Get To Know "Roots Down"
The story begins on a flight home from San Diego. I had been living in SD for a year soaking in the southern California culture lifestyle spending many days at the beaches. One place that reminded me of my roots back in Eugene was Ocean Beach (except that it was next to the ocean). I loved walking down Newport Ave eating burgers at Hodad's or cruising over to Sunset Cliffs taking in the view. So as my flight circled above Ocean Beach en route Portland, Oregon I began writing the lyrics to "Roots". I knew it was time to form the band that made the music that resonated with this culture and within me.
Reggae first grabbed a hold of me while I was visiting Hawaii ten years ago. Since I've been there at least two times a year and seen some of the best live musicians at backyard laua's and small little clubs. The fact that Hawaii has two or three FM stations pumping out local music 24/7 is sweet.
So in the summer of 2007, when I returned home to Oregon, I assembled a diverse mix of musicians and we began creating reggae inspired pop/rock/hip-hop. We hadn't been a band more than a couple months when we went on our first west coast tour supporting my own headlining dates. While we were in LA we recorded our first self-titled EP, featuring songs like "Don't Walk Away", "Roots" and "Real Love". We played a lot of places around Oregon that year especially in Bend, Portland, Ashland and Eugene. We were given the opportunity to open for some great bands like Pepper, The Panda Dub Guerilla Squad and Passafire that helped get us more exposure.
In June of 08 we had some line-up changes and I was almost ready to call it quits with the vision and focus on my solo music but we decided to keep playing some dates here and there barely staying afloat. It wasn't until March of 09 after a Hawaii tour and the addition of Matt Salinas on guitar that we began writing and recording new material.
We self-produced our new CD "Summer Of Love" with the help of some friends back in Nashville, TN (thanks Chris and Jeff) and are releasing it on our own label (Ocean Ave Records). It features five songs, including radio single "Sweet Love" and a crowd favorite "Burrito Boy", an ode to our favorite Mexican restaurant in Eugene. Another song that is featured on the CD is "Taking Over Me". You can read the story behind the song and download the song free @ takingoverme.com
Thanks for reading and listening to our music! We hope you enjoy the tunes.