DUB TRIO

Bio DUB TRIO – “IV”: “In all languages this music simply rocks.” ~ The Wire ”Dub Trio plays spacious reggae grooves spiked with high-adrenaline punk rock.“ ~ New York Times “Dub Trio has taken our soft spot for dub and ripped it to shreds with their potent blend of blistering heavy rock and dub conventions.” ~ XLR8R Dub Trio is back with their fourth and most powerful album to date – IV – an overwhelming blend of sounds, styles and ideas that come out swinging, and hit harder than ever. Can metal coexist with dub’s bass heavy riddims? Dub Trio’s newest album proves that not only can such incongruities coexist, but that in the right hands they flourish! With IV the band succeeds dramatically at emphasizing the theories, emotions, sounds, and concepts of their current musical exploration. IV finds the members playing multiple instruments, tweaking, turning & torturing knobs, cutting and chopping the audio itself, and shaping the compositions to create their own unique interpretation of “dub” as an art form. “IV was recorded in June 2010 after touring for 2 and a half years with Mike Patton promoting our last album Another Sound Is Dying,” explains bassist Stu Brooks. “It had been the longest duration of time in between releases. By the time we hit the studio, we were extremely hungry to put down the ideas. Most of the record was written while we were on the road. One of the most memorable and prolific sessions was in a small commune town in Brittany, France, outside of Rennes. One church, one bakery, and a cafe. We had a week there before a European tour and we were in virtual isolation. It was good for us to focus solely on writing. Some of the songs we performed over the course of the next year or so while honing in on the right parts, feels, tempos etc. We really got to know these songs before hitting the studio. We were able to record the songs in one to three takes. I feel like we maintained our live sound in the studio this way. I believe it captures the character of the band better than editing everything so it sounds like a sequence. We then brought the basics to Studio G in Brooklyn, where we’ve done all our dub trio records. That’s where the real fun begins. Where we start the dubbing process. Being that it’s our fourth Dub Trio record with producer Joel Hamilton (Sparklehorse, Blakroc, Jolie Holland) we’ve really learned how to work together in efficiency. We had a lot of fun, making moves in the dubbing process that were totally unexpected and spontaneous. It’s really satisfying to hear portions of the record that sound very patient. There are parts of the record that are literally painful, evil, aggressive and at times disturbing. And other parts that are beautiful, emotive and chilling. It was a goal to touch on as many emotions as possible. I haven’t been more excited about a record before and can’t wait to share it with Dub Trio listeners.” “As with all our records, we make the music we want to make. If we are all on the same page with a concept or style, we’ll incorporate it in our sound. No idea is a bad idea,” says drummer Joe Tomino. After touring extensively over the years as a headlining act, with the release of their New Heavy album in 2006 Dub Trio became the go-to live musicians for both Mike Patton (Faith No More, Mr. Bungle, Peeping Tom), and Hasidic Reggae Rap star Matisyahu’s live performances. Acting as band members in Patton’s Peeping Tom as well as working full time as Matisyahu’s touring band Dub Trio have opened for The Who at Madison Square Garden with Peeping Tom, and performed with Matisyahu at the 2010 Winter Olympics where Matisyahu’s song “One Day” was chosen as the theme for the Olympic winter games. The band has also made numerous public appearances with Matisyahu and Mike Patton including television performances on The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien, The Late Show with David Letterman and Jimmy Kimmel Live. Between tour dates, the band was able to play on and to produce studio sessions with a variety of artists – including a single mix of “One Day” by Matisyahu, and Matisyahu’s version of Elton John’s “Circle Of Life” for the Disney record “Disney Reggae Club.” Dub Trio has worked closely with Lady Gaga as her original show-casing band, as well as with 50 Cent and G-Unit, Mary J. Blige, Tupac Shakur, Yoko Ono, The Fugees, Lauryn Hill, Tom Morello (of Rage Against The Machine), Mos Def, Mobb Deep, and many more. The weight of Dub Trio’s power comes from their incredible musicianship, their versatility as performers and the intense scope of their creativity as Producers. Their own records are a mind-ripping sonic collage of impossibly different musical structures all working together to build something much more staggering than the sum of its parts. Their 2004 debut album for ROIR, Exploring the Dangers of testified to Dub Trio’s jaw-dropping live skills: the album was literally recorded as a live-dub experiment. While the band’s second album, New Heavy with a special guest appearance by Mike Patton, made good on its title, creating a metallic K.O. grounded in serious low-end theory. A live album for ROIR, Cool Out And Coexist, kicked off 2007; and between some very serious session work for other artists, Dub Trio teamed with Ipecac to unleash their third studio release, Another Sound Is Dying which found Dub Trio melding their preferred styles into a newer, bigger and more cohesively original sound. With IV the band succeeds dramatically at emphasizing the ideas, emotions, sounds, and concepts of their current musical exploration. “When listening to IV you can hear that ‘dub’, as a concept and less as a genre synonymous to reggae, is at the core of the music, and while listening you’ll hear every thing from metal to dubstep….there’s even a prepared piano track,” says drummer Joe Tomino.” As always, we aspire to create a visceral experience for the listener, and IV is no exception. Our intent is that you listen to this album from start to finish. While this record is heavy, in more ways than one, there are a lot of subtleties inherent in the music. IV is a snapshot of where and who we are at this moment in time,” Tomino explains. “There are a lot of twists and turns sonically, emotionally, and stylistically on this record. Play it loud!” What the press has to say about previous releases: “..mixing aggressive rock with dub reggae– isn’t new. Bad Brains were the first notable practitioners, inserting clean-toned dub between bouts of hardcore punk. Fugazi’s rhythm section had heavy dub influences. For the most part, though, these bands kept rock and dub separate. The innovation of Brooklyn’s Dub Trio is mixing them within songs– or more precisely, smashing them together.” - Pitchfork “Another Sound Is Dying, despite the title connotation, is indeed giving birth to a stirring new noise.” - Alternative Press “Dub Trio is celebrating dub in their own way and in the process attempting to redefine the genre by reinterpreting how raw human emotions like sadness, rage, and joy can be fodder for musical expression…” – PopMatters “The 14 massive tracks showcase Dub Trio’s chops and vocabulary (all three members are also seasoned session players) as they pummel with wrecking-ball force on tunes that simultaneously embrace metal, dub, punk and reggae while pushing all of the above into dazzlingly unfamiliar areas.” - Punk News “It’s a well-known fact that we here at XLR8R have a soft spot for dub. Who doesn’t? But Dub Trio has taken that soft spot and ripped it to shreds with their potent blend of blisteringly heavy rock and dub conventions. You may find yourself in a world full of beautiful pain.” - XLR8R “ridiculously talented, versatile musicians who between them have done session & live work w/ G-Unit, Fugees, Mobb Deep & others – craft an exhilarating mash-up of hyperspeed thrash-punk w/ King Tubby-esque dub/roots reggae atmospherics. Always in full control & able to shift on a dime, they’re almost like an updated, yet instrumental, version of Bad Brains.” – SF Weekly “Anyone who calls themselves a musician needs to take in a Dub Trio show EXCEPT if you are a drummer. After seeing what Joe Tomino does with a drum kit, a pair of sticks & an affected mic, you WILL give up playing drums.” – Sentimentalist The Individual Musicians: In Joe Tomino’s hands, the drums function as an entire section, rather than as one instrument. You will hear this section transform over the course of a song; the pulse never wavering but morphing from drum machine-esque sounds, to a big rock assault, to spaced out dub rhythms, echoes spiraling from his kit. In other words, Joe is a madman on drums—the Muppet’s Animal in human flesh—guiding much of the band’s energy and intensity. The bass is the foundation. Stu Brooks delivers low end like it was a weapon; one moment it’s a telephone pole swinging towards your gut, the next a playful rump shaking pulse locked in with Joe. Amazing that a player’s “feel” is measured in milliseconds, when Stu is at the controls of a huge oceanic sound, cigarette dangling from his lips. Dave “DP” Holmes plays guitar in Dub Trio. He makes shapes and colors, monsters and mothers of sound. Aggressive, dreamy, liquid, solid, there is a command of the elements in the guitar section. You’ll see Dave on the floor during shows, not writhing around in some Zeppelin-esque stage hackery, but implementing huge washes of sound with his crescent of guitar pedals & effects. It’s a unique approach to guitar playing that serves Dub Trio’s music supremely.