For the love of it (Salmonella Dub) (LP 3683 - 3685)

Salmonella Dub  Killervision (CD, EMI Records, 1999) ****  

Salmonella Dub  One Drop East (CD, EMI Records, 2003) *****  

Salmonella Dub  Heal Me (CD, EMI Records, 2007) ***  

Genre: NZ Music, reggae

Places I remember: Slow Boat Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Drifting (Killervision)

Gear costume: Nu Steppa (One Drop East), For the Love of It (Killervision)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6

Active compensatory factors: Salmonella Dub are a dub/drum n bass/reggae/roots band from Christchurch. More specifically - Kaikoura - where they are based.

The band were pioneers for NZ bands that I admire a lot, like Fat Freddy's Drop and LAB. Killervision is their third album, released in 1999. The single For the Love of It and the almost ambient Drifting show what's at the heart of early Salmonella Dub.

Killervision develops some great grooves in a trancey style. By this stage the band was made up of MC Tiki Taane on vocals/guitar (he'd eventually leave in 2007 to go solo), Dave Deakins (drums), Andrew Penman (guitar), Mark Tyler (bass), and Conan Wilcox (sax) - he'd also leave in 2007.

One Drop East is their fifth album. The sound is now smoother and the ambient aspects of Killervision are replaced with a funky groove. The vocals have also improved (Slide is exhibit A), so that One Drop East is a much more commercial proposition.

Heal me is cool too - more reggae infused than the previous two. Most of the core band are still on that one, and Salmonella Dub is still a going concern in 2025, as I understand it. Huh-ZAH!

Where do they all belong? NZ musicians are just great at this kind of music!