When dub emerged from Jamaica, the music brought with it a number of important lessons. For the first time a trackÕs producer became the ÒsuperstarÓ and the most crucial artistic element. The studio and the actual mixing board became complex and versatile musical instruments. This notion progressed through western music, both following and straying far from its roots. Dub also asked, actually urged, the listener to appreciate and comprehend the importance of the many layers within music. This was done in an extreme never attempted before. Vocals were often left soaring over empty space, loaded with mutated delay, or rhythms were striped away leaving a pure bassline. This technique also has the effect of leaving the listener with a sense of anticipation. Nothing feels better than the millisecond the rhythm drops out or the bass line pops in, ready to vibrate you into a runny pool of liquid. Dick Whittingham and Glyn Bush are the Original Rockers, a pair of producers/artists residing in Birmingham and living in the palaces of dub and house. With their own label, Different Drummer, and a broad musical vision the two have made a large impact on house music while simultaneously reintroducing dub and its important role in all forms of music. Both come from long and varied musical backgrounds, Dick is a DJ of many genres and Glyn has played with a Latin American band, the duo united in the acid house scene and discovered that they were both really into dub. Since their collaboration, they have done production work for St. Etienne and are currently working with a mystery American band. Other than their LP and handful of singles on Different Drummer they have tracks out on Beyond RecordÕs definitive Ambient Dub compilations and will soon be releasing a remix project on BeyondÕs American label, Waveform. Their music varies from house, to deep house, to full-on dub, to ambient. They are also rumored to own a massive 40-foot bass machine. I had the opportunity to speak with Glyn and Dick about their music, producing and production techniques, and some other interesting things. Read on and dub out. What do you two do for a living? Dick - ÒI sort of live off DJing, besides making some money off this music, thatÕs very rare.Ó Glyn - ÒDuring the day I have a secret identity.Ó What is it? ÒItÕs a secret, I canÕt tell you that. Thousands of people would be disappointed.Ó You have a reputation to live up to? ÒI do. The other people in the office would be ... oh, shit.Ó ItÕs in an office is it? ÒNo, no, I didnÕt say that, next question.Ó Are you surprised to have people calling you from Seattle? G - ÒItÕs very nice.Ó D - ÒYes, IÕm very surprised. ItÕs really nice that we are getting so many enthusiastic reviews, especially from the states. G- ÒA lot of people are more tuned in to what we are doing over there than they are in this country in some ways.Ó D - ÒThis time last year I was getting on a plane to go to San Francisco, and I played a few places there. I was amazed at the crowd, they were well up for it, and quite knowledgeable of what was going on in England.Ó Who did you start off with, as far as dub goes? G - ÒTogether, it must be Scientist. Dick played it to me. IÕd heard obviously a bit of dub and stuff, but he played me some Scientist and it blew me socks off. And then we just started buying the records and tracking them down. ThereÕs some amazing stuff around, but itÕs really hard to get. And thereÕs all sorts of different styles within it as well, you know, different ways of doing it. Have you ever heard Blackbeard? HeÕs worth checking out. His name is Dennis Bovell, also know as Blackbeard.Ó So, as far as your music (jumping right in)? How would you prefer to do it? Samples or live or what? D - ÒActually bringing in (sampling) the seventies dub element helps, I think it gives it that warmth. A lot of people say electronic music is cold, well it isnÕt exactly cold, but using the seventies element does help.Ó G - ÒI think, personally, in an ideal world we would have a dub band to sample and play with, and the production techniques those guys were using (seventies dub masters). It a real shame, because in the eighties they all started using horrible drum machines, like higher tech gear which sounds disgusting. Even people like Sly and Robbie, it just seems to loose the vibe altogether.Ó D - ÒThe horrible syndrome.Ó G - ÒIÕm not adverse to syndromes. IÕve got a soft-spot for syndromes.Ó G - ÒI donÕt think weÕre bothered about what we use, as long as it feels right. I mean weÕve just done three tracks, which have been almost entirely synthesizers and there arenÕt really samples at all, actually. WeÕve been getting into that side of it which is great for ambient stuff and great for trancey stuff, where youÕre just letting something repeat for a million years and gradually changing it as it goes along. Tweaking the filters and that sort of stuff.Ó What about production techniques? G - ÒI think on some of the best mixes weÕve done, the more live stuff we do, the better the mix, the better the final product. Whether itÕs doing it on the (mixing) desk or doing it with one of the synths, and thatÕs what weÕre getting more and more into doing now. Rather than switch the computer on and sit back and listen to it and switch the DAT on, youÕre actually working.Ó What kind of gear do you use? D - ÒThatÕs top secret information.Ó G - ÒExtremely cheap and nasty effects units.Ó Like an old Roland? D - ÒWeÕve got an old Space Echo. ItÕs wonderful, thereÕs nothing else like it actually. A prime example is ÔSexy SelectorÕ off the Ambient Dub compilations. We used the Space Echo on that.Ó G - ÒAnd thatÕs whatÕs making that sort of feedback that just goes on and on and on. We did that track and then bloody thing packed up on us. It was a real drag.Ó What about the 40-foot bass machine? Are you sick-to- death of talking about it? G - ÒActually we donÕt talk about it. ThatÕs supposed to be a well-kept secret.Ó So, how did anyone find out it was 40-feet long? G - ÒThey must have seen the plans to the basement.Ó D - ÒItÕs acquiring a momentum of its own, the mythology around the 40-foot bass machine. I donÕt think we need to add much to it.Ó What about the ethical questions and problems surrounding sampling? D - ÒI think if youÕre honest about it, it isnÕt a problem. I see it as respect for the music weÕre using. It did happen to me once, a rasta came up to me and said we was nicking his music. He was pretty fair about it, you know.Ó G - ÒThe way I see it, before sampling came along everyone used to listen to their favorite musician and they would work it into their style, into their playing technique. Now you have sampling, which does it for you, and you have so many people making music who werenÕt musicians before. YouÕre doing the same thing, youÕre sort of paying your dues, but itÕs just a more direct way of doing it. The old school of thought is that to pay your dues you have to work and work and work for years until you can play an instrument, but if you donÕt have a problem with not doing that, you just want to make music by whatever means necessary, get on with it. If we wanted to copy someone with a sampler we could, but weÕre not actually doing that. WeÕre just incorporating elements of different dub things, and lots of other influences.Ó ÒIt is incredible, the influence that dub has had on dance music, because the whole thing is about breaking down to a bass or something. ItÕs pure dub, isnÕt it?Ó Where do you see the future of dub going? D - ÒIt has been around for a long time and this American deep house stuff thatÕs happening, that leans toward dub reggae mixing. I think itÕs here for a while.Ó G - ÒI think that every time something gets recycled it comes out differently anyway, and it isnÕt just a revival. They always used to talk about revivals, but they donÕt bother anymore because things are getting revived ten minutes after they come out, but they sound different. I think, personally, that the music scene is very healthy at the moment because so many people are making music and all the ideas are cross-pollinating all the time. New hybrid are growing up all the time, itÕs great. People like our records so we must be doing something right. WeÕve never once sat down and said, Ôshit, weÕve got to write a track that people like,Õ or a hit, or whatever, weÕve just done whatever we wanted to do ... and here we are ... completely unknown. [laughs]Ó So would you consider your music to be house music? G - ÒItÕs an influence, but I wouldnÕt call it house music because itÕs too slow. House music is certainly why I got into this style of music that weÕre making, through going to a club and getting into what was then acid house. For ages I wanted to make house music, but when youÕre working with someone else, or with other people, it sort of ends up different from how you imagined it would. Which is good. Other things come in along the way.Ó Glyn Bush, Original Rockers, Top Six of All-Time Massive Attack - Unfinished Symphony Captain Beefheart - White Jam Kamar - In Every Way Nina Simone - Do What You Gotta Do Peter Hammill - A Louse Is Not A Home Led Zeppelin - Lemon Song GlynÕs Current Top Five Sandoz - Armed Response Stylophonic - Motorcycle Angel Irresistable Force - Mountain High Winston Edwards & Blackbeard - Kensington Palace Confusion Plastikman - Glob DJ Dick Whittingham, Original Rockers, Top Fifteen of All-Time Paul Weller - Kosmos Beats - Bonus Beats UK DJ Shadow - Influx/Hindsight - MoWax UK Aardvark - The Return of Rasputin - Skunk UK Pato Banton - Beams of Light - Tribal US The Arabs - Crytuff Dub Encounter Chapter 1 - Hit-Run UK Kraftwerk - Computer World - EMI UK Augustus Pablo - King Tubby Meets the Rockers Uptown - Island UK Fred Wesley and the Horny Horns - A Blow For Me, A Toot For You - Atlantic US JVC Force - Strong Island - B-Boy Records US The Lounge Lizards - Harlem Nocturne - EG UK D Train - YouÕre the One For Me - Prelude US The Clash - The Magnificient Seven - Epic UK Mongo Santamaria - Cuco and Olga - CBS UK Night Writers - Let the Music (Use You) - Jack Trax UK Jaydee - Plastic Dreams - R&S Belgium DJ DickÕs Current Top Fifteen Pressure Drop - Front Row - Marigoro Music Sons of the Subway - Locked Out - Infonet UK Renegade Soundwave - Renegade Soundwave - Mute UK Astralasia - Pitched Up at the Edge of Reality - Magick Eye UK Tricky - Aftermath - 4th & BÕway UK Zion Train - Great Sporting Moments in Dub - Wibbly Wobbly UK Mr Ragoo - Make Me Feel - Groove On US Hustlers of Culture - All That and Then Some - Unknown UK Hip Hop Elements - Cracker Beats Vol 3 - SlamminÕ Records US DJ Shadow - Influx/Hindsight - MoWax UK St. Etienne - Tiger Bay - Heavenly UK African Head Charge - In Pursuit of Shashamane Land - On U Sound UK The Story of Jamaican Music - Mango UK Orange Groove Krew - MiamiÕs Rush Hour - Multi Trax US Lectroluv - Lectroluv Theme - Eightball US