A business or a brand doesn’t have to be about money or fame, especially for Bay Area native Josh Landers who created Lost in the Dub.
Landers said the brand means different things for everyone that comes across it or gets involved. To him, Lost in the Dub is a movement.
By bringing together as many people as he can, Landers sees his brand as a movement because he spreads creativity and positivity throughout the Bay Area.
“The Lost in the Dub movement is pretty much just about – it comes from a place of just being this person or being this generation – we’re born into this world, we know that there’s so many problems,” Landers said.
In search of a practical way to make face-to-face connections for young people, Landers wanted to get creative.
“So it’s that movement of just picking the one thing you want to work on, or whatever you feel like makes the world a better place and just really doing it, instead of talking about how bad the world is or whatever,” he said.
Landers and his friends organize backyard shows, including SanJoChella and The Plug, which feature local musicians. Lost in the Dub also hosts bigger venues, like Brick and Mortar Music Hall in San Francisco.
As another way to bring the community together, Landers and his friends also ride a party bike throughout Downtown San Jose. The party bike is a 15-passenger, pedal-powered bike that travels, picks up and drops off passengers, promoting connections between strangers.
“If you’re in San Jose and you’re among this community or this new movement of artists, like all over the bay, these underground artists and people like The Come Up doing things – if you’re a part of it, you will just feel it or understand it,” Landers said.
Last spring, Lost in the Dub, San Jose: The Come Up and 363 planned and hosted SanJoChella.
Landers said The Come Up is, “The premier cultivator of shows in San Jose,” because they organize events for indie and alternative groups all over the Bay, making the way for do-it-yourself shows.
Lost in the Dub usually features underground hip-hop artists but Landers wanted to collaborate with The Come Up and bring awareness to their hard work, thus evolving into SanJoChella.
The three groups hope to put SanJoChella together again next year.
Landers never intended to create a business out of his ideas – he started with only a camera.
Making memories and sharing moments with his friends were important to Landers since his childhood. When he was 16, his dad passed away from brain cancer and Landers felt lost in the world.
“I happened to be lost in the dub, you know, dub-g, Willow Glen,” Landers said. “I could have been lost anywhere, but it was kind of like this appreciation for the life I was blessed to have.”
The name Lost in the Dub came from something incredibly important to Landers and since then, he started working on a creative outlet with his friends.
San Jose State communications junior Sean Muniz went to elementary school with Landers and was excited to get involved with Lost in the Dub.
Muniz makes videos and takes photos, so naturally he and Landers collaborated creatively.
“Josh has done hella work for the company – more than I can imagine and it’s the dedication and commitment as a friend which gives me great belief that he will treat the Lost in the Dub community with nothing less,” Muniz said.
Photography is the most important connection for Landers with Lost in the Dub.
Landers goes to events, such as Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival and takes photos of people. Then, he hands them his Lost in the Dub business card and shows them the link to download their photos for free.
His vision is about connecting with people and he wants to eventually create an app for the brand.
Business marketing senior Destine Kyubwa found the Lost in the Dub movement through Instagram.
“At first I thought it was just a listening party and apparel line,” Kyubwa said. “The underground artists that perform are extremely talented – it’s just dope that Josh created these fun spaces for people to vibe out.”
Kyubwa became friends with Landers after attending the shows he organized.
Landers is focused on organizing more events and has an upcoming tour with artists Chrisbaby and Casey Cope.
“We’re taking these artists – we’re really just gonna go live the dream,” Landers said.
The “Lost in the Dream” Tour starts on September 27 in San Jose and will travel to San Diego, Santa Barbara, Reno and more.
The tour will travel specifically to California college towns, where young people can learn about Lost in the Dub and, “Put this movement on the map,” Landers said.
