DUB MAFIA :: Dangers at breakneck speed

Since forming just two years ago, Bristol based Dub Mafia have become one of the most formidable acts in the UK dance scene and beyond. The seven-piece band are synonymous with blending drum and bass, dub, dubstep, breakbeat and world music to create their own unique sound. And, with a strict policy of ‘no backing tracks’ their live performances give an insight on how their signature style is created.

DUB MAFIA just released two free tracks on their website—www.dub-mafia.com—on April 23, 2012 as a prelude to their forthcoming album; Danger and Breakneck. “Danger” is a full live band drum’n bass workout with vocals from Eva Lazarus, while “Breakneck” is a more dubstep influenced track with a half-time feel dropping to the more familiar drum’n bass vibe with some serious throbbing bass.

Dub Mafia emerged in Bristol as a live seven-piece dance act around two years ago, and in a very short space of time rose to a lofty position in the local scene. Their brand of live energetic music manages to strike a chord with crowds everywhere they play. Fronted by the vocal talents of Eva Lazarus and with the weight of a full live band, Dub Mafia get crowds jumping.

Having said they have only been around for two years, the band is partly a development of a previous outfit called Blackout who were around for some time previously, and who enjoyed a fair amount of success, and certainly a lot of popularity for their stomping live DnB shows. With all their collective experience, drive and undoubted mass appeal, I imagine Dub Mafia will be going down a storm all over the place this year.

I managed to throw a few questions at them to get a bit of a taste of the Dub Mafia world:

Gustave Savy :: When and how did you guys get together in your current form?

Eva :: We are formed of fragments of a former band with a few new members, we all met through friendships, Bristol music scene and three of the band members are actually brothers (Aron, Andrew and Matt)

GS :: Could you give us a rundown on who’s who in the band?

Eva :: Okay so there is Matt on Guitar, Aron on Synths, Johnzy on Bass, Andrew on Drums, Jago on Percussion, Rory on sound engineer duty, Dj Snafu on Cuts and FX and Eva Lazarus on vocals….phew!

GS :: I happen to know David’s brothers, and you’ve been playing in bands together for what, the last 10 years or so? That seems quite unusual somehow, I can’t imagine playing in bands with my brothers without us all ending up killing each other, are you all just really close, or is it a pure music thing, all tuned to the same frequency kind of style?

Andrew :: Ha, Yeah we do have the odd slightly heated disagreement and the odd meat clever has been raised in a slightly threatening manner before! But no we generally get on well and I’m always reminded of actually what an advantage it is having the basis of the band as your family and so mostly always on each others level and able to work fast together. I think this also rubs off on the rest of the group as well and so we all sort of work and live together a bit like a family hence the name really. Also I’m forever being told by people how hard it is sometimes as a musician to find other people to work with who are on your level both musically and personality wise, so it’s definitely a blessing really and not a curse as it sometimes feels!!

GS :: I still think of you guys as Blackout, but are you in fact a completely new band now?

Andrew :: Definitely a new band yes as the sound and the vibe is so different. Blackout was great and a lot of fun and we worked with some fantastic people but I think there’s a clear difference with Dub Mafia.

GS :: Do you see Dub Mafia as a natural progression from previous incarnations, or is it a new direction?

Andrew :: For my brothers and I and perhaps Jago I suppose it’s a natural progression but the other members are also progressing on their own paths so that’s why it’s a fusion of what everyone, through their own musical experiences, brings to the table.

GS :: How would you describe yourselves musically? I know that’s a horrible and cliched question, but you know, I gotta ask it.

Eva :: There are so many people in the band that it makes writing in one uniform style not only difficult but also a bit boring. So we are a mash up of a lot of different styles! How cliche is that for an answer? Ahaha!

GS :: You’ve been gigging quite a lot over the past year or so, what were the highlights?

Eva: A few highlights have been playing Glastonbury, Outlook festival in Croatia, Supporting the legendary LTJ Bukem in Romania a few months ago and best of all finishing our album! Every month there is something new to smile about, it’s mad!

GS :: You must have a good story or two from touring? Van breakdowns, drunken antics, seeing ridiculous behaviour from strangers etc. What springs to mind?

Eva :: Snafu used his passport to prop up his table on stage at Loftas in Lituania… His PASSPORT!?!?!?! Then FORGOT to pick it up when the gig finished, All of us freaked out the next morning when he realized it was missing and thought we were going to have to leave him in LT! So, when we found it we didn’t bother telling him so he spent 24 hours thinking he would have to go to the British embassy and get help getting home. Ha! The Jago fiasco at Boomtown festival was pretty funny but I feel one story is enough haha!

There are so many people in the band that it makes writing in one uniform style not only difficult but also a bit boring. So we are a mash up of a lot of different styles! ~Eva

GS :: With 7 band members I imagine it must take quite a bit of organizing when putting tracks together (and diplomacy?). What’s the general method of writing? Do you have a few people who get the tracks together, or is everyone just jumping in? What’s the creative process?

Eva :: We are all capable of starting tracks and everyone is encouraged to be the creative instigator! Aron will produce an idea at home and bring it up to our practice room and we will jam the idea. Sometimes I will write something on my guitar or I’ll work with Matt on an acoustic track and we will in effect ‘remix’ it. Sometimes we just jam and see what happens! There is no real formula.

GS :: What sort of stuff are you all listening to at the moment?

Eva :: I’m listening to a lot of big voices right now, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Pete Philly and Janelle Monae. I’m also obsessed with The Heatwave show on Rinse FM, bashment is taking over this year and there is nothing anyone can do to stop it!!

GS :: What’s on the cards for the immediate future?

Eva :: We are putting out Breakneck and Danger as free download (as of April 23) and soon to follow will be our debut album.

We are really looking forward putting the album out, we have evolved so much as a band over 2 years and the sound has developed so much, it will be nice to close that chapter and move to the next level. We will play our first show in Switzerland on May 11th and we can’t wait to start the festival season, this summer is going to be unbelievable!

GS :: And what about the 5 year plan? World domination?

Eva :: World domination? it sounds a bit oppressive…The plan is to still be creating music in 5 years so, if we are all making music that we enjoy in 5 years time then we are blessed and we will be very happy!

Danger/Breakneck is available as a free download teaser from their website and a full-length album is set for release later this year. For more information visit www.dub-mafia.com.