Formally the bassist of Otium, Toban Taylor has embarked on an exciting new solo project and will be opening for Otium at Late Night Hype on June 9th.

Dub-T is a solo project heavily focussed on the art of looping and featuring some beautiful vocals from Toban. Watching the way he layers each sound and his ease and comfort with so many instruments - it is clear he is an extremely talented musician.

We asked him about how he got started with music:

“I first found my passion for music when I was 12 after I was gifted my first guitar from my mum. I instantly had a craving to learn all the ins and outs of the instrument and became obsessed with playing it. Everyone knew me at school because I was the guy who always had a guitar on him. During high school I competed in the smokefree rockquest, as most music students do, and this is where I developed a knack for songwriting. I loved creating my own music and being able to share it with others and sfrq was the perfect place to do it. Coming into my senior years, Austyn and I created our first group along with Josh Crawford under the name Co-lab. We performed originals and covers, playing at different functions, corporate gigs, birthdays and tonnes of busking.”

On the last few years and the transition from Otium to Dub-T, his solo project:

“Coming out of high school I joined Otium, put a lot of effort and commitment into building and creating the name, enjoyed every bit of it. My decision to leave was due to personal reasons but of course I would never give up on music so I've just recently started toying around with a little looper. Writing and arranging my own stuff. The music I'm writing today is heavily inspired by music I grew up listening to, which is a lot of kiwi reggae eg. Black Seeds, Katchafire, Fat Freddy’s Drop. Also trying to get a more modern feel to it. In terms of future development I want my sound to be one huge dub reggae house party.”

And Finally, we wanted to know five of his favourites:

• Favourite spot in Whangarei: The Quarry Gardens
• Favourite TV show: Dragon Ball Z!
• Favourite song of all time: Don’t have a favourite song, I just like listening to music.
• Favourite season: Winter
• Favourite instrument to play: drums even though I’m terrible haha