Dub City Renegades Debut Self-Titled EP Released Tuesday, October 4th

After 3 years in the making the Dub City Renegades are ready to release our first EP on Tuseday, October 4th, both digitally and physically via Bandcamp and at our show at Jammin Java w/ Josh Heinrichs (Jah Roots) and the Mike Pinto Band.

THREE YEARS?!?!  I'm sure many will read that and say "Damn that's a long time!"  Well my friends, yes, yes it was a long time!  We've played hundreds of shows throughout the DMV area, traveled to Costa Rica, even won the Virginia Reggae Awards "Best New Artist" Award, all without having a sdio album done.  "How?" you might ask... A lot of hard work and letting our music speak for ourselves.

We've recorded literally hundreds of performances before but never in an effort to record a studio album.  Usually they're just live performances or jams - good for sure but not the audio quality you'd want to listen to on the regular.  Well it took us long enough.. me personally taking over a year off from the band.. but we came back together, networked with some great people, and we're finally ready to release our debut EP and we're damn proud about it!

We're releasing this both digitally and physically where you the fan gets to decide how much you think it is worth purchasing for.  We're big supporters of local and indie music and think that our fans are too.  You'll be able to hear this streaming online for free before you have to purchase on Bandcamp and we're confident that upon hearing it you'll think that it's worth at least that $5 or $10 burning a hole in your pocket.  Additionally by not releasing this on iTunes and via Bandcamp instead, much more of the money you pay for the album goes directly to Dub City Records LLC. as opposed to mega-corporations or record labels.  That directly funds the band creating more great music for you in the future.  See?  Everyone wins!

This album has been a CRAZY process... the first time that most of us have gone through the process with a full band.  I personally came into the mix verrrrrry late and actually had to record my parts in my home studio, post-surgery, foot propped up above my head, in the most comfortable of positions! lol  The rest of the guys had recorded at Sleepy Hollow Studios, a small studio located in Herndon, VA.  The record was then sent to Piper Street Sound in Atlanta, Georgia and mixed by Matthew Mansfield, who works regular with his band DubConcious (if you don't know these guys - click the link and check them out - they're SICK and Matt does some ridiculous live dubbing during their shows).  I recently did a dub of a song Matt produced earlier called "How Long" which should be released here on the PDC page shortly.  Matt's a really talented producer who I'm sure is going places in his career.  The plan is also for Matt, myself, and others to do some dubs of the EP coming up and we'll later re-release an extended version at a later pressing and online.  Finally we're currently having the EP mastered at Dreamlab Studios, also in Atlanta, GA, via a connection that Piper Street Sound has.  We'll get the masters on Sunday night, bring them to the printer on Monday morning, and only get them back about 3 hours before our show on Tuesday night... how's that for a deadline?!

I know that I've been one of those curious musicians my whole life.. I always wondered.. how'd they do this? what software are they using? what effects does the guitar player use?  Well if you're like me - feel free to ask!  We're all more than willing to answer questions.

We sincerely hope you enjoy this EP when we release it Tuesday and can make it to the show to celebrate with us!  Thanks for listening!

- Dub City Renegades

DMV DubCast #2 - Back Again

Yup... that's right... we did it AGAIN.  Why?  Because it's a Saturday and we're sitting around talkin about reggae anyways!  Another hour long session with the Dub Architect and L Dub sitting around and talking about  a variety of topics ranging from the Dub City Renegades, Polyphonic Dub Collective, a phone interview with Akshan, SOJA, the Mike Pinto Band, Josh Heinrichs, Jah Roots, Cas Haley, John Brown's Body, The Pocket Band, Feed God Cabbage, Jammin Java... *breath* ... 77 Jefferson, Spaghettifest.. and so much more!

Strap in.. it's another bumpy ride.. we figure out how the hell do use microphones to record cell phone conversations, eat some great Chinese food, and bring you some great reggae music.  Stay positive out there world.  RESPEK!
- The Dub Architect
DMV - DubCast - 09.24.2011

First Ever PDC DubCast!

You read it right.. PDC has gone and created a DubCast! A 45 minute venture into local DMV reggae, upcoming Dub City Renegades shows, DCR EP news, features about Akshan, Mike Pinto and Josh Heinrichs, reviews of the Movement, Passafire, and Three Legged Fox, Feed God Cabbage, and much much more!

Board the train for an adventure with the Dub Architect and L Dub... you'll be in for a few laughs as we figure out what the hell we're even trying to do and we guarantee some great reggae music! BOOM BLAZE! -Dub Architect-




Polyphonic Dub Collective - DubCast - 09.23.2011

New PDC Release: "Jet Plane" on 'Island Rocker' by Akshan

BOH BOH BOH!!! Big news from PDC - our good friend Akshan has just released his new album "Island Rocker"  I was lucky enough to have a song that I wrote entitled "Jet Plane" appear on the album that featured production work by Ryan Seda (Shux) as well as Arsonal who has worked with Akon, Wale, and Pusha T to name a few!

The song provided a great opportunity for me to broaden my horizons and work in a new arena with a different sound.  Shux provided some great insight into drum lines and some production work and having an acclaimed producer like Arsonal work on the track was also huge.  Akshan, of course, is a machine.  This guy puts out excellence every time he gets near a mic.  I've had the privilege of working with him for years with Dub City Renegades and we've always had a great musical connection and it was only a matter of time before we collabed for a track for his solo project.  Definitely look for future PDC tracks to feature his lyrical stylee and I definitely hope to work with Shux and Arsonal again as well!

Check out my new track of Akshan's "Island Rocker" entitled "Jet Plane" below and buy the track to support him!!!  What am I saying... but the WHOLE ALBUM - it's a BANGER!!  So proud to have been a part of this journey with AK and so proud for him!! BOH BOH BOH!!

BOOM BLAZE!
- The Dub Architect

Had to fly around the world real quick.. sorry!

Phew! Man am I tired after that! haha It's been a while since my last post so I finally forced myself to sit down and write again.  Currently I've been trying to drum up some interest in PDC by posting on various reggae groups from around the world.  The results have actually been pretty great!

I posted a new sample from the upcoming album last week called "The Long Way" which is a 10 minute "chill as hell make you wanna lay on the couch and forget your problems" type of tune.  You can find it posted on SoundCloud here: http://soundcloud.com/polyphonic-dub-collective/the-long-way-dubber

The response has been great!  The song has gotten around 500 plays in the first 6 days now which is honestly more plays than I think any song I've ever been on in any project has gotten played thus far in my career!  So that was my first big accomplishment this week.  The second being that I have gotten some amazing feedback this past week.  People from literally all over the world have been giving me compliments on my work.. Colombia, Brasil, Germany, Indonesia, India, New Zealand.. the list goes on and on - incredible!  The highlight had to have been the Toots and the Maytals "liking" "The Long Way" on their Facebook page! That is one hell of an endorsement!

But seriously - the biggest high for me has really been connecting with all these fans and musicians from around the world.  Even if I don't speak their language I've been trying to use Google Translate to communicate with them and let them know I'm thankful.  The only reason I make music is to do something that makes me and others really happy and forget about the rest of their problems and focus on the good.  As long as my music continues to do that I'll continue doing what I do!

That's it from the dub lab for now - I'm continuing to work on and expand the OBX sessions for the upcoming CD and it's really coming along!  It'll be something special when it's release.  Until next time... keep it dubby!

- The Dub Architect

Album Art and Recording

The recording phase is (for the most part) currently wrapping up!  I've narrowed down my pool of tracks for this album to about 20 at the current time.  I've decided that for the most part I'm happy with the material I've recorded and am ready to move onto mixing and recording other artists.  I've been in touch with several vocalists from across the East Coast - DC, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York so far.  We'll be adding in vocals as well as some instrumental features throughout the mixing process.  Beautiful part of recording and mixing everything yourself is you don't have to worry about studio costs.  If I'm unhappy with a part I can just grab my guitar and redo it without having to fork over an arm and a leg.  While this is an awesome convenience it also makes it difficult to just STOP recording and work on the mixes.

I'm really happy to announce (to anyone interested enough to read this) that I'll be working with a lifelong friend on the DREAMING... album art, Lauren Pack.  Lauren and I have known each other since (I think?!) around second grade which I think is really cool.  She's definitely seen my life throughout the past 20 years or so and I think is going to do a great job with the art.  Without disclosing too much (not that we have it narrowed down enough to even know! lol) we're going for a west coast / dream theme throughout.  I'm really excited and it's making me lean towards actually doing some physical distribution because I think the packaging will just be awesome with Lauren's art!  So expensive though compared to digital distro.. if anyone has any advice I'd love to hear it.

Overall it's an exciting time for the DREAMING... concept - phase 1 is complete and the album is really starting to take shape.  I think this is really going to be a strong release - I'm certainly putting everything I have into making great album that really represents me and hopefully makes people happy.  Can't ask for much more than that!

Also working hard on trying to build up my online following (I think currently I'm at a whopping 40-50 fans! lol).  It's been a while since I've been doing promotions for myself and damn it ain't easy!  Any help those that ARE reading this can provide is always greatly appreciated!  This is a grassroots project through and through and linking with great people and sharing my passion is what it's all about.. so help me out and share a link, tell a friend, or just blast the tunes!

Peace, love, and DUB.

edit - wanted to throw up a quick pic of the new PDC cards I got made! Pretty dope!  Maybe start a revolution and people will start trading around cards of their favorite bands... that'd be pretty dope if you could put music right on the card too somehow.... my next multi-million $$$ idea!

Hearing for the First Time

So when I came up with this album idea I knew that I would be heading down to the Outer Banks for about a month to clear my head and try to relax before I have ankle surgery again in August.  Space in my car was at a premium so I brought just the bare essentials.  For anyone interested - here's a rough guide to my setup:

I basically recorded this entire upcoming album on my trusty PRS SE (I'm a huge PRS fan and in my opinion the SE's play better than a lot of thousand dollar guitars!) running through my Boss GT-10 effects processor (I'll let you decide for your own but this thing provides some great sounds) into my workspace.  I purchased a Casio LK40 keyboard while I was down here that I've been using as a MIDI controller.  I also have recorded some random samples and ukulele through either an SM57 or some random NADY mics I had laying around.  Now here's my favorite part....

I completely forgot to bring headphones or any form of "studio" monitors!  Well since I'm doing this the "organic" way (read: I'm a poor musician paying off loans for college lol) I used a 12W Squire guitar amp through a serious loop as my monitor.  Now this thing is probably from the mid 90s by my guess came with some sort of a starter kit and probably isn't worth $10 at this point.  But - for what I needed - it's worked!  In creating that serious loop I mentioned I actually somehow created a CB radio receiver as well and am able to hear the radio transmissions from the big commercial fishing boats around Oregon Inlet.  I thought it was a pretty creative solution.

Well fast forward a little - last night I realized I hadn't heard any of these songs (I'm probably 3/4 of the way through my initial wave of recording right now) through anything besides this POS amp!  So I burned a CD, got some good luck from my girlfriend, and headed to my car to take a listen.  I sat in my driveway in the pitch dark with the windows up, turned up the volume, popped the CD in, and crossed my fingers.

Quite honestly (and this might not be fair and it's not meant to offend in the slightest) I felt like I was hearing for the first time.  I can't describe the emotion I felt when I first heard my songs blaring through my speakers.  Now don't get me wrong - I've jammed plenty of times to live recordings or hack studio jobs of my bands throughout the years but never like this.. never a studio sound.. never my mix, me playing every instrument.  As the bass bumped I was reaffirmed that these songs are me.  I am putting everything into these - not just all my effort but all my life experiences as well.  There's a song for and inspired by girlfriend, there's a a track for my best friend going through a tough time, there's a tune that describes my take on life.. this album is going to be me through and through.  Remember that at this point these tracks are all instrumentals - There will be vocals on some track when the album is released from lyrics which I've written but I really feel like these songs tell a lot on their own without words and the music conveys my thoughts and feelings.

I felt like I was hearing for the first time... and now my desire to just keep creating and keep improving is greater than ever.  I know this is a completely unknown, underground, no one cares project at this point.  Hell there's probably not even a handful of people reading this blog at the time of publication!  But I just can't help the feeling that I'm on to something here.. that this album, these songs... I have some real potential.  To me it's just more than a feeling.. it's like I know.. these songs were made to be heard, for people to understand me through my music, and most importantly just to make other people happy.  Maybe it's not now, maybe it's not this album - but so long as these ideas keep coming I'll keep writing and keep working.  Life is good, music is good - I hope people take a second to take a listen and my music means something to them.

Thanks for reading. This life is a journey and we're all on the same ride - be good to yourself and to one another.

Peace, love, and DUB.
The Dub Architect