From East Rome to No Dub, a bass-centric music exploration

An interview with Trans Upper Egypt

Four years after their last album, ‘TUE’, Trans Upper Egypt from East Rome, are back with a new work, No Dub, released by Maple Death Records and My Own Private.

We had a chat about the new album with the band, consisting of Bob Junior (Holiday INN, Bobsleigh Baby) on bass, Leo Non (WoW!) on vocals and synths, and Simone Donadini (Rainbow Island) on drums.

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Hello guys - first of all, I would like to compliment you on ‘No Dub’ and its hypnotic tracks. I'd start with the title: why ‘No Dub’?

Leo: It's called ‘No Dub’ because we've always had some affinity with dub music, especially the way Manu's bass sounds and the structure of the tracks. In this album, in particular, the bass sound is intentionally deep. However, we have our differences with dub: it's a proto-electronics, where the studio and the mixer are used for the first time as an expressive instrument, whereas we are a fully-fledged band, and we have always played as such.

So, calling the album ‘No Dub’ meant to invoke that influence by creating this relationship through a negation. It is also a way to reference our influences without being trapped by them, without falling into revivalism. Regarding the "no" and its strategic importance as the last form of resistance, the ability to say no, there's much more to be said, but I would probably exceed the limits of your question.

Manu: And then dub music, as Leo pointed out, is usually heavily produced in the studio, made of many manipulations and overdubbing, the opposite of how we recorded the album.

Let's take a step back; how did Trans Upper Egypt come about, what are the core ideas behind the project, any artistic influences you share, if any, and how did you end up collaborating with Maple Death Records?

Manu: Trans Upper Egypt started in 2009, somewhat at the peak of Borgata Boredom, which marked, let's say, the explosion of the East Rome scene. Many bands, many projects, a very fertile period for all of us and the desire to explore various sounds.

We found ourselves trying to play instruments that weren't exactly "ours". Leo has always played the guitar and started having fun with a small keyboard and an echo unit; I played the guitar and took up the bass. All this is not to reproduce what we already know but to change our ideas, especially our sounds. We didn't choose a specific genre; the group built itself from the repetitiveness of the bass lines and then expanded in various directions we didn't define. It was others who told us you're kraut, psychedelic, etc...

All of us are in other bands that we maybe neglect less than TUE (4 albums in 15 years!), but we're not in a hurry, and we agree on the fact that when there's a need, then we start working on it. So it was with the last album, recorded in an afternoon, and then Leo worked a lot on the mix.

The collaboration with Maple Death Records also came naturally. We've known Jonathan for years, made other records with him (both WoW and Holiday INN), and often exchanged ideas and organised concerts or festivals together. It's an extensive collaboration that continues beyond just producing a record.

Compared to the last album in 2018, TUE, No Dub seemed a more compact, homogeneous album with dreamy and psychedelic atmospheres. How did you arrive at this evolution in your sound?

Manu: The first albums also had other members. Cheb Samir on drums and Luca Tanzini with his analogue machines. But by 2018, we were already the lineup we are today, with Simone Donadini (from Rainbow Island) on drums. I think simply that the way we recorded the album, improvising and listening to each other, there was a real moment of "togetherness" among us. And I would also add a will towards minimalism. We've been searching for the sound of this latest album for some time.

Simone: In some way, the album's style is influenced by how it was recorded. I was passing through Rome, and we locked ourselves in Fanfulla for an afternoon, put up some microphones, and captured whatever came out, starting from Manu's bass lines. Then Leo meticulously cleaned and mixed the material. But for sure, the urgency to finish the recordings in that short session made the album more direct and compact.

The psychedelic vibes are felt right from the album cover. Who designed the artwork?

Manu: Massimiliano Amati, an artist named King of Herrings. He's also a long-time acquaintance; we frequent the same places and have followed his new works, made of engravings, découpage, colouring, a job lately that makes him operate and experiment on old books; we liked that page coloured in that way, and we asked him for permission to use it.

Will there be a tour to promote No Dub?

Manu: Not exactly; it would not be easy to organize for personal reasons that we can also disclose here; they're part of life. Simone lives and works in London, Leo has a one-year-old daughter, and I happily fit myself alone every night at Fanfulla between organizing concerts and sound engineering. We only have a little time and space for a tour! We will also do some festivals this summer in Italy.