Black Dub - Black Dub
Famed producer (U2), guitarist and solo artist Daniel Lanois has assembled what might be described as a "power trio plus one" with Black Dub, the surreal and swampy new band co-fronted by Trixie Whitley, daughter of the late, legendary 90's blues/rock pioneer Chris Whitley. Backed by explosive drummer Brian Blade and bassist Daryl Johnson, Lanois and Whitley trade grimy Hendrix-meets-Edge guitar riffs and goosebump-inducing soul shouts on Black Dub's self-titled debut longplayer due November 2. Breathtaking in its own darkly magnificent scope, the music is intensely and purposely scattershot and improvisational, wildly ethereal blues grunge laced with searing, stirring vocal chops.
"We don’t operate on a technological grid," says Lanois. "Nor are we tied to a page of fixed notes. Our songs are fluid. Often recorded live. One take. No overdubs. It’s a very old fashioned idea really." That strategy is more than just attitude as Lanois and his players continually stretch and pull, highlighting the cohesive interchange of ideas as a working, breathing band rather than merely a platform for singular self-expression. "Ring the Alarm" exemplifies the band's ethic as it shifts and morphs over its six-minute run, deep swaths of Lanois' earthy, eerie fretworked distortion and Blade's charged rhythmic thrust clearing the way for Whitley's echoing vocal chants. Modern psychedelica fused to a uniquely American blues and soul foundation and Jamaican "dub"-styled production, this is exhilarating music unlike any you'll hear this or any year. Watch the Black Dub "live off the floor" videos after the jump.
Black Dub - "Ring the Alarm" (from the album Black Dub)
Black Dub - "Surely" (from the album Black Dub)
From Daniel Lanois:
Black Dub is essentially a three-piece band with a high level of musicianship. We don’t operate on a technological grid. Nor are we tied to a page of fixed notes. Our songs are fluid. Often recorded live. One take. No overdubs. It’s a very old fashioned idea really.
I think that might be why we get such a strong response on YouTube. Each video we create is a live musical performance shot with a hand-held camera seen through the eyes of one individual. No cuts. No edits. It’s clear that people still have an appetite for something honest and authentic with real musicians playing live. In these sad times of prepackaged music, people yearn to experience something soulful, heartfelt, something meaningful. As simple as it sounds, real music is a rare commodity these days.
Our first CD is very real - kind of a rock thing, steeped in the Jamaican culture of dub, which I love. On a good day, I see myself carrying the torch of [famed Jamaican producer] Lee Scratch Perry. I wrote this music from a dub perspective, which I believe is very soulful.
What do I mean by soul? Soul music is a music that needs to exist, for the right reasons, beyond business preconceptions – natural reasons that resonate deep inside. I think this band has it. Whether we’re playing at a club or in the studio, at our best, there is something breathless and spontaneous going on here.
On Brian Blade…
Every stroke of Brian Blade’s drumming has church in it. This man grew up in the band at his father’s Baptist church in Shreveport, Louisiana, so he’s been serving singers all his life. A gospel choir is a mighty force and you can’t serve that kind of singing if you are a fake with a big ego. This is music that demands respect and humility. That’s what makes Brian’s playing so pure and free.
In addition, Brian honed his skills studying with New Orleans masters Ellis Marsalis, David Lee, Jr. Bill Huntington, Mike Pellera, George French, Germaine Bazzle, Steve Masakowski and John Mahoney. As a drummer, Brian is a true original, so inventive he never plays the same thing twice.
Don’t take my word for it. Ask jazz stars like Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Joshua Redman and Bill Frisell, with whom Brian has also worked. Or songwriters like Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Seal and Nora Jones. Plus, Brian recorded several albums with his own bands, the Brian Blade Fellowship and Perceptual, as well as a solo album that came out last year.
On Trixie Whitley…
Trixie Whitley is an amazing singer with such a strong sense of commitment in her voice. She grew up on Etta James and the classic soul singers. Talk about soul. She’s got it, in her blood. Trixie comes from a family of musicians in Texas and New Orleans - her father being the late great blues singer Chris Whitley, a friend who I was lucky enough to work with many years ago. Trixie is young and full of fire: the voice of a generation.
Words from the songstress herself…
Black Dub is made up of many ingredients, but all the ingredients come from the same place: the soul. To me, soul music isn’t just Aretha Franklin and Marvin Gaye. It’s Joni Mitchell too. It comes from a deep emotional place inside you. It’s pretty much the opposite of the comfy fast food approach to culture. It’s about what touches you, what penetrates your heart. It’s about how you work with what your soul responds to most
Discovering the lighter side of Black Dub according to Blade…
Dan writes some heavy music, both instrumentally and lyrically. He writes from the heart, the mystery of the heart. That mystery from which our deepest feelings and secrets unfold: love and loss, joy and hope, fear and darkness. The name Black Dub may sound dark, but Dan always keeps a light on.
An evolutionary perspective from Lanois…
You know how every now and then you witness an impossible stroke of Mother Nature? Say, for instance, you’re looking up at some huge concrete bridge and you notice a tiny, delicate vine sprouting through the structure. Maybe a seed got stuck in a crack. The power in that little bud will eventually erupt into a labyrinth of vines across the bridge. If you tried to plan out something like that you couldn’t pull it off. But there it is, before your eyes, something magical just bursts into existence for natural reasons.
As a musician, I look for those little seeds that catch on their own. Spotting is what I call it. For me, music is not about inventing something from scratch. It’s about expanding on something that has a natural beginning. A flash of a moment that has something special about it. I like to flirt with such natural diversions. Oftentimes they can grow into something quite substantial.
I had the good fortune recently to visit Brian’s father’s church and sit in with the band. They were so many superb singers in that choir, real natural down-to-earth people with regular jobs who could out-sing practically any star in the music business. I so admire musicians like them. The way they see it, their singing, their voices belong to the community. They don’t sing for money. For members of that choir, singing is about praise.
I’m not much of a churchgoer, but I think of music as praise too. I think of God as a great molecular collective. If you’re trying to do good and you come to the end of each day having made a few improvements in your life, not necessarily monetarily, but spiritually, I think that’s godliness. I like that about Black Dub. It’s a collective. Without a doubt the people in this band embrace the same values. We are made of the same fiber, personally and philosophically. And in the end, I see that as the overriding ingredient of Black Dub. Beyond entertainment, beyond commerce, it is the fiber of our music. And that’s enough for us.
Black Dub, Brian Blade, Daniel Lanois, Trixie Whitley
Reader Comments (1)
Great interview with Trixie Whitely talking Black Dub @ARTIStdirect. Just heard the album and it's awesome! http://bit.ly/bTwSPg