(8/28/98, 6 p.m. PDT) - The Long Beach Dub Allstars, which includes the two remaining members of Sublime, bass player Eric Wilson and drummer Bud Gaugh, have recorded 12 original tracks for an upcoming album that's slated for an early 1999 release. The Allstars were originally formed as a Sublime tribute band to play the January 1997 Enough Already benefit staged in the memory of the late Sublime singer guitarist Bradley Nowell, who died of a heroin overdose in May 1996. However, the group continued to tour, mainly performing Sublime covers with artist Opie Ortiz on vocals.

The eight-person collective--Wilson, Gaugh, Ortiz, guitarist/ producer/ Skunk Records owner Miguel, DJ "Field" Marshall Goodman, keyboardist Jack Maness, guitarist Ras 1 and saxophonist Tim Wu--often covered Sublime's reggae dub, hip-hop, punk and everything-else explorations better than the spotty originators.

"One thing that people don't understand is that Sublime was always so much more than just music," Gaugh has explained. "It was and still is a family." The band likely held off on recording this new material since Wilson and Gaugh were still under contract with Gasoline Alley/ MCA, which released Sublime's platinum-selling self-titled third album in 1996. A Sublime demo and remix album, Second-hand Smoke, and the live Sublime album Stand By Your Van were released earlier this year.

The Allstars' album is tentatively titled Burn Unit and may be released independently on Skunk Records, which released early Sublime material, or in conjunction with a major label. One thing is for sure though: former Bad Brains singer and frequent Allstar "special guest" H.R. is featured on the album.

-- J.R. Griffin, Los Angeles