Courtesy of Long Beach Dub Allstars

A FIRESIDE CHAT WITH ERIC WILSON OF THE LONG BEACH DUB ALLSTARS


I am not a Long Beach Dub Allstars fan. What I am is a fan of Sublime and although Brad Nowell was a little too heroin chic (dying of an overdose in '96), the album plays on and with its success, the remaining mates have formed the Dub Allstars. With the releases of Right Back and its follow up, Wonders of the World, the Dub Allstars have all but left the memories of Sublime and its fallen hero in the wind. After seeing them perform live on some Vans skateboard tour or something to that effect, the Dub Allstars have earned my respect and even with potential Tony Hawks soaring above my head to deafening cheers from the crowd, I was able to get into some of the LBDA's music. It ain't bad and in the day where an American Idol gets a record contract and couldn't hold a tune with four pairs of hands, the LBDA's old-fashioned style of no-bullshit rock is fine by me. Founder Eric Wilson called me from their tour bus to talk about the record, Sublime's success, and the future of the Dub Allstars, as always unedited and in his own words.


FRED JUNG: Let's start from the beginning.

ERIC WILSON: My father was a musician to begin with, so I grew up around music. My dad taught drums in the garage and so there was all these musicians coming by, his friends and when I got a little older, I wanted to play the trumpet and so he brought me a trumpet and I didn't like that. He also said that drums were too much to carry around, so later on, I got a guitar and I learned how to play a guitar for a while and I was playing in a couple of punk bands. I finally picked up a bass and that was my instrument. Bud (Bud Gaugh), our drummer, I met him when he lived across the house from me and he learned how to play drums from my dad.


FJ: When did you two get together with Brad Nowell and form Sublime?

ERIC WILSON: I would say about '86, '87.


FJ: Sublime didn't take off until the release of the self-titled album, which came out in 1996, so it must have been a real grind for the first ten years?

ERIC WILSON: Yeah, we were just playing parties for years. Then we started getting a following from the West Coast, up to Seattle and down to San Diego. We started touring. We would get into any vehicle we could tour in and sell our demos out of the back of the trunk. We got a really big cult following without a record label for a long time before we actually hit it big with the self-titled album.


FJ: Sublime was really a grassroots band and touring was your bread and butter.

ERIC WILSON: Oh, yeah. We're still doing it, but we're in a nice air-conditioned bus now. I think we should be recording too, but it is important that we get our message out to all the kids through like the Warp Tour.


FJ: Brad was found dead in a Bay Area hotel room from an apparent heroin overdose, that must have broadsided you and Bud?

ERIC WILSON: To say the least. Yeah, but that's what heroin will do to you. You might think that you can take heroin and not get hooked, they're crazy.


FJ: When did you and Bud decide to move on and continue Brad's musical legacy?

ERIC WILSON: Well, we did this benefit concert that we set up for a college fund for his son. We weren't really sure if our album was going to do as it did really. We wanted to do a benefit concert for the kid. I got a bunch of my friends together that we all jammed in different bands here and there. Marshall Goodman, the drummer, used to play the drums when Bud moved out of the band for a while. We got these guys together and just worked out some Sublime songs and did the show and we thought we had such a good time doing it, that we just kept doing it from there. We booked a couple of tours on our own and they did really well and so we just figured that we should just keep on doing it.


FJ: What's with the name, Long Beach Dub Allstars?

ERIC WILSON: Actually, it was really Brad. Brad was talking about it when we had problems with MCA one time when we signed to them and if we couldn't keep our name, we would just put out a dub album and call ourselves the Long Beach Dub Allstars. So basically, Brad named us. I'm not the biggest fan of the name myself. I like names of bands that are shorter than that.


FJ: So what would you like to name the band?

ERIC WILSON: Well, I would like to change it to L.B. Dub. But that is what everybody uses as slang anyways. They will come up to you and say, "Let's go see the Dubs or something like that."


FJ: Was it a big stretch to go from a core trio with Sublime to what is essentially a septet?

ERIC WILSON: I think it is good in the way that playing the Sublime songs the way we recorded it because we didn't just do three things. We used turntables and keyboards and other stuff. So we wanted to try to capture the sound more like the album. But as far as writing new songs, I'm into writing songs just for three member really. It is a task to arrange a song and tell all the other members of the band on what they should do. If everybody tries to write together, it is like a nightmare. It is too many cooks in the kitchen. As far as writing songs goes, the songs that we have produced lately at least have been for a three piece, kind of up beat. The reggae songs were the ones where we could record with all the other instruments and other stuff like that.


FJ: Let's touch on the new album, Right Back. You didn't fall prey to rushing the album out.

ERIC WILSON: We were just spending time touring and really just getting over the tragedy and doing short tours and taking a lot of time off and me and the guitarist started writing some stuff and we clicked really good like me and Brad did as far as songwriting goes. He will come up with the melody and some lyrics and I'll come up with a bass line and maybe a different part to the song. The next thing you know, you've got a song and we try it out with a drummer. We recorded it the new album, shit, that was last year.


FJ: Recommend a track for listeners.

ERIC WILSON: I would say that if you are more into the Sublime sound, "Rosarito" is a good song and "My Own Life" is a good song. It is more produced.


FJ: Has touring kept you guys busy?

ERIC WILSON: Wow, we've been pretty busy. We've been off for about a month and a half, but almost every other weekend, we have been flying up to like Chicago, Boston, and Colorado for just one nighters and I would rather be on a bus for a while than flying around and sitting like sardines in an airplane.


FJ: Sounds grueling.

ERIC WILSON: Yeah, it does, but it was a lot rougher when I was starting off.


FJ: What was the worst part of touring?

ERIC WILSON: Wondering if we had enough gas money to get to the show or whether we would make it without breaking down. Worrying about where we were going to sleep at night.


FJ: Did you at least have a van?

ERIC WILSON: The first time we went out, we had a Blazer with a U-Haul. And it was an old Blazer too, so it wasn't too fun. It was more of an adventure back then because everything was new to us. Now, I really don't even care to look out the window most of the time because I've been across the country so many time after time and all you see is the clubs. It is tough. It is like a job really. It has its ups and downs. Plus, I have a kid. I miss my kid a lot. We just left today, so right now, I am in good shape. I needed to get out for a while.


FJ: You guys are heading out to headline the Warp Tour.

ERIC WILSON: Oh, yeah. Sublime did the first one. By now, I would imagine, it is a lot more organized as far as production and all that than before. It was still pretty good.


FJ: How is playing on the Warp Tour different from another summer festival?

ERIC WILSON: Well, there are more stages, so if there is a band that isn't really too popular yet. There are a few bands up there that are not really popular and they are going on at the same time and then on another stage, there's a really popular band and then they are going to get a really lousy turnout. That is the downside to that stuff. If you are going on when NOFX is going on and you are some band that just started getting going, you are going to be bummed (laughing). It is almost not worth all the fucking bullshit.


FJ: Do you still call Long Beach home?

ERIC WILSON: Oh, yeah. I was born and raised there.


FJ: Think you will ever leave?

ERIC WILSON: Doubt it. I moved up north for a while and I couldn't handle the rain all the time. It is beautiful up there, but I just couldn't handle the weather and so I moved back. I tried. I tried to leave, but it is really nice. I live right on the beach and I'm totally stoked about the neighborhood I grew up in. It is a real working class neighborhood. It is not like a ghetto and it is not ritzy.


FJ: What is your favorite Long Beach watering hole?

ERIC WILSON: Well, I've got one secret place. It is at the harbor. It is called Birth 55 and for a good drinking hole, we go to this place called Limericks, the artists' pub or some of the guys in the band go to this bar called Ferns, but it is in the shadier part of town and there is usually parolees and drug dealers hanging out there. I don't really spend much time there. That is where we did our "Date Rape" video. We did that there. So I stay away from that place because there are some bad characters.


FJ: What do you do when you have down time?

ERIC WILSON: Well, on the road, we have a little four track with a drum machine and a little bass and guitar and we write a lot of songs. Usually, if they come out really good then we will end up showing them to the drummer during sound checks, which we won't be able to do this tour because we don't have one, then we play them live. It is a good way to write songs and after the tour, they kind of evolve and sound better than they did when we wrote it and we record it because a lot of times when we record something that we learned on the spot, then later on, I find myself playing a different bass line that sounds more appropriate for it and I wish we would have recorded it like that. Writing on the road is a good thing to do.


FJ: What do you take with you to listen to on the road?

ERIC WILSON: I would have to say The Dead Milkmen, Luciano, the reggae artist, Greyboy Allstars, Iron Maiden, and Pantera. I listen to all sorts of music. I like the old stuff too, music like the Astronauts or the Challengers.


FJ: Last good movie you saw.

ERIC WILSON: That would have to be The Big Lebowski.


FJ: Why?

ERIC WILSON: I liked everything about it. I just loved the Dude was, just everything about him was great. I also like John Goodman, who plays a real great Vietnam vet too. He is a psycho guy. That's a movie I can watch time after time.


FJ: When are you guys going back into the studio?

ERIC WILSON: After this six week run, we are going to start recording. We're have to go to Japan two weeks after this one, but Marshall is also expecting to have a kid and so we are going to postpone that. I think it is a good idea because we need to get situated and then we will go to Japan after that or something. I think we have sold in Japan what is like selling 500,000 records here, so we should do good there. They like anything that is American.

Fred Jung is the Editor-In-Chief and has learned to respect the Bing. Comments? Email Him