The Dub Pistols formed in the mid-90s out of the chaos and energy erupting from the Heavenly Social-spawned big beat scene. Barry Ashworth had been in indie-dance outfit Deja Vu, who scored with their cover of the Woodentops’ ‘Why Why Why’, while Jason was half of Wall Of Sound duo Ceasefire with noted reprobate Derek Dahlarge. The pair appreciated the vast musical earthquakes going back to the late 50s when ska was born, determined to mirror their wildly-diverse tastes in similar fashion to heroes like The Clash and Specials, who spectacularly  broke out of punk’s confines to embrace other musical forms like reggae.
 
Few bands can raise a roof or ignite a festival crowd with more rabble-rousing aplomb than this crew. They recently supported The Specials, in Brixton, during the latters phenomenal come-back tour last year.Dub Pistols then embarked on a national tour before a hectic string of festival dates, including Glastonbury, Bestival, Glade, Beautiful Days, Rock Ness and Bloom.

The Dub Pistols’ punky-reggae party rages on, now doing damage with one of the year’s most potent musical brews, firing sugar-coated bullets at any recession depression. Their time has surely come.