They're back again! The Pistoleros are riding into
Barnstaple again Although they've never really been away. Barry Ashworth's evergreen bunch of
dubwise vagabonds will be rocking festivals thru the summer, and now it's back to
the towns and city's previewing tracks from there soon to be released 7th album
And it's going to be another corker.
Their last album 'The Return Of The Pistoleros' makes them
sound like a Latin prison gang, extras in a spaghetti western, a marauding mob of
Tequila-swigging mobsters, or a Mexican drug cartel. Some of which have a grain of
truth to them. Joking aside, though, it's been a long road to get to where they are - one
of the most popular and best-loved acts on the circuit - but it's testimony to their perseverance and staying power that their popularity still keeps increasing.
The Dubs have been dubbed 'The Pistoleros' in recent times
by their army of fans - so it seemed only natural to adopt the tag for their latest
album on Rob Da Bank's Sunday Best imprint. El Pistolero is also the nickname of
Uruguay talisman Luiz Suarez, who knocked England out of the 2014 World Cup. But
as Barry is a Liverpool fan, he's happy to still have this association. Just. The Dub Pistols coalesced in the mid-'90s and initially
surfed the big beat wave along with acts like the Chemical Brothers and Fatboy Slim.
They had some minor chart hits like 'Cyclone' and 'There's Gonna Be A Riot' on
Concrete Records, remixed the likes of Moby and Limp Bizkit, and made dramatic inroads
into America.
Their debut album in 1998, 'Point Blank', cemented their position
as party-rockers extraordinaire, and by the time it came to their second
album around the Millennium - 'Six Million Ways To Live', with guest vocals by reggae
great Horace Andy and lead singer of The Specials, Terry Hall - they were more concerned
with some of the world's problems. The album was due to come out just before September 11th
2001 - the date of the Twin Towers terrorist attack in New York - and so had to be
postponed. It was the start of the now-familiar Dub Pistols self-deprecating mantra:
what could possibly go wrong?
As the noughties progressed, they signed to Sunday Best and
went a bit more poppy for 'Speakers & Tweeters', which included cover versions
of 'Rapture' by Blondie, 'Peaches' by The Stranglers and 'Gangsters' by The Specials
- a track they had been making their own live. After guesting on their second album
with 'Problem Is', estranged Specials singer Terry Hall started singing live
with them, and the warm reaction he received from music fans was instrumental in him
agreeing to reform his infamous 2-Tone band a few years later.
Next Dubs album 'Rum & Coke', so named after some
infamous recording sessions in Barbados, introduced more guest vocalists such as former
Freak Power man Ashley Slater and Beats International gal Lindy Layton, and with
last long-player 'Worshipping The Dollar' in 2012 they consolidated their
position as one of the foremost festival-rockers in Europe.
The Dubs toured with Neville Staple from The Specials at the
start of 2014, and this led to the toaster guesting on 'Real Gangster' on the new
'Pistoleros' album. On the album, 'Our Life' is a free-spirited dub cut featuring
long-term Dubs vocalists Lindy Layton and TK Lawrence. Languid beats song 'Say
Goodbye' features the deep jazzual tones of Ashley Slater, 'Report' showcases major new
hip-hop talent Genesis Elijah freeflowing over some lilting Dan Bowskill verses,
and 'Kill Your Sound' has great reggae vocalist Seanie Tee all over it. 'Roll & Come In' sees the legendary Earl 16 (Leftfield
etc) return to add sweet words to this spacious dub cut, and regular MC Darrison
guests on dubwise drum & bass party track 'Ride With It'. And there's plenty more
where that came from - it is, indeed, another corker.
Like their incendiary live shows, this new long-player is a
riotous mix of dub, drum & bass, hip-hop, punk and ska. They'll be heading out on
tour this autumn in support of the new 'Pistoleros' release, so watch out! The
gun-slinging outlaws are back in town - and this time, they're swigging Tequila.
Dub Pistols return to The Factory Petroc, Barnstaple 30th September 2016
DUB PISTOLS with KIOKO
THE FACTORY, PETROC BARNSTAPLE FRIDAY 30TH SEPTEMBER
DOORS 19.30 - 23.00 TICKETS: £15.00 +BF
TICKETS AVAILABLE FROM
PETROC BRANNAMS CAMPUS
BEATS WORKIN - 01271 321111
The Factory
Petroc Brannams Campus
Oakwood Close
Barnstaple
Devon
EX31 3NJ
Soul Intention is an 11 piece soul band who play Stax &
Atlantic soul classics from the 60's & 70's with a sprinkling of
Motown. The band formed in 2016 having responded to a letter in the Gazette
from bassist, Trevor Davis, who wanted to form a soul band.
