Dub War, Cwmcarn Hotel
You probably already know this dear reader but before there was Skindred there was Dub War (who, according to a description from front Benji Webbe, are “from Newport, old as fuck and amazing”). The band initially split up following disagreements with then record label Earache in 1999, but since reforming for an apparent one-off gig in 2014 have played a few sporadic headlining club shows (all of which I have been at thus far) as well as a last-minute fill in performance at Download 2015. So, when the band announced that they would be playing the 100ish capacity Cwmcarn Hotel (which is familiar territory for Benji as it’s run by a couple of his friends and he MC’d the opening ceremony for the hotel’s restaurant earlier this year) I snapped up a ticket as soon as they went on sale. I’m glad I did as it’s been many many years since it’s been possible to see the band in such an intimate venue and I’m not sure if or even when the chance to do so will arise again.
As the very small room was beginning to fill up those who had already arrived got to see a couple of support acts (sadly I wasn’t able to get their names), one of which was a solo reggae act and the other was a brief spoken word performance. It seems pointless to score these two as what can you say about a spoken word performance? In addition, neither act was advertised ahead of time so those coming along early had no idea who they would be seeing before the headliners.
The familiar sound of the air raid siren being cranked heralded the return to the stage of Dub War (9) for the first time since they played Bristol’s Fleece in 2016. The band had to walk through the crowd to get to the stage, which is something I imagine they haven’t had to do for quite some time, and which also added to the intimate feel of the performance. I should add at this point that any fears of the room being overcrowded proved to be totally unfounded – despite being totally sold out there was enough space to accommodate everyone who was there comfortably. Said air raid siren appropriately bled into the band’s first song Psycho System and despite there being some problem with Benji’s keyboard during the first couple of songs the set was otherwise excellent including all the fan favourites such as Respected, Nar Say A Ting, Dub War, Fools Gold, Strike It, Million Dollar Love plus their first “new” song (actually released in 2016) Fun Done and the open question that was the set closer Over Now. Also, as I’ve noticed at previous Dub War shows Benji was in more of a humble mood than is usual for the quick-witted, dry-humoured frontman, taking time to thank the crowd for attending and supporting the band (in between the good-natured insults of course!).
You probably already know this dear reader but before there was Skindred there was Dub War (who, according to a description from front Benji Webbe, are “from Newport, old as fuck and amazing”). The band initially split up following disagreements with then record label Earache in 1999, but since reforming for an apparent one-off gig in 2014 have played a few sporadic headlining club shows (all of which I have been at thus far) as well as a last-minute fill in performance at Download 2015. So, when the band announced that they would be playing the 100ish capacity Cwmcarn Hotel (which is familiar territory for Benji as it’s run by a couple of his friends and he MC’d the opening ceremony for the hotel’s restaurant earlier this year) I snapped up a ticket as soon as they went on sale. I’m glad I did as it’s been many many years since it’s been possible to see the band in such an intimate venue and I’m not sure if or even when the chance to do so will arise again.
As the very small room was beginning to fill up those who had already arrived got to see a couple of support acts (sadly I wasn’t able to get their names), one of which was a solo reggae act and the other was a brief spoken word performance. It seems pointless to score these two as what can you say about a spoken word performance? In addition, neither act was advertised ahead of time so those coming along early had no idea who they would be seeing before the headliners.
The familiar sound of the air raid siren being cranked heralded the return to the stage of Dub War (9) for the first time since they played Bristol’s Fleece in 2016. The band had to walk through the crowd to get to the stage, which is something I imagine they haven’t had to do for quite some time, and which also added to the intimate feel of the performance. I should add at this point that any fears of the room being overcrowded proved to be totally unfounded – despite being totally sold out there was enough space to accommodate everyone who was there comfortably. Said air raid siren appropriately bled into the band’s first song Psycho System and despite there being some problem with Benji’s keyboard during the first couple of songs the set was otherwise excellent including all the fan favourites such as Respected, Nar Say A Ting, Dub War, Fools Gold, Strike It, Million Dollar Love plus their first “new” song (actually released in 2016) Fun Done and the open question that was the set closer Over Now. Also, as I’ve noticed at previous Dub War shows Benji was in more of a humble mood than is usual for the quick-witted, dry-humoured frontman, taking time to thank the crowd for attending and supporting the band (in between the good-natured insults of course!).
The fact that the band haven’t played together since that show in the Fleece - other than the rehearsals for this show – didn’t seem to matter as none of them missed a beat and the performance was very tight indeed, apart from the malfunctioning keyboard which did eventually start behaving as it should. As mentioned Dub War’s shows are sporadic so in my opinion they are always somewhat special and this one in particular being in such a small room (which by the way had excellent sound for those who want to know about such things), felt very special indeed. The band, including bona fide rock star Benji, took time after their performance to chat with fans, take pictures and sign stuff so the overall feel was of a performance for the bands’ friends. As an aside there was a man behind me during the show who said he’d travelled all the way from Wigan just to catch the band as, in his own words, “Dub War should have been huge!”. To be honest I can’t help but concur with that sentiment. Hopefully they’ll be back for more gigs to prove the point.