Inspired by theory: what if a punk rock band like The Ramones would have met at another part of the globe, but at a similar decade? What if they wouldn’t have formed in NYC but Kingston, and how would they had expressed their anti-stance while being inspired by Toots & The Maytals and King Tubby instead of MC5 and the Stooges? A probably bizarre theory.
But bizarre theories and creating a musically vision are nothing new to the DUBMONES: emerged from the entourage of 2008’s dubXanne (The Police In Dub), this latest project does give an insight how it might have sounded if The Ramones would have created their songs in a different way, by still keeping its original attitude and band’s message.
The work for „DUBMONES – A Tribute To The Ramones“ (Echo Beach) is in full process, containing all their most significant tunes – but in a sheep’s clothing. While works on classics like f.e. „Blitzkrieg Bop“, „Sheena Is A Punkrocker“, „I Wanna Be Sedated“ or „Rock’n’Roll Highschool“ continue to finally create a full length album. Ideas of how it could have sounded if Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee and Tommy would have met in their rehearsal room jamming „a kind of Rocksteady“ instead. The same way as they used to play „a kind of Rock’n’Roll“ when the so-called inventors of Punk Rock once started in Queens, NYC the early 70s and enriched the diversity of today’s global music scene, even having shaped an ongoing movement.
The longplayer (due to be released in Spring 2025) will feature inspired interpretations from a mix of great Jamaican veterans and contemporary reggae crooners, such as Dennis Alcapone, Keith & Tex, Prince Alla, Susan Cadogan, U Brown, Earl 16, Oku Onuora, Ranking Joe, Alpheus, Horseman, Jr Thomas, Welton Irie, Shniece, Sebastian Sturm and Ranking Ann.
In 2025 The DUBMONES are about to hit the festival stages with bringing the featured vocalists Shniece, Horseman, Sebastian Sturm such as soulmate and Dee Jay Dr. Ring Ding.
DUBBA DUBBA HEY!
ANDRÉ MEYER (PRODUCTION, BASS)
André has been a founding member of known german Rocksteady group „Dr. Ring Ding & The Senior Allstars“ and played their bass for more than a decade. After moving from their local base Munster to Cologne the very early 00ers, he followed his career as a foh-sound engineer and the passion as a producer. All while still playing the bass on stage every now and then. Until today André worked with a variety of artists such as dubXanne – The Police In Dub, Nneka, Mr Vegas, Trettmann, Afrob, Dellé, Megaloh, Gentleman, TM Stevens, SSIO, 257ers, Xatar, Maxim, Luciano, Ski Aggu and others, and has been responsible for various bigger festivals as local technician (f.e. Summerjam, Rock am Ring) and smaller clubs in his hometown Cologne (f.e. Underground, Helios 37).
MANOUGAZOU (CO-PRODUCTION, GUITAR)
Before Manuel followed the path of being a studio- and live musician he went through the school of record business with being product manager for various artists at EMI and Jive/Zomba until the early 00ers. Leaving the record company he founded his own small label that developed into an enthusiastic project-management within the years. Among other projects he also took care of Echo Beach’s „dubXanne – The Police In Dub“ back in 2009. As a guitar player Manuel mainly hit the strings for dubXanne – The Police In Dub, Dellé (Seeed) and Maxim. As a backing band member he also played for a bigger number of reggae artists like Dub Spencer & Trance Hill, Sebastian Sturm, Zoé and Chando to only name a few.
SEBASTIAN STURM (VOCALS, GUITAR)
Since 2006, Sebastian Sturm is an integral part of the European roots reggae scene and regularly performs on stages in Germany, France, Poland, Italy, Portugal, Austria and Switzerland. Already after releasing his very first album he opened European tours for known reggae acts like american reggae group Groundation or jamaican singer Pablo Moses. Starting from there Sebastian played at all major European reggae festivals during the summer, while having crowded solo shows spread over the rest of the year. Recording and live collaborations with roots reggae icons like Kiddus I, Pablo Moses and new school reggae artists like Dellé (Seeed) followed and gained even more recognition for the soul crooner within the European scene. Over the last 15 years Sebastian released 6 Longplayers with ongoing success and is on the brink to release his highly anticipated seventh album soonish.
GUIDO CRAVEIRO (KEYS)
Music has always been Guido’s focal point in life. Since childhood his musical output has been a steady linear increase. Starting with first piano lessons from the age of six it all lead to become one of Germany’s most request producer within a range from Reggae and contemporary Pop music today. Nowadays Guido is bustling in all its musical diversity: as either a producer, a remixer, a keyboard player or a f.o.h. sound-engineer he worked for or with illustrious names like dubXanne – The Police In Dub, Peter Fox, Seeed, Dub Inc., Dellé, Moloko feat. Rosin Murphy, Udo Lindenberg, Maxim, Querbeat, Cro, Jennifer Rostock, Chando, Major Lazer, De La Soul, Bootsy Collins, Shaggy, Max Herre, Clueso, Morgan Heritage,… and many more.
RAÚL PFEFFER (DRUMS)
As everybody else involved in this project, Raul has ever been a Cologne resident and shared either rehearsal room or stage with one or another Dubmone during the decades. In-between those periods of steady crossing paths he moved to Arnhem (NL) to study „Jazz and Pop“ drums. When returning he spent a lot of time at „Supow Studio“ (Patrice) and it did not take long until Raul played for known artists like D-Flame, Max Herre, Beginner, Afrob and Samy Deluxe. Before he finally committed to rapper Curse. Today Raúl is working in a music shop selling Drum equipment, and is playing for Enigma every now and then, a band that has been successful in the early 90s and plays revival shows all over Europe today. Next stop, new happiness: The Dubmones!