In the organizer's words:

How many bands have the career longevity to release ten albums? They might have

been perilously close to falling apart on various occasions in their history, but the

Dub Pistols have rolled with the punches and are now gearing up to release their

tenth album in early 2025.

It's been a long road traveled, full of twists and turns, but with their legion of faithful

fans and numerous collaborators and friends the Dubs are in a better place now than

they've ever been with a new album, their own festival, a documentary, a book and

more international tours on the horizon. These renegade Pistoleros are unstoppable.

The Dub Pistols grew out of the big beat explosion of the mid-1990s. Big beat was

the anything-goes reaction to formulaic house music, where - thanks to the

wonders of sampling technology - literally anything could be thrown into a dance

tune. Taking a cue from the Chemical Brothers and Fatboy Slim, main man Barry

Ashworth began making block rockin' beats with pal Jason O'Bryan, and bombastic

first offering 'There's Gonna Be A Riot' was signed by Concrete Records, a

subsidiary of DeConstruction. A string of missives followed in its wake - 'Best Get

Better', the explosive 'Westway EP', and then a chipper 'Cyclone', which dented the

UK national charts - and debut album 'Point Blank' was released in 1998.

The Dubs were on a roll when big-shot US record exec Jimmy Iovine heard the

album. He immediately signed the Dubs to Interscope Geffen and put them on the

road. They'd become a fully-fledged band. They played some huge shows with the

likes of Blink 182, Korn and Limp Bizkit, and recorded their second album, 'Six

Million Ways T o Live'. But just as their second long-player was about to drop, the

9/11 terrorist atrocity happened in New York. Given that various album tracks

contained explosive references to geo-political events that had seemingly just played

out on the international stage, the project was reluctantly shelved. They had to return

to the UK to lick their wounds, and rebuild from the ground up.

The Dubs had remixed the likes of Moby and the Crystal Method by now, and Barry

had become a fine party-rockin' DJ. He started some club nights called The Truth in

his native West London with pal Carl Loben, and was asked to mix the latest

instalment of the acclaimed 'Y4K' series for Distinctive Records - blending a

mixture of house and breaks tracks by Layo & Bushwacka, the Chemical Brothers,

Adam Freeland, Soul Of Man and more. When he finally got the 'Six Million Ways'

album back off Geffen, Distinctive signed it and led its release rollout with the

'Problem Is' single which featured T erry Hall, former singer of 2-T one legends The

Specials.

As the noughties unfolded, Terry Hall started doing shows with the Dubs and

featuring on new tracks such as 'Running From The Thoughts', 'Peaches' and theircover of

'Rapture' by Blondie. The rapturous reception Terry received when he

appeared with the Pistols alongside his other former Specials bandmate Lynval

Golding at the Rise anti-racism festival in London in 2008 - performing The

Specials' first single 'Gangsters', among other tracks - was a major factor in The

Specials reforming at Bestival later that year.

Now signed to Sunday Best Recordings, the Dub Pistols had become adept at

co-opting people into their collective. For their next album 'Rum & Coke' they

recruited former Freak Power man Ashley Slater, Lindy Layton from Beats

International, DJ/producer Justin Robertson and UK hip-hop pioneer Rodney P . The

album was part-recorded in Barbados, where - like their friends Happy Mondays

before them - "the wheels fell off the band" while they were out there, according to

Barry, due to a riot of hedonism on the island.

Next album 'Worshipping The Dollar' was more political in places, tracks with Akala

and Red Star Lion demonstrating how the band still had a social conscience, while

rowdy rabble-rouser 'Mucky Weekend' - a tale of living for a weekend of excess -

was given a first airing. Long-term co-producer Jason O'Bryan left for pastures new

as the second decade of the 21st century saw them consolidating their position as

festival-rocking favorites, due to a lot of hard graft and touring virtually non-stop.

The next two albums, 'The Return Of The Pistoleros' and 'Crazy Diamonds',

reflected their increasingly off-the-chain, exhilarating live shows, with much more

jungle/drum & bass incorporated into their dubwise sound and the permanent

recruitment of rapper Seanie T into the fold.

Ambitiously, the Dubs threw their first festival in 2019 - Mucky Weekender in the

Sussex countryside. Featuring Leftfield, Stanton Warriors, Don Letts, Manasseh

Soundsystem and many more, it caught the tail-end of the summer sun and was

raved about by all attendees. The success of the first Mucky set it up nicely to

become an annual event.

Barry has been very open about his addictions and mental health issues over the

years, and in 2019 he did his first Wing Walk - strapped to the top of a bi-plane -

to raise money for T onic Music For Mental Health. This has evolved into an annual

Flying Circus fundraiser, involving friends from the music world such as Bez from the

Happy Mondays, and Barry has now become a patron of the T onic organization.

The Dubs had readied their next album, 'Addict', just as the Covid pandemic struck in 2020.

in 2020. The solidarity single 'Stand T ogether'

- featuring 2-T one legend Rhoda

Dakar (ex-Bodysnatchers/Special AKA) - dropped just as the Black Lives Matter

protests were commencing worldwide, while tracks with soundsystem stalwarts the

Ragga Twins, newcomer Natty Campbell and more kept their pot on the boil. Thealbum shot into the top three of the UK dance charts and the top ten of the UK indie

charts.

As 2021 began and the pandemic saw little sign of waning, the Dub Pistols released

their cover of New Order's seminal 'Blue Monday' on the third Monday of January to

raise funds for the T onic Mental Health Trust. A couple of months later they released

their 'Welcome T o The Jungle' mix album on Jungle Cakes, featuring a whopping 50

tracks by various dubwise jungle associates as well as artists like Deekline, Ed Solo,

King Yoof and the Beat Assassins remixing some choice Dub Pistols cuts. This

release also shot to the upper reaches of the UK dance charts.

Once Covid restrictions were lifted in mid-2021 the Dubs were delighted to get out

touring again. They rocked an assortment of festivals and also staged the second

iteration of Mucky Weekender, this time on a new site in Winchester, Hampshire.

Groove Armada, Leeroy Thornhill (ex-Prodigy), The Freestylers and the Ragga

Twins were just a few of the acts to nice up the dance over the long weekend.

The Dubs released 'Frontline' in 2023 on their own Cyclone Records, the label

named after one of their early singles 25 years previously. 'Frontline' - featuring the

likes of Horseman, Natty Campbell, Cheshire Cat and the Ragga Twins - reached

No.3 in the UK independent album charts, and singles received radio play from the

likes of Lauren Laverne, Steve Lamacq, Chris Hawkins, Craig Charles and Don

Letts, plus numerous international spins.

They did some remixes from the album with long-term friends The Freestylers, and

the partnership proved so fruitful that they have now recorded their next album with

The Freestylers. Entitled 'Enter The Sound', it's dropping in early 2025 and will see

the Dubs embark on an international tour again, maintaining their position as one of

the hardest-working bands in show business. The Dubs have already played

Holland, France, Germany, Romania and Bulgaria in 2024, with many more

international dates to follow over the next 12 months.

That's after the fifth edition of their Mucky Weekender festival which features Dutty

Moonshine, LTJ Bukem, General Levy, Dreadzone, Bez & Rowetta, Irvine Welsh,

Marshall Jefferson, Krafty Kuts and many more. Of course, the Dubs take center

stage on the Saturday night in their traditional slot, joined by a heap of friends who

they've collaborated with over the years.

They're also sneaking out a live reggae album in 2025, and re-releasing their 1998

debut album 'Point Blank' on vinyl to cater for the collectors amongst their fans -

new and old. With a documentary and a book to follow sooner rather than later, the

stage is set for them to carry on uproariously for many more years. Like we said:

unstoppable.

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