A near sell-out crowd packed Soho restaurant and nightclub in downtown Santa Barbara, on a sleepy Monday night. The reggae genre has long been celebrated in the local community here, with a tradition of special nights dedicated to the dance trance rhythms inspired by the Caribbean beat. In the last few decades, a new younger fan base has exploded across the country, embracing the genre. Santa Barbara has followed suit, producing several local California style reggae groups riding this new tidal wave of success, including the very successful bands Rebelution and Iration. But the explosive double bill of New York based bands, Easy All Stars and GPGDS (Giant Guerrilla Panda Dub Squad), that played Soho Monday night, offered up their own unique interpretations of the classic Caribbean Reggae genre.
The evening began with a short but pleasing set by the up and coming California Reggae rockers, Tatanka. Giant Panda Guerrilla Dub Squad took the stage shortly before 930pm, just as the venue began to swell with music fans. Their ninety minute set showcased the group’s unique amalgamation of reggae, rock, ska, and jam music. The five member group of veteran players offer up exquisite musicianship and vocal skills, with original guitarist Dylan Savage, and bass player James Searl, and relatively new member guitarist, Dan Keller, all taking turns on lead vocals. The group hails from Rochester New York, which curiously, just like Santa Barbara, became an unexpected bastion of reggae music.
The Rochester reggae scene received wide attention back in 1981, when the legendary Lee Scratch Perry, formed his then new band there. GPGDS has produced four distinctively different albums, the newest, Steady, is scheduled to be released September 30th. Steady is their first album produced with Easy Star records, and benefits from some of the finest Reggae production on the East Coast. Before their set James the bass player sat out in the Soho courtyard with the rest of the bands members, surrounded by local reggae music aficionados. While everyone enjoyed the warm clear evening on the last night of summer, engulfed by a sweet poignant haze, Glide chatted with Searl about the musical motivation behind the band.
Steady features a blend of reggae and traditional American folk music. On selections like the pro marijuana song, “Mr Cop,” Searl explains that the band tries to write profound lyrics that can be timeless and relevant to different generations, each with their own set of current events. It seems, in that regard the band has been greatly successful, as evidenced by their Monday night performance in Santa Barbara. The band featured tracks from all four albums spanning nearly the entire thirteen years that the band has been together. But the lyrics of every song seemed interesting and relevant to the diverse crowd at the Soho.
The band delved into many different modes on Monday night, even offering a jazz like jam bordering on an early Steely Dan sound. Their reggae dub step beat, too is also their own unique take on the rhythm, reminiscent of the Clash’s clever experimentation with dub beats in their later years.
The marathon concert continued just after 1130PM as the headliners, Easy All Stars swarmed the stage, for a two hour set. The New York City band is similar to GPGDS, in that they have developed their own unique style of modified reggae; but have developed a very different path for their version of reggae. Forming back 1997, and have made a name for themselves by creating reggae infused remixes of classic rock albums. Their first ground breaking release was in 2003 with Dub Side of The Moon, a complete reggae reworking of the Pink Floyd classic Dark Side of The Moon. They remixed a newer version of the album in 2010, and although this has become their most famous work, they have tackled several other reworking projects, including the 2006 release of Radiodread based on Radiohead’s OK Computer album, the 2009 release of Easy Star’s Lonely Hearts Dub Band based on The Beatles classic Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, and a 2012 release of Thrillah, based on Michael Jackson’s Thriller masterpiece.
But the group should not be considered either as cover band or a novelty act like Weird Al Yankovic. To truly appreciate the immense talent of the group they have to experienced as a live show, where they transform the familiar into a living breathing jam orchestration. The show Monday night at Soho featured most of Dub Side of The Moon, in a presentation that most any music van could appreciate, moving from familiar reggae rifts to enigmatic orchestrations. The band also interspersed material from the rest of their rich songbook that held the audience in a trance like euphoria until the official club curfew of 1.30 am, nearly five hours after the first notes of the evening were played.
