Dubstar: Sister
Of all the songs from the second attempt at a Dubstar comeback album, Sister is probably the most important. Why? Because it was the moment that finally drew focus to the problems we were facing — and showed why the whole idea would eventually have to be abandoned.
Our first single, Stars, came out almost thirty years ago, and it’s worth revisiting the early Dubstar timeline. I met Chris at the end of 1991 in Walker’s Nightclub in Newcastle, where I was working and he was a regular. We started making music a few months later. I met Sarah in the Barley Mow pub in the summer of 1993, and she took over vocal duties from me in early ’94. Chris and I met Paul Wadsworth — not officially in the band, but still integral — in Jesmond in early 1995.
What did these meetings have in common? We were all in Newcastle upon Tyne. (Chris was technically in Gateshead, a mile south, but close enough.) During the Disgraceful era, we were a Newcastle band. We had a studio in the city centre. I was in Jesmond, Sarah in Benwell, Paul in Fenham, and Chris in Low Fell. Pretty much everything we did, we did together: recording, rehearsing, drinking, racing for the last train home from Camden Town.
By the time we recorded Sister in 2010, everything had changed. I was in Hove, Sarah was in London, Chris was in Jesmond, Paul had moved back to the Isle of Wight. The only times we saw each other were during rushed recording sessions — either when Sarah came to mine or when I’d travel to Newcastle with finished tracks, just needing vocals and guitar parts.
In practice, this meant most of the writing, arranging and production fell to me. And because of the narrow recording windows, I’d sometimes head down musical side roads without checking in. To be clear — if Sarah or Chris objected to a track, we’d deal with it. But given how rarely we saw each other, and how all three of us tended to avoid conflict, things occasionally got recorded and signed off that weren’t fully endorsed by everyone.
And so to Sister. If memory serves, Sarah loved it. She always enjoyed the tougher, more aggressive Dubstar tracks. Despite writing and recording it, I was on the fence. I liked the sound of it, but wasn’t sure it felt like Dubstar. I made a couple of rough mixes, then Daren Taliana came in with extra production and a tougher mix. But Chris hated it — and made that very clear on our way to Manors Metro after a drinking session by the Tyne.
And here’s the thing: a musical disagreement is one thing. But Chris rarely spoke like that. It felt like something deeper was going on. And I think it was this:
By 2011, Sarah and I were in our forties, with Chris not far behind. We’d been working on this comeback for nearly five years. Dozens of finished songs, no finished album. Sarah and I weren’t under any major financial pressure or family responsibilities, but Chris was. And ever since things stalled in 2008, I’d been gradually distancing myself from the project and focusing on other musical projects. All of which must have added to the frustration — the lack of progress, the musical detours.
By this point, my biggest motivation wasn’t entirely artistic. It was to hang out with Chris — one of my oldest and dearest friends. I’d long accepted there was no financial future in Dubstar, but there was still the promise of great music and a lot of fun. Which is fine if you’ve got time and money to spare. But it’s not how you restart a business. And it’s definitely not how you support a wife and young family. As Chris put it, the last thing he needed was an expensive hobby.
So for me, Sister marks the point where the trouble we’d been avoiding became impossible to ignore. In some ways, it’s when the bubble burst for the second time.
She wouldn’t go.
Musically, what do we have? Sister is what Make It Better could have been — a tougher, leaner version of the Dubstar sound. Faster than most Dubstar tracks (but still not fast enough). One of the few times I wasn’t writing about myself, Sarah, or life in general. The song was inspired by a story about a young girl who went missing, and how it devastated those around her. There was this heavy sense of guilt among the people left behind. That moved with me. I don’t know if that weight really comes across in the lyric, but that was the idea.
The main arpeggiated part came from a MEHA — Midi Error Happy Accident — that ended up sounding like a quote from Tubular Bells, which I rather liked. Daren toughened up my bass and drum programming, and his mix was brutal, as you can hear. I made a few adjustments later (as I did with Don’t Ask) and Sister settled into what sounded to me like the last song on side one of an album — much like The View From Here years earlier. And a tip of the hat to my Moog Little Phatty for the Ultravox-style bassline. Speaking of which, there are five Ultravox samples buried in Sister. Can you spot them all?
A Moog Little Phatty yesterday
Instrument-wise, the Yamaha DX100 supplies most of the arpeggios, and there’s a guitar chug lifted from Dancing With Tears In My Eyes (that’s sample six). Sadly, there’s not much of Chris in this one. When I looked back through the Logic project, I found dozens of guitar takes, but almost nothing worked. A few blips, a stray strum. Maybe that tells us something.
Thinking Back Now
I like Sister a lot but I’m not sure this version lands. It works as an onslaught of notes, noise, and detached-aggression, but I’m left with the same old question: is it Dubstar? On reflection, it probably sits somewhere between Client and Dubstar — which might’ve been perfect in 2008. But Sister was completed in 2011-13. Too late.
Even so, it holds a special place for me — the only time in the United States of Being sessions I genuinely feel like we went too far, musically. And yet, and yet… it’s a great tune. I can imagine a comeback tour closing with Sister, tearing the roof off. But is that what anyone would want from a Dubstar show? It feels amazing in my head.
This article includes excerpts from DUBSTAR.COM. Want more? You can find the story behind every Dubstar song ever recorded including dozens of unreleased songs right here at Dubstar.com
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