Dub Pistols

Riotous Reggae

The evolution of the Dub Pistols has been fascinating to watch since Barry Ashworth and Jason O'Bryan first bust out in 1996 as fully-formed party animals declaring 'There's Gonna Be A Riot'. While their live show continued to whip up unbridled mayhem and build a healthy worldwide following through relentless touring, the records took their own path, moving swiftly on from initial big beat whoopee into celebrations of two lifetimes of musical obsessions, the reggae-punk implications of the Dub Pistols moniker just the launch-pad.

The Dub Pistols formed in the mid-90s out of the chaos and energy erupting from the Heavenly Social-spawned big beat scene. Barry Ashworth had been in indie-dance outfit Deja Vu, who scored with their cover of the Woodentops' 'Why Why Why', while Jason was half of Wall Of Sound duo Ceasefire with noted reprobate Derek Dahlarge. The pair appreciated the vast musical earthquakes going back to the late 50s when ska was born, determined to mirror their wildly-diverse tastes in similar fashion to heroes like The Clash and Specials, who spectacularly broke out of punk's confines to embrace other musical forms like reggae.

Despite more accessible song structures in their recent albums, the Dub Pistols haven't strayed far from their original manifesto and the reggae influence is still particularly dominant on certain tracks. "We've always had that influence," states Barry. "That's why it's the Dub Pistols. We've always leant towards that but then we just veer off into any direction we feel like. Most people like their bands to sit in one little pigeon hole and don't let them go away from that. Because we've been doing it for ten years and we're on our fourth album people have got used to the fact that we go in different directions."

'It's just taking all our influences from all the different things we've ever been into. When we started it was more of a DJ project, just sort of dancefloor canon fodder. You do the songs using what you learn over a period of time. We are moving on. I know it's a bit more commercial but I just think we're just getting a bit cleverer with it. You can make the song then you can smash it apart afterwards for the dancefloor!"

The group achieved a lifelong ambition by recording with Gregory Isaacs on the album Rum and Coke, finally achieved in the convoluted fashion often encountered when dealing with reggae legends. Barry groans, "It's a long story. There's ten years of trying desperately hard. The publisher and everyone was telling me to stay away from it but eventually we got him. We waited on this council estate in North London all day and all night. Eventually he turned up and done his thing. It was a fucking nightmare! He would only do one take. We just had to get the bits and build a song around what we got. But, for us, it was just getting hold of Gregory Isaacs. He's a legend. I think we managed to turn the song into a good track." Indeed; the sublime flow of 'Six Months' is a perfect tribute to the Cool Ruler.

Renowned trombonist Ashley Slater, of Freak Power fame alongside Norman Cook, sings on the album's opening track and first single 'Back To Daylight', a richly-melodic summer strut riding a smile-inducing bassline. He also lends his tones to the album's most adventurous track, 'Song For The Summer', a smokey ballad which closes the album as a necessary calm after the various storms and skank attacks which have gone before.

Lindy Layton, another former Cook cohort hitting number one in 1990 with Beats International's 'Dub Be Good To Me', makes a surprise return on a sublime reggae-bedrocked romp through Evelyn 'Champagne' King's heavenly disco-boogie classic 'I'm In Love', which will fulfil a sure-fire destiny as the album's second single. "It's great because we've never had a girl singing on anything before with this kind of bloke mentality," says Jason. Lindy's also been adding a feminine touch at Dub Pistols gigs. "We've performed a couple of times with her," says Barry. "As soon as you play 'Dub Be Good To Me' people just go fucking berserk. Then 'Guns Of Brixton' and a bit of Evelyn 'Champagne' King and it goes crazy!"

Maybe an even bigger shock is veteran acid house DJ-producer Justin Robertson unleashing a sturdy singing voice on the buoyant 80s-recalling pop of 'Keep The Fire Burning'. "Justin was a real cool guy to work with," says Barry. "The boy can sing! He's also done a remix of the first single from the album which is just fucking mindblowing: a full on in-your-face club anthem. He's really easy to work with: good songwriter, good voice with that New Order Manchester feel to it."

"We got contributions from lots of great people" enthuses Jason, "and having just a bunch of people who've all been dedicated to what they're doing for a long time. Gregory, Justin, Ashley, Lindy, us... . Everyone's kind of paid their dues and ridden it and stayed with it. It's just got a nice feel to it that way."

Few bands can raise a roof or ignite a festival crowd with more rabble-rousing aplomb than this crew. The Dub Pistols' punky-reggae party rages on, now doing damage with one of the year's most potent musical brews, firing sugar-coated bullets at any recession depression. Their time has surely come.

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