Some groups have a way of becoming a must see. That is always true of bands who are talented and who are doing something unique. DreadRocks fits this description. If you can imagine an amalgamation of roots rock guitar melded to reggae beats and rhythms, then you’ll have an idea how this band rolls. Musicians will like them for their high caliber playing skills. Audiences will enjoy dancing to their exotic beats.
Complete with colorful knitted scull caps and striped clothing, this four-piece outfit comprised of players from Boston and North Shore, opened with the popular reggae hit “Lively Up Yourself.” The bass guitar, played by Joe McEachern, was the most prominent feature and the most compelling. It kept the beat and upheld the rhythm. Listening further, to what was going on beyond the bass, made it was easy to appreciate what the guitar, keyboards, and drums had to offer. The drumming, supplied by Dana Mac, played a lively danceable beat around the bass beat. The guitarist, RHo, as he calls himself and is also lead singer, persistently put out many a playful chord until he phrased a sweet, flowing melody. The organist, Mark “Maga” Golding, created a different timbre than what’s found in other modern music. It’s bubblier, it gurgles sweet joy, yet, like in other genres, doesn’t overwhelm the music or get lost in it, but floats like another layer in its own space.
During an instrumental workout, a palpable pulse from the low end notes could be felt on the other side of the room. From there, Golding’s keyboards let loose an eerie sound suggestive of mystery. There was a notable portion in which the organ’s sprightly, chirpy chords were shadowing the guitar, each playing riffs with a similar, but not quite the same, pattern, structuring into a lattice work. When Reggae Rock picked up the tempo, they rocked closer to the mainstream, but still kept a sophisticated, solid sound wrapped around the beat.
As a vocalist, RHo has an exotic, foreign twist in his approach, sounding at times like he was singing in a foreign language, making his sweet, rangy voice more flavorful.
DreadRocks’s colorful interpretations of classic rock songs like Led Zeppelin’s “The Ocean” and Steve Miller Bands’ “The Joker” gave another dimension to appreciate. The Led Zep tune featured the organ slapping out the chords and the guitar backing it with a plentitude of riffs. They played it instrumental, except for the la-la, la-la-la chorus where RHo sounded even higher than he did in his genre material. The bass guitar was the closest to the original Zeppelin arrangement, but the guitar line interpretation of the melody was played over the chi-chi beat, so it added an extra note or two that left it recognizable but intriguing. “The Joker” had the reggae chord structure in the guitar and keys. The Beatles “Ob La Di, Ob La Da had more a rocking chair feel in the beat but the rest of the arrangement was very clever, the keyboard having a variation in the melody that somehow changed the entire tune. “Come Together” had essentially the same rhythmic build up and pace as The Beatles’ classic, yet with more riffy melody from the guitar.
“Baba Boom Time,” with its rollicking beat, pulled a good chunk of the crowd onto the dance floor. There was a slight psychedelic 1960s leaning in the organ. The song was marked by a childlike sense of playfulness. In fact, all of the music at last night’s show had a grand sense of play. Maybe a reggae musician has to be a child at heart, as there is almost a sense of peek-a-boo about the way an instrument seems to be hiding until featuring more prominently. There was a slamming end to “Baba Boom Time” with one punch of chords coming after the other.’’
“Night Nurse,” a song about being in the hospital, was noted for the way the keys keep coming up in between the space opened up in the rhythm by the other three. A beautiful guitar melody, sharp, clear, and high wrapped itself around the chi-chi rhythms with mechanical precision and tremendous joy. A lot of this music is highly expressive of high, upbeat emotional states. A protest song called “Burning And Looting” had a completely different edge. It got most of its energy from the inflection in RHo’s voice. RHo also dove into a mean grind of a guitar phrase, distinguished from classic rock lead guitar in that it played around that loose reggae chi-chi beat. This forces the melodic phrase to lace itself with more rhythmic patterns.
The traditional reggae music DreadRocks played last night was the most intriguing, exotic, and mysterious, full of sudden drama. The listener is constantly aware that there’s much more coming down the road in each tune. “Natty Dred” featured a lot of hard hitting chords. “Pawn Shop” rocked out using only a small number of guitar notes in extended intervals. “Monkey Man” was a quirky traditional tune with overlapping rhythms. Crowd pleasers “Stir It Up” and “Red Red Wine” went over big with the crowd who became very lively on the dance floor during these recognizable hit songs.
This band certainly distinguished itself with impressive delivery, experimentation, and a well developed sense of fun.
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