With roots reggae serving as a vehicle for Rastafarian ideology, reggae music has always been inextricably linked to ganja culture. That link has certainly drawn a lot of people to the music over the years, and it remains a crucial thread within American reggae scene. In fact, celebrating marijuana feels like the most common topic that reggae artists sing about from coast to coast.

For this reason, at this point, I admittedly feel a bit underwhelmed when bands drop tunes about weed. That being said, the fact that DUBBEST is releasing new music supersedes my typical ambivalence about songs of this nature. After 15 years of making music together, the San Diego-based reggae band will be dropping their first ganja song tomorrow, but if you’re reading this, that means you can hear it now at the link above.

DUBBEST singer, Ryan Thaxter, understands where I am coming from. “Although we all smoke weed to one degree or another, we felt that singing about it was a little bit cliche and overplayed, unless you were coming at it from a new angle,” he told me.  “We were having a conversation in the van one day and someone used the term slow burn, and there was this moment of just like ‘Oh no…that’s our ganja tune.’ There was an inevitability to it where I almost felt obliged to write that song as soon as I heard that phrase and instantly saw it as a metaphor. And I extrapolated the metaphor of a slow burn to mean that I prefer a real deep love-connection with someone over something hot and fast, and one great way to get there is to sit down and smoke a joint and get to know them. Let it burn slow.”

Musically, “Slow Burn” brings to mind the digidub era of reggae, a prolific time during which many of Jamaica’s most revered musical artists recorded and released acclaimed LPs. Thaxter acknowledges that DUBBEST are big fans of 80s reggae, pointing out that they have more often emulated the early 80s dancehall sound. “For this one we flashed forward a few years to the mid to late 80s for a little more of that digidub sound. Before the session we listened to some of our favorite stuff from that era to get in the zone, especially the Linval Thompson album Starlight. That album had a huge influence on this track. Another album we love from that era that has had a big effect on us is Dennis Brown’s Brown Sugar album. We love the way Sly and Robbie tackled the electronic era and we were definitely hoping to capture a little of that energy.” Then, after some thought, he admitted, “I think we kind of naturally make music that sounds that way though at this point, so it sort of comes out that way no matter what we try to do half the time.”

DUBBEST with Dan Kelly (center)

Thaxter credits guitarist Cory Mahoney for creating “the guitar parts, chords, basic groove and vibe,” and Lewis Richards produced the track for the band at 17th Street Studio in Costa Mesa.  “The production of this song was much different than anything we’ve done together as a band,” he explained. “The main difference is that we used mostly electronic drum sounds to intentionally give it a more modern sound as opposed to how we usually record with a live drum kit. Our drummer, Kyle Hancock, still played the beats, so it still has his feel, but we used synthesizers and drum pads instead of a drum set for the most part. Once we decided this was the direction, we started adding in more synthesizers playing melodies and chords, to lean further in that direction.”

Thaxter’s vocals soar, as they do throughout all of DUBBEST’s music, but “Slow Burn” is enhanced further by a guest feature from another very recognizable voice from within the American reggae scene, Fortunate Youth front man, Dan Kelly. The two singers compliment each other nicely, with Thaxter’s polished higher register juxtaposing Kelly’s gravelly lower range to create a super vibey tune.  Last fall, DUBBEST had toured with Fortunate Youth, and the time spent traveling and performing together helped to facilitate this collaboration “The tour was a big factor for sure, but we’ve always wanted to get Dan on a track,” said Thaxter. “He has been on the list of names we want on our music for a while, and doing the tour with them really cemented the relationship between us and made it easier to make it finally happen. Another thing was that we were finally putting out a ‘ganja anthem’ for the first time in our 15-year career, and we knew the feature had to be someone that was sort of known for ganja tunes, and who’s the king of ganja anthems more than Dan Kelly?”

As an extra little nod to ganja culture, “Slow Burn” clocks in at 4:20.

Looking ahead, Thaxter said they “have a ton of songs in the works,” and they plan to hit the studio this fall for an album that will release next year. “It’s a slow process,” he said, “but the songs are there and the ball is in motion.”