Earth, Roots And Water
Websites:Â
No
Origin:
Jamaica - Malton, Ontario, 🇨🇦
Biography:
Toronto’s Earth, Roots & Water emerged in the mid-1970s as a cornerstone of Canada’s underground reggae movement—an electrifying house band born from the creative nucleus of Summer Records, a makeshift but mighty basement studio founded by producer Jerry Brown in Malton, Ontario. Dubbed Canada’s answer to Lee “Scratch” Perry’s Black Ark, Summer Records drew a steady stream of reggae’s elite—from Jackie Mittoo, Stranger Cole, Johnny Osbourne, Leroy Sibbles, Willi Williams, to Carl Dawkins—all of whom tracked music in Brown’s lo-fi yet visionary space. It was within this community that Earth, Roots & Water coalesced.
The band’s core lineup featured:
Adrian “Homer” Miller: vocals
Anthony “Base” Hibbert: bass
Colin “Zuba” Suban: drums
Matt Shelley: guitar
Tony “KB” Moore: keyboards
Though originally assembled to provide solid backing for Summer’s solo artists, Earth, Roots & Water quickly found their own musical identity—rooted in heavy dub, deep consciousness, and a fierce dedication to rhythm. Their synergy behind the scenes eventually spilled onto the stage, where they began gigging across Toronto’s club circuit and fringe punk venues, bridging the gap between Caribbean-rooted sound system culture and a burgeoning punk underground. One of their most notable early appearances saw them opening for The Police and The Stranglers, a moment that brought their rare reggae heat to rock-centric audiences—and even landed one of their test pressings in Sting’s hands.
In 1977, Earth, Roots & Water released Innocent Youths, the first full-length LP on Summer Records. Pressed in a tiny run of just 500 copies, the album captured the full depth of the Summer Sound ethos: raw basslines, dub-wise experimentation, conscious lyricism, and Jerry Brown’s psychedelic production touch. The record’s lo-fi yet atmospheric quality made it a cult object among crate diggers and reggae collectors for decades.
Innocent Youths remained largely unknown outside of Toronto until Light in the Attic Records, working with Brown and historian Kevin Howes (aka Sipreano), reissued the album in 2008 as part of their Jamaica to Toronto series. Remastered from the original tapes, the reissue confirmed the band’s place in reggae history—an unheralded Canadian response to the experimental Jamaican dub movement of the 1970s.
While Earth, Roots & Water never released another album, their influence reverberated through the Canadian reggae diaspora, and their recordings—especially tracks like “Push Push,” “Free Up the Blackman,” and “Zion”—remain essential listening for fans of dub, roots, and cultural resistance music. Today, they stand as both pioneers and hidden giants of Canada’s reggae legacy—deeply tied to the sound of a place and time when basement sessions became black gold.
-Robert Williston
