Dub War

Pain

Discogs: https://www.discogs.com/release/401144-Dub-War-Pain

Year Of Release: 1994

Review

I remember seeing an ad for a concert by Dub War in one of the free music newspapers in September or October 1995. I hadn’t heard of them previously, but a young lady in my Elizabethan Lit (look, we’ve all got a past) class expressed an interest in going, so we made it a date. I remember being nervous beforehand, so much so that I forgot to take my passport to use as identification, and we pretended to the doorman at The Roxy that I was a French exchange student and didn’t understand the need for proof of age at licensed venues. In any case, it was an excellent gig, and I remember the support acts were Pangaea and Emporium – two very entertaining Brisbane-based outfits. The gig poster used the photo from the Strike It single. I wish I could find a copy of it, but here’s one I found on an eBay listing.

Ironically, I didn’t buy a copy of this album until maybe ten years later, when I’d started to earn enough of the folding stuff that buying CDs was something I could afford to do. It’s a great album from start to finish, one of those performances that has you wondering why these guys weren’t bigger too. I know I say that about several rap / rock and dub / rock bands, and then I guess people were a bit more ready for something like it in the new millennium.

Standout tracks on this one are Strike It, Why, Nar Say A Ting, and Spiritual Warfare. But I’ll happily bop along to anything Dub War is playing. If you haven’t heard of them, they’re definitely worth checking out.

Rating: 8/10