The relatively recent prominence that New Zealand has achieved in producing quality roots and drum and bass music may lead you to assume that it’s a fairly new phenomenon – but you’d be wrong. Kaikoura’s Salmonella Dub have been together since 1992 and have just released their 9th full-length album, Freak Controller. Along with Pitch Black, David Deakins, Andrew Penman, Mark Tyler and Conan Wilcox can probably take at least some small measure of credit for the popularity of dub-influenced electronica in Aotearoa, and their performance tonight showed that they still deliver the goods.

Proceedings were opened by the pleasant, if unremarkable, Cornerstone Roots. Their music has an agreeable pop-reggae sound with an easy to find groove. The voice of guitarist/songwriter Brian Dixon lends a somewhat distinctive sound, but there’s very little else to set them apart from the clutch of other Kiwi roots reggae bands. They did establish a happy, friendly vibe in the less than half full Metro – no small achievement in a theatre that big.

DJ Rudeboy was then joined by MC Mana, Mighty Asterix and MC Kye. Apparently these guys had heard about capturing the vibe and had decided that some sort of catch and release program was in order, as they systematically destroyed what vibe Cornerstone Roots had built with some too-hard drum and bass. A glance around the room revealed that I wasn’t the only one not feeling it either.

All of this was forgotten from the first bar of Salmonella Dub’s opening track, Dub Survivor. Since former frontman Tiki Taane left to pursue a solo career, Paddy Free of Pitch Black performs as part of Salmonella Dub live shows. The energy and enthusiasm that he brings is astounding, and the massive grin plastered across his face for the entire performance is incredibly contagious. The band played a number of their older tracks including Dub Tomfoolery (from the EP of the same name), Push on Thru, Wytaliba and Problems (all from Inside the Dub Plates) and the Pitch Black remix of They’re Among Us (Calming of the Drunken Monkey). At this point I was advised to “stop bloody tune spotting and just enjoy the music” – a suggestion that co-incided with the band playing some stuff from the new album. Freak Local saw the return to the stage of Mighty Asterix, and this performance was much more to audiences liking. Salmonella Dub have said that they aimed for a much more upbeat feel on Freak Controller, after the relatively downbeat sound of 2008’s Heal Me. The samples here suggest that they succeeded.

Salmonella Dub have continue to release excellent music and rock dance floors, despite having been together for more than 15 years. Although the choice of support was somewhat uninspired, I left this gig with a great big smile on my face, and what more could you ask for?