An ambient dub journey over 27 years and counting...
New live album VRA LIVE! available now as cd or download, recorded by Phil MOakes & Maggie Gregory at Visual Radio Arts in Devizes, UK in February 2022.
From summer 2019 original members Saul Yarg and George Guitar head up a new live version of the band with an emphasis on ambient space with new recruits Andy Roid (ex-Here & Now) on keyboards, Tony Two Dogs (Dreamcatcher) on drums and percussion and King Razor on bass.
Frequently augmented by American tin clarinettist Gregg McKella (Paradise 9, The Glissando Guitar Orchestra), poet Tim Hawthorn (The Anarchetypes), percussionist Nick Raybould (t.h.o.u.g.h.t.b.u.b.b.l.e), and flautist & clarinettist Hope Schachter. Occasional live dub mix courtesy of the one and only legend and Bournemouth institution that is Mr Conrad Barr.
Their live recording Rubberroidbus is available for FREE download from here:
https://slightlyoffkilter.bandcamp.com/album/rubberroidbus-live
Their 2020 Lockdown album Return To Reason is available here:
https://rubberbus.bandcamp.com/album/return-to-reason
and their FREE ep Noh Yogah is here:
https://rubberbus.bandcamp.com/album/noh-yogah-ep
The full album-length CD of "Noh Yogah" featuring all brand new recordings will be available summer 2021.
A bit of history:
Rubber Bus began life circa 1993 in Brighton on the south coast of the UK as Pounding System - named after the Dub Syndicate album. With the arrival of vocalists Martin Preston (aka Rev. Martin P Prestatyn) and Saul Yarg in 1994, the name changed to Rubber Bus. Their first self-released cassette; The Car In Front Is A... featured early versions of ambient-dub tracks The Big Smoke and Northern Lights.
Quickly finding favour with the festival crowd due to a combination of their upbeat reggae-influenced songs and sometimes lengthy, dubbed-out improvisations, Rubber Bus performed at many festivals in the UK and Europe including The Out There Festivals, Free Dub Festival, Hackney LGBT, Brighton Free Festival, Beckstock, People For People Fest, Le Pixie Fest, and shared stages with Here & Now, Loop Guru, Transglobal Underground, Astral Engineering Co. and Hawkwind.
Their second release, Rubber Bus, demonstrated a move towards dance music in tracks such as Take It Easy and Spaceman, thanks to the recruitment of Sample Si, on loan from Mandragora. Around this time, after an invitation from Camberwell Art College Student Union to perform, bassist Jah Wibble departed, allowing Chris Cross and Saul Yarg to share bass and guitar duties. An alternative mix of one of the songs, See You Down - an oppressive, dark, digi-dub dystopian nightmare of a track - found its way onto the Dreamtime label compilation Music For Coffeeshops alongside tracks by Back To The Planet, Porcupine Tree and Astralasia.
By summer 1996, the group had gained Soma Shamanoid from The Divine Soma Experience on keyboards, Leonard Major Fanthorp - later of Zen Hussies - on vocals, a horn section and Mystic Warrior on live mixing, all of whom participated in the making of the Take It Easy album. This version of the group self-released a three track cassette, ...Sweet And Tasty... previewing the new material. By this time, Chris Cross had assumed production duties and engineered the album; the results a sparkling combination of digi-dub and analogue dub techniques, bringing in a diverse collection of guest musicians including Lucy B (Mojo Filter) on vocals, flautist Sasha, and trumpeter Antonius Caesar. Matt F and Mystic Warrior produced dub mixes of some of the material; the style of the results referencing Rubber Bus' stated influences of Mad Professor, Adrian Sherwood and Lee Perry.
A new line-up of Rubber Bus played their last live concerts through to the end of 1996 and into 1997 culminating in their final performance at The Out There Festival in Gorron, Normandy on 28th July 1997 on the Turbo Unit Stage. Subsequently, Saul Yarg remained the sole active member.
A remix of DMF by Yarg's new project Kaleidophon was commissioned for a Free Radical Sounds compilation in 2000, after which several attempts were made to put together a touring version of Rubber Bus. Yarg occasionally DJ-ed Rubber Bus material in Brighton and London.
The track Nine Hours To Julia appears on a album of spoken word recordings by Martin Preston which was released on The Slightly Off Kilter Label in 2011.
Rubber Bus was re-released on cd by The Slightly Off Kilter Label in 2013.
A lathe-cut vinyl 7" of Apollo8 / Apollo8 Dub was released by The Slightly Off Kilter label in 2017.
Rubber Bus also released three tracks; Apollo 8 Dub, Oh Yeh and CUD Saul Yarg Remix via the TSOKL Bandcamp site in September 2017.
The album Take It Easy was made available for download in 2018 - and got playlisted by Steve Barker on his On The Wire show for BBC Radio Lancashire - as well as a brand new recording, Dub The Jellyfish, featuring Tony Two Dogs of Dreamcatcher as well as original members Saul Yarg, Prof. Plum and Matt F, which was made available via Soundcloud.
At the start of 2019, "Death By Yoga", the first Rubber Bus remix of MOTA's 2017 KozFest performance saw the light of day on the Dulcet Business News compilation on TSOKL, and in June, Simon Wade playlisted a session on his show The Wirebender for Berlin's RadioOn.
From summer 2019 Saul Yarg and original guitarist Prof. Plum put together a new live version of the band featuring Andy Roid (from Here & Now) on keyboards, Tony TwoDogs on drums and percussion and King Razor on bass. Their first live recording Rubberroidbus is available for FREE download from here:
https://slightlyoffkilter.bandcamp.com/album/rubberroidbus-live
https://slightlyoffkilter.bandcamp.com/
This line-up planned a UK tour and have been rehearsing new material, but since the Covid-19 Lockdown in spring of 2020, have instead been preparing material for a new album in their own respective studios. The first work to appear from this period of activity was the Dry In Shade ep released on The Slightly Off Kilter Label in July 2020, followed that autumn by Return To Reason and the Noh Yogah ep released on their own Rubber Bus Records imprint. They also aim to make the vintage Take It Easy album available on cd during 2021.
https://slightlyoffkilter.bandcamp.com/album/rubberroidbus-live
https://rubberbus.bandcamp.com/album/return-to-reason
and their FREE ep Noh Yogah is here:
https://rubberbus.bandcamp.com/album/noh-yogah-ep
The full album-length CD of "Noh Yogah" featuring all brand new recordings will be available summer 2021.
A bit of history:
Rubber Bus began life circa 1993 in Brighton on the south coast of the UK as Pounding System - named after the Dub Syndicate album. With the arrival of vocalists Martin Preston (aka Rev. Martin P Prestatyn) and Saul Yarg in 1994, the name changed to Rubber Bus. Their first self-released cassette; The Car In Front Is A... featured early versions of ambient-dub tracks The Big Smoke and Northern Lights.
Quickly finding favour with the festival crowd due to a combination of their upbeat reggae-influenced songs and sometimes lengthy, dubbed-out improvisations, Rubber Bus performed at many festivals in the UK and Europe including The Out There Festivals, Free Dub Festival, Hackney LGBT, Brighton Free Festival, Beckstock, People For People Fest, Le Pixie Fest, and shared stages with Here & Now, Loop Guru, Transglobal Underground, Astral Engineering Co. and Hawkwind.
Their second release, Rubber Bus, demonstrated a move towards dance music in tracks such as Take It Easy and Spaceman, thanks to the recruitment of Sample Si, on loan from Mandragora. Around this time, after an invitation from Camberwell Art College Student Union to perform, bassist Jah Wibble departed, allowing Chris Cross and Saul Yarg to share bass and guitar duties. An alternative mix of one of the songs, See You Down - an oppressive, dark, digi-dub dystopian nightmare of a track - found its way onto the Dreamtime label compilation Music For Coffeeshops alongside tracks by Back To The Planet, Porcupine Tree and Astralasia.
By summer 1996, the group had gained Soma Shamanoid from The Divine Soma Experience on keyboards, Leonard Major Fanthorp - later of Zen Hussies - on vocals, a horn section and Mystic Warrior on live mixing, all of whom participated in the making of the Take It Easy album. This version of the group self-released a three track cassette, ...Sweet And Tasty... previewing the new material. By this time, Chris Cross had assumed production duties and engineered the album; the results a sparkling combination of digi-dub and analogue dub techniques, bringing in a diverse collection of guest musicians including Lucy B (Mojo Filter) on vocals, flautist Sasha, and trumpeter Antonius Caesar. Matt F and Mystic Warrior produced dub mixes of some of the material; the style of the results referencing Rubber Bus' stated influences of Mad Professor, Adrian Sherwood and Lee Perry.
Tragically, at this pivotal moment, Chris Cross disappeared while travelling in a mountainous region of Austria.
A new line-up of Rubber Bus played their last live concerts through to the end of 1996 and into 1997 culminating in their final performance at The Out There Festival in Gorron, Normandy on 28th July 1997 on the Turbo Unit Stage. Subsequently, Saul Yarg remained the sole active member.
A remix of DMF by Yarg's new project Kaleidophon was commissioned for a Free Radical Sounds compilation in 2000, after which several attempts were made to put together a touring version of Rubber Bus. Yarg occasionally DJ-ed Rubber Bus material in Brighton and London.
The track Nine Hours To Julia appears on a album of spoken word recordings by Martin Preston which was released on The Slightly Off Kilter Label in 2011.
Rubber Bus was re-released on cd by The Slightly Off Kilter Label in 2013.
A lathe-cut vinyl 7" of Apollo8 / Apollo8 Dub was released by The Slightly Off Kilter label in 2017.
Rubber Bus also released three tracks; Apollo 8 Dub, Oh Yeh and CUD Saul Yarg Remix via the TSOKL Bandcamp site in September 2017.
The album Take It Easy was made available for download in 2018 - and got playlisted by Steve Barker on his On The Wire show for BBC Radio Lancashire - as well as a brand new recording, Dub The Jellyfish, featuring Tony Two Dogs of Dreamcatcher as well as original members Saul Yarg, Prof. Plum and Matt F, which was made available via Soundcloud.
At the start of 2019, "Death By Yoga", the first Rubber Bus remix of MOTA's 2017 KozFest performance saw the light of day on the Dulcet Business News compilation on TSOKL, and in June, Simon Wade playlisted a session on his show The Wirebender for Berlin's RadioOn.
From summer 2019 Saul Yarg and original guitarist Prof. Plum put together a new live version of the band featuring Andy Roid (from Here & Now) on keyboards, Tony TwoDogs on drums and percussion and King Razor on bass. Their first live recording Rubberroidbus is available for FREE download from here:
https://slightlyoffkilter.bandcamp.com/album/rubberroidbus-live
https://slightlyoffkilter.bandcamp.com/
This line-up planned a UK tour and have been rehearsing new material, but since the Covid-19 Lockdown in spring of 2020, have instead been preparing material for a new album in their own respective studios. The first work to appear from this period of activity was the Dry In Shade ep released on The Slightly Off Kilter Label in July 2020, followed that autumn by Return To Reason and the Noh Yogah ep released on their own Rubber Bus Records imprint. They also aim to make the vintage Take It Easy album available on cd during 2021.
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