THROWBACK THURSDAY: Dubtribe Sound System – Equitoreal
Celebrating its 20th anniversary next month, Equitoreal was in many ways the breakthrough single for Dubtribe Sound System, led Sunshine and Moonbeam Jones (yes, those are their real names)… as well as being one of the most devastating deep house cuts of the late 90s.
909originals first came across it on the excellent Late Night Sessions III CD from Ministry of Sound, mixed by Terry Farley and Pete Heller, and its effect is no less impactful today – it’s a full-on, seven minute tribal workout with howling, guttural vocals.
“Lord have mercy on my soul,” a sobering voice intones at the 3:10 mark. We couldn’t agree more.
Legend has it (well, the band’s Wikipedia page anyway), that Wrigley’s Gum sought to licence the track for a UK television campaign, and when the band refused, they were summarily dropped from their record label Jive Electro, part of BMG.
BMG’s loss was Defected Records’ gain, however, as the group followed up the success of Equitoreal with Do It Now, their biggest single, which powered its way onto Ibiza’s dancefloors the following summer.
The band disbanded in 2005 (both still tour to this day, albeit separately), with Sunshine telling LA’s City Beat paper, “The last years were hard. I might have been holding onto things of the past. It was hard to walk out of the house and lock the door and say goodbye.”
Thanks for the good times, Sunshine and Moonbeam… and for this tribal house stomper.
[Kudos to Stavros K for the YouTube upload]
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