An Dannsa Dub – The Treehouse, Frome – Saturday 29th November 2025

Scottish trad meets dub meets rural Somerset with lively results

COGNITIVE DISSONANCE

It can be a strange experience watching a high energy Scottish trad band play in England. What north of the border is a sweaty mosh pit with girlfriends on shoulders and hysteria welcoming any sign of a bagpipe becomes a seated village hall and polite applause. When you add a fusion with dub into the mix, your might expect a bit of cognitive dissonance in a small Somerset town with no obvious links to Scotland or reggae culture.

But no. It was obvious from the dancing during the build up from Frome Dub Club the crowd was here to enjoy themselves. The Tree House is literally a room over a pub on the outskirts of Frome, but for one evening it was transformed into a corner of Glasgow.

GAELIC FOR “THE DUB DANCE”

An Dannsa Dub is the brainchild of Tom Spirals, a dub vocalist and producer, and Euan McLaughlin, a Scottish trad musician perhaps best known as the fiddle player with dance maestros Valtos. They recently released their second album “Through the Storm” and are touring to promote it.

The band name is Gaelic for “The Dub Dance”, and that’s what you get. High energy tune follows high energy tune relentlessly, with drummer Ben Parkinson and bassist Maxi Roots driving the rhythm while McLaughlin’s fiddle and Spiral’s flute spin the tunes on top along with Nicky Kirk’s guitar.

IMPROMTU HIGHLAND REELS

On record An Dannsa Dub are serial collaborators, working with leading Gaelic singers like Josie Duncan and Rachel Newton, and they join the band on tape. I’m not usually a fan of recorded elements to a live performance but having sections triggered from a laptop means it’s not as rigid as playing to a backing track.

Starting, literally, with a gathering storm the set builds and builds, with Spirals at one point jumping into the audience to drag people (your correspondent included) into some impromptu Highland reels. It’s 90 minutes of unstoppable energy.

IMMENSE

By the time the final encore All Things Must Pass comes along the floor in the Treehouse is literally shaking with the exuberance of the exhausted crowd.

Next year An Dannsa Dub will be gracing festival stages including SkyeLive and Bearded Theory, there won’t be many more shows in a room over a pub for these guys. Immense.

An Dannsa Dub online: Website / Instagram / YouTube

All live photography by Stuart Anderton

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