Take What You Want now available

Album Review:
Take What You Want is an album busting at the seams with psychedelic, soul, reggae, blues and dub sounds that will bring a little warmth and sunshine in the cold winter months. Just the fact that the songs were written in less than 30 days is astounding, but add in the fact that songs and lyrics are actually high quality makes the feat even that much more impressive.

This album has something for everyone, from dub heavy tracks like “Un Poquito Mas”, “Bring Fire On You”, and “Fade Away”, to upbeat grooves like “Nothing To Learn”, and “Wont Be Coming Home”, makes the bands versatility crystal clear. The multiple layers of different sounds and effects are so intricate and well produced. This album is a real treat right before the holidays and will make wrapping all those presents that less arduous.

“Won’t Be Coming Home” has a bluesier feel to it and sounds like the kind of song you might hear on the soundtrack from a movie at Sundance. As the first song on the album it allows each instrument to shine, transitioning between keyboard and guitar solos. It sets the bar high for he rest of the album, which does not disappoint.

The Spanish-English fusion, “Un Poquito Mas”, features special guest Aleke from the Barcelona band Planeta Lem. The song is a seductive blend of lush dub effects and hard-hitting drum and bass. They were able to take manufactured sounds and blend them together in a way that feels organic. The song also shows that music is so powerful that it can break all barriers. No matter what language you speak, everyone understands good music.

“Straw Men” starts out with a powerful clip from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I’ve Been to the Mountain Top” speech which was delivered the day before his assassination on 1968. The song seems to be a call to action and asks many of the same questions running through the minds of our generation, “Who can think with all this fighting going on? Just cause you think that you are right, doesn’t mean that I am wrong. Who are you to tell me what side of the tracks I belong?” Instead of making an album full of songs with lighthearted, catchy lyrics (and there are a few, but who can resist!) Tommy let us poke around in the corners of his mind and see the world from his eyes.

Some bands work for years to produce an album as good as Take What You Want, and many of them fall short. Hopefully this album will garner the kind of attention it deserves because you cannot only hear, but feel the passion woven through each melody. While San Diego may already know and love Tommy Dubs and Seismic Leveler, it’s time to make the rest of the world stand up and listen.


Written & Reviewed by: Ashley Allred

CD Release Horrible Time

We are going to have a crappy time at this show with a room full of our most distant friends HA! Come celebrate the release of our new album at our hometown venue, Winstons. We are bringing Bad Neighborz with us to help kick it off and DJ Boomstyler is providing his own set of some of the sickest tracks you never heard. Sign up on our mailing list to get free downloads of the new album

New Song and Video

Have a Listen to "Wiped Away" (Acoustic) a song inspired by Bob Dylan's song "Man like me". The footage from the video is a collection of train hopping videos mixed with footage of insane train riders in Mumbai with death defying style. Jay and I recorded this yesterday and made the video last night... Happy Holidays everyone

Take What You Want One Sheet

New Album Teaser

We are stoked to announce that "Take What You Want" is being released December 20th and we are having our CD release party Jan 14th at Winstons in Ocean Beach with Guests Bad Neighborz. Check out the Album Teaser above and make sure to hit our mailing list to hear the tracks off the record before its released.

NEW MUSIC

I am happy to announce that our new record "Take What You Want" is being replicated as I type and we will be announcing a release date soon as well as details about our CD release party. We can't wait until you hear it. We will be doing everything we can to spread the word about this record and are urging people to buy the record in the first week to help us reach our goal of charting on itunes and billboard. We would really appreciate any help getting the word out about "Take What You Want".

With all of the writing and recording we have been doing over the last year, we ended up with enough songs for a companion album called "Manana De Sol". I don't know yet if we will be releasing this on the same day as "Take What You Want", but it will be sometime soon if not. This Album features  more electronic sounding and dub influenced tracks with guest appearances by Aleko from Planeta Lem and Horace Martin.

Stay Tuned

Getting Smaller

In my second week of my 30 days to a smaller footprint, I disconnected all of the power in San Diego for massive amounts of energy consumption...Ha! But seriously it was a really odd timing and got me thinking a lot about the energy we feel like we need to consume. In the absence of power that night, people came out in the streets and enjoyed the company of others. There were BBQ's, kids in the street, people on bikes and millions of stars in the sky that are normally not visible due to the cities lights blocking them out. I wish more nights were like that.

Here are the little things I did this week to reduce my carbon footprint:

I took scrap paper that was going to get recycled and created writing notebooks.
Made glasses out of old jars that would have other wise gone in the recycle bin.
Began to walk more
started using a water filter and began filling up a few remaining plastic bottles I had around the house and used those as my "on the go" water bottles filled with purified water.
I have completely stopped printing out any paper.
Started cooking a lot more and reading labels when I buy food.

Its the little things that add up :)

30 days to a smaller footprint

It is never all or nothing, it is never to big to take on and little things can bring on change that is more than imaginable. This is a realization that I have been focusing on lately and it is a truly powerful understanding and way of thinking. We are surrounded by ideas and thoughts in our daily lives that influence us to believe that we are small and powerless and I refuse to believe in this media driven philosophy.

We know that we are living in a way that is not sustainable and what we are consuming today is leading to a less than perfect tomorrow. I have decided to stop being an uneducated consumer and become more conscious of the decisions I make and the effect it has on the environment around me. That brings me to my next 30 day project which is 30 days to a smaller carbon footprint.

There are a couple things I want to talk about before I dig into what I do day to day to take on this project. First is the idea that taking on a sustainable lifestyle means drastically changing your life. This is where the  notion of "all or nothing" comes in to play. You do not have to change everything you do to make a difference and in fact ,there are many small things that can be done to really make an big impact. The other important thing I am realizing is that thinking green really is a way to save money as well.

What is happening in the world around us is that we are running out of Oil, we are wasting our fresh water at an amazing rate and the amount of coal we burn to produce electricity is off the charts. Oil is in everything that we consume... gasoline, toothpaste, plastic, rubber, etc... Think about how Ironic it is that we are using Oil to produce Plastic to then bottle fresh water that we are running out of. This scenario to me really sums it up. We all have tap water in our homes that is safe to drink and undergoes heavy testing and regulation but we would rather pay a hefty price for someone to bottle it for us and market it to us. Bottled water is more expensive than gasoline and to me, that is absurd.

There are 2 things that I want to accomplish with this project. 1, I want this to turn into a way of being and 2, I hope it inspires even 1 person to take even just one of these ideas on.

September 9-3

I have always heard that flushing the toilet wastes lots of water so for me this was an easy first thing to do. I took a 1 litre empty plastic bottle, filled it with sand and then put it in the back of my toilet. This will save 1 litre every time I flush as the plastic bottle displaces any extra water. This is something that everyone can do and could not be any easier. If you have an adjustable "ball cock" (hee hee) in the back of your toilet you can also adjust this to a lower position which allows the water to fill to a lower rate with out putting an object in the toilet to displace water.

Yesterday I went to the local Grocery store to see how easy it was to buy items that use recycled materials. I ended up buying:

TeePee that was made from 80% post consumer content

Farm Raised Organic Eggs

Farm Raised Organic Chicken

Cleaner that was biodegradable.

In stead of buying paper towels I took shirts that I was going to give a way and cut a couple up into reusable towels.

The above list is quite short because I really was not buying a whole lot and the more I get educated the more I will be able to buy smarter products.

I also went around my house and unplugged any appliance that does not get used on a daily basis like my microwave, and I unplugged power chords and chargers so they were not drawing power out of the outlets when they are not in use. I am also making it a point to turn off any lights that I do not need to be on.... I am horrible about this sometimes sleeping with all my lights on... total waste.

Wicked Weekend

What a great last week we had as a band! We wrapped up some shows in Arizona, hit the studio and played an unreal show with some great people in Ocean Beach!

Saturday morning we took to the studio at 8:00 am and started banging out tunes for our new record. We were able to track 4 songs and a couple of rhythms for dub versions before calling it a day. We tracked at Capricorn Studios, as usual, and then brought them back to mix in our own studio. I just began mixing "Take it or leave it" and am pretty stoked with how it sounds so far. Hopefully we will be able to wrap up quickly and have our album done by the end of summer.

After the studio we headlined the 3rd annual Muir St. block Party and threw a hell of a show of the thousands in attendance. This block party has become an epic event and we want to thank all of the Warzone residents for letting this party continue. For the last 2 songs of our set we had a huge collaboration with Psydecar, Bad Neigborz and a bunch of other musicians... It was one hell of a freestyle party.

North County San Diego, We are coming for you on Friday~

People in your Neighborhood

First off Massive Respect to Synrgy, Yuma and the Top of the Kress, fans and Management. Our show in Yuma was a sick time and we could not be happier that Synrgy is playing at Winstons this Wednesday for Club Kingston. Those guys have great vibes and I know San Diego is going to show them some love.

Tucson and the Hut you guys were great as well. We got to play with Warsaw Poland Bros who are homies from way back, John Wayne and the Pain who bring a nice fresh taste to "Reggae Rock" with an impressive Live Dub Step ish going on. We also met a group of youngsters from Sono Vero who were great as well. Really happy to see some old faces and lots of new ones. We will be coming back to Arizona as much as possible so help spread the word.

I feel really fortunate to get to play with the musicians I play with, in my band and the bands we come across on the road. Our experience has been positive and I am trying to always focus on that. At the same time.... I want to be real, and I realize that negative energy is not something to be afraid of either. It IS ok to say something about a negative experience, it IS what you do with that experience that really matters.

With that being said I want to say that being treated like a stepping stone inspires me, being treated like I'm not "this" or "that" enough inspires me, someone trying to make me small inspires me and success DOES NOT inspire me. I can take these things and make them mean something, or I can realize that I am not any of these things and then I feel really happy about the moment I am in. I guess sometimes you feel like your dues are paid and the world owes you some shit, but in reality.... no one owes you a god damn thing at all. That is why I love the people in my life that give outta of pleasure not.... out of debt.

I am sure some people out there know exactly what I mean :)

True Life and B-sides RELEASED today!!!

June 28th 2011 the release of "True Life and B-sides" A half live, half dub album by Tommy Dubs and Seismic Leveler.

Click on the picture above to download the entire album for only 5 clams and support independent music.

This album came out of nowhere and took us less than 1 weekend to put together and have ready for release. We played a show on a Friday night at Winstons in Ocean Beach and the recording came out better than we could have expected. Its funny cause we really did have bad vibes going into the show but I think that really added to the energy of the performance.

The first 6 songs are taken from that show and I think it is a great representation of where we are right now in this moment.  This record sounds like Tommy Dubs and Seismic Leveler in this moment. I think that is one of the things that I like best about this album, most records you work on for months if not years and by the time you are done, what you started with is most often not what you end up with. Maybe that is not how it is for most bands, but I am sure some of you out there can relate to that. Yeah there are imperfections, but there are in life too ..hence the name "True Life and B-sides".

The last 4 songs are dub versions of some rhythms that we have sitting in the vaults, see if you can guess what other band sampled the sample in "Illusions". These tracks are all about vibing out and giving something for all your heads to nod to. 

SHOWS THIS WEEK:

Winstons June 29th with Piracy and the Southbay Wailers

June 30th Yuma the Top of the Kress with Synergy

July 1st Tucson the Hut with Warsaw Poland Bros, Sono Vera, and John Wayne and the Pain

Ocean Beats

Thank you to Paul Luminous for snapping some great shots at the Ocean Beats Marriott Pool Party last weekend, we added more on our photos page so check them out. We had with a great time playing with all the bands and DJ's and were stoked to meet so many new people. I'm just glad we didn't get electrocuted!!! Thanks again to the Polynesian Underground and the Madero Group.
Just one more week until "True life and b-sides", our half live half dub record, is being released in all major online stores... June 28 it drops. We are still giving away advance copies to everyone that will write a short review so hit us up if you are interested. No writing skills needed... just blast a few words and get a free album... nothing to it.

 On the 29th we will be playing at Winstons with Piracy and the Southbay Wailers. These Wednesday night Club Kingston events that Carlos Culture has been putting on are really popping off and this night will be no exception. We will have Cue at the Controlls twisitng the knobs and dubbing mad. Speaking of dub, it has been a little while since Seismic Leveler stopped their weekly podcast so we wanted to remind everyone that you can still access the audio on itunes here for free. There are hours of live recordings with special guests from San Diego's greatest bands.

After Winsons we head to Arizona for a show at the Top of the Kress with Synergy on the 30th and then off to Tucson to play with Warsaw Poland Bros and John Wayne and the Pain at the Hut on July 1st. This is going to be a great little run and we are excited to see a bunch of new faces.  I just hope this time the border patrol and their friendly dogs take it a little easier on us.

SHIT TO CHECK OUT:
FAVELA ON BLAST
I am a big fan of most things DIPLO or Mad Decent and this movie is no exception. You can download from itunes and I really suggest checking it out. It is a really cool look at Baile Funk and the music of Brazil's Favelas...



Love from the Pier

Check out this article from the Reggae Rock website "the Pier" on our newest release "True Life and b-sides". We are really thankful for the Pier's continued support and think you should all check out thepiermag.com if you have not already.

The Saturday at the Del Mar Marriott we are playing at the Ocean Beats pool party with a whole line up of sick DJ's and bands. This goes all day and you can get deals on discounted rooms through the facebook invite here! I can only imagine how epic this is going to be. We play at 6:45 and make sure to see Mike Pinto at 10:00.

Want to also say whats up to SD Roots Reggae Radio who have been spinning Tommy Dubs and Seismic Leveler tunes on their weekly Sunday evening radio shows. Each broadcast plays for a week and can be heard here!

Nug Magazine was in attendance at our 4:20 show and was "kind" :) enough to mention us in their blurb on the evening. Nug Magazine has also just launched a radio station that is giving love to San Diego bands as well.



Review of "True life and b-sides"

Tommy Dubs's "True Life & B-Sides" album is truly a Dub Masterpiece that infuses traditional dub style with consistent percussion, political ranting & pure Tommy Dub Style flare!!!! The live tracks at Winston's are sooo amazing!!! Between Tommy himself & soundman (Justin Q) turning knobs, it is MINDBLOWING!!!

 

Scott Clayton

On Point Promotions (Booking Agent)

Shoreline Rootz (Drummer/Manager)

www.on-point-promotions.com

Shows Coming Up

Thank you to everyone who came out to the House of Blues last Friday, we were really happy with the turnout for our first time on that stage. Join us Friday night at our favorite place to play, The Belly Up, as we warm up the stage before the legendary English Beat. This is going to be a great show and a hell of a lot of fun.

We also wanted to give everyone a heads up that Piracy and the Southbay Wailers will be playing with us June 29th at Winstons in Ocean Beach for Club Kingston. This is a free show as always and will be bringing the fire to Ocean Beach.

Credit where it's due

We were lucky enough to have Ryan Daley as our photographer for our show at House of Blues on Friday. Thank you so much for everyone who came out and supported this killer event that included 14 local music acts from all genres in San Diego.

Visual art and music go hand in hand and the power of 2 art forms coming together can have an amazing result. The photos that Ryan took really capture the vibe and energy of the show, so go to his blog and take a look. Support local art and hit Ryan up.

Ryan Daley Photography

Much Love

Review that Sucker - Free album!

In order to spread the word about our New CD "True Life and b-sides" we are releasing it in advance of its June 28th date to those of you who want to review it. You don't have to be a writer, smart, eloquent or even nice. Just write the review of your choice, send it to us at gadflymusic@gmail.com and we will post it up for everyone to read. This is a digital only release and will be selling on all major online music stores for 5 dollars... less than a pack of smokes.

let us know you are interested, through a comment here, facebook or by emailing gadflymusic@gmail.com and we will send you a download link.

Here is a little background for your review:

Tommy Dubs can best be described as "Punky Regage and Dub Influenced Urban Sounds" and this recording could not stay more true to that description. May 27th 2011 we played a show at Winstons in Ocean Beach were I can say the bands vibe going into the show was not at the height of positivity. Drummer Digital Dave took it on himself to plug his new recorder into the board and see what type of recording we could get. With Engineer Cue at the controlls we always know that the mix is going to sound great and the dubbing will be proper, but this recording really turned out great. The night of the show Dave let everyone know the mixes sounded sick, but I did not expect them coming out this good. Yeah there are flaws, but the vibe is on and to us that is what is important.

After a day of mastering we took 6 live versions and 4 dub tracks from my 30 songs in 30 days project and decided to release a digital only album for 5 bucks. I think this album sums up the DIY ethos of the band and shows our authentic live sound. We hope you enjoy this release and check out more independent music.

On Demand On Jango Radio

I used to love Pandora, I think we all got a few years out of it before it was taken over  by ads. Remember when you could skip through as many tracks as you want? Pandora ruled, now it doesn't. JANGO Rules now.

I sound like a salesman, but honestly.... Jango has been the best promotional tool I have used for our music. For the independent musician you can upload your tracks and easily get into rotation along side major artists you sound like. It does cost a monthly fee, but It has been a great resource for us and has increased our fan base faster than any other media platform I have used.

Check out the Tommy Dubs station!

For The music fan.... FREE NO AD MUSIC.............

Alright Jango, PAY ME

True Life and B-sides

Lots going on, but most excitingly we are releasing an Album called "True Life and B-sides" which is a live audio recorded from our May 27th show at Winstons along with 4 Dub Versions recorded during my 30 songs in 30 days project (10 tracks 45 minutes). June 28th is the release date and for right now it will be digital only and will only set you back 5 clams. We are really pleased with the live recording quality (Cue kills it) and the playing is good as well although I mess up my fair share :). The release of this record is somewhat a prelude to our upcoming full length that will be released later this summer.

For anyone that wants to write a review for the album, hit us up and I will get you an advanced copy....no writing skills necessary. Ha! 

This Friday we will be playing on the Main Stage at the House of Blues and we got some free tickets left. there are a whole bunch of bands playing and this is going to be a great night of live music. Hit us up here or on Facebook for free tickets.

Sleeping is Lame

I have always had millions of thoughts running through my head at once since I was younger, but I think I have finally got my actions to catch up with my mind. There is an expression, "don't talk about it... Be about it". That's what I am doing, except now I guess by stating that, I am talking about it inadvertently. Damn it!

Needless to say, lots going on... Lots of writing, lots of recording, lots of producing, lots of rehearsing and lots of shows. As things near completion on some projects I am excited about, I will fill you in on the details, but as you could expect I will be fighting my way through a shitload of music to release to Your ears.

Thank you to all the new fans that have been coming out and all the new people I am working with on various projects... Much Love

See you Friday at Winstons for Seismic Leveler with guest Mike Pinto .... If it's not sold out yet. Our set is 9:45-10:30 and then the walls will explode with dubstep... Should be fun.


-typed with my thumbs from bed Don't trip on Errors

Momma, I ate too much pudding

Happy Mothers Day Everyone!

Had a busy weekend of recording and producing and I'm Spent. Friday night I worked with Piracy and she versed on 3 tracks. I spent a good portion of the weekend mixing and editing one and I am pretty happy with how it came out. Saturday I was Capricorn Studios with the Optimators helping with their new record and have to say it sounds pretty sick. We ended up tracking about 3 songs.

We have a lot of shows coming up including this Friday at Winstons for the first night of he 2 days Ocean Beats Festival. We are playing a dub set with Mike Pinto and CUE at the controls, we are opening the show for ANA SIA and Babylon System. May 27th we have another Winstons Show with Roots Covenant, June 3rd we are playing at the house of blues and have FREE TICKETS for Everyone, June 18th we are playing at the Del Mar Marriott for an all day/night party with live bands and DJ's and June 25th Ocean Beach Street Fair.

June 29th - June 3rd we will be coming through Arizona with Shows in Yuma with Synergy at Top of the Kress, Tucson at the Hut with John Wayne and the Pain, and Phoenix tbd with John Wayne and the Pain.

Really excited for everything that is coming up and we appreciate all of the love and new fans.

Check out this demo version of a song called "We Taking On", about our last trip through AZ and the border patrol messing with us.

Much Love


WE TAKING ON by Tommy DUBS

Finished 30 songs in 30 days :)

Well, I almost didn't make it, but I pulled it out in the final hour. To be honest, I have been not thinking about writing or attempting to write for the last few days....My mind needed a break. I am really excited about some of the songs that came out in these last 30 days and thanks to everyone that took an interest. From people around SD to people we met through AZ, it seemed like some people were really into the project. A lot of the songs that I wrote, I already had the chance to record and some are being rehearsed already with Seismic Leveler for our live set so we will be debuting them soon.

I learned a lot about my writing process through this and and also the importance of setting aside time to be creative everyday. I felt like I really got into a rhythm writing as much as I could, but I for sure started hearing similar themes in some of my songs, Its a total bum out to write a full song and then realize the chord progression is almost the same as something you previously wrote.

In these last 30 days I wrote hip hop, dub, downtempo, dubstep, ballads, rock and electro shit but looking back I am surprised I didn't write any latin songs. I hope you have enjoyed reading the blog posts about this and I look forward to releasing a lot of the demo versions of these songs and fully produced versions. I also have a bunch of these songs recorded acoustically on my phone and think it would be cool to release some of these in their raw form.

Our shows in Tucson and Yuma were great and want to say whats up to Synergy for having us in Yuma and Skitn for having us in Tucson. Turns out Synergy and us know a bunch of the same people throughout California and it was great to hear about some of our old friends. We are always happy to go back to Tucson, the crowds are always great and its feels good to be in a place I used to live and spend so much time. Tucson is a cool town... Whats up Jesse and the Hut?

We have a bunch of great shows coming up in Southern California with some great bands and will send out an update via our mailing list in the next week. Make sure to enter your email address in the box on the left to keep up to date on everything that is going on and receive exclusive downloads via our reverbnation page.

We also want to say whats up to Nug Magazine for our mention on their site.

This is going to sound weird, but there seems to be an animal living in my walls....kind of creeping me out right now.

Much Love,
Tommy Dubs

New Endorsement

I could not be happier with our new endorsement. Clayton Picks offers custom made picks and accessories and we could not be happier to be part of the family. Support from industry leaders is huge for us and we look forward to a long relationship with Clayton USA. Be on the look out for giveaways at our upcoming shows.

30 Songs.....Yikes

It's Friday night and this is the First Friday in a long time that I am not writing or working on music, I did have a rehearsal tonight, but as far as song writing goes I got nothing right now. What I do have, is a shitty sore throat that is forcing me to be quiet and rest, which for anyone who knows me, is not an easy task. With shows in San Diego, Yuma and Tucson next week I don't want to take any chances with hitting the road sick. Send me good vibes and I will be on my best behavior nursing the wind pipes.

This week was a good week of writing, but forcing creativity can be very difficult and I am trying to switch it up and keep it fresh. Its crazy how writing in a different room in my house or sitting in a different chair can bring on inspiration and with 30 songs needing to come out I am going to do whatever I can to bring it on. Years ago I remember reading about someone who laid down with a pad by their side and right when they felt themselves falling to sleep and stream of conscious would kick in, they would wake themselves up and write down what they were dreaming about. I used to to that and some really random lyrics would come out, maybe next week I will try that.

I started writing this week writing some Rock Steady songs, 1 called Sweet Sweet Girl which is a tune about running around in as a kid sneaking in and out of houses and causing trouble like a teenager does. One of our Friday night sessions with Seismic Leveler and the boys produced a track called its never too late which is somewhat of a slow tune bordering on a ballad. I am pretty happy with the parts on this one and the hook is pretty strong, but the verses are pretty lame. I actually think I stole the melody of the verses from "Crazy" from Gnarles Barkley so I better come up with something better on that one.

Another song that I am really happy with is one called Too Far to dream. This is one of those times when I was able to sit down and crank out a full song from finish to end in a half hour. I am going to try to record this one tomorrow or at least get the rhythm tracks down.

The Other night I wrote a song called Angeline which is a girl done me wrong kind of tune. When you are writing and in a relationship it can be a weird thing to write a song like this because you get hung up on thinking your girlfriend is going to think its about her. I do write about real life, but a lot of times I write on themes that have nothing to do with what is happening in my life at that moment. Maybe this inspiration came up from years ago, or maybe this is me seeing someone Else's life, but either way being able to write honest is crucial to tapping into real creativity.

In this last week I also remixed the song Bolivar, which I am counting as writing a new song cause all of the music is new and I also wrote some definite throw aways that I may never breathe life into again. Next week is going to be a huge challenge trying to write on the road so stay tuned for those updates and see you next week Arizona.

Check out this version of Bring Fire on You from our Belly Up Show!

30 Songs in 30 Days

I was talking to my sister and she told me about this writer who wrote 30 plays in 30 days as a way to stay constantly creative and improve on her writing. She mentioned to me that she thought I should do this with my songs and I thought it was a killer idea, so here I am.

Starting April 1st I am writing a song a day and will be posting Blogs about it through the process. It is my goal to get as much of this material recorded so I can post it and hopefully not forget anything I have written. The other part of this project I really think is cool is that everyone can get an inside look into the song writing and recording process...warts and all.

Last Friday I started writing and recording and I can already tell that this is really going to be a challenge. I don't know how I am going to find the time with work, rehearsals, recording sessions and life happening. Friday night, I wrote a song called "how do you do it" which is a little rocksteady number and honestly its nothing special... they can't all be hits right? I recorded this track on my Iphone and jotted it in my notebook, but don't know if anything further will come from this already forgettable track... Ha!

Saturday Doug, Jay and Cue from Seismic Leveler came over and we recorded a Rhythm simply named "Number 2". Its funny cause when you write songs on the computer, you have to name them first just so you can save a file which leads to a bunch of lame song names like "Fryday Rhythm" or " Window dub" or.... "Number 2". Anyway, we recorded a nice dub track with Cue, Doug and I switching off engineering the session and had our Flip cameras rolling the whole time. Doug is working on a "Making of" video over the dub version of the song which we will post soon.

Early Sunday morning Destructo Bunny (Local Producer/MC) and I grabbed coffee by the beach and got reacquainted prior to getting creative in the studio. We talked about hip hop and music in general before producing a pretty sick Dubstep track. The intention of this session was to have Destructo Bunny lay down some verses over I track I made Saturday night, but we ended up perfecting the instrumental version first. Pretty excited to put this one out.

Monday night I lucked out. I picked up my guitar, sat down and literally wrote a song from start to finish in 1 long freestlye. Fortunately, I had my Iphone recording and will post the raw audio file to this sometime soon.

Tonight was more of a challenge however. I was not feeling creative when I got home and I had some weird form of song writing ADD. I could not focus and everything I was singing sounded cheesy or like something else I had already written. This can be a challenge sometimes. When this happens, I like to pick up a different instrument to write with as this usually forces something new out, but today I just took a nap. I just actually finished a song tonight called "Will we make it". I think it started out as a love song, but after I read the lyrics I realized it was more a song about civilization and if we as a people are going to make it. The song really is happier than it sounds :)

Anyway, I look forward to posting more about this project and you reading along with me.

Much Love,

Tommy Dubs

- Posted from my phone... Don't trip on Errors

Yo Ho Ho

Check out this video from our last show at 710 Beach Club. We posted more videos on the Seismic Leveler youtube page. I worked on a track with Piracy last night and it sounds pretty sick so far. I sure more will come out of this collaboration.

Album Updates and Shows

I have been steady at work writing and recording for my next album and have completed just around 15 songs. When its all done I hope to have 10-12 songs produced and ready for the next release. I have some exciting guests and more that I am working on locking down and you can expect more Bass Burners and Ass Shakers. I am recording with the Seismic Leveler crew at my home studio and at Capricorn Studios. I am shooting to have this album done and released by mid summer so stay tuned for more updates.

All you Arizona fans get ready for Tommy Dubs and Seismic Leveler heading your way in April. We will be starting a little Arizona run with a show with Dub Lounge from Seattle at Winstons in Ocean Beach on April 20th for the sickest 4:20 party in San Diego. The next night (4/21) we will be hitting Yuma AZ up with Sinizen from Nor Cal and the following night we are at the Hut in Tucson AZ (4/22). We are still locking down a date in Phoenix for 4/23 so keep a look out.

We hope to meet a bunch of new heads and if you are interested in helping promote the shows in exchange for a free T-shirt, CD's and guest list for the show..Hit us up on EMAIL

Tommy Dubs - Straw Man

It could not be more appropriate to realease this song and video today, on Superbowl Sunday. I am very excited to share this with everyone, it was written and recorded on Friday with help from Dk (seismic Leveler), and he worked non-stop to produce this moving video. This is a protest song of hope... It is not pro "anyone" its more a self realization of what I have seen through my lifetime.

I have written thousands of songs and only a few handful have carried this type of meaning for me. Please enjoy and share this with your friends.

Much Love and thanks DK!