Niagara’s DJ Shub part of new Sacha Baron Cohen show
Fort Erie musician’s track picked as theme song for controversial TV program
Before Fort Erie DJ and producer DJ Shub went on a recent vacation, he gave his manager one request: Don’t call him unless it’s important.
Sure enough, his phone started buzzing while he was relaxing. His manager was texting and, yes, it was important: Comedian Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat, Ali G, Bruno) wanted one of Shub’s tracks for his next project. He couldn’t believe it. He had been a Cohen fan for years.
“I was blown away,” says Shub, whose real name is Dan General. “I’ve been watching his stuff constantly, so I was pretty excited to hear there’s some interest. I signed on right away. I was like ‘Yes! For sure!’”
The song, “Indomitable,” appeared on his 2016 EP “PowWowStep.” Featuring the Northern Cree Singers, it won best music
video at the 2017 Native American Music Awards, and was nominated for best EDM/dance video at the 2017 MuchMusic Video Awards.
It was his first prominent track after leaving Ottawabased band A Tribe Called Red, who won a Juno Award in 2014 for breakthrough group of the year (and won for group of the year this year, minus Shub).
He still has no idea how Cohen even caught wind of the track.
“They reached out to my manager. I don’t know how they stumbled upon it.”
Shub originally thought the track was being used for Cohen’s next movie, but instead it was used in the trailer for his secretive new mockumentary TV show “Who is America?” Then, when the first episode aired last week, he realized the song was also the show’s opening theme.
“It turned out to be a nice little gig.”
The show generated huge buzz before it premiered. Under heavy makeup in the guise of various characters, Cohen wrings embarrassing interviews out of several unsuspecting subjects, including Ted Koppal, former U.S. vice-president Dick Cheney and former Alaskan governor Sarah Palin, who has blasted the show for presenting Cohen as a disabled veteran in order to obtain an interview.
“I join a long list of American public personalities who have fallen victim to the evil, exploitive, sick ‘humour’ of the British ‘comedian’ Sacha Baron Cohen,” said Palin.
“Leading up to it there was so much hype,” says Shub. “It’s great for me. Hopefully it gets out there worldwide.”
Shub has been playing several shows on the West Coast recently and is polishing off his debut album for a planned fall release.
He’s also enjoying life back in Fort Erie after relocating to Ottawa for about eight years.
“I have tonnes of family here,” he says.
“Me and my family just had enough of the city. We grew up in (Fort Erie), so we were missing the small-town feel.”