Tickets available at the Fox Theater box office, Charge By Phone 661-849-4369 or online at ETix.com.
Winter Greens Tour 2016 with Protoje’
PLATINUM PACKAGES AVAILABLE HERE
Platinum Package purchase includes a photo and signing session with Rebelution prior to the show, as well as an exclusive tour laminate, poster, and T-shirt. Please note that the Platinum Package does not include a ticket to the show. Tickets must be purchased separately.
Rebelution
“Too blessed to be stressed,” is one of many key song lyrics from Rebelution’s new album Count Me In. The California band’s fourth full-length release on its own label 87 Music, and partnering for the first time with Easy Star Records, marks its tenth year together. And while surely every band has its share of stress, Rebelution feels they have been “too blessed” to have much time to worry about it.
Said guitarist/singer Eric Rachmany about the band in its decade milestone, “we still have the same energy as we did as a young band, if not more. The more experience we had doing this, the more inspired we became.”
The songs on Count Me In show that as they combine ever-youthful energy with a mature perspective. For every hopeful “Count Me In,” there’s a worldly-wise “Counterfeit Love.” For every message of positivity, as in “More Love” (“You’re in a dream, wake up and now gear up/Come on”), there’s a look at the hard edge of history: “Invasion” recounts the plight of the oppressed as Eric sings, “No time for questions/Don’t ask for reasons/Washed of their faith/Thrown in the fire.” “Every song has a story,” the singer explains matter-of-factly. The acknowledgement of injustice that deepens some of Rebelution’s stories draws on the roots-reggae tradition that inspired the band in the first place. Indeed, their love for the inspirational roots of modern Jamaican music have culminated in a collaboration with Don Carlos himself, on the jam-anthem “Roots Reggae Music.”
The seeds of Rebelution germinated in Santa Barbara’s college town of Isla Vista in 2004. A student named Marley D. Williams had recently switched from baseball to bass guitar when, walking to choir practice one night, he heard strains of roots-reggae coming through a door. The fellow reggae enthusiast turned out to be Rachmany, a devotee of roots-reggae and dancehall, and especially the music of Don Carlos and Black Uhuru.
The nucleus of a new and innovative “California Reggae” band got rock-solid when Marley heard percussionist and drummer Wesley Finley’s impressive solos on a big African drum in a World Music class. At the same time, the bassist had befriended a local band featuring keyboardist Rory Carey, who soon became another cornerstone of the budding Rebelution.
Fate? Good luck? Some combination of forces had stirred in Isla Vista to bring these boys together. Guerilla-style cover gigs led to bigger local shows, original songs, and a homemade five-song EP that surprised everyone by becoming a radio hit in Hawaii, quickly leading to a tour there. The eye-opening thrill of headlining a show in front of 600 fans, all singing along, told the young musicians that even though they were still college kids, they were onto something big there on the Big Island.
Back home, it was time to invest in recording a full album. After a few growing pains, Courage to Grow hit the airwaves, and of course the internet – it was the heyday of Myspace, and the band took full advantage. The album’s title expressed their fearless energy, and the same kind of organic underground surge that had created their early Hawaiian fan base propelled Courage to Grow to #4 on the Billboard Reggae chart and earned it the nod as iTunes’ Editors’ Choice for Best Reggae Album of 2007.