BEAT DIS
By Stephen Jewell, Pavement magazine, August 2000

With their punky fusion of reggae, hiphop and all things funky, Hallelujah Picassos were one of those crucial early 90's bands that precipitated the electronic music revolution of the past few years. Sadly, they weren't around long enough to reap the rewards, falling apart a couple of years before dance music really took off in New Zealand.

Now, former Picasso Peter McLennan is plunging headlong into the electronic medium with his solo project Dub Asylum, which is, he explains, a natural evolution from his old band.

"One of the things about the Picassos was that we weren't full-on musicians who sat around talking about what effects pedals were big that week," says McLennan. "We weren't great technicians. We'd go along to band practise and talk about what records we'd bought that week. I've been a big hiphop fan for a long time and Harold and Bobbylon were both big reggae fans. Dub Asylum is me wanting to work on my own. A democracy of one. It's a logical extension of some of the things that we did in the Picassos, using hiphop beats and finding old funk samples, but also wanting to play guitar as well."

But McLennan is hardly out on his own, with ex-Picassos MC Bobbylon and John Pain contributing to his music. McLennan even sampled himself on Marshall Law Prevails, utilising a drum loop from Marshall Law Dub, an old Picassos track that was originally produced by Pitch Black's Mike Hodgson, a band whom Dub Asylum share a similar heritage.

"We're both interested in the dynamics of the audio," claims McLennan. "And what I like about dub is that it's all about taking a finished track, stripping it down and then rebuilding it. We were never stylistic purists in the Picassos. We were never just a rock band, a grunge band or a thrash band. It's always about blending genres. With Dub Asylum, I like making music that falls within the dance genres, because people are a lot more open minded."

Dub Asylum's first release, last years limited edition ep Dub Never Sleeps, will be followed by the debut album She Dubs Me, She Dubs Me Not, on Antenna Records. Along with Bobbylon and John Pain, the album will also feature contributions from Tom Ludvigson (Alloy, Trip to the moon), Paulette Edwards, and former Spacesuit member Sandy Mill. Bobbylon and Pain will also join McLennan for the Dub Asylum live shows that will resemble more of a sound system than a Picassos-style traditional guitars and drums set up.

"The challenging thing about Dub Asylum (for me) is that it's basically a solo project. I've had to relearn how to play live. I can't take my keyboard, my guitar, my bass and a sampler out and play them all at once," he explains. "I haven't got enough hands."