Scene Magazine Cover Article
The Mariners recently appeared on the cover of the December 1, 2010 issue of Scene magazine.
The Magazine also featured the following interview with Kazman, or have a look at the webzine here
Depth Charge
In the internet age of abbreviated attention spans and bumrushes to international stardom, Dubmarine are very much playing the long game. Only now, four years into their recording career, are they releasing their debut longplayer, ‘Depth Of Sound’, and that’s after a gestation of 18 months.
“The way I see it, it has taken us from the beginning of last year,” explains Dubmarine frontman, D-Kazman. “Getting all the beats down and so on, to the process of mixing and everything that we’ve done and then to getting it out there, releasing it in June overseas. So I guess we’ve evolved a fair bit since then and the album itself I see as a wonderful start, but definitely open to expansion, I think.”
Kazman has an engaging way of peddling his ideas down the phoneline, his crisp, clear voice one part intelligence and one part boundless enthusiasm.
“It’s got a big dance vibe about it, but it’s also got a nice listening vibe to it, so you can sit in the car and enjoy it, or you can hear a few tracks in a club and you just want to dance to that. I think it’s going to be good too for people to actually listen to and tune into some of the lyrics that are written, because a lot of it is pretty esoteric and has deeper spiritual and scientific ideas. I think Dubmarine – we have this crazy idea we’re this spaceship from Atlantis, and we’re coming to take everything back from the reptiles, or something,” he laughs. “Maybe not so much save the world, but realign it.”
It was a big leap forward from the group’s two early EPs, in approach and attitude as much as sound and execution.
“Putting it simply, the EPs I see as promotional music. The first EP we did, ‘Dub From The Deep’, it was just an opportunity to get our stuff recorded and out there for people to hear. We’d been together for about a year at that stage and it was like, ‘Yeah, we need to get some stuff out there.’ Because you can’t just rely on your live shows to be the selling point. That CD went really well, and then after that we did ‘Chip’, which was like a precursor to the album. It was all about adding to the promotional thing – just getting more stuff out there and creating a bit of a catalogue.
“Now the album is a prime example of where we can go artistically with the recording process. I’ve always been a big believer that if you’ve bought a good longplayer and you feel comfortable with it, you can have it in the background and just enjoy it – you turn some songs up, you turn some down. It’s like doing a long-distance drive – which we do, you know, we listen to bands like Red Eye and Salmonella and that sort of thing and MIA – you just want to listen for what’s the next thing they’re going to do, or he or she’s going to do. This album – it’s definitely an enjoyable listen.”
The midyear overseas release for ‘Depth Of Sound’ was timed to coincide with Dubmarine’s first sojourn into European territories. No doubt an epic experience for the group, but also something pretty special for Dubmarine’s thousands of new fans.
“On the musical side of things we played six shows,” Kazman explains. “One was played at The Hague. We got invited to the ambassador’s residence in The Hague, we had dinner with her in the embassy and later on we had a gig at Het Paard van Troje – this famous place where Faith No More have played, Prince, guys like that. We also played at a number of large festivals, the big one for us being in the Czech Republic at Colours Of Ostrava. It was the biggest stage and the biggest audience we’d ever played to. Not only that, the festival itself sells out three months prior to the event and what people do, they get online and check out your music. So it was a beautiful surprise, three of our songs they knew straight away – the whole crowd knew them – and seeing 15,0000-20,000 people responding and singing along to your music in a country you’ve never before been to was a total blow-out!”
With the Australian release of the album now upon us, it’s time for local audiences to reacquaint themselves with Dubmarine’s stellar live show, or perhaps even experience it for the first time. And the best place to do that will be at The Zoo later this week for the ‘Depth Of Sound’ LP launch.
“We’ve got a couple of things specially planned,” Kazman says. “When we get there I like to paint up, so I wear the Aboriginal flag as a sarong and I paint up my body to project that tribal element, and then I’m gonna get a couple of tribal dancers to come and accentuate that. I’m not sure exactly what’s going to happen yet. We’ve got to work on the choreography – maybe have a bit of a jam and choreograph the song itself to suit the moment – I’m not sure exactly what the end result will be. All I know is that whenever we get an idea or a vision, I just have a lot of people who enjoy the vision and put their heart and soul into it and try to make it a reality.
“We’re looking forward to it so much, it’s not funny,” he laughs. “We love playing at The Zoo for a start. The system there is just fantastic. We’ve done a few shows there now and we’re pretty good friends with guys who run the place. I still think that The Zoo is pretty much the strongest venue in town for live music: it has a good system, a wooden floor, and the building itself just resonates good sound. It has a great dancefloor. It gets a bit hot there in summer, but it’s going to get hot when you dance anyway, right?!”
‘Depth Of Sound’ is out now.
