Date: Friday, January 25th, 2013
Line Up: Long Beach Dub All-Stars (L.B.D.A.), Beyond I Sight, Los Angelitos, Special C
Venue: The Brixton South Bay. Redondo Beach, CA
Right underneath the newly remodeled Redondo Beach Pier is where you will find South Bay LA’s very own live entertainment venue, The Brixton. With a mix of bright lights, good food, salty beach smell, and crisp ocean breeze all around, the area surrounding the venue easily set the mood for the great night that lied ahead.
With the doors opening promptly at 8pm, Beyond I Sight was the first of four bands to grace the stage on this historic night of music. With the addition of Gonzo (formerly of Fortunate Youth) being fairly new to the front line of vocals, the fans, both old and new, were in for a real treat.
Beyond I Sight…
At approximately 8:20pm, the band started the set with a sweet sensimilla ballad, title “Drift.” From that 
point on, the mellow vibes, groovy basslines, and dub effects had everyone in the room swaying back and forth, side to side. Gonzo followed up his ballad to Mary Jane by serenading the ladies with 2 songs dedicated to their beauty, the second one titled, “You Got Me.”.
The band ended the awesome but brief performance with the crowd favorite, “Stereo System.” The song, featured off of Gonzo’s solo album, Rocksteady, usually guest features Rick Haze, but since he was not in attendance, Gonzo took it upon himself to provide the crowd with a freestyle catered to the South Bay. The focal point of the song lied in the dual between Saxophone player, Vincent Villagomez, and Jeremy Santizo on guitar.
Jessica, a fan from Lakewood, CA, stated, “I love how you can feel their music.” Soothing and skilled saxophone solos throughout the whole performance were definitely one thing to remember from Beyond I Sight’s set as the other bands took stage throughout the night.
Special C…
Second to take the stage, at about 9:20pm, was a local band by the name of Special C. It was quite the transition going from the stoney melodies of Beyond I Sight to the heavy punk rock self-titled song that quickly introduced themselves to those who have never heard of them.
All in all, this local band had some great energy and a good amount of true fans in attendance leading the mosh pits during the punk rock songs and Black Flag covers. Dustin Jones, lead vocals and guitar, explained to those who weren’t expecting such a heavy blend of punk rock and reggae music that night why their band has such a style. He concluded with, “They are both different types of rebel music. Reggae and Punk Rock should be humping at all times.”
Los Angelitos…
10:30pm marked the time that South Bay’s very own all-star line up took the stage at The Brixton. Los Angelitos is a 7-man unit made up of various artists from different groups all inside the reggae scene. The band is composed of Moises Juarez (Tomorrows Bad Seeds), Rico Estrada (Ease Up), Fikir Amlak, Kenny Parry (True Press), and Gonzo, Rosendo Mendoza and Vincent Villagomez of Beyond I Sight. The band’s debut performance was full of energy and Hispanic influence, bouncing the crowd’s energy back from rebel punk rock to dancing and good times.
Los Angelitos came out with a spicy medley of covers including “Legalize It,” “Murder She 
Wrote,” and “Smoke Two Joints” all with a Latin twist. As the venue began to get packed tight, Los Angelitos followed up the cover medley with a few original songs in Spanish that really had the crowd feeling the vibe. I had a chance to speak with Rico from the band and he said, “(Los Angelitos) currently have an EP in the works” so be on the look out!
Long Beach Dub All-Stars…
Finally, the moment everyone had been waiting for with so much anticipation had arrived, the Long Beach Dub All-Stars were officially back!! This show was the band’s first time ever playing at The Brixton. Front man, Opie Ortiz began to reminisce, saying “I used to sneak in to see Pato Banton when it was known as Fashions (night club) back in the day.”
According to Jack Maness, the band was stoked to be playing some new tunes for the fans. “We got a couple new ones (songs) that were pretty excited to drop on the fans. It’s always nice to look out and see their reactions when they’re hearing new stuff that we’ve been working on.”
The venue was packed from front to back with fans from all different walks of life. From the moment the reunited 6-piece band hit the stage at 11:40pm to the last bass note, there were fans screaming with excitement and singing along to all the songs they knew so well.
As the crowd stood in awe, L.B.D.A. started out with a mellow instrumental known as “Astro Dub.” With Tim Wu on the saxophone during the intro, he quickly switched to the flute and led the way with L.B.D.A.’s hit, and one of my personal favorites, “My Own Life.” The crowd immediately began cheering and singing along with Opie Ortiz. The sight of seeing the band together again with their sound on point was so surreal that there was a girl in tears towards the front of the stage.
The band continued the show with a mixture of old jams and new ones that had the crowd’s full attention at all times. The deep bass lines held by Ed Kampwith in their heavy dub instrumentals like 
“Righteous Dub” had the crowd mesmerized swaying back and forth in a cohesive groove. Meanwhile, Jack Maness would jump from keys to guitar and vocals on some of the new songs that were featured such as “Viper” and “The Storm.” Although it was rare to not see any fans singing along, you could tell they seemed to love the new songs.
The Long Beach Dub All-Stars also covered a few songs off Sublime’s 40oz. to Freedom album, including “Scarlet Begonias” and “5446 That’s My Number/Ball and Chain.” Of course all the fans were stoked to hear these classic jams be brought back to life. The funky guitar riffs held by Michael “Miguel” Happoldt mixed with the classic beat of the drums by Marshall “Ras MG” Goodman in “Kick Down,” another fan favorite, had everyone bouncing and singing along with Opie. The band went straight into the next song “Like A Dog,” which is exactly how the two songs appear in order on L.B.DA.’s 1999 release, Right Back.
As the band quietly walked off stage, it was almost like the fans were still in shock of what they had all just witnessed. After a minute or two, everyone seemed to get a hold of themselves and you began hearing a continued chant of “Dub All Stars! Dub All Stars!”
With “Wonders Dub” as their encore song, the band came with a stoney return. For one last 
time, the entire audience was put into a trance by the heavy bass line, echoing sounds of the flute, quick hi-hat hits, and of course, the dubbed out guitar and vocals. The show may have come to an end, but the memories of this historic night will live on forever, and for the legends of Long Beach, California, this is just the beginning of a new journey.
Although there is no set release date, be on the lookout for some new music coming from the Long Beach Dub Allstars in the future. When asked what kind of style the fans could look forward to hearing in the new material, Jack Maness stated, “We’re doing some of the things that we’re true to and we’re also expanding into some other stuff.”
According to Opie, they are currently doing some home recording but will definitely be looking to get into a studio. “Where ever we can get a good sound” is what was said in regards to that. Without giving too much away, the Long Beach legends hinted that we can expect some guest appearances on their new releases from artists they have worked with in the past, as well as new artists that they have plans on working with in the future.
The whole show contained some Latin flavor, a little bit of hip-hop, mixed with punk rock and a whole lot of reggae. All the bands kept the crowd’s spirits high and the first three acts did a good job with helping to increase the anticipation everyone had for seeing the reunited Long Beach Dub Allstars. With the venue close to its’ 450 person capacity, this night was definitely one for the books and those in attendance were blessed to have experienced it first hand.
Beyond I Sight Set List:
1. Drift
2. Sweet Motion
3. You Got Me
4. Couldn’t Take My Love (ft. Pedro of True Press)
5. Seriously
6. Smooth Operator (cover)
7. Mentality
8. Stereo System
L.B.D.A. Set List:
1. Astro Dub
2. My Own Life
3. Hooligans (cover)
4. Ed Major
5. Viper
6. Lonely End
7. Frontline
8. Righteous Dub
9. 5446/ Ball and Chain (cover)
10. Storm
11. Ed Dub
12. Scarlet Begonias (cover)
13. Bandelero (cover)
14. Like That
15. D.J.s
16. Kickdown/Like A Dog
Encore:
17. Wonders Dub
Article By: David Garcia
Photos By: David Norris
Check out MORE photos from the show!!!
