Melding dub, drum and bass, dancehall and reggae with some rock and pop elements, there’s no band quite like Dubmarine.
This has been apparent since their debut LP Depth Of Sound arrived in 2010, but the longer they stick around and continue to make music, the more challenging maintaining such stylistic elasticity becomes.
“It is always hard to answer what genre our act is,” says bass player Paul Watson. “But that said, we feel there is a strong thread that ties all of our music together, which I guess is dub, but more broader than that, bass culture. Our music reflects the styles we are listening to and who is writing music in the band at the time.”
In 2013, Laser Sound Beam followed Depth Of Sound, before Dubmarine returned in September this year with the new single ‘Solar Flare Fire’. It’s an especially big-sounding track that brings together acoustic and electronic instrumentation. The song was recorded in The Tanuki Lounge studio in the band’s home city of Brisbane.
“We tracked with our long-time collaborator Paulie B and also had Paulie edit the track with us and add some extra juju,” Watson explains. “When the time came we had Damien Charles AKA King Charlie mix the track down to make the heavy voodoo come to life.”
Dubmarine have long been regarded as an exciting and unique live band. The stage is their chosen setting, whereas the studio can be a trickier space to navigate.
“Recording Dubmarine has always been a bit of a tough one,” says Watson. “It is walking that line between electronic and live and separation versus vibe. Each LP was recorded quite differently. However, in our new recordings, including ‘Solar Flare Fire’, we have tried different techniques once more. With ‘Solar Flare Fire’ being recorded quite live, band-in-a-room approach – we really liked tracking ‘Solar Flare Fire’.
“It is always looking for the balance between live vibes and studio productions. What makes a good live show doesn’t necessarily mean it is good for the studio, so we are happy to rejig everything in the studio.”
Once again, aspects of reggae, dub, dancehall and drum n bass are all apparent in ‘Solar Flare Fire’. But there is a method to the band’s characteristic genre-fusing.“While it seems we play a lot of styles, we don’t actually feel we are without boundaries. We definitely keep everything related to bass and dub. In fact, we don’t really consider ourselves a genre-bending band, as we see a huge relationship in all the styles we do.”
It’s been over three years since Laser Sound Beam, and ‘Solar Flare Fire’ is a taste of things to come, but just what will emerge remains to be seen.
“We have tracks currently in the bag about to be mixed,” says Watson. “Will they be an album or an EP, one-off tracks? We aren’t quite sure yet, but there is new Dubmarine material begin tinkered with currently for next year.”
In the meantime, Dubmarine are headlining next month’s Future Folk festival at the Factory Theatre alongside acts like Circle Of Rhythm and New Venusians. They’re looking forward to making the trip back down to Sydney.
“We love the people organising the event. They completely get us and our sound. We love the New Venusians and Circle Of Rhythm is an act we have seen many times at Woodford Folk Festival. Those guys are all geniuses, and [we’re] also keen to see Deepchild once more. I can’t wait to see what else gets announced, but needless to say we are excited to come back to Sydney for Future Folk.”
Future Folk, at theFactory Theatre onFriday January 6, is where you can catchDubmarine along with Circle Of Rhythm, Matiu Te Huki, New Venusians, a Deepchild DJ set and more.
