Bring on the dub: An Interview with Dub Trio

A few months ago I got invited to tag along to a Matisyahu concert. Now, I like Matisyahu, I do, I’d heard of him for a few years, but he was never really one of those artists that I had always WANTED to see. But I went, because it was something to do, and because, well, I wanted to hear King Without A Crown. It wasn’t until later that I was told that Les Claypool would also be performing at that show, and that there would also be a little group called Dub Trio playing as well.

Claypool, I had heard of, Matisyahu, I had listened to, but Dub Trio, here was a name that was completely foreign to me, completely unheard of. Yet the little but of research I did in anticipation of the show led to me great things. Not just great; fantastic, amazing things. Here was a band that had Mike Patton perform the only vocals every recorded on one of their records. Here was a band that helped create that recognizable Matisyahu sound, here, finally, after years of waiting, was a band that truly jammed.

They didn’t play a set alone at this show I went to, but instead, played the accompaniment to the headlining act. I really don’t think that the show would’ve been as successful had it gone any other way. Given, I didn’t know it at the time, but I would’ve loved to see Dub Trio perform live, and performing their own material.

A Dub Trio live set is nothing short of epic. In an interview I recently did for Smile for Camera with the band’s Drummer, Joe Tomino, he explained to me how using a series of delay pedals and microphones as well a “sonic arsenal” of other pedals and gadgets that the band has acquired over the years, they aim to “reproduce the sounds they heard on all those early dub records”. And while its not exactly the simplest looking job in the world, Tomino assures me that “its not that mystifying.”

Yet, they have been described as playing everything from Dub, to sludge, to doom, to stoner rock, to math rock (I don’t know either), yet their sound remains genuinely distinct. The band released three albums on the New York City Based ROIR Records before singing onto Patton’s Ipecac label that is also home to artists such as Dalek, The Melvins, General Patton vs. The X-Ecutioners and Tomahawk. They have plans too release their fifth studio album late this year, or early next year, and hope to be able to work on more remixing and producing, as well to continue touring, hitting up Europe, Japan and Australia later this year with Matisyahu, where they will also open most of those shows as dub trio. I suggest you catch them if you can.

Head over to Smile for Camera to read the full interview and watch a video performance by the band, and make sure to keep an eye out for the remix the group recently did for Brooklyn Band, Candiria. Its on an Ipecac mix which features remixes by Dalek, Pole and others.