Dub Asylum is the latest musical alias for Peter McLennan, former member of 90s reggae-thrash-punk-ska mutants the Hallelujah Picassos. Dub Asylum is a musical mash-up of dub reggae, hip hop and funk, genres that weigh heavy on Peter's ears. "I like a tune that throws sweet melodies in your earholes and shakes your ass at the same time," he explains.
Mixing up scratchy old hip hop drum loops and samples with dubbed out guitar and keyboards, Dub Asylum cook it all up in a massive sonic stew that is guaranteed one hundred per cent colesterol-free, and full of your daily vitamin requirements.
Dub Asylum started out in 1997, and hit the airwaves with demos back in 98. First gig was at The Gathering dance party on New Years 1998/99. The debut EP Dub Never Sleeps collected the aforementioned demos into a fine bag of dubwise delights, self-released in September 1999. Gigs with Salmonella Dub, The Nomad, and The Black Seeds have followed.
The following year a track off the EP (R U Ready) was picked up by Antenna Recordings for their compilation If Licks Could Kill, and Trevor Reekie from Antenna suggested doing an album with them, and I said Yes please.
The first full length album 'SHE DUBS ME, SHE DUBS ME NOT' was released in September 2002, and features contributions from Nick Atkinson (Supergroove, the Roughness), Bobbylon (Hallelujah Picassos), Sandy Mill (SJD, Spacesuit), John Pain (Hallelujah Picassos, Pains People) and Tom Ludvigson (Trip to the Moon, Alloy).
Peter also DJs around the place (with Bassteppa Sound System), and on BaseFM. Never a dull moment.
2004 saw the release of the She Dubs Me Remix Ep on vinyl, featuring remixes by Timmy Schumacher vs Susbstax, Rob Warner and Josh Webb, the Audioslut, and Matt Scott at Woodcut. The covers featured individually hand-painted graffiti-art stencils from Dan Tippett and DLT, which are incredibly cool. New album due soon.
R U Ready music video, shot by Peter M in Japan, 2001.
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What The Funk music video, featuring Sandy Mill.
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Scratch n sniff Remix music video, shot and directed by Timmy Schumacher
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