Predator Dub Assassins
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Predator Dub Assassins

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"Great Indy Bands Struggle to be Heard"

Great Indy Bands Struggle to be Heard
By Richard Menta 1/22/06

I am a fan of the Asbury Lanes, a tiny 1950's 16 lane bowling alley that survived, vintage interior intact, by changing its focus to music rather than the sport itself. Asbury Park is a flattened town, once one of the premier shore towns in the US and now victim of 1960's racial unrest, the collapse of the local economy, and a sustained deterioration of its infrastructure caused by neglect. It is the city Bruce Springsteen sings about in "My City of Ruins" and Bruce himself no doubt frequented these lanes in his youth when it was a bowling alley first and foremost. Depite the calamity it is still a rock-and-roll town.

The 30GB iPod Video is available on Amazon

If you look at the outside of the building you would swear that it was shuttered like almost everything else in Asbury Park. Indeed, the lanes are closed most of the day, opening in the late afternoon five days a week for music and bowling. The bowling costs $10 per person for the night, a bargain anywhere. That's OK because this is a rock club first. Rather than enter a club sporting some mock-vintage deco, the inside of the Asbury lanes is original and straight out of the space race/Danish modern era. A time of fins on cars and pastel colors layered between white and chrome.

No, the Asbury Lanes never closed. It has been in operation for over 50 years with the present owners running it since 1961. They witnessed the full descent of this town as the business is located only a block from the water. It survives now playing on the old movie/rock cliché - as the bands perform on a stage built over the middle four lanes bowlers continue to bowl all night on the remaining twelve. Surprisingly, the loud sound of ball striking pin is muted by the lanes sound system and never interrupts the band we came to see.

Predator Dub Assassin is one of the most polished unsigned artists I have heard in a long time. They have the whole package, playing great original songs that are a dead ringer for the roots reggae tunes that are the basis for their sound. Their music is as authentic as the Asbury Lanes and of all the mediocrity I hear on the FM band as I commute to my day job it again makes me wonder aloud who is spinning the vinyl at the local radio stations these days. These guys should be stars.

Before the show I spoke briefly with the band's front man Tim Boyce. I asked him about independent bands and how his group is utilizing the Net. Tim told me he was signed to a label once, but money never seemed to come in. Their latest CD was self produced and they sell it themselves at their shows. He then volunteered the economics for me.

When you are signed to a label you get $0.70 per CD. Break even costs run about $9.00. Tim then told me that the PDubs latest CD cost them (including studio efforts and disc manufacturing) about $2.50 a CD. They sell them for $10, pocketing $7.50 or ten times more than a label would pay them.

As for the Internet, their Website offers three of their tunes online for free. Tim confessed he had concerns about giving everything away for free and so gave away his mixed feeling about file sharing and the P2P applications that foster this activity. The person who managed their site went MIA recently and so the band is looking for someone else to update it regularly for them. A peek at the shows section of their site confirms this as September 2005 is the last performance promoted on it. For those interested, they play at McCann's in another shore town, Belmar, NJ, every Friday night.

Yup, it's tough to be an indie band. While the Net helps empower artists to earn their own revenues from their music, labels still offer the marketing muscle to rise above the white noise of millions of aspiring acts. Like the Whos shouting "We're Here, We're Here" in hopes they are heard from their life-bearing speck on the head of a clover, talent like the PDubs have to find their own mix to be heard over the din of society. Despite a growing fan base it's not easy.

Good luck gentlemen.

- MP3 Newswire.Net


"Barry and The Penetrators, & Predator Dub Assassins at the Sawmill Bar"

Barry and The Penetrators, & Predator Dub Assassins at the Sawmill Bar February 22, 2002

Beers, Bands, and Blunts. I can think of a few more pretty good sequences, but we’ll stick with that one for now. In the middle of February perhaps the furthest thing from most peoples minds in New Jersey is reggae music, good reggae music at that, and feeling irie when the temperature outside is in the teens. But then again the Patriots won the super bowl so what the hell, right? I had never seen either band and my only taste of the Penetrators was a few songs off their CD thirty minutes before the show. I figured I’d roll the dice, check out the show, and if it sucked I could always accept defeat, grab a slice and split. On stage first were the Predator Dub Assassins. As they made their way into their third song it became clear that there was no pizza in my immediate future. Predator rallied the crowd with their smooth on time-grassroots reggae riffs and a frighteningly smooth voice. Frightening because, if I could sing like that I would be wooing every unsuspecting intoxicated female that walked in the place, and using it to my full advantage. But not everyone is as skewed as I. Mixing originals with some key Bob Marley covers provided just the right mix for the beer guzzling white folk. Picture this: Ron Jeremy with dreads pulling tubes of stinky KB listening to Kenneth Keith Kallenbach with the volume set on 10, and you’ll get an idea of Barry and The Penetrators. Hailing from Asbury Park, Barry and his Penetrators mix the sounds of reggae dub, punk rock, and a lot of lyrical creativity. Without a doubt a must see act for those looking for something different in a live performance. Equipped with female backing vocals, compliments of the band’s keyboard player, their music sent shock waves through the crowd. A majority of Barry’s lyrical content certainly doesn’t lack the element of catching a virgin crowd off guard. My personal favorite was their tune “Skin FluteÓ with lyrics going hand in hand with the title. About three-quarters of the way through their set Predator Dub’s front man joined Barry and his Penetrators onstage for a freestyle dub jam that proved to be the musical highlight of the evening. Their album “Beaver Country” is available on the band’s site at www.barryandthepenetrators.com. They will be back in Seaside at the Sawmill on Friday March 29th. See you there!
-Brett Deptula - Local Swell


"Predator –Blurring Rock and Reggae"

Nite & Day Magazine
Feb 2002
by Mike Lee

Fueled by the charge of front man Tim Boyce, whose 28-year-old voice drips with a mellifluous tone, Predator Dub Assassins is a newly formed reggae band the rattles bars and clubs along the Jersey Shore and Manhattan. The band’s name was hatched because of Boyce’s haunting resemblance to that of the cinema creature of the same name. The Dub Assassins comprise of 21-year-old keyboardist Chris Theobold, drummer Nuno Rodriguez, 25, and Reggae Bob, 22, on bass.
The band’s ingredients for fun are a dash of 70’s-style reggae with a touch of ska, a sound derived from American 1950’s r&b and jazz. Yet what separates P.D.A. from most is the absence of prominent reggae stage props like congas and incense. Instead, the band arches eyebrows with a smaller, more conventional rock band setup, ringing the air with what Boyce calls “a straight-up Reggae sound with a classic rock setup.”
During a live gig Boyce will sense the crowds’ mood and juggle a roster of medleys and sounds that is customary in the reggae requiem, sometimes even baffling his band mates in the process.
“It happens when the crowd is getting me high,” said Boyce who tabs himself as a guy living the bohemian lifestyle. “A lot of Reggae is largely an improvisational medium. Reggae, remember, comes from Ska, Ska comes from Jazz, and Jazz is a music from improvisation.”
Boyce defends his music, urging people who have been virginal toward it in the past to simply listen to it. “People come up to me all the time saying ‘Oh I don’t like reggae music,” said Boyce. “ And I say ‘Even if you won’t go buy a reggae record and you don’t like it when you hear it on the radio, if you go to a place where live reggae is playing, especially if you are already in a festive mood, you are going to like that.’ This is a primal form. This is roots music.”
Boyce leaps further by telling a recent story. “This guy comes up to me after a show. He was a long haired biker guy, and he said he liked heavy-metal music. He also said that he didn’t dance…but that he did tonight,” said Boyce.
Isn’t that what it’s all about anyway? They’re on their way.
- Nite & Day Magazine


"Lotsa Rasta"

LOTSA RASTA

Reggae act P-Dub has Shore roots
Asbury Park Press
BY STEPHEN BOVE
STAFF WRITER

What happens when the islands meet the Shore? Find out when Belmar roots reggae outfit Predator Dub Assassins perform Thursday at The Saint in Asbury Park.

P-Dub formed in October 2001 and made its debut at New York City's Continental at a show benefiting the families of Sept. 11, 2001, victims.

The band quickly developed a loyal following, as fans connected with the band's unique brand of 1970s-inspired Rasta roots reggae.

Predator Dub Assassins revolve around multi-instrumentalist/songwriter Timothy Boyce (a.k.a. Predator), formerly of New Brunswick ska-punk outfit Inspecter 7.

"I've been playing reggae and ska for 17 years. I have no other marketable skills. I have no "plan B,' " Boyce said. "I have seen many come and go in reggae and just music in general. Music is my life and living."

In addition to his time with the Assassins, Predator also has contributed to recent recordings by The Itals, Ronnie Davis, WestBound Train, Barry and The Penetrators, King Django and Dr. Ring Ding.

"It isn't necessarily so much about solidarity between musicians as it is friends helping friends," Boyce said.

P-Dub's self-titled debut album was released in July 2005, and since then, the band has been touring consistently to a rapidly growing East Coast fan base, performing regularly at venues throughout the New York/New Jersey area.

"The tri-state is my home, for better or worse, and I love it," Boyce said. "Most of the people and things that you've ever known, loved or hated are at your home. It's where you're from and where you belong. Could you picture "Shaft' taking place in Salt Lake City?"

01/5/07 - Asbury Park Press •Gannett State Bureau • Courier News • Courier-Post • The Daily Journal • Daily Re


"Return of the Dread-I"

To make a living as a musician in a steadily working bar and club band is an uncommon thing in New Jersey these days. Covering popular radio hits may slightly improve a band’s chances of steady gigs, but only after a long period of dues paying. However, forget about playing your own music; no one hires bands playing original music anymore. Now, if you happen to be a reggae musician, finding steady work is almost unheard of, but it is absolutely ridiculous for a reggae musician to believe that steady work can be found in New Jersey clubs performing all original music. It seems that no one ever mentioned this to Tim “Predator” Boyce of the steadily working original reggae band, Predator Dub Assassins.
Boyce, the band’s guitarist, lead vocalist and song writer, is a self-taught multi-instrumentalist, producer writer and engineer. Developing his chops on everything from rap to heavy metal, his big transformation to reggae music took place when he first heard the music of Bob Marley at age 13. At 17 he began what he calls his “reggae university” phase while working in a recording studio and handling virtually every duty one can be called on to perform. As a result of this experience he became the guitarist and singer for a few reggae bands, eventually joining successful New Jersey ska outfit, Inspecter 7. It was his time spent with I7 that gave him the credibility to start up Predator Dub Assassins and hit the club scene without having to go through the usual dues paying period.
P-Dubs, as they’re known, are a four piece reggae band from the Jersey Shore. Tim “Predator” Boyce wrote and performed nearly all the songs on P-Dubs self titled first CD. Music from this disc can be heard on the band’s MySpace site. The music blends classic roots, rock, reggae riddims and ska influences with Boyce’s socially conscious lyrics and original vocals. P-Dubs live performance is a room filling combination of booty shaking rhythm and Boyce’s surprisingly in-your-face guitar. The band’s first show was an October 2001 benefit for the families of firefighters that lost their lives in the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York City. Since then they have performed all over New Jersey and in New York City to an ever expanding fan base.
Another interesting and unusual aspect of a P-Dubs performance is Boyce’s outspokenness regarding his Rastafarian faith. Invoking the name of Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie I or Jah Rastafari several times per set brings one back to the reggae glory days of Bob Marley. As the son of an Irish mother and Jamaican father, Boyce was always very conscious of his cultural background. He tells a story about a group of friends asking the then 14 year old Boyce what kind of tattoo he would get, “Stop Apartheid” he said without hesitation.
Predator Dub Assassins second CD entitled, The Return of the Dread-I, is due to be released in early 2007.

Websites:
www.myspace.com/pdubs, also at: www.myspace.com/predatordubassassins, www.myspace.com/inspecter7


November 2006
- NJCU


Discography

Predator Dub Assassins (self titled) CD

Photos

Bio

Original roots-reggae band Predator Dub Assassins was formed October 2001 and played their debut show at NYC’s Continental to benefit the families of the victims of the 9/11 attacks on Manhattan. A loyal following developed around P-Dub, as people were quick to connect with the band’s music. Since then the group, formed around multi-instrumentalist/songwriter Ras Timothy(aka Predator), has continued to enthrall live audiences everywhere with the Dub Assassins’ own brand of original 1970’s style Rasta roots-reggae.
Predator Dub Assassins released their first CD in July 2005 and, since then, have been performing non-stop to a loyal East Coast following which they have seen grow rapidly. Regular appearances at popular area venues continue to provide the group with a link to the NY/NJ scene from which they were spawned.
. Predator can also be heard on recent CDs by The Itals, Ronnie Davis, WestBound Train, Barry and the Penetrators, King Django, Dr Ring Ding, Stubborn Records, and; of course, Ska legends Inspecter 7.