Table Dancing Signalled Dubmarine Had The Goods

Back in the '90s, Dubmarine frontman D-Kazman was a youngster from Cairns who followed the beat to Brisbane to have a crack at a larger music scene with his band Hot Rubber Glove. As some members dispersed back to north Queensland, Kazman went in search of an outfit to act as a vehicle for his inimitable lyricism that speaks of spirituality, social issues, Indigenous culture and the joy of music.

“I just said to myself, 'Man, I need a new band – I need a new dance band that's gonna go crazy and gonna be the wickedest thing in the world,'” says the frontman of chancing upon four future Dubmarine journeymen jamming at a house party soon after. “I had a song in my head that I'd written prior to that moment and I just sort of let the lyrics flow into what they were doin' and it seemed absolutely natural. We turned around and everyone's just on tables, dancing and jumping and going crazy and it was like, 'Yes, we've got the formula!'”

With 2010's debut album Depth Of Sound capturing the reggae, roots and dancehall vibes of the eight-piece, Kazman explains how the approach and sound has changed ahead of follow-up Laser Beam Sounds.

“We're sort of delving into newer areas, new bass culture areas like trap music and that sort of idea, and mixing up some of our tunes – modernising it a bit and putting a few more toys in there,” he tells. “The album itself sounds fantastic; we've got Magoo onboard to produce everything and [longtime collaborator] Paulie B, he did most of the tracking and he's a guy that we know very well. We're very close friends and he went out of his way to try and capture our live sound, which didn't really translate last time with our last album.”

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