Together for 2 decades, American Reggae Pioneers John Brown’s Body have announced that they will take their future roots reggae dub music on the road this October on a run that ends a week before the start of winter. While on the road, the group will continue supporting their Kings and Queens and Kings and Queens In Dub releases.
Formed in Ithaca, New York, in the mid 1990s, at a time when there wasn’t yet a far-reaching U.S. reggae scene, JBB was one of a small handful of U.S. reggae bands that began touring nationally. The tour hits eight East Coast cities before hopping out to the West Coast in December for stops in Utah, Colorado and California. Preparation for JBB’s 2015 Fall Tour finds the band fresh off an intense set of summer festival plays including California Roots, Reggae On The Mountain – California, Gathering of the Vibes, and most recently, Reggae on the Rocks at Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison, Colorado, among others.
The tour dates can be found below and from what we’ve been told, more dates plan to be added. The bulk of the released dates are in October and December with opportunity for dates to fill up in November through the mid-west on their way from to the west coast from the east. JBB will share the stage with various groups throughout the tour that include The Expanders, 9 Mile Roots, Juno What!?, Nappy Riddem, Roots of Creation, Spiritual Rez and more. Keep checking back for updated tour dates this fall.
On April 16th, 2013, John Brown’s Body released Kings and Queens, a 12 track album via Easy Star Records that was met with very high praise. After almost 2 years to the date of it’s release, JBB released Kings and Queens In Dub as the group has dub versions of every song from Kings And Queens, from a variety of producers from both inside the group and out. The line-up of Dub Producers for Kings And Queens In Dub include Dubmatix, Dub Fader (of 10 Ft. Ganja Plant), Ticklah, Dennis Bovell (UK Dub Legend), Yesking (from the UK), Lord Echo (aka Mike Fabulous, guitarist of The Black Seeds), Michael Goldwasser (Easy Star All-Stars), former band member Nate ‘Silas’ Ricardson and Jay Spaker.
The overall project was mainly overseen by JBB’s hornsman Drew Sayers, working with Easy Star’s Eric Smith and Lem Oppenheimer, with input from the rest of the band. Most of the tracks were dubbed over the past half year.
[Related: Album Review: John Brown’s Body – Kings and Queens In Dub]
Here’s what Drew Sayers had to say about the new album: “The band has long wanted to do a project like this – reinterpret an entire album into dub versions. Kings And Queens seemed like a perfect fit musically, and we were fortunate enough to get some of the most legendary and inspiring producers in the game to be involved. I think this album encapsulates who we are as a group: our foundation is firmly rooted in the classics and we sought inspiration from albums like Gregory Isaac’s ‘Slum In Dub’ and Aswad’s “New Chapter of Dub”. But we never look in only one direction and I think what you will hear in this album is a devotion to originality and independence.”
Catch John Brown’s Body on tour this fall and pick up their music on iTunes by clicking HERE!
Related Links:
JBB Website
JBB Facebook
Easy Star Records Website
Exclusive Easy Star Records Blog
Article By: Mike Patti
Listen: JBB – “Fracture Dub”