Interview with Dubus

- How did Dubus come to life as a project? What inspired you to explore Dub music, and how did your creative journey begin?

At the beginning of 2001 we reunited with our previous band, we were a seven member outfit then and some of us wanted to expand our usual punk/ska sound inspired by albums like OK Computer (Radiohead), Homework (Daft Punk), Dummy (Portishead), Clandestino (Manu Chao), Sublime and many other now classics. We were hooked on Fruity Loops, it was such a good way to learn music theory and a way into electronic music production techniques, something that all those albums had in common even though stylistically they might be very different.

That soon led us to making Dubus a side project all together and eventually we stopped rehearsing as that band and started playing along with the loops and sequences on a MiniDisc player; laptop computers were still out if our reach, but we did realise that we needed to work hard and invest in serious gear in order to get the sound we were after.

It took some time but through music sharing in our inner circle of friends we found the connection of those and some other of our most beloved albums and the sound that had come out of Jamaican studios like King Tubby's and Lee 'Scratch' Perry's Black Ark. That's when it all made sense, that Dub Version label on the B-side of all the vinyl releases by the new wave / post-punk singles we grew up listening to in Tijuana.

About 7 years into it we got a couple of Akai MPC drum machines and we decided to leave past band line-ups behind, it was us Jennifer and Carlos who'd been pursuing this path mostly, since childhood, we'd both grown in very musically inclined households, surrounded by records, mixtape making, casiotone keyboards, musicians and live music.

- Your sound is deeply immersive, blending electronic and psychedelic Dub elements. Could you describe your creative process? How do you approach producing and performing your music?

Usually we write new tunes whenever we feel the need to disconnect from the outside world, whatever situation that might be going on. Creating a bass line is the most important step, channeling the right vibe as is sets both the rhythm and the harmony; we love playing with the MPCs, the feeling of the raw drum and cymbal samples when you hit the pads is unlike anything else we've tried, very powerful, so the beat is always fun. The melodies are deeply inspired by the timbre of the sounds we choose, we are always looking for new textures and at the same time we tend to go for the vintage vibe of our small collection of synths, and sometime we'll even sample some other instruments, depends on what we're going for.

For many years our focus was in our live performance, so we'd rehearse a lot, always looking to make the most out of the gear we had in hand at the time, arranging it in a way that would allow us to create something out of a loop of tracks coming in and out and going through effect pedals as we feel at the moment.

In 2015 we felt ready to make a proper album, so our focus shifted a bit to arranging the music as to make instrumental songs that could tell a specific story. Then our main concern was to capture that live performance feeling and achieving that sound that inspired us from the very beginning.

- How has Tijuana’s unique music and cultural scene influenced your sound and artistic vision? Are there any local artists or experiences that shaped your path?

Indeed Tijuana is very unique due to it's location, it's grown along the borderline to California and that gives us a world of possibilities, even more so in the neighborhood we grew as kids, it was like an island between the international border fence, an interstate high speed way and the Pacific Ocean, isolated from national media airwaves up until the mid nineties.

The city thrived from the United States alcohol prohibition in the 1920s which gave way to it's tradition to tending that type of tourism, you know, bars for young marine soldiers as drinking age here is 18 vs 21 there. On the other hand, people from all over the country got stuck here on their way to the American dream, which gave way to a melting pot that, looking on the bright side of the situation, music benefited from.

It was probably Herb Alpert who gave identity to this melting pot through the Tijuana Brass albums even though he only experienced it from a bullfight tourist point if view. That Charles Mingus' Tijuana In Blues mixed with percussion, marimba and mariachi horns sound was also present in Santana's historical performance at Woodstock.

Tijuana's sound was shaped by those influences in the early seventies, 5 or 6 piece bands playing ballads slightly influenced by either rock, tropical music or both. In the eighties post-punk and early hiphop came into scene and later gave birth to the nineties indie culture that found us as teenagers.

All of the above represents a small portion of the city's population, the border crossing card holders, that's probably what's shaped us the most, being able to listen to english sung music on the radio, movies, tv, buying import records, going to shows in the San Diego / Los Angeles area, shopping fashion and most importantly music instruments. The majority of the population came here in the last couple of decades and are foreign to this, maintaining their traditions and popular music still.

Hello, Jennifer and Carlos!

Great to have you here. Let’s dive right in:

- Your performances are often described as cinematic and powerful. How do you achieve that visual and sonic synergy during live shows?

A live session can be very nerve wrecking beforehand for us as we are deeply connected emotionally to our music, and for us that is the point of doing such presentations. As we both create the music together we just try to sense the energy from the audience and channel it through the performance, trusting that we know exactly how the music goes and that we've already preset every parameter in every track in a way that we are able to play with it and tell a story improvising along the way. And the same goes for the visual projections as well, which we would do every time if allowed by the circumstances.

- What have been some of the biggest challenges for you as independent producers in the Dub and electronic scene? How have you overcome them?

Being able to do it is the biggest challenge; dealing with the real world circumstances and being able to disconnect from them in order to manifest peace and silence to enjoy the home studio. Sacrificing wants, needs and moments too, in order to get the gear and skill to produce Dubus.

Dealing with the so-called scene is a challenge, if it were really about music we'd be doing live performances way more than we actually do. Not going into details about this is a challenge.

We wouldn't say we've overcome them, it's more like that we trust that this is our given mission and that we just get stronger and wiser as we keep moving forward along the path.

- What’s next for Dubus? Are there any new releases, collaborations, or projects on the horizon?

We are working on the visual presentation for the next series of live sessions, when or wherever those might be, and we are also taking a step forward with our music, recording a couple of vocal tracks with some artists that have influenced us and we deeply admire and respect and that we'd rather not reveal their names up until the very moment of release, but we're very excited about it and, trust us, it will be good, better than anything you might expect from a humble couple of artists out of Playas de Tijuana.

- What advice would you give to emerging music producers looking to carve their own path in experimental and electronic music?

Do it for the love of music above all. Invest in your gear. Music theory and history matter, invest your time learning and researching how and where did the music you like came to be. Listen to your inner voice. Take care of yourself and be respectful of those who care for you.

I am so grateful for this conversation.

It was amazing to hear about your creative process and your unique take on music.