Dub Will Keep Us Together: Nick Page’s Final Transmission and the Enduring Spirit of Dub Colossus

By Stevie Connor | The Sound Cafe | Exclusive

Dub Colossus from L to R: Toby Mills & Nick Page, Mimi Zenebe, Ben Somers.

Photo's by Simon Partington, except, Nick Page courtesy of Cristina Moran and Nen Somers by Claire Mills.

Album Information

Dub Colossus – Dub Will Keep Us Together

Label: Real World X

Catalogue #: XRW69

Release Date: 06 March 2026

Total Time: 41:38

Languages: English, Amharic, Spanish, French

There are artists who leave behind a catalogue, and then there are those who leave behind a way of thinking, a philosophy of sound, of collaboration, of how music can exist beyond borders, beyond commerce, beyond the smallness of the moment. Nick Page, Count Dubulah, belonged emphatically to the latter.

In Spring 2026, Real World X will release Dub Will Keep Us Together, the final Dub Colossus recording completed with Nick Page, and with it comes not simply an album, but a closing chapter in one of the most quietly radical stories in British global music. It is, by every measure, a last testament, joyful, defiant, playful, political, and profoundly human.

Peter Gabriel once described Nick Page as “a great artist and a great man who carved a unique and well-deserved spot for himself in the British music scene.”  With this release, that carving feels complete, etched deeply into the global soundscape he helped shape.

When Nick Page passed away in May 2021, the world lost more than a musician, producer, and bandleader. It lost a connector. A unifier. A restless musical mind who spent a lifetime dissolving artificial divisions between dub, reggae, Ethiopian modes, Middle Eastern scales, Afro-diasporic rhythm, and contemporary electronic possibility.

Across 200+ albums and singles, Nick’s fingerprints appeared everywhere, from Real World’s earliest boundary-breaking releases to Dub Colossus’ genre-defying catalogue. Yet even in his final months, Nick was still creating, still imagining, still assembling musicians around an idea rather than a market. Those final recordings, now lovingly completed, form Dub Will Keep Us Together. Co-produced by Nick Page, Toby Mills, and Nick’s life partner Cristina Moran (Dubulette), the album is rooted in a simple but radical premise:the collective as counter-force.

As Dubulette reflects, completing the album became an act of remembrance and continuity:

“We were remembering the good times touring with Dub Colossus and how Nick was an easy and open-minded band leader… for the love of music. We all miss him in different ways and intensities, and this is dedicated to his life, our lives shared with him.”

That spirit courses through every track. Dub Will Keep Us Together speaks directly to the present moment, a world fraying at the edges, shaped by inequality, climate crisis, conflict, corruption, and cultural isolation, yet it never succumbs to despair. Instead, it insists on unity, groove, humour, and shared humanity.

As Toby Mills puts it, with typical Dub Colossus clarity:

"The world seems to be spinning out of control… but we mustn’t give up hope. Humanity is not doomed. In a fast-changing world, we need more dub.”

Few statements feel more necessary.

From the opening declaration, “Dub Conquers All”, the album reasserts the sonic identity Nick Page spent decades refining. Heavy bass, dub sirens, layered percussion, warm, commanding vocals, and playful, irreverent titles coexist with deep political awareness. Tracks like “24 Carat Dub Affair” and “And The Gods Made Dub” carry Nick’s unmistakable humour, mischievous, knowing, never trivial. Elsewhere, songs such as “We Stand,” “Consequences,” and “Do We Have A Right” confront the moral tensions of our time without preaching, allowing rhythm and collective voice to do the heavy lifting.

This is dub not as retro homage, but as living, adaptable language, exactly as Nick always intended. True to Dub Colossus’ origins, Dub Will Keep Us Together brings together an extraordinary cast of musicians drawn from Nick’s extended musical family. The incomparable Ethiopian vocalist Mimi Zenebe returns, her voice once again anchoring the project in Addis-rooted soul and diasporic power. Ben Somers’ saxophones and flute weave melodic pathways, while Paul Chivers’ percussion and FX add texture and propulsion. Joining them are global fusion heavyweights including Tim Whelan (Transglobal Underground), Hamid Mantu on drums, and a rich array of guest vocalists, Holly Holden, George Riley, Mykaell Riley, Amara & Ollie Mills, and Dubulette herself.

This is not a guest list assembled for prestige. It is a community reconvened, drawn together by shared history, shared values, and shared grief, transformed into sound.

It is fitting that Nick Page’s final Dub Colossus statement arrives via Real World X, the label that served as a creative home for much of his most important work, from A Town Called Addis (2008) through Syriana, Addis Through The Looking Glass, and Dub Me Tender.

Real World Records has long stood for music that exists beyond category and commerce, and Nick Page embodied that ethos as fully as any artist in its history. With catalogue number XRW69, Dub Will Keep Us Together feels less like a product and more like a closing circle.

Throughout his life, Nick Page united musicians across continents to create music that felt timeless precisely because it refused to belong to any single place. His legacy is not just audible, it is structural. It lives in how artists collaborate, how scenes intersect, how dub continues to mutate and resist.

Dub Will Keep Us Together is his final musical stamp on the world, music sans borders, created with love, conviction, and unwavering belief in the collective.

As the album reminds us, simply and powerfully: Dub conquers all.

About the Writer:

Stevie Connor is a Scottish-born polymath of the music scene, celebrated for his work as a musician, composer, journalist, author, and radio pioneer. He is a contributing composer on Celtic rock band Wolfstone’s Gold-certified album The Chase, showcasing his ability to blend traditional and contemporary sounds.

Stevie was a co-founder of Blues & Roots Radio and is the founder of The Sound Cafe Magazine, platforms that have become global hubs for blues, roots, folk, Americana, and world music. Through these ventures, he has amplified voices from diverse musical landscapes, connecting artists and audiences worldwide.

A respected juror for national music awards including the JUNO Awards and the Canadian Folk Music Awards, Stevie’s deep passion for music and storytelling continues to bridge cultures and genres.

Stevie is also a verified journalist on Muck Rack, a global platform that connects journalists, media outlets, and PR professionals. He was the first journalist featured on Muck Rack's 2023 leaderboard. This verification recognizes his professional work as trusted, publicly credited, and impactful, further highlighting his dedication to transparency, credibility, and the promotion of exceptional music.

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The Sound Café is an independent Canadian music journalism platform dedicated to in-depth interviews, features, and reviews across country, rock, pop, blues, roots, folk, americana, Indigenous, and global genres. Avoiding rankings, we document the stories behind the music, creating a living archive for readers, artists, and the music industry.

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