Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Interview: Duburbia

[The following interview was conducted by k@t, posted-n-shined by Gabe. It's an interview done with Nick Clark, the guitar player of Duburbia. Enjoy...]

Duburbia is the premier dub/rock band from the Virginia Beach/Norfolk area in Hampton Roads, Virginia. Duburbia has been entertaining the crowds with their original style of reggae and rock fusion for several years now. The music draws on the vast musical interests and influences including punk, funk, hip-hop, blues, rock, and reggae as well as the beach oriented attitude of the band.

Duburbia formed in early 2004 when Jay Kelly, Nick Clark, Matt Maxwell, and Mike Berlind all got together for the first time to play music. Singer Jay and Guitarist Nick had been in a band together in the mid '90s and had both been struggling to form a solid band since. Matt was introduced to the two through mutual friend and former bassist Ben Grillo. With Matt on bass, the three found drummer Mike though an ad at the local music store Alpha Music. Duburbia stepped on stage for the first time at a Norfolk hole in the wall bar called Paulette's Outer Banks. It was a very special show for the band because they got to play with one of their favorite bands and biggest influences, the band Bargain Music, from Long Beach, CA. Duburbia quickly took over the local music scene and played at every venue they could get into. Bringing in keyboardist Chris Jones, Duburbia rose through the ranks and began getting the best local gigs at the best local venues including The Jewish Mother, The Beach Club, The Peppermint Beach Club, Club Excess, and The Norva. They also shared the stage with many of their favorite bands such as Long Beach Short-Bus (members of Sublime), Slightly Stoopid, Pepper, Fishbone, HR of Bad Brains, Authority Zero, The MisFits, The Expendables, Badfish (Sublime Tribute Band), The Phunk Junkies, as well as many others.

>Duburbia self-released their first album, 'The Situation,' in Oct. of 2004. About a year after the release, Chris Jones left the band and was replaced by keyboardist Jason Campen in Sep. of '05. With Jason ..s, Duburbia recorded their second self-released album, 'One More Brick For Babylon.' The recording sessions for this one were long, drawn out, and meticulous, but the band was very pleased with their final outcome. 'One More Brick…' was released in Nov. of '06. The year of '07 found much change within the band. Nick left the band in late '06 and was replaced by Diego. Duburbia added an extra touch to the mix with percussionist, Fred, and MC Big Rob. Mike then left the band in Sep. of '07, along with Diego. DJ Smith stepped in to add a new style on drums, and Nick returned on guitar. Duburbia hit the stage again with a strong performance on New Year's Eve at Jillian's Waterside in Downtown Norfolk. Duburbia has come back stronger than ever in the first part of '08 and is looking forward to the future.

Did you grow up in Hampton Roads? If so, what cities?

I was born in here in Virginia. I lived in Virginia Beach when i was first born but moved around alot soon after. Before I was 7 I had lived in California and Georgia, as well as returning to Virginia Beach in between and after. When I was 7 I moved to Antigua, a small island in the Carribean. I moved to Bermuda, another tropical island in the Atlantic, durring my High School Years. When I graduated, I moved back to Virginia Beach and have, for the most part, lived in Virginia Beach or Norfolk ever since. Of the original members of the band, only drummer Mike Berlind and I originated in Virginia. Lead singer, Jay Kelly, was born in Mass. but made his was to Virginia by the mid eighties. Jay lived in Chesapeake, Virginia Beach, and Norfolk, but mainly called Ocean View home. Bassist Matt Maxwell was born and grew up in Pennslyvania and moved to Virginia Beach around 99. He now lives in Norfolk.

Describe your music to someone who has never heard it.

Reggae is a huge part of what Duburbia is all about. Good friend Rich Elkins described the sound as 'Rude Boy Reggae.' We take the reggae influence and mix in all of the other sounds bouncing around in our heads. You can hear tinges of punk rock, hard rock, hip hop, blues, and a blend of many other genres.


What's the writing process for your music? Do the lyrics come first? Does the music come first? Who does what?

Every song comes about differently. At the begining, Jay and I brought in both songs that we each individually wrote and some that we wrote together. As we formed into a real band, we began to collaborate durring the writing process, with all memebers adding in. We still, however, wrote every song in different ways. Sometimes Jay would come in with lyrics, and we would come up with music to match. Other times we would come up with all the music and Jay would either match lyrics he already had or write lyrics for the music. Sometimes Jay would come in with a song pretty much done, and we would put the finishing touches on it. Sometimes I would come in with a fully finished song. And still other times we would all write a song together, with the lyrics and music all combining at once.

Do you have an albums / demos / merch / releases available to purchase? Where can you buy them?

We released our first self produced album in October of 2004. We had one recorded song before that in '03, but it was before we had officially become Duburbia. We recorded a highly Dubbed out version of our song 'Warrior' with good friend Jaboo on drums at his 'Humble Ark' studio (Dub is a mixture of reggae and psychodelia with spacey echoes, reverb, and other effects). But our first official Duburbia release was 'The Situation' in '04. This was recorded by Dave Maggi at Grasshopper Studios in Chesapeak. In '05 we recorded a version of Sublime's 'Slow Ride' for a tribute album also at Grasshopper Studios. After that, we went in to Soul Haven Studios in Virginia Beach to record our next album. We spent many sessions over a long time to finally produce the album 'One More Brick For Babylon' which was released in Nov. '06. Tim Roberts recorded and produced this album, and we were very happy with the final product. Along the way we put out many T-shirts, beer coozies, stickers, magnets, and other various merchandise sold at our shows. Currently we are sold out of all merchandise, including 'The Situation' and the second pressing of 'One More Brick For Babylon'. However, you can download our songs from our myspace page (www.myspace.com/duburbia). You can also contact us through that page and I will personally respond and send MP3 copies of all our songs if you so request.



What is your most crazy show story? (Any naked women running around? Drunk bar fights?)

We have had too many crazy shows to narrow it down to just one. Duburbia has seen many bar fights, broken windows, flying chairs, naked girls on stage, broken noses and bones, pot smoke wofting from the guitar amp, police coming to break up the party only to join in on the fun, broken tables, jelous boyfriends watching their girl dance onstage, and just about anything you could think of and more that you could never imagine. A couple particular incidents I can think of right off hand include Jay tackeling someone by jumping off the stage only to realise they were good friends and the infamous Jay throwing a beer onstage at Eric Wilson (bassist for Sublime).

How much do you think hype affects the public perception of what good music is?

Having a good energetic front man is crucial in getting the crowd involved. When you can get the crowd into it, you have a good show. Many times as musicians we have left the stage feeling our performance was less than stellar, yet fan after fan telling us how good the show was. And, of course, add alcohol to the fans and the band gets much better.


How would you like to see the local music scene change? (venues, fans, other bands)

Local Venue owners and managers need to get their mind off of the almighty dollar and recognise musical tallent. Alcohol sales are definitely the driving factor in the minds of local club owners, and that has nothing to do with music. Take, for instance, the huge DC band Fugazi. They refuse to play venues or even advertise in any magazine that has anything to do with Alcohol, and they have been one of the biggest bands for over 20 years. If it was up to local club owners here, Fugazi would never have been given a chance. And recently, I have noticed an onslaught of socalled Promoters here in the local area. They are brining good bands to town, but they rely on local acts to bring in the crowds by selling their own tickets. NO BAND SHOULD HAVE TO SELL THEIR OWN TICKETS to someone else's production.


What's up for the band in 2008? ( a tour, album?)

That is a good question. The future of Duburbia is unknown to even the band itself. For right now, we have one show scheduled for Aug. 14th. This very well could be the last Duburbia event, but no one knows what lies ahead in the future. (Aug. 14th @ Retro, Virginia Beach oceanfront, with D.H.H. www.myspace.com/dhhmusic, Josh Fischel from the band Bargain Music from Long Beach, CA www.myspace.com/joshfischel, and Skunk Record's artists 3rd Alley from Long Beach, CA www.myspace.com/3rdalley)


What local bands and artists do you recommend?

I play in another band, David Hasselhoff's Haircut, which is a Virginia Beach based Punk/Reggae band. Hampton Roads has always had a treasure trove of great musical acts. Good punk bands such as the Candy Snatchers and the Unibombers have been around forever. Reggae and Ska influenced bands such as Jessie Chong band, and Jackmove always put on good shows. And since we first started playing, there have been tons of rock/reggae bands crawl out of the woodwork such as 2nd Nature, 30 Sense, No Dreads, Truck, Riddim Assassins, The Flash Cast, and many more. Ofcourse I can't forget the vast wealth of traditional Reggae always pumping out the Irie Vibes in the local area such as Rasta Revolution, Zion Wave, Nature's Child, Session Rockers, Jomo Pemberton and Jah Seed, and many others.

What are your favorite venues to play at? How would you like to see the available venues to change when booking shows? (better sound / lights/ pay/ promotions)


There are so many good places to play around here. Sold out shows at the Norva have been some of our most energetic performances (you can see footage of one on youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cF402IPeOD8) Other local venues could put some money into stage work and soundsystems, which would take alot of the burden off of local bands. It's hard to make any money when half of your paycheck goes to paying a soundguy to come out so the crowd can hear you.

How do you market your music to the public? What seems to work best for you for letting people know about your shows? (Myspace/ the paper / word of mouth)

Myspace has helped us out a whole lot. A fan started our page for us way back in '04. We have seen it go through many changes, but I believe Tilla Tequilla has been on our friends list since day one (whether that's good or bad, who's to say :-). Seriously, though, myspace has gotten us fans accross the world, which would never have happend before our band was formed. We noticed this early on when we played a show at Recher's Theater near Baltimore. We had never played anywhere in Maryland before, but as we took the stage fan's yelled and cheered and sang along to many of our songs. It was very surprising and made us feel good.

What is your current favorite song?

Honestly, my favourite song for a long time was Wonderful Tonight by Eric Clapton. However, now, i have really been getting into this Nofx song, Falling In Love, about a couple dying in a plane crash. It's the most romantic song i've ever heard. it honestly brings a tear to my eye if I think about it too much.

Last CD bought, downloaded or stole?

I didn't realize you can buy a cd anymore. Actually, i did recetly by a CD. It is by a British band called The Ruts and was originally released in '79. It's a great, underappreciated album and band. The Ruts were contemperaries of The Clash and The Sex Pistols but never got the same amount of fame. They have a similar sound to both of those british bands as well as The Police. It's a great album i would recomend to anyone that enjoys the punk reggae fusion sound.

Quote us your favorite song lyrics. (please include who it is by)

Nofx 'Falling in Love' -
"Blast
Oxygen Mask
Smoke filled cabin
depressurized
don't be afraid
hold on to me
we're going down
But not our love

Death
Don't seem so bad
When I'm with you
My only love
So close your eyes
Kiss me one last time
We're gonna die
But not our love"

[Links]

official myspace page of Duburbia

duburbia.com

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