John Brown's Body releases "Amplify" on September 30. (Photo, courtesy JBB)
Listen to "Midnight Ravers"
By incorporating dub, alternative and electronic sounds into their roots-inspired reggae, it's clear from the first listen that John Brown's Body are not like most reggae bands.
A preview of Amplify, their forthcoming album due September 30 on Easy Star Records, shows the newly reconfigured band branching out their sound more than ever before.
"It's a real lush, thick record, it has a lot of different flavors," said drummer Tommy Benedetti, before his band's incendiary performance at the prominent Brooklyn venue Southpaw. "I think it's a real good balance of progressive, kind of cutting-edge drum and bass stuff with a combination of that roots flavor that people come to know and expect from JBB."
It's also a record that overcame a long, tumultuous journey to completion. In the three years since the band's last album, the critically acclaimed Pressure Points, singer Elliot Martin was temporarily detained by throat surgery, several band members split amicably and bassist Scott Palmer succumbed to cancer. Heeding Nietzsche's adage about what doesn't kill you, JBB soldiered on to record one of their finest albums to date.
"The band's gone through a lot, some of it very tragic and some of it very necessary and inevitable," recalls Benedetti. "Right now the band is really focused, we're having a lot of fun touring together, and I think that shows in the music and comes across onstage more than ever."
And he's right: John Brown's Body are an incomparable live act. The technical wizardry that graces their studio albums translates into a funk-inspired powerhouse onstage, with a high-mixed low end and a dynamic horn section that contrasts with Martin's controlled yet affecting vocals.
As might be expected from a band named after a Civil War-era abolitionist and revolutionary, much of their music has a political tone that hearkens back to the pioneer reggae artists in the 1970s. While showing an obvious appreciation of reggae's greatest artists, JBB are indisputably forging their own path in the reggae world.
"There's a lot of baggage that goes along with reggae," acknowledges Benedetti. "The stereotypes are many: sitting on the beach, drinking fruity cocktails...that's never the kind of vibe I got into with reggae. I was always into the really conscious, heavy, political, minor key stuff, like Burning Spear and the Abbyssinians, and that's the stuff that got me really interested in it. Every music has their stereotypes and people try to put a box around it these days, and my job as a musician is to get outside of that."
Despite all their innovations, John Brown's Body shares one thing with every other reggae band-a huge influence from the music and ideals of Bob Marley and the Wailers. The New England-area octet recently expressed their admiration by recording their own version of "Midnight Ravers," a call-to-arms song best known for closing the original release of Marley's major-label debut, Catch a Fire.
"We've always loved that tune, and thought it really fit the vibe of the band and where we're at right now," says Benedetti about "Midnight Ravers." "It's an honor to play that song and we tried to do it justice. The whole point was to not make it sound like the original version at all."
JBB added rocksteady horns, busier drumming and some studio effects to Marley's melody, putting their own stamp on the composition while maintaining the sense of urgency in the original version. "When I hear it I think of armies rolling over mountains, trying to invade, crush and destroy," states Benedetti, signifying the song's relevance to his band and to current world affairs.
When asked to name some more of his favorite Marley songs, it becomes clear that Benedetti's Marley knowledge runs far beyond "Midnight Ravers." "The guy never wrote a bad song, that's a tough question," states Benedetti, before citing the Rastaman Vibration album and early songs like "Long, Long Winter" and "Redder than Red" among his favorites.
John Brown's Body are scheduled to kick off a nationwide tour on September 26 in Nevada. With their stellar new album and invigorated new lineup, one of the strongest reggae bands in America is still a can't-miss act this fall.
