Long Beach Dub Allstars Release 'Echo Mountain High', Share Video for 'Preacha' ft. Philieano
by Relix Media
Photo: Matt Farrington
Long Beach Dub Allstars, have just released a dynamic new album. Echo Mountain High finds the reggae-rock trailblazers collaborating with notable guests, including Chris Dowd (Fishbone), Devin Morrison (Expanders/Man Like Devin), Jesse Wagner (Aggrolites), and Philieano (Doobie Raider). LBDH bassist Edwin Kampwirth reveals, "After the pandemic, I honestly didn't know what the future held for the band. The way Opie, myself and the crew came together to work on the really blew my mind. Everyone got busy, did their parts and treated these songs with love and respect. To me, Echo Mountain High is the wild album that needed to happen. We took some chances, broke down some barriers and now the floodgates are open."
In conjunction with the album release the group enlisted Anthony Turrietta to direct a video for "Preacha," the current single from the record. Vocalist Opie Ortiz explains, "The idea came from watching the Superbad movie and the 'Sabotage' Beastie Boys video. I had given Tony the concept of certain players in the band playing certain occupations and abusing their powers. We put a spin on it with a comical video where me and Roger are police, Ed and Miguel are teachers and professors , Gil is a priest, Jesse from Aggrolites is a judge . No one was hurt or mistook anyone for real police but that would have been funny. The whole time filming we were having a blast."
As for the song itself, Ortiz explains, "The 'Preacha' track came together when we were digging for ideas and Ed sent a demo that was really old with a bunch of other tracks . The 'Preacha' demo was insane, it sounded like a scary circus ?! So me and my brother Philieano went down to 17th Street Studios with Lew and did the demo for the band to check out. I have that first demo and still love it to this day! The song features Philieano, my younger brother who I've worked with on numerous projects".
Kampwirth adds, "It was an older demo that I had put together back when I was still living in Long Beach. When Opie and I were going through ideas, this was one of the first ones he really dug and he started working with Philieano on it right away. We took everybody's parts, molded it into more of a song structure, and that was it, 'Preacha' was born! The studio was a blast. Just watching the team make 'Preacha' come alive, as well as all the other tracks, was a great experience. There are a lot of fun instruments all over Echo Mountain High. On 'Preacha' I got to play with a sitar guitar, and a melodica, which I highly recommend."
