Gumption gather on the upper level of a plaza on Chancery Street in Kingston 19, they embody a revolution of two sorts.

For one they are a resident band, a very rare thing in these hard drive driven musical times, with the Fabulous Five at Stage being another set of musicians based at their own studio. And they are resident at their own studio, Gumption Productions, a far cry from the days when in-house bands were based in facilities they did not own.

Roots revolution

It has been four years since the band, which came together in 1996, established their own studio and they were in time to benefit from yet another revolution, the wave of roots singers that rose about two years ago.

"There was a time back when we just opened, it was a lot of computer sounds," said keyboard player Dwight 'Duke' Dawes. Then "the conscious artistes started coming out". Among them were I-Wayne, Turbulence and Richie Spice, to add to the fire of Sizzla and Capleton. With it came a demand for more live bands in the recording process. "A lot of bands were not outfitted for live drums. They had to do a lot of catching up," Dawes said.

Of course, Gumption was already established for the live sound. And it was not as if they had been waiting for good luck to blow their way, as they had been working from the outset. Dawes said that the first set of work from the studio was done with Yogie, including the remix of Nelly Furtado's Turn Off The Lights.

Dawes said a producer may come in and hire the band, and the studio, or a singer may come in with a song, which can be then done as their production or the band's.

Expensive business

However, with four musicians, himself, bass guitarist Isaiah 'Oney' Palmer, drummer Rolando 'Phanso' Wilson and guitarist Novelyn 'GT' Thompson, as well as the engineer to be paid, in addition to studio time by the hour, Dawes says "it is an expensive business". The musicians are paid for each track they put down, regardless of how long it takes.

Among the other persons they have worked with are Luciano and Tony Rebel, Dawes saying that Gumption has worked with many more cultural than dancehall artistes. And they have not gone retro as they also do digital productions as well or may combine the live and computerised tracks.

He is aware that Gumption is carrying on a tradition rooted in the very start of Jamaican music. "It started out with bands. Bands were hired to go into the studio," Dawes said, pointing to the days of Studio One.