John Dubuc & the Guilty Pleasures listening party at Yellow Cab

John Dubuc, one of the driving forces behind the city’s burgeoning roots rock scene, is hosting an afternoon listening party for his magnificent new Magnaphone Records release at Yellow Cab Tavern in Dayton on Sunday.

The singer-songwriter has certainly come a long way from the precocious 13-year-old who formed the punk band, the Obvious, with his buddies in the summer of 1983. That group released two singles, an EP and an album before dissolving unceremoniously in Chicago in the mid-1990s.

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Dubuc spent a decade in the Windy City, where he played in the bands John Henry’s Train and Face For Radio. After returning to the Dayton area in the early 2000s, he performed solo and as a sideman in other groups but resisted forming another band until 2017.

Dubuc recently discussed the making of “Where Have I Been All Your Life?” and his roots rock group, the Guilty Pleasures, which features Rich Reuter (guitar, keyboards), Tom Rastikis (bass) and Brian Hoeflich (drums).

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Solo no more: "Much of it is stuff I wrote as a solo performer, but I always heard them as rock songs. I can't honestly tell you why it took me so long to put a band together. Maybe I was scared of something or maybe I just wasn't ready. Either way, it happened at the right time. It's been really fun."

Home recording: "Once the band was together, we got pretty tight as a group and I knew it was time to make a proper record. We started tracking about a year ago. Working at (band member) Tom's (home studio) is great. It's just so comfortable because it's also where we practice."

Magnaphone family: "They've taken so much of the pressure off of us to put out this record. They take care of a lot of those technical things I can't do like Bandcamp, web pages and all the online sales stuff. It's a class operation all the way around. Great aesthetic and they're super nice guys. We're very flattered to be included with all of the other great artists on the label."

Release show: "We just wanted to do something different. We wanted to really focus on the record itself. So, what we're doing is a silent disco listening party. You pay the $10 cover at the door and you get a set of headphones and a CD. Playing on a constant loop through the headphones will be our new album, as well as songs from other feature artists from the Magnaphone label interspersed throughout. It should be weird and fun."

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HOW TO GO

What: Listening party for John Dubuc & the Guilty Pleasures' "Where Have I Been All Your Life?"

Where: Yellow Cab Tavern, 700 E. Fourth St., Dayton

When: 3 to 7 p.m. Sunday, June 9

Cost: $10

More info: 937-424-3870 or www.yellowcabtavern.com

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