GUEST SPOT - # 9 - Dub War - 'Strike It'

He cooks a mean fennel and sausage casserole, our guest spot this week comes from Jon...BO!

Dub War - Strike It (1995)

It's August bank holiday weekend, 1993. I'm at the Greenbelt festival in Northamptonshire all psyched up, bass in hand, ready to take to the (admittedly very small) Fringe Bandstand stage with my bandmates. Except it's well behind schedule and we have a wait of around 45 minutes. Great. Waiting patiently is not something I've ever done very well, and I'm liable to start pacing if I don't have something to distract me. But what's this? What are these sounds of purest awesomeness wafting over to me from the Big Top stage? I wander on over and step inside the marquee to be faced with arguably the best (as yet unsigned) band to come out of South Wales. Ever. With the possible exception of The Alarm. Instantly all urge to pace departs and my senses are assaulted by the genre-defining sound that hits me like a blast wave. In time it will be come to be known as thragga. For the moment though I don't care what it's called - I just know I love it.  Benji's vocals shift effortlessly from shouty ragga to tuneful soul via an almost forgiveable jazz interlude. The band are tight and having a great time and the crowd are really responding. Then the bass player breaks a string mid-song - not just any string, but his E string. Those suckers are fat and he really must have been pounding it - I'm impressed! One quick string change later and they're back in full flow again. Half an hour later I emerge squinting into the bright sunshine with a very big grin on my face and head back over to the Fringe, ready to take to the stage.  No bass strings were harmed during our performance.

Sadly Dub War disbanded in 1999 after only two studio albums and a remix album. Benji and most of the band went on to form the original lineup of Skindred, continuing in a similar vein but in my opinion never quite living up to Dub War.

Quick strike whilst the iron is hot..more guest spots!