Late for Dinner takes step forward with new hip-hop record

There was that time he ended up in Alaska, lured by a buddy to work aboard a fishing ship, a rough job whose long hours are endured by the promise of longer money.

There was one problem: The tiny village that housed the crew was a dry one.

Jay Dubbler first learned of this after touching down at said encampment, which was accessible only plane.

And so he devised a plan: He had his girlfriend at the time ship him bottles of booze from Vegas, which he then sold to his coworkers for five to 10 times what she paid for them.

He made some extra bread and lots of new friends all at once.

“If I’m passionate about something, I’m going to get it done,” Dubbler smiles through a thick beard, sitting inside a home studio on the city’s northwestern side.

Dubbler is particularly skilled at three things: making beats, dropping rhymes and getting by.

He’s squatted in foreclosed homes, crisscrossed the country on DIY tours, donned a giant mouse costume for a living and once spent close to 10 grand for adult novelties to stock a Paris Hilton bachelorette party.

Whenever the going gets tough, which it has upon occasion, Dubbler turns to his music.

As the founder of hip-hop trio Late for Dinner, Dubbler, along with fellow MC Oddity and DJ E-DOC, presides over one of the city’s most promising crews.

On a recent weekday afternoon, Dubbler plays the title track to Late for Dinner’s new record “9 to 5.”

“There’s nothin’ left in this life, that’s why we rap,” rhymes Oddity (Nic Lynn), a fleet-tongued 20-something with a handlebar mustache who bobs his head to the beat while sitting across from Dubbler in a room filled with vinyl records and recording gear.

“I think that’s my favorite verse from him on this one,” Dubbler says approvingly.

Then comes the song’s hook.

“Even if they clip our wings, we’ll still fly,” they rhyme. “We will survive. We gon’ work this life like a 9 to 5.”

“We’re definitely tightening up,” Lynn says at one point, and you can hear as much: As Dubbler plays selections from the record, powered by the alternately hypnotic and moody beats of producer Phil A, Late for Dinner’s animated, adventurous hip-hop is coming into sharper and sharper focus.

Lynn and Dubbler are ideal musical foils for one another, which becomes especially evident during Late for Dinner’s manic live gigs, where they practically bounce off the stage — and each other. (Check ’em out Friday at Beauty Bar, where they top a deep lineup of Vegas hip-hop upperclassmen.)

The high-energy, anything-goes atmosphere of their shows is heightened by the group’s mascot, Turnt Up Tom, a party-hard rodent that dates back to Dubbler’s time working as part of the “Beacher’s Madhouse” variety show. It was here that Dubbler first donned said costume, his duties at “Beacher’s” occasionally extending to the aforementioned shopping spree for a certain hotel heiress’ party favors.

After leaving “Beacher’s,” Dubbler recruited Lynn for Late for Dinner, solidifying the group into an increasingly formidable unit. Dubbler cites heady, technically accomplished yet often irreverent groups like Dilated Peoples and People Under the Stairs as examples of the type of vibe he wants Late for Dinner to conjure.

“We just want everyone to have a good time,” he says. “We don’t want to be too street, but at the same time, we both come from the east side of Vegas. I’ve lived a pretty crazy life.”

The son of a police officer, Dubbler has done time behind bars.

But this doesn’t directly inform Late for Dinner’s music all that much.

Instead, these three are more about using hip-hop as a means of perseverance and release, if not always in that order.

To wit, Dubbler cues up another new song, this one smoldering with old-school soul samples and curlicues of funky guitar.

“By the time I write this, I won’t have a dollar to name,” he rhymes on a Late for Dinner standout. “Broke and homeless, but never hopeless.”

The song goes on.

And so do they.

Contact Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0476. Follow @JasonBracelin on Twitter.