DUB IS A WEAPON BRINGS ISLAND SOUND TO STELLA BLUE - ASHEVILLE CITIZEN-TIMES - June 25, 2004
For some of us, reggae music begins and ends with Bob Marley. But much like jazz, the genre is wildly diverse with subcategories like rocksteady, ska, dancehall, lovers rock and the newly re-emerging dub, just to name a few. For Brooklyn band Dub Is A Weapon, the legacy of Jamaican music is not owned by just one man or an island.

"Dub describes a feeling more than a genre," said bandleader Dave Hahn. "There is a wide range of dub that isn't strictly reggae music. Sure, you could link what we do back to the dub that started in 1960s Jamaica, but it isn't exactly the same as the source."

In fact, Hahn thinks a lot of what is being deemed dub today is not described from a purist's perspective but rather a lay term for a certain aesthetic shared by various recordings. "You can't really define it," said Hahn, "There's improvisation and a certain sound, you just know it when you hear it."

Typically on tour as a member of someone else's band, former Antibalas player Hahn finally decided to make Weapon a full-time occupation. "Being on the road is such a sacrifice, it takes you away from family and friends and causes you to put everyting else on hold. Because I've written all the compositions this time, it's so satisfying. And having been a sideman thinkings I could do this better, be more organized, have more control. That can happen now."

Hahn recently released the band's first album simply titled Dub Is A Weapon with a primarily instrumental lineup. "We're playing roots reggae beats with electronic elements superimposed ober that. I would hesitate to put out a completely vocal free record. But that's where dub comes from. Vocal tracks that got remixed and turn into a B-side.

And if the legacy of dub is creativity and inclusion, then Hahn and band are living by example. "These bands have historically been integrated, no so black and white. And that's saying something because you really don't see a lot integrated bands in general. I think musicians as the most socially liberal and open minded types around, but this just doesn't easily happen."

Instead, it's the music that flows freely. "Any music can be owned by anyone," he said. "But if you do something with honest intentions, then there can't be anyting wrong with that. Being genuine makes it valid."

by Amy Jones


DUB DANCE PARTY - BARRE MONTPELLIER TIMES-ARGUS - May 7, 2004
Dub reggae has been called "the most spacey, sexual music there is." Created in Jamaica in the 1960s, dub derived its name from the practice of dubbing instrumental, rhythm-oriented versions of reggae songs onto the B-sides of 45-rpm singles. The style became a legitimate form in its own right in the hands of pioneering producers such as King Tubby and Lee "Scratch" Perry, who added their own signature touch to the stripped down sound with such hypnotic effects as reverb and echo.

Saturday, one of the best new torchbearers of the music on the modern scene visit Vermont for the first time when the Brooklyn-based collective Dub Is A Weapon settles in for a two-set show at the Starlite Lounge at the Eclipse Theater in Waitsfield. Formed three years ago, the band - which New York Magazine called "a sprawling supergroup that combines the spacey atmospherics of dub with the brassy big-band soul of African pop." - has emerged to become a popular prescence on the burgeoning New York City scene, and has begun to spread its roots-inspired gospel with well-received tours in the northeast and Midwest. The increase in activity reflects (bandleader Dave) Hahn's decision to make the group his "main priority", he said.

Though Saturday's show marks Dub Is A Weapon's Vermont debut, bandleader Dave Hahn is no stranger to the Green Mountain State. In the mid-to-late 1990s, after graduating from Columbia University, the guitarist toured steadily with a plethora of ska-based bands such as The Slackers, Stubborn All-Stars, Skinnerbox and the New York Ska-Jazz Ensemble, many of which played to packed-house crowds at defunct Burlington nightspot Club Toast.

Hahn, now 30, signed on with Antibalas three years ago and frequently performed with the hugely popular Afrobeat "orchestra" at the recently closed Winooski music hall Higher Ground. More recently, he worked as the sound engineer for the reggae group Easy Star All-Stars, which performed material from its "Dub Side of the Moon" disc at Club Metrnome in Burlington in November, and Trumystic, a former Brooklyn dub-rock crew that's now based in Vermont and opened for dub legend Mad Professor at the Eclipse Theater in Waitsfield in March.

Hahn founded Dub Is A Weapon as a side project around the same time he joined Antibalas, recruiting members of that band's horn section in addition to members of the Stubborn All-Stars. "I just wanted to make a dub record," said Hahn in a phone interview Monday from his home in Brooklyn. "I had a studio space I'd been sitting on, so I started writing songs."

Recorded gradually over a two-year period, Dub Is A Weapon's self-titled debut CD, released last year, delivers a vintage vibe and classic dub sound that boasts a modern urgency, studio savvy and impressive instrumentation that reveals a command of the music along with a jazz sensibility and subtle rock flourishes. It's a slightly heavier sound that's influenced as much by old-school Jamaican artists like King Tubby and Scientist as it is by 1980s British artists such as Mad Professor and Dub Syndicate, said Hahn.

Throbbing bass lines and popping percussion lay a solid foundation for the mesmerizing grooves, sultry horns, edgy guitar work and tripped-out effects on such standout tracks as the hypnotic opener "D.I.A.W.", the aptly-titled "Indestructible" and the ground-shaking "Chuang Tzu". Though mostly instrumental, the two cuts with vocals are also highlights, especially the catchy "Leave I & I" featuring Rob Symeon of Easy Star All-Stars. Congos founder Ashanti Roy also shines on the haunting "Pray."

A major force in Dub Is A Weapon is legendary Jamaican percussionist Larry McDonald, who has performed with reggae greats such as Peter Tosh, Toots Hibbert and The Skatalites, as well as with blues standouts Taj Mahal and Shemekia Copeland and soulful jazz artists Gil Scott-Heron and David Murray.

Joining Hahn and McDonald at the Eclipse will be Brooklyn musicians Ras Iray of Easy Star All-Stars on bass, Benny Herson on drums, Dave Wake on keyboards and percussion, and Ben Rogerson on guitar. Jordan McLean, the lead trumpeter in Antibalas, will also perform with the group. "That's really exciting because it's going to be his first time with us," said Hahn of McLean. "He has a really interesting approach and brings his own vibe to the stage, which is always entertaining."

Though translating the studio-suited music to a live setting can prove to be a formidable challenge for dub-based bands, Hahn - who both plays guitar and tweaks the knobs on an on-stage mixing board - said he has learned a lot during the band's live shows the past three years and that it's now "much easier."

The group's performance prowess is revealed on a recently released live CD recorded in January in Chicago, which features all new original material written by Hahn and extended jamming by the musicians. "We stretch the songs out a lot live," he said. "It's more about trying to find the real spirit of each groove. We take our time and enjoy ourselves a little bit more, and have some nice jazz-tinged solos and stuff like that."

"We're not trying to swing, but we are trying to make our rhythm section really, really groove," Hahn added. "I want people to dance. It's a great dance party, but it's sort of like an acquired taste."

by Tom Huntington


GET THE BEAT - BURLINGTON FREE PRESS- May 6, 2004
Dub is a bass-heavy sound that has its roots in reggae but somehow manages to outmellow reggae. Brooklyn-based Dub Is A Weapon blends dub, reggae and elements of jazz into a musical melange that New York Magazine says "combines the spacey atmospherics of dub with the brassy big-band soul of African pop."

The sprawling group is led by Dave Hahn, who earned his African-pop stripes as a guitarist with frequent Vermont visitors Antibalas. He's joined by Jamaican percussionist Larry McDonald, who's billed as "the group's spiritual godfather" thanks to his years of service with the likes of Gil Scott-Heron, Taj Mahal and Peter Tosh.

Dub Is A Weapon formed two years ago and, much like Antibalas, has built a strong following through frequent instrumental live performances, not only in its home base of New York but during its first full tour that took the group to cities such as Detroit, Milwaukee and Chicago. The band will come to Vermont on Saturday for a show at the Starlite Lounge in Waitsfield.

by Brent Hallenbeck

GET OUT NOW: MUSIC PICK - CHARLOTTESVILLE WEEKLY - June 22, 2004
Dub is a music of borrowed tradition, taking preexisting recordings amplified by bass, drums and trance-inducing background noise to put forth a mellow, hypnotic dance beat all its own. The group Dub Is A Weapon brings together reggae veterans with some of New York City's bes newcomers when they visit Starr Hill Wednesdasy, June 23. The seven-member ensemble, fronted by Dave Hahn (Antibalas, Easy Star All-Stars) and Larry McDonald (Peter Tosh, Taj Mahal) has a brassy sound that tilts subtly in the direction of jazz.

by the C'ville Weekly Staff

GET OUT: MUSIC WORTH LEAVING THE HOUSE TO HEAR - INDEPENDENT WEEKLY (DURHAM, NC) - June 23-29, 2004
Dub reggae affected various strains of music from its inception in Jamaica to the beats in electronic music and the rhythms in post-punk groups. Brooklyn group Dub Is A Weapon sticks close to the originators, with heavy echo effects driven by bass percussion. Even though they're a young group, they've worked with roots dub heavies like Ashanti Roy of the Congos, one of the first Lee Perry outfits, and share a member with Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra. Sounds like a good summer Saturday night.

by Chris Toenes

LIVE MUSIC PICK: DUB IS A WEAPON - ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION - September 22, 2004
This New York collective, fronted by Antibalas guitarist Dave Hahn and Jamaican percussion great Larry McDonald, puts modern production techniques to the time-honored dub traditions pioneered by Lee "Scratch" Perry and Augustus Pablo. Rafter-rattling, echo-laden bass and drums are punctuated with stinging snatches of guitar and horns that sometimes skitter off into the stratosphere. It's a tunefully twisted take on the hazy style of reggae distinguished by instrumental tracks that seem to appear and disappear randomly.

by Shane Harrison

VIBES PICK - CREATIVE LOAFING ATLANTA - September 22, 2004
Combining elements of dub, Afrobeat, soul, jazz and a decidedly insurrectionary tone, Brooklyn-based abstract roots coalition Dub Is A Weapon drops on Atlanta like a bomb. The group's fiery blend of militaristic reggae beats and brash horns evoke a sensually and conceptually thunderous rumble that's as volatile as it is didactic.

by Chad Radford