It hasn’t all been smooth sailing though. The Dub Captains were almost no longer at one stage due to a few members going this way and that way. But they came back together in 2011 after that hiatus and were bigger and better for it.
“I think when we stopped back then, Josh (Bridges, predominately guitar…) had gone and played in other bands and pretty much picked up every musical instrument out there. So he was that good that we were able to write music really quickly which made it really easy, and that really changed things.”
Their newfound prolificacy soon led to a debut album, the exuberant and full sounding Big Boomin’ Sci Fi Unit – a robust sounding album that showed off their love of groove and full, rich sounds. Though reggae is probably at the core of their music, they’re not all crazy reggae fans and are happy throwing other genres into the mix to make it more interesting (and to possibly avoid being pigeon holed).
“We try a mix of that (reggae) with soul music, a bit of pop, and a bit of rock‘n’roll,” Knight explains. “Someone will come up with an idea and we’ll run with it, we don’t necessarily try and turn into something, or control the sound as such. It is what it is.”
Though being in such a large band might be considered a nightmare for some musicians, Knight and the crew get a lot out of it for one reason or another. “It is cool playing in such a big band and having so many different characters. It’s such a range of different people, people you wouldn’t normally meet from day to day. It’s a close, friendly band.” And a democratic one too as the plural in captains suggests. “There’s never any arguments or that kind of stuff,” Knight explains, although sometimes you do get thrown on merchandise, “and you just need to suck it up,” he laughs.
Gigging established material might not be too much of a drama in terms of getting most if not all band members in the one place at the one time (admittedly though it’s a struggle sometimes to fit everyone on the stage according to Knight), getting everyone together to write new material can be difficult. The solution? A beach house of course.
“We’ve done two weekend missions down to Rye this year,” Knight tells me, “and we pump out songs really quickly. We might pump out three songs in a day. We have a good time down there, shoot pool, have a few beers and jam away.”
One of the results of those songwriting sessions is the catchy Carolina, which is officially the band’s new single. It’s a subtly sweet tune that rises into a resonating chorus; complemented by some lovely back up singing.
“(It) always goes really well, it’s a bit romantic.” They’ll launch the track at Cherry Bar at the end of the month, the same stage they launched their debut album on, so good memories clearly. Knight laughingly throws in the shameless plug as he signs off. “Free singles for the first one hundred people through the door. And we’ve also got back up singers. And they’re really sexy!”
BY GARRY WESTMORE
