It’s been a long 19 years since the Long Beach Dub Allstars released their last record.
But this month, fans of the reggae-rockers will finally get to hear new music when the band releases its new self-titled album on May 29.
It’s a 10-track record described by band members as a more grown-up version of the famously party-loving band that formed in 1997 out of the demise of Sublime after the death of the band’s influential frontman Bradley Nowell.
The original 10-piece Allstars lineup included fellow Sublime founders Eric Wilson and Bud Gaugh as well as frequent Sublime collaborators like drummer and producer Marshall Goodman and Opie Ortiz, who was responsible for creating much of the artwork for Sublime, including album covers and T-shirts. He also inked the famous “Sublime” tattoo across Nowell’s back.
The band quickly took off as they picked up where Sublime left off, playing a mix of rock-reggae tunes with a punk attitude and unabashed pride and love for their city that helped etch them into the musical fabric of Long Beach.
After recording two albums, “Right Back,” in 1999 and “Wonders of the World,” in 2001, the band broke up in 2002 but reunited in 2012 (minus Wilson and Gaugh) and continued to rep Long Beach on the live stage while one member even went on to become a respected civic leader.
The Southern California News Group spoke with lead singer Ortiz and Goodman about the new album, Nowell’s continued influence on the band and how a reggae rocker ended up running a city.
Q: It’s been a long 19 years since your last album. What was it like to finally get back in the studio again to record new music after so long?
Goodman: It was a labor of love. It took about 18 months to do and we did it the same way we did most of our records in the past, which is we got a lot of tracks together and we have the vocalist of the group kind of come together and start writing lyrics.
Q: Did things go smoothly?
Goodman: We missed a couple of deadlines and then ended up just crunching it. I was like. “Look, we’re not going to do this record, we’re not going to do the tour, we’re not going to do anything. We’re not getting the record done, let’s just call it all off.” And then they’re (the band) like “Oh, you’re ready to work?” Two weeks later we were done with the record. So just a little agitation, just a little push is all it took for the team to get together and close out the record.
Q: So why after so long did you decide to record a new album?
Ortiz: We had done some minor recordings, we were always trying to record, messing around, always kind of working with different people and always planning something… everyone was always working and doing their own things and then it kind of just culminated into this.
Q: What were your goals for how you wanted this album to sound?
Goodman: I don’t really like going into the studio and jamming because then all of us are thinking a certain way. We can always jam but if we have a target we can get something done. So our target for this record was, the words I got from Opie were organic, authentic, reggae, of course,…we wanted to play reggae but whenever Long Beach Dub or Sublime play reggae we played it the way we did. It was never really roots or nailed-down Jamaican reggae, it’s just us. So that was definitely the foundational goal and then we wanted to interject some rock, some funk, some energy from that direction. So organic reggae rock is where the target was.
Ortiz: It’s just a more refined Dub Allstars this time around, more reggae, we have a couple of songs that still have that old punk rock style. We’re just trying to have fun, play great music. The tone is about positivity.
Q: What are some of your favorite songs from the album?
Goodman: I would say “Tell Me,” that’s our single and that’s why we chose it as our single. It’s a feel good song, and that’s going back all the way to Sublime, backyard partying.
Ortiz: I like the heavy one, it’s called “Breakfast Toast” and it’s kind of like a blow-by-blow story about one night witnessing a band play in a backyard and having fun and being a part of that.
Q: Sublime and Bradley Nowell were such an integral part of the musical fabric of Long Beach. When we hear you do we still hear some of him in your music?
Goodman: He’s definitely still here with us. Everything we do, everything I breathe and move forward with has elements of Brad and I think about him all the time…nothing is going to be like his voice and that’s the one thing. We’re proud to be the Long Beach Allstars, we’re proud to have Opie as our vocalist. We never wanted him to sound like Brad, that wasn’t the goal. Opie sounds like Opie and Opie has Opie’s energy and that’s the key to this band. Yet we are all grounded in our history and Bradley is essential. He’s a huge core of that.
Q: Marshall you’re also a politician (the former mayor and current council member of La Palma in Orange County). How did that happen?
Goodman: First and foremost I am an elected official. I would not call myself a politician. I don’t want to be a politician. I don’t know that I’ll ever want to be a politician. However, I am in the game and the game is public service…I went back to school in 2009, finished school in 2013 and in 2014 I said, “You know what, I’ve lived in this city a long time so let me do something, join a committee or something, engage my city.” So I joined the Community Activities and Beautification Committee. I served on it for three years, became the chair and I had no idea that that committee is what the council looks at for future council members. So they’re watching me the whole time. I went to a few ribbon cuttings and at one ribbon cutting we’re sitting at this big long table with some senior council members and one of the senior council members told me they had a vacancy coming up and if I was interested in running. And I said “Absolutely not. I’m good, ribbon cuttings, wearing a suit for this, this is good enough for me.”
Q: What? You said no?
Goodman: Yeah. I went home and said to my wife that they asked me to run for city council, “Can you believe that?” And she looked at me and was like “Are you crazy? Of course you should run for city council, why wouldn’t you?”…so I ran unopposed, got elected and here I am in my fourth year.
Q: What did you promise people?
Goodman: Economic development. And the first month I was mayor I got an exclusive negotiating agreement with a huge developer and we are potentially going to have a $700 million to a billion dollar development in our city.
