Salmonella Dub

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Salmonella Dub is a dub/drum n bass/reggae/roots band from New Zealand. The band was formed in 1992 by Andrew Penman, Dave Deakins, and Mark Tyler. The band has toured extensively throughout New Zealand, Australia, and Europe, including the UK and Ireland.[1]

History[edit]

The original Salmonella Dub line-up was formed in 1992 in Christchurch. They played their first gig in January 1993 at the Westport racecourse.[2] The 'Dubbies' have been called the pioneers and originators of a unique Pacific style of dub/drum 'n' bass/reggae/hip hop and groove-based rock containing elements of the Polynesian hip hop style known as Urban Pasifika, along with other influential 90s bands like Hallelujah Picassos, Nemesis Dub Systems, Unitone HiFi, and Supergroove. The band helped foster and tour acts like Fat Freddy’s Drop, Shapeshifter, Cornerstone Roots, Kora, and Trinity Roots, as well as the new wave of Australian acts like Budspells, Rastawookie, King Tide, Red Eyes, and the likes, can all thank Salmonella Dub for breaking new ground, in an Australasian alternative music scene which was dominated through most of the 1990s by straight guitar rock, and electronic dance music.[3] For many years the band has been connected to the small north Canterbury town of Kaikōura, where they have their studio, and where they helped found the Kaikoura Roots festival.[4]

The group worked for some time with MC Tiki Taane, who began mixing their live sets in 1996, and later joined the band onstage to rap, sing, and play guitar.[5] After developing a profile with the band, Taane embarked on a solo career in 2007. Also in 2007 was the exit of saxophone player Conan Wilcox, the author of the dubs horn lines to that point. Other guest or collaborative artists have included Paddy Free (of Pitch Black) who produced the most recent album release Freak Controller and performed with the band, and guests Whirimako Black, Hirini Melbourne, Richard Nunns and MC Mana. The band has also collaborated with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and Hamish McKeich.

The recent touring entourage includes the originators: Andrew Penman, David Deakins, Mark Tyler with Guests, Michelle Harrison, The Mighty Asterix, Scotty Taitoko, Simon Kay, Brent Thompson, Laughton Kora. In February 2008, Salmonella Dub and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra collaborated for the Feel The Seasons Change tour of New Zealand with shows performed in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Nelson. The Feel The Seasons Change project combined Salmonella Dub’s contemporary music and production values with elements of Te Reo Māori, the ancient arts of taonga pūoro (traditional Maori instruments) and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra's classical music tradition.[6]

In the year 2000, the band won 8 bNet awards for the album Killervision alongside 4 awards at the NZ Tui awards. In 2002 their album Inside the Dubplates won 4 awards at the Tui's. The irony being the remix album Outside the Dubplates picked up the best downbeat album while bNet gave it the award for best dance album.

Around this time controversy arose as Brendan Smythe from NZ On Air claimed the band had received over $280,000 in NZ On Air grants. The band contends that they received $150,000 in album funding which they allegedly paid back to the government due to the success of their sales.[citation needed]

"United by background images of our geography and history, the omnipresent birdsong of Richard Nunns on traditional Maori instruments, and the outstanding vocals of jazz-blues singer Whirimako Black, the collaboration was certainly intriguing if for its sheer scale. Between songs, conductor Hamish McKeich was careful not to trip over his players, squeezed onto two-thirds of the stage; Salmonella Dub looked oddly well-behaved and vulnerable standing next to them."[7]

At the New Zealand Radio Awards in 2009, Radio New Zealand became the first noncommercial radio station to win the Supreme Award including Best Technical Production, Studio, or Outside Broadcast Recording with Feel the Seasons Change – Live with the NZSO.[8]

The band released the single Same Home Town in 2013 in honour of their 20th birthday. The single is dedicated to the Dux de Lux, the early Christchurch venue for the band.[2]

Discography[edit]

Albums[edit]

List of albums, with selected details and chart positions
Title Album details Peak chart
positions
NZ
[9]
AUS
[10]
Salmonella Dub
  • Released: 1994
  • Label: Curious Recordings
Calming of the Drunken Monkey
  • Released: 6 November 1997
Killervision
  • Released: 13 May 1999
7
Inside the Dub Plates
  • Released: 10 August 2001
1
Outside the Dub Plates
  • Released: 2002
  • Label: EMI
14
Salmonella Dub
(re-release)
  • Released: 23 March 2004
One Drop East
  • Released: 25 November 2004
1 84
Mercy
  • Released: 25 November 2004
35
Heal Me
  • Released: 3 September 2007
2 93
Freak Controller
  • Released: 20 November 2009
26
Freak Controller
(Madness release)
  • Released: 18 October 2010
Commercial Grates
  • Released: 18 January 2018

EPs[edit]

Year Details
1995 Dub Tomfoolery
  • Label: Curious Recordings
1996 THC Winter
  • Label: Curious Recordings
2000 Dub Tomfoolery
  • Release date: 23 March 2000
  • Label: EMI
Colonial Dubs
  • Release date: 16 October 2000
  • Label: EMI
2009 Freak Local
  • Release date: 29 June 2009
  • Label: EMI
"—" denotes releases that did not chart
Date of Release Title Label Charted[11] Country Catalog Number
Live Albums
22 September 2008 Feel the Seasons Change – Live with the NZSO Virgin Records
19
-
Remix Albums
28 March 2006 Remixes and Radio Cuts EMI
34
-

Singles[edit]

Year Title Peak chart positions Album
NZ[9]
1998 "Cols Fish" Calming of the Drunken Monkey
1999 "For the Love of It" 12 Killervision
"Drifting"
"Johnny" 34
2001 "Love Your Ways" 11 Inside the Dub Plates
"Problems"
"Push On Thru"
"Tha Bromley East Roller"
2003 "Nu Steppa" One Drop East
2004 "Dancehall Girl" 34
2007 "Love Sunshine and Happiness" Heal Me
2009 "Freak Local" Freak Controller
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that country.

DVDs[edit]

Date of release Title Label Certification
2003 Salmonella Dub DVD EMI -

References[edit]

  1. ^ Salmonella Dub - History
  2. ^ a b Anderson, Vicki (26 July 2013). "Salmonella Dub". Go, The Press. Christchurch. pp. 8–9.
  3. ^ EMI Music - from the Salmonella Dub EPK
  4. ^ "Interview with Andrew Penman from Salmonella Dub", Nice Up: Aotearoa Reggae, 30 November 2009. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
  5. ^ TikiDub Productions - Biography Archived 22 January 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ New Zealand Symphony Orchestra Collaboration
  7. ^ Rebecca Barry Hill (4 February 2008). "Salmonella Dub and NZSO at Aotea Centre". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 7 November 2011.
  8. ^ "Radio New Zealand Wins Supreme Award". Radio New Zealand. Archived from the original on 17 June 2011. Retrieved 7 November 2011.
  9. ^ a b "Salmonella Dub in New Zealand charts". charts.nz. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
  10. ^ Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010 (PDF ed.). Mt Martha, Victoria, Australia: Moonlight Publishing. p. 242.
  11. ^ "New Zealand album charts". charts.nz. Retrieved 21 December 2008.

External links[edit]