Lawrence High Class of 1999 friends and bandmates will play together at McGuinn’s, on Brunswick Avenue, this weekend.
By: Olivia Tattory
Letting the good times roll it’s what Lawrence natives Dave Barbaree and Ray Pirre plan on doing Saturday night.
Eight years after the final show of their high school band, Tonka Dub, the friends from the Lawrence High Class of 1999 will reunite Saturday at McGuinn’s Place, on Brunswick Avenue. The show is an encore to Mr. Barabaree’s Boston indie-rock band, The Gulf, and their tour to promote their debut album, "Chinatown." Mr. Pirre playing with The Gulf on Saturday night marks the reunion of the friends playing together, nearly a decade after the band’s breakup.
"Saturday should be a really fun night," said Mr. Barbaree, now 26. "It’s going to be a big party for all of us on stage a great time."
Mr. Barbaree vividly remembers the day Tonka Dub formed. It was almost 10 years ago on Oct. 6, 1997 that a drummer, guitarist and bassist taped their "very first jam," Mr. Barbaree said. In then-drummer Jon Barratt’s basement near Lawrenceville Green, a group of high school kids, who had no idea what they were doing, played for hours and had a great time doing it, he remembered. The band continued to learn how to play over the next three years while practicing in any available basement and recording almost every minute of it.
As the sound developed and the band started to come together, Tonka Dub began playing regularly at parties and barbecues throughout Lawrence, Mr. Barbaree said. With a handful of songs ranging from rock to reggae to funk and even some country, Tonka Dub played every opportunity it got, complete with friends singing and dancing along in the audience.
Tonka Dub’s last recording was at what is now the Lawrence Nature Center, off Drexel Road, where they set up in the huge field with just two microphones, a power generator and an old tape recorder to record their album. A sort of makeshift Woodstock, the show was complete with friends dancing in the field while the band played for hours, Mr. Barbaree said.
Mr. Pirre, 26, described those days as carefree for the band.
"It was a really fun time for us," he said. "It was the first time we really put the time into a recording and it turned out to be a pretty good representation of the type of music we played."
After spending their high school years together, their love for music stayed strong and Mr. Barbaree and Mr. Pirre ventured to Tennessee to attend Middle Tennessee State University. Two years later, Mr. Barbaree transferred to and later graduated from Berklee College of Music in Boston, Mass., while Mr. Pirre graduated from the recording industry program at Tennessee.
Following graduation, Mr. Barbaree remained in Boston and founded The Gulf. The band released its "Chinatown" album earlier this year. The music has been dubbed "glorious," by Boston Metro and "cliché-free" by David Greenberger of National Public Radio. Mr. Barbaree plays bass, pedal steel and guitar in the band.
Meanwhile, Mr. Pirre moved back East after graduating and began working for a jazz player in North Jersey. Currently living in Mount Laurel, Mr. Pirre spends most of his time in Philadelphia and surrounding suburbs, playing lead guitar in the reggae band, Moses Livingston and the Raggamuffins.
Both Mr. Barbaree and Mr. Pirre agree that most of what they know now can be attributed to the endless hours of playing in Tonka Dub during their Lawrence High School years. With inspiration from a wide range of musical acts including Pink Floyd, the Flaming Lips, The Beatles and Bob Dylan, the experience, memories and more importantly friendship that was acquired over the years is something the two have kept strong, they said.
"We’re still really good friends," said Mr. Barbaree. "Even though we don’t get to play together too often, it’s always really exciting when we can make it happen especially if it can be in Lawrenceville."
Saturday’s show, which is $5 to enter and open for those 21 and over, will begin with The Resurrectionists, also of Boston, followed by The Gulf. The band will keep it "kind of loose" and play through some of the old songs from the Tonka Dub days, said Mr. Barbaree.
To listen online or to learn more about The Gulf go to www.thegulfmusic.com or www.myspace.com/thegulf. To learn more about Moses Livingston and the Raggamuffins, visit www.myspace.com/theraggamuffinband.

