Benji Webbe is quite possibly one of the coolest people to have come out of the Welsh music scene. Despite his name not being as big as Ian Watkins from Lostprophets or Matt Tuck from Bullet For My Valentine, Webbe is still flying the flag for Welsh rock bands everywhere.
With a career spanning over 15 years, Webbe has been involved heavily in the ragga-metal scene with his first outfit Dub War and current band Skindred. Dub War split in 1999 and left a lot of fans disappointed, but Earache Records have recently released a CD/DVD combi entitled “The Dub, The War & The Ugly”. But why release this box set now?
“It’s been a few years since Dub War died and there’s still not a gig I’ve played since, that people young and old don’t ask me about the band,” Webbe said.
“I approached Digby [Pearson, founder of Earache Records] with the idea to put our last ever UK show and all the videos in one package for those who missed out. To see the roots and blue print of Skindred.
“Plus I wanted all the stuff in one package because the video cassettes that I have are getting old,” he added.
The new box set will contain a CD of 12 rare and unreleased tracks and a DVD featuring a brand new documentary giving a history of the band as well as interviews.
“It’s just me, Jeff [Rose, guitarist] and Rich [Glover, bassist] telling tales of the band getting together and all the madness we got up to during our five years as a band,” Webbe said.
When Dub War split in 1999, it was reportedly down to disputes with their label – Earache Records. Arguments about financing their third album and that their demos weren’t good enough promptly caused the break up. But would Dub War still be around today if there were no disputes?
“I think we might have called it a day by now if we wouldn’t have had a massive growth in a fan base or an album that sold well.
“It lived, it died, from its demise so many great things were born, for all of us, except Richy.”
From the ashes of Dub War, Webbe went on to conquer the world of ragga-metal once more with Skindred. The success of which he puts down to “Perseverance… keep doing what you do and they gotta take notice in the end. If they don’t in the beginning”.
Webbe has been pioneering Welsh rock/metal since the early days of Dub War and still continues it with Skindred. He also featured on fellow Welsh metal band Bullet For My Valentine’s track “Take It Out On Me”. Webbe gave his opinions on the current array of bands from Wales.
“I fucking love them all! Seeing them grow from kids asking me for autographs and photos, to becoming mates and watching them headline massive festivals around the globe. It’s amazing how these crap vocalists can get away with it — only joking boys!”
With Dub War’s new CD/DVD combi already on the shelves and Skindred looking to start work on a new album soon, things are only looking up for Benji Webbe. For more information visit their MySpace.