About Me
The Long Beach Dub Allstars may not belong as much to the hearts of Long Beach as, say, The Queen Mary or The Spruce Goose, but they and their predecessors, Sublime, have certainly had much more of an impact on the pop culture emanating from the area (and many localities beyond).
All seven members of the band - whose new album, the follow-up to 1999's Right Back, is called Wonders Of The World - were either born or raised there, with bassist Eric Wilson's father even playing drums in The Long Beach Municipal Band.
"My dad used to play all the time," Wilson attests. "And I'd go see him play with his jazz group at clubs downtown. When I first got into music, I tried to play drums, too, but he wouldn't give me lessons because he said it was too much stuff to carry. So he gave me a trumpet." The trumpet eventually gave way to a bass guitar. Wilson says of another early influence: "I didn't actually notice music that much when I was growing up because it was just around me all the time. But then I heard the Dead Kennedys."
Wilson's bass would go on to form half of the rhythmic nucleus of Sublime, sharing this honor with LBDA drummer Bud Gaugh, whose mix of skanking rhythms and loose-limbed rock beats helped win the band millions of fans worldwide.
In the aftermath of that group's untimely demise, brought about by the death of frontman Brad Nowell, Gaugh and Wilson sought refuge amid a circle of their oldest and closest friends. "Eric and I probably didn't pick up our instruments for almost a year after Brad died," Gaugh reveals. "We didn't jam together at all. But when we finally did, playing some of the songs was really good therapy for us."
When they started writing again, the focus was on dub-style reggae, which distinguishes Wonders Of The World (released Sept 11, 2001, on DreamWorks Records). Says Gaugh: "People always ask, 'What is dub? What does dub mean? Is it Bud spelled backwards?' A lot of people have never heard dub-style reggae music. But when you say it that way - 'dub-style reggae music' - they can relate to it."
Of course, the bond between Wilson and Gaugh goes much deeper than their love of dub. "I met Bud and his brother while we were all riding Big Wheels, and we hit it off right away," Wilson recounts. After progressing to skateboards, the pair moved on to making music together.
Wilson started his band career in dinky punk outfits, then began playing with a local guitarist named Brad Nowell, which sowed the seeds of Sublime. After a couple of indie releases (1992's 40 Oz. To Freedom and 1994's Robbin' The Hood), the band's growing fan base led to a deal with Gasoline Alley/MCA Records. But in May 1996 Nowell died from an accidental overdose, just weeks before the release of Sublime's self-titled major-label debut. Leaving behind a new bride and infant son, Nowell did not live to see the album become an international sensation (it is now certified quintuple platinum). His two surviving bandmates and closest pals were stranded without a frontman - and without their friend - after more than a decade of paying dues together.
A pressing engagement finally drew Wilson and Gaugh together again as musicians. A benefit called Enough Already had been arranged in Los Angeles. Scheduled for January 1997, its proceeds would go to The Musicians' Assistance Program (MAP) and a trust fund for Nowell's son, Jakob. Having agreed to participate, the former Sublime rhythm section realized they needed to organize a band.
Among the first recruits was singer Opie Ortiz, an old friend and the artist who inks most of the band's tattoos. Ortiz was hesitant to be seen as Nowell's replacement, but Gaugh straightened him out: "I told him, 'You're going to be Opie, and he's going to be Brad. I know you got it in you, so you're going to do it. It's out of our hands - you just got to feel it.'"
Most of the players enlisted thereafter had been chums of Wilson and Gaugh's since their school days. Keyboardist Jack Maness and DJ Marshall Goodman had been Sublime sidemen from the band's earliest recording sessions. Goodman played drums on 40 Oz. To Freedom and produced tracks for Sublime and Right Back, the Dubs' 1999 DreamWorks Records debut, as well as Wonders Of The World. "I love the mixture of music we do," he offers, "everything from reggae to punk rock to hip-hop to ska."
Maness, who sings backup and plays both the Hammond and Alexis Qs6 electronic keyboard, is a descendant of old-time radio pioneer Jack Maness, of Jack Maness And The Silver Rainbows. "I started playing the keyboards when I was very young at my grandparents'," he informs. "Whenever they would leave the house, I'd go over to the organ and play it for hours." As Nowell's longtime friend and roommate, Maness was a natural Allstar.
RAS-1 came into the fold while still playing guitar for local punk and reggae bands like Jah Children. Saxman Tim Wu, formerly of Pocket Lent, appeared on the version of "Doin' Time" that opens the Sublime compilation Second-Hand Smoke (1997). A music major at California State University Of Long Beach, he plays both flute and saxophone on Wonders.
Engineer and multi-instrumentalist Michael "Miguel" Happoldt serves as the Allstars' in-house producer. He worked with Goodman and Eddie Ashworth on Right Back and created essential overdubs for Wonders Of The World, which was primarily produced by Paul Leary of the Butthole Surfers. Happoldt recorded the very first Sublime LP for class credit as a student at Cal State Dominguez Hills.
Following the group's Enough Already debut - where they were joined onstage by one of their idols, former Bad Brains singer HR - the fledgling outfit took on new momentum. Ongoing rehearsals evolved into months of touring, during which LBDA developed an audience beyond their SoCal base.
Late in the summer of 1998, Wilson and Gaugh retreated with the rest of the crew to lay down tracks at a recording studio in Comptche, a remote, woodsy village a few hours north of San Francisco. According to Gaugh, that's when things really started to matter. "We were all being serious about the band; it was no longer just a tribute kind of thing. Here we were, making our own music now, and it felt good."
Some of those tracks, along with several live recordings, landed on a limited-edition CD the band released through its own label, Skunk Records. Long Beach Dub Allstars And Friends showcased guest singers and MCs the group had performed with, among them Half Pint, Barrington Levy and HR. Those live links helped provide the finishing touches for Right Back and laid the foundation for Wonders Of The World.
"We started on the album in October [2000] and worked on it into the summer [of 2001]," reports Happoldt. "I'd been coordinating the sessions with Paul Leary - we work really well with him." Judging by the raft of guests participating in the recording, the Allstars work well with all kinds of talented folk.
First radio track "Sunny Hours," for instance, features vocals from the Black Eyed Peas' will.i.am and pedal steel from none other than Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, of Steely Dan and Doobie Brothers fame. "Life Goes On" is jam-packed with supporting players: Dancehall toasting comes courtesy of Half Pint and Tippa Irie (who also appeared on Right Back), and raps are served up via Chali 2na from Jurassic 5 and Ives from Delinquent Habits; Gabriel McNair (sideman for No Doubt) contributes keyboards, and Aaron Owens (of Hepcat) adds guitar. Other Wonders Of The World partners include up-and-comers Paulie Selekta, of Burn Unit (on "Talkin' The Truth"), and I-man, of Capitoleye (on "Lies").
The Long Beach Dub Allstars do not confine their collegial spirit to LBDA projects, however. "We did a remix with G. Love [of G. Love And Special Sauce]," Happoldt says. "We had a little vibe session at Marshall's house with G. Love and Ras and myself, just goofing around. And Eric and Ras started a side band called Short Bus with Kelly Vargas, an old Sublime drummer, and they've been playing local shows." Opie's extracurricular cohorts have generally been patrons of the visual arts, as he's continued to devote himself to his tattoo work and has also delved into album cover design.
At the end of the day, though, all seven Long Beach Dub Allstars are first and foremost devoted to LBDA, both to carrying on the spirit of Sublime and to cementing their own creative identity as successors to that group. The positivity of their forward-moving focus is amply evident on Wonders Of The World, particularly on "Sunny Hours."
Says Ras-1 with a sincerity that represents the band as a whole: "I love life - I think we all do. Hopefully our songs will touch people's hearts and give them something to hold onto."..This profile was edited with Thomas' myspace editor™ V2.5......
