Dub7 live on the radio in 1984
"Gavel Groove" (Core 4, 1984)
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The instrumental ending of the song came out great. Steve's guitar playing and Fred's production both delivered. In fact, I recall that Gavel Groove sounded massive and punchy when we listened back in the studio. But, to tell the truth, after the record was mastered the sound came out small and tinny. The mp3 linked above was made by someone I don't know, off the 45 RPM record. It's funny to think that — even though I wrote this song — it isn't the kind of thing I'd want on my iPod now. In fact, hearing the main part of the song two and a half decades later makes me cringe a little.
Download MP3
http://lawrencelafer.la/Dub7-GavelGroove.mp3
Anyway, nice spaced-out music in the coda. It sounds like something from Combat Rock. And in fact we'd opened for The Clash on that tour just over a year before we recorded this.
The theme of the lyrics had to do with a kind of social frustration, a kid who finds himself forced into unsafe situations. I wrote the lyrics after a friend, Jae Johnson introduced me to a friend of his in Brighton who was bullied almost every day at an inner city school he was bused to in Roxbury. A reviewer in the Boston Phoenix called it an "anti-busing song." That bummed me out. I wasn't wrapped up in that kind of Boston politics at all. (I came from the vanilla suburbs.) Sure, I think all Dub7 members would have considered racial integration to be a positive goal. After all, our band itself was racially integrated! But our views on integration would have been beside the point. The song wasn't taking any side on that local issue. It was more an anti-friction sentiment than one either for or against "busing." Simply: I felt bad for the kid. I guess there's always the possibility that lyrics will be misunderstood. The lyrics to Gavel Groove were barely intelligible, sorta cryptic, and so some misunderstandings should hardly have been any surprise.
Steve Harrell listened to this the other day (Dec 23, '09) and commented:
Thanks for posting the song. I haven't heard this thing in 20 years. It sounds better to me now than I remember it at the time. I dig Larry's lyrics, and the story behind the song. Hey ... its no DIRTY WATER but it is a very BOSTON song filled with local references & events from a certain place in time.
... [T]he keyboards had me thinking Human League, a very 80s sound.
I like the ending with the trippy backwards guitar track.
As Larry mentioned I remember taking the acetate test pressing of the 45 to Albert O and having him play it on the monster sound system at Spit. It sounded great ! Then when the singles were pressed they sounded like crap. That was a big WTF moment for me.
All in all a cool rockin' tune with a great opening riff from Larry. I have a few of these laying around if anybody wants one. I am going to mark my calendar to make sure I play it again 20 years from now.
Jon Alper of the Dub7 crew commented thus in August 2010:
I also enjoyed the piece you wrote about your thinking in writing Gavel Groove. I never saw it as a large political song about busing but more about the individual impact that the politics had on a real kid. Sort of "You can talk about the politics all you like but think about the impact on this kid caught on the crossfire." Despite it being very personal about this one kid's experience you did seem to be making a point about the need for the debate to shift from grandstanding to humanizing. Oh, and it IS on my iPod and DOES get listened to.
Larry (LaFerla) Williams - vocals, guitar
Steve Harrell - lead guitar
Garry Miles - drums
Kenny Epps - bass
Ron Marinick - keyboard
Craig Spears - congas
Produced by Fred Giannelli
I found this description of Dub7 on the web:
"Originally known as 007, this skankin group changed their name to Dub 7 in 1984. (I swear they named themselves after a Taang Records catalogue number.) They were Boston's answer to the 2 Tone label. They even kinda looked like The Specials and Fun Boy Three. One 7" single, Gavel Groove b/w Federales (Core 4, 1984)."
And this:
"Boston dub/ska/funk favorites, Dub 7 aka 007, their only record. They were always playing Boston hardcore shows (I saw them play with DYS at Government Center) and they also opened for The Clash on the Combat Rock tour. Gavel Groove actually sounds a little like The Clash toward the end."