Quite often, The Pier receives emails from fans, all over the world, expressing their love, interaction, suggestions & passion for Reggae-Rock music. It’s the very fuel that keeps our fire burning as we embrace the same collective soundtrack to our feel good lifestyle.
We love hearing others stories and interactions with fans & their favorite bands. Whether it’s at a show backstage, on the tour bus or at an opportune time in the studio while the band was recording; we receive fascinating stories that should be shared with the masses. As a result, we have decided to start selecting random Letters, from you the fans, to share with the rest of The Pier Community. If you’d like to send us a letter or question, shoot one over to Letters@ThePier.org & we may include it in our Saturday publish of Letters From The Fans.
For our first Letters From The Fans, we chose a question & a letter from two separate fans. Christian M. of Philadelphia, PA wants to know why bands keep skipping his city on summer tours & Matt S. of Peoria, AZ submitted a story in which the subject of Reggae-Rock music came up in a Job Interview. He was then asked to role-play owning a record store and recommending a reggae-rock artist to a new customer with a country background. Check Matt’s letter, Christian’s question & our reply, are all below, enjoy…
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From: Christian M. Philadelphia, PA
Subject: The Summer of Skipping Philly
Message Body:
“How come none of the big names, such as Slightly Stoopid, Rebelution and 311, are all skipping over Philly in each of their summer tours? Festival Pier is one of the greatest outdoor locations in the region. I’ve been going to the 311 show every year in Philly since like ’08 and its the highlight of the summer each year and now they aren’t coming back? What the hell am I supposed to look forward to now? 
Somebody’s gotta do something about this…Has Philly gone too Hipster??”
-The Pier: Well Christian, we checked with Rebelution & Slightly Stoopid, just to confirm, and they will in fact be coming through Philly this Summer. Rebelution will be playing Festival Pier as soon as June 14th & you can grab tickets by clicking HERE! Slightly Stoopid will be in Philly on August 2nd with G. Love at Penns Landing. It’s all ages & you can grab your tickets for that show, HERE!
As for 311, you’re right! We didn’t find any summer shows coming through Philly that we could see were announced. So we asked 311 & they kindly & quickly responded back to your question. Here’s 311’s response:
“Who said 311 was not coming to Philly this summer 2014? Of course we are! Many 311 summer shows are still to be announced, including Philly. Stay tuned to 311.com/shows for updates. 50 summer shows ahead. See you there!” – 311
Thank you 311 & thank you for your email Christian! Follow back up with us and let us know how the summer shows were! I’d say by the looks of it, you’re pretty spoiled with some great shows coming up with Rebelution, Slightly Stoopid & more good news about to drop on 311 making their way through Philly! Stay up my friend & keep in touch!
Cheers,
Mike Patti
The Pier
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From: Matt S. Peoria, AZ
Subject: Job Interview
Message Body:
So I had an interview for a sales position. The interview was set up differently from previous interviews that I have been on. Instead of interviewing to a panel of people, I had three separate interviews with three different individuals. Near the end of each of the three interviews, I had to do a sales pitch to the interviewee. The first and second sales pitches were both similar and kind of boring. By the time the third person came in to interview me for the position, I was feeling more like myself and relaxed.
One of the first few questions he asked me was, if six months down the road, I was failing at this job, how would I handle the stress? I told him, I have two ways of turning my mood around when I am stressed out. One is listening to music and the other is listening to music while exercising.
He then asked, ‘what kind of music do you listen too?’ I then told him reggae-rock! Whenever you say reggae-rock to people they normally become confused by the term and haven’t heard of the genre. He then asked me to describe the genre to him. I 
described it as a genre of music that relates to any bad and/or good time in your life on a very personal level. Whether you had a bad day at work and someone was too rude to you, the loss of a loved one, found the love of your life and want to confess your love to them, or you’re on vacation drinking a beer on the beach; in this genre you can find a song/artist that relates to every mood you are currently going through.
He then asked me to name a few of the bands to see if he has heard of any of them. I named Pepper to start out with because they have developed into a more commercial band that you can hear on most alternative radio stations. He knew who they were and asked me to name a few others. With the next band I named, I wanted to get a little bit more into the scene by naming a hugely popular artist, so I said Slightly Stoopid! He knew them as well! He asked me to name one more and I said Rebelution. Unfortunately, he did not know who they were. I told him that he should check the band out because they are super talented both with their lyrics and instrumentals.
He then wanted to get back on track with the interview, so I repeated my answer about dealing with stress. Now it’s time for the sales pitch! He told me that in this pitch I am the owner of a reggae rock music store and he is a country lover. He randomly walks into the store and I have to sell him an album.
I started out the sales pitch by asking, ‘What kinds of music do you like?’ He told me ‘country!’ I asked ‘what do you like about country music?’ He said, ‘I like the messages that are delivered about America in the songs, the instruments and of course drinking beer!’ I said, ‘Perfect! You can find all of that, plus more in the reggae-rock scene. You could go with the Rebelution album ‘Peace of Mind’ for one. On this album you can find great messages about overcoming battles in life, relaxing with friends and even a song about losing a friend in the Iraq war. Or if you are looking for a band that might help you transition from country into reggae-rock, you might want to look at Mike Pinto. This is a great singer and you can hear the acoustic guitar, whistling and an occasional horn section in their music. The band also delivers great messages that I feel you could relate to. If you are going to go with Mike Pinto, I would recommend their album titled ‘Little District’ or ‘Everything I’ve Got’…So what do you think?’
The interviewee ended up going with the Mike Pinto album. Overall, a very cool interview and I’ll find out soon if I get the job!
-The Pier: That’s an AWESOME story Matt! Did he ask if you smoked pot because you listen to Reggae? I’d like to think you got the job, went to a show together and later shared an awkward moment of “Should we or shouldn’t we?” when a joint gets passed your way! Jokes aside, that’s a nice pitch with bridging the gap in sounds by focusing on what he enjoys about music and offering some great lyrical groups as a solid first impression to the genre. We’ll share this with Peppper, Slightly Stoopid, Mike Pinto & Rebelution as I’m sure they’d like to hear that you’re pushing their music in a freaking job interview! Best of luck with the job, my friend!
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Come back Next Saturday for more “Letters From The Fans” and don’t forget to submit your letter or question in an email to Letters@ThePier.org.
Article by: Mike Patti
Photo by: Amanda Zancanella & David Norris
Watch: 311 – “Five of Everything”
Watch: Rebelution – “Sky Is The Limit” (Live)
Watch: Mike Pinto – “Everything I Got”