Latest / The Scene Projects / DUBBSY on Authenticity, Genre-Bending, and Preparing for a Halloween Show

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DUBBSY on Authenticity, Genre-Bending, and Preparing for a Halloween Show · The Scene Projects

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  Today, we're sitting down with Dubzy, an artist pushing out raw psychedelic vibes straight from
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  Sioux Falls.
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  His sound drifts between hypnotic and heavy, weaving stories that hit whether you're riding
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  high or facing the lows.
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  This is the voice behind some of the trippiest underground tracks right now.
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  Welcome Dubzy to the show.
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  This program is part of the Scene Projects podcast network.
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  Scene Project features interviews with independent musicians, comedians, and artists
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  from across the Midwest.
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  Become part of our community and support local art wherever you are.
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  Welcome in to another exciting episode of the scene.
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  I'm your host, Bubba Starts.
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  And with me today is my brother, Dubzy.
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  Welcome to the show, brother.
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  Hey, Bubba.
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  Thanks for having me, man.
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  Yeah.
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  Long time coming.
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  You played a couple of shows with starts and ends in the last year, and it was finally time
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  to make sure that we get you on the show and talk about your music.
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  So welcome.
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  I'm sorry it took me so long.
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  Oh, that's alright, man.
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  People are busy.
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  Everyone's got stuff to do.
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  And we have no lack of content coming out.
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  So sometimes it just gets, I don't wanna say overwhelming, but it gets to be a lot.
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  That's for sure.
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  That is the biz.
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  For sure.
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  Well, give us a a little bit of backstory, Anya, before we talk about all the new music
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  that you've been pumping out and things that you got coming up.
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  I know you got a big show, in October.
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  So, go ahead and give us a little bit of your backstory, man.
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  The floor is yours.
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  How
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  we doing?
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  My name is Wilson Trent, and a lot of people may know me as that, but you can also call me
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  Dubzy.
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  I am a self taught multi solo musician, a bassist first.
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  I started in a three piece thrash metal band called Insanity Strikes.
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  Shout out to you guys wherever you are.
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  My first gig with them and indeed my first time on stage on bass was at the opening fifteen
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  minutes of one of the eat your face metal feasts at Biggs bar.
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  I believe it was one that Blue Felix headlined.
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  I'll never forget it.
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  So, after parting ways with them, I got together with some good buddies with the
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  intention on starting a punk rock band.
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  I like a lot of genres.
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  I had the name ear infection in mind ever since high school anyway.
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  So, that project was kinda short lived, and I was making meat ends meet delivering DoorDash.
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  This was right around the time of the COVID scare, in 2020.
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  I was out there delivering that food and those groceries helping to do my part.
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  I was also apprenticing to tattoo under my stepfather-in-law and mentor, Steve
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  Butterfield.
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  I knew him first as alien at Alien and Company just off for First Avenue by the railroad
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  tracks.
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  He helped me to become more of a man, to stand up for myself, to work hard, get a bit of a
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  spine, and to perfect more of my graphic art.
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  It was Steve who got me in touch with some guys who were seeking a bass player.
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  Later on, I found myself rehearsing with the, ever eclectic rock house band.
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  And, you know, they they were supportive.
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  It was a stepping stone.
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  And I'll never forget the band camaraderie.
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  And even though I'm not with them now, I still have collabs with some of the people I jammed
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  with back then too.
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  I've got more.
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  Do you wanna interject with a question or two first?
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  Keep going, man.
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  I like it.
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  Awesome.
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  As part of the Rock House band, like I said, I experienced band camaraderie.
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  And even though I'm not with them now, the people I jammed with, the friends I made, the
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  places I played will never forget.
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  We honored the recently passed, at that time, Cosmo at the Terrace Park Bandshell.
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  That is where I played my heart out, and I just happened to also be playing to my future wife,
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  my heart, soul, and muse.
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  And, the dubsy content and passion started when I was in in an alternative band in 2023.
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  I was learning how to use a digital audio workstation for the first time and got
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  captivated by the process.
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  I began to record solo jams, sometimes on my looper, sometimes straight through.
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  I couldn't get enough of these studies.
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  It just kind of exploded in my mind after that.
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  I learned not only what a key in music was, why it was so important, but so much, much more,
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  how they work, all that stuff.
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  Sure.
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  I loved music before, especially rock and metal.
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  But when Dubzy began, I began to live and breathe music.
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  That's great, man.
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  I I I love where you come from.
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  Obviously, a lot of different influences than where I've come from.
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  Right?
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  So that's why it was kinda thrilling to me to have you, come and play some shows with my band
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  starts and ends because you brought a much different kinda take and feel to a lot of,
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  like, classic rock and country stuff that I play.
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  So it really gave us a a different vibe.
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  And yeah, man.
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  I I've I've enjoyed, every show that we've gotten to play together, and I hope we get a
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  chance to do even more of it.
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  Love the sound that you push out with with the Dubsie persona.
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  It's just it's different.
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  Right?
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  And and it hits different than anything.
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  Different.
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  That's right.
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  Well, it's hard to put it into a box.
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  Right?
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  It's hard to define it as a genre I know off the top when, you know, I asked Chad GPT who is
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  Dubsie that it kind of fed it.
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  A lot of psychedelic sounds, which I don't, you know, not hear, especially, like, early
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  psychedelic.
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  Right?
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  Like
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  Oh, yeah.
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  Not not the latest that you think of.
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  Yeah.
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  The early Very
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  was golden.
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  Absolutely.
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  Awesome.
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  Stuff.
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  Yeah.
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  I've got I've got a little more.
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  Dubsie, come from the spooky come for the spooky, stay for the groovy is the new slogan
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  I'm trying out.
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  I like it.
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  I like it, man.
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  That's a great it explains it.
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  And I where your music may go a little spooky and a little dark, you're a very you're a very
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  affable person.
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  Right?
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  You're always smiling.
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  You're always very happy.
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  You've been very cordial, to everyone that, you know, that I've seen you, with or or perform
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  with.
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  And, it's fun to kinda juxtapose that towards some of the music that will be a little heavier
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  and a little, you know, a a little, I would say, aggressive,
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  where in person, you're not aggressive at all, really.
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  I like to I like to, get under people's skin sometimes with my audio.
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  I like to bring to mind things that people know about, but maybe not necessarily have the
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  awareness.
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  We're talking things like mental illnesses, monsters, of course, things that bump in the
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  night, and a lot of other things.
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  I definitely go for a different sound in a lot of my, contents.
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  I I bend genres, usually stick to alternative slash heavy rock.
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  I'm getting better with my singing voice too.
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  Time and time, it just gets so much better.
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  I'm so excited.
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  Well and you have to do it.
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  Right?
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  And and being a bass player in a lot of these kind of punk rock or or, you know, prog rock,
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  you know, kind of bands and different things that you're playing in, you're not always the
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  front man for that.
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  But with Dubz, you're not just the front man.
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  You're also the bass and the guitar, and you're making drums.
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  Win it
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  all, baby.
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  Yeah.
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  And I think that's what's really fun, for me when it comes down to talking about the live
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  show.
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  So how is it you know, you you mentioned the loop pedal.
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  Are you also kind of performing with tracks in the live show and bringing all of these sounds
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  together while still just being one man on stage?
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  Right.
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  So, actually, this ties right into what I've got, prepared for this section.
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  I, I've been prepping hard for this upcoming show.
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  Anyone who's heard Dubsie can probably tell you Halloween's the vibe.
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  My music is general generally about those things.
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  Difficult, abstract, sometimes scary things.
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  I struggle under mental illness, and I've got a crazy good stage stage show planned.
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  It's gonna be great.
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  So a little bit about that, performance is I am preparing video graphics, non AI based, all
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  human made, some borrowed from the public domain with proper credit given.
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  They'll be projected like they were in my last show up against the stage, bathing me in that
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  colorful light.
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  And my sound, I prepared special live, versions of the songs I'm going to play so that not only
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  does the live experience continue to be as variable compared to the recording version, the
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  studio version, but also so that I can have my special guests.
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  I have my lovely wife, Day.
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  I have, Mark Hendrix coming up to join me in my set.
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  And, yes, it may be backing tracks, and I understand there's a stigma about those in some
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  parts.
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  All I'm saying is check it out, man.
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  You won't be disappointed.
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  Well and I think it just kind of depends on what the tracks are, what the show is.
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  I think we're all pretty accepting of what, you know, what that people play the tracks.
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  Right?
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  And that people play the tracks with their vocals on it since the Milli Vanilli days.
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  Right?
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  I don't know if you're even old enough to remember that.
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  I'm trying hard not to break that illusion.
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  I'm recording video here and there of me playing all the different parts just to kinda
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  keep it together, keep it known that I am the authentic source of these tracks, and they are
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  prepared with care for this performance.
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  I think that's really cool.
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  I I and I think it's great that you bring, attention to that as well because a lot of
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  people, won't see the work that goes into that.
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  So being able to capture some of that and then incorporate that into the live show is like,
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  no.
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  This is me recording that track.
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  I just had to do it before because I didn't have time to train someone else necessarily how
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  to do it just like I wanted it done to be here for a live show.
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  So I think that's really cool.
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  And I and I think not just doing it, but bringing attention to it because a lot of
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  people, I think, kinda give in to the stigma where they wanna hide from it, and they wanna
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  pretend like it's not something that it is.
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  I don't think there's anything wrong with
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  it.
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  What the cool thing is to not like or like.
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  You know?
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  I just do me, man.
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  Yes.
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  You do.
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  And that's what I I appreciate about you the most is that you're not trying while it the
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  reason it's so hard to fit your music inside of a box is that you don't try to fit your music
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  inside of any box.
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  Even though you are from the punk rock or heavy metal world, you're not trying to make your
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  sound fit into one or the other.
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  You're gonna you're you're telling everyone, and you're going out and doing it exactly like
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  you like you said.
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  Right?
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  Is that I'm going to mix these things together.
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  I'm going to take all these influences and these different ingredients that are up on the
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  shelf of Dubsie, and I'm gonna pour them all in a pot and see what happens.
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  And each song becomes its own recipe.
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  Absolutely.
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  It does.
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  I look at all of my songs whether they're polished as much as they can be or if they need
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  a little work.
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  I look at them as more of my children.
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  They grow just like people, over time as we gain our knowledge, as we hone our skills, our
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  songs grow.
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  You know as well as I do.
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  Totally.
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  And there's songs, you know, that I've had in my repertoire that I wrote twenty years ago
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  that don't sound like the same song, you know, depending on who I'm playing it with, if I'm
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  playing it solo, if maybe I've ad libbed the lyrics since I wrote it that's different now.
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  And, and I love that you're really bringing something different than just the recorded
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  tracks of the studio versions.
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  I love that you're remaking some of these and making live versions.
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  And even though they're recorded on tracks, that you're getting a live feel for these
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  things, and you're able to bring up special guests.
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  There's just there's so much that goes into all of this that I I think it's really cool that
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  you recorded some of the process and then incorporating that in the show to kinda show
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  people.
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  I think that's just a really cool take on the whole thing.
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  Thank you, man.
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  I really appreciate that.
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  In fact, to build on that, at this Halloween show, there is one song on our set that you'll
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  never hear on streaming services, never hear on a CD.
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  It is only live, and people are gonna go nuts.
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  Love it.
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  Well about that.
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  Let's tell everybody where they can come see that October show one more time and where they
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  can find you.
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  Good good natured on East Eighth Street, Sioux Falls.
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  We have a Halloween show.
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  I dub z in the headliner that evening.
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  But playing before me are my are our special guests, Experimental, who has also got a trippy
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  vibe.
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  They've got something pretty stellar for planned.
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  And the grave itself, who, I believe is connected with good natured in a very nice way.
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  And it's it's $5 at the door, all ages.
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  Music starts at 7PM.
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  And, yeah, it's gonna be a great time, man.
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  October 31, good natured Sioux Falls.
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  Shout out to Shannon.
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  That's awesome, man.
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  Well, it sounds like it's gonna be a great show, some really awesome music, something
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  different for music fans in Sioux Falls.
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  You know, I capitalize a lot off of, you know, the music that I played just being popular in
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  general, But I love that you guys are doing something totally different.
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  Halloween's a great time for that.
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  Tap into that spooky energy, and I hope you guys have a great time at the show.
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  Dubzy, thanks for being part of the starts and ends family, and thanks for being part of the
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  scene, brother.
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  Hey.
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  Thanks for having me, Bubba.
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  Do you mind if I close out with some shout outs?
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  Go ahead, man.
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  Shout them out.
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  Hey.
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  Thank you, man.
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  So I am a full solo act Dubsy, but also I want to shout out to my current other band project
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  Indigents.
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  It's a psychedelic grunge up and coming three piece band.
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  Of course, your boy plays bass.
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  Shout out to Zach, Julian, and Callie.
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  You guys are awesome.
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  We'll get back to work in the in the rehearsal room real soon.
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  Shout out to my mom, my dad in the in heaven, my lovely life, Day Steyer, wife Day Steyer,
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  kiddos, all my new and existing family.
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  Mark Hendrix, b Salow, Jocelyn Lee, and thank you, Bubba, for having me and, of course,
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  giving me these opportunities to fill on on base for your solo material as well.
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  Really appreciate it.
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  Awesome, Dubzy.
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  Well, thank you so much, brother.
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  We'll see you soon.
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  Heck yeah.
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  You could find me on all the platforms, streaming services, YouTube, or just come down
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  on Halloween.