John Brown's Body (band)
Encyclopedia
John Brown's Body is a reggae
band from Boston, MA and Ithaca, NY that tours the world performing what the group calls “Future Roots Music”. The sound is rooted in reggae
rhythms and blended with a variety of other styles including dub
, electronic
, funk
, ska
, hip-hop, and dubstep
.
Originally deep-rooted in the more traditional roots and foundation of Reggae
that helped build their reputation as a serious act, their music (starting in 2003) began to take a direction toward a more modern, spaced-out sound with an occasional blend of the traditional when Elliot Martin took over as lead singer. All Music Guide
credited Elliot Martin as writing “the most gorgeous melodies in all of modern reggae music…"
As such, the band’s sound has been described by the New York Daily News
as being "more Massive Attack
than Marley" and by the Village Voice "reverent and revolutionary at the same time,” a nod to their futuristic take on reggae music and their ability to put a unique twist on the genre.
John Brown’s Body has performed with a variety of groups, representing a wide-range of genres including well-known acts such as: Dave Matthews Band
, The Flaming Lips
, STS9, Furthur
, Ozomatli
, Broken Social Scene
, and Jurassic 5
.
Band leader Elliot Martin and members Tommy Benedetti, Matthew “Kofi” Goodwin, and live sound producer Jocko are all vegetarians. Nate Edgar and Matthew Goodwin both practice Yoga. Elliot Martin is also a Dubstep DJ that goes under the name Duke Blackout.
JBB released All Time on their own I-Town Records label. The record made Rolling Stone Magazine’s “Top 10 Indie Records List”.
JBB signed with the venerable reggae label, Shanachie
, and released three albums -- Among Them (1998), This Day (2000), and Spirits All Around Us (2003). The Boston Herald
called them "one of the world's best roots-style reggae bands" after the release of This Day. The positive reviews led to an appearance at the Bob Marley
Day Festival in Miami, FL., alongside Lauryn Hill
and others. After their release of Spirits All Around Us, the band had cemented themselves as a force on the national scene. With appearances at Sierra Nevada World Music Festival, Reggae on the Rocks, and Wakarusa, they earned a reputation for high energy, air-tight live shows.
JBB signs with the hip New York City
record label Easy Star and releases their fifth studio album Pressure Points. This record marked a crucial point in the sonic development of JBB, evolving completely from a more traditional roots approach, to a cutting edge twist on reggae and dub they called "future roots". Pressure Points was critically acclaimed and the Village Voice review called JBB "reverent as well as revolutionary" while Popmatters
described the record as “their strongest, most consistent effort to date.”
While Elliot Martin had only contributed a few songs to the previous albums, the balance had shifted on Pressure Points Elliot wrote 8 of the 11 songs on that album while Kevin Kinsella
wrote 3.
Tragedy and change struck the band with the sudden passing of bassist Scott Palmer from cancer.
Lead vocalist Elliot Martin and drummer/co-founder Tommy Benedetti decided to soldier on with a new energy and more focused musical attack.
The band recruited local Boston bassist Nate Edgar to replace Scott; he had been a fan since seeing Scott playing years earlier with DJ Logic
’s Project Logic.
Shortly after Palmer’s death, John Brown's Body underwent some dramatic line-up changes with the departure of Kevin Kinsella (Vocals and Rhythm Guitar) who formally left the band on good terms, along with organist/guitarist Nate “Silas” Richardson who stepped out to spend more time with his newborn son. JBB turned to its past to replace him: they tapped guitarist Mike Keenan, who had been a member of the Tribulations, the pre-cursor to JBB in the early ‘90s, that featured Kevin, Elliot and drummer Tommy Benedetti. JBB continued to tour and played to extremely enthusiastic audiences over the course of the month. By the end of the journey, they had also lost their horn section Dan Delacruz and Chris "C-Money" Welter who joined punk-reggae band Slightly Stoopid
.
According to the official web site:
Tommy, the only other original member left at this time, says “when Scotty passed away [on June 7, 2006], that was a breaking point for people who may have been considering leaving. With something as heartbreaking as that, there was an obvious bookend in this band’s career, so it made sense for some folks to take the opportunity to leave (according to a 2008 interview).
One of those people was Kevin Kinsella
. Kevin had been talking about leaving the band a few times before that, but never took the final step. “With Scott’s death, I think he wanted to close the chapter on this band he had started and tie it all up neatly,” Elliot says. “He wanted JBB as an entity to cease. The only problem was that Tommy and I were really enjoying playing with the new guys and still felt like there was a lot we wanted to accomplish.” Even though things seemed to be falling apart around them, Elliot and Tommy both felt a powerful new energy playing with Nate, Mike and freshly recruited organist Matthew “Kofi” Goodwin.
Kevin’s departure actually freed Elliot to lead the band in new musical directions. For years, there had been a creative rift between the two primary songwriters and childhood friends. Kevin’s songs tended towards religious themes and roots reggae sounds, more in line with the group’s beginnings. Elliot’s writing emphasized futuristic and atypical rhythms, as well as dense metaphorical imagery. “I used to think that having two songwriters and vocalists was a strength that made us unique, but it probably confused a lot of people. Now our sound is more cohesive,” says Tommy. “We feel comfortable with one another and you can hear it in the music we’re creating.”
During the tense last months with Kevin, Elliot decided to make an attempt to bridge the gap between him and his old friend, writing three rootsier tracks (“Give Yourself Over,” “Speak Of The Devil,” and “Be At Peace”). When Kevin quit, Elliot found himself with three anchors for the next album, and for the first time, much less pressure to make everything fit within a perceived JBB sound. Feeling unrestrained, Elliot next wrote “The Gold,” a more up-tempo drum & bass-inflected tune featuring a guitar line reminiscent of an Ennio Morricone spaghetti western soundtrack, and “Make Your Move,” which takes the group closer towards hip hop. The title track was actually one of the oldest musical ideas to come to fruition on the record. Elliot says, “The seeds for that one are five years old. It was originally a hip hop
beat, like a Funkadelic
song. The bass line was the same, but much more slinky. I didn’t know what it would become, but I knew it should be the lead for this record.”
The band steps in the studio to work on their sixth record at More Sound a recording studio owned by their live sound engineer Jason “Jocko” Randall in Syracuse, NY.
During that time the last of the big life changing events of the past few years involved Elliot’s voice and threatened the band’s ability to soldier on once more. Elliot began to notice problems with his vocal strength and endurance; after months of doctor’s visits and vocal training, the problem was finally revealed to be vocal polyps.
Elliot Martin had surgery in early 2008 to remove polyps on his vocal chords and he also began voice training to teach him to put less strain on his throat.
According to the band's official website:
“I feel better every day. Each show back after surgery, I could feel myself getting stronger. Now I think I’m doing things I couldn’t even do before,” Elliot says. “Add that to the energy of the new line-up and this new batch of songs."
The band released Amplify on New York City
label Easy Star Records. Amplify debuted at #1 on Billboard
’s Reggae charts. #10 on CMJ's World Music Chart, and made the “iTunes
best of 2008″ list for reggae records.
JBB toured across the entire USA for the first time in nearly 2 years.
All Music Guide
writes: “Elliot Martin has taken firmer control of the group, and it is now a completely different organism: although the John Brown's Body sound is still distinctly reggae-ish, it's denser, swirlier, sometimes downright funky, and loaded with more powerful melodic hooks.”
JBB released their first remix EP Re-Amplify (Easy Star) hit the stores, also debuting in the Billboard Reggae top 10. Re-Amplify featured remixes by artists from around the world including Dubmatix (Toronto
), WrongTom (London
) and their friend Disashi Lumumba Kasongo from Gym Class Heroes
(US).
After a few different incarnations, the horn section is cemented, featuring trombonist Scott Flynn, Drew Sayers on saxophone and Sam Dechenne on trumpet.
2009 brought the band to the United Kingdom
for 16 shows with label mates Easy Star All-Stars, and 11 shows in New Zealand
with The Black Seeds
, also Easy Star labelmates. The tour leads to a musical brotherhood with The Black Seeds
and they will perform together at the 2010 Grassroots Music Festival in Ithaca, NY.
In December 2009 JBB covered “Bankrobber” by The Clash
for a charity record named “Shatter The Hotel: The Songs of Joe Strummer
in Dub
”. All proceeds from the record went to benefit Strummerville
,: The Joe Strummer Foundation for new music.
JBB performed on Jam Cruise off the coast of Jamaica
and Grand Cayman Island.
In April and May 2010 the group is performing their first tours of France
, Belgium
, Germany
, Holland, and Canada
at festivals and headlining clubs.
, Batch, Toumani Diabate
, Sly and Robbie
, Radiohead
, Talib Kweli
, Aswad, Funkadelic
, King Tubby
, Roots Manuva
, Masaru Sato
and Midnite
(whose lead singer, Vaughn Benjamin, lends a vocal to the end of “Speak Of The Devil”). Certainly not the typical play list for a reggae band, but the band’s deep reggae roots are not hard to find amongst all of the other influences.
“I think that the strongest reggae was coming out of the UK in the 70's and early 80's,” Elliot explains. “It was the best produced, had the most complex songwriting; it’s the most progressive reggae that's been made. Steel Pulse
, Aswad, Reggae Regular, Misty in Roots
, Mikey Dread
, Dennis Bovell
and Linton Kwesi Johnson
were doing groundbreaking stuff. I want to pick up where those artists left off. Of course, we don't come close to what those artists did, but I think that's where the idea comes from—that reggae can take other forms. I guess I'm just saying that I see our music as progressive reggae.” (Interview 2008).
based band Can't Hang on their 2009 Release Ride The Lightrail
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
band from Boston, MA and Ithaca, NY that tours the world performing what the group calls “Future Roots Music”. The sound is rooted in reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
rhythms and blended with a variety of other styles including dub
Dub music
Dub is a genre of music which grew out of reggae music in the 1960s, and is commonly considered a subgenre, though it has developed to extend beyond the scope of reggae...
, electronic
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
, funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
, ska
Ska
Ska |Jamaican]] ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...
, hip-hop, and dubstep
Dubstep
Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in south London, England. Its overall sound has been described as "tightly coiled productions with overwhelming bass lines and reverberant drum patterns, clipped samples, and occasional vocals"....
.
Originally deep-rooted in the more traditional roots and foundation of Reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
that helped build their reputation as a serious act, their music (starting in 2003) began to take a direction toward a more modern, spaced-out sound with an occasional blend of the traditional when Elliot Martin took over as lead singer. All Music Guide
All Music Guide
Allmusic is a service of music guide, owned by All Media Guide. Allmusic was founded in 1991 by popular-culture archivist Michael Erlewine as a guide for consumers. Its first reference book was published the following year...
credited Elliot Martin as writing “the most gorgeous melodies in all of modern reggae music…"
As such, the band’s sound has been described by the New York Daily News
New York Daily News
The Daily News of New York City is the fourth most widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 605,677, as of November 1, 2011....
as being "more Massive Attack
Massive Attack
Massive Attack are an English DJ and trip hop duo from Bristol, England consisting of Robert "3D" Del Naja and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall. Working with co-producers, as well as various session musicians and guest vocalists, they make records and tour live. The duo are considered to be of the trip...
than Marley" and by the Village Voice "reverent and revolutionary at the same time,” a nod to their futuristic take on reggae music and their ability to put a unique twist on the genre.
John Brown’s Body has performed with a variety of groups, representing a wide-range of genres including well-known acts such as: Dave Matthews Band
Dave Matthews Band
Dave Matthews Band, sometimes shortened to DMB, is a U.S. rock band formed in Charlottesville, Virginia in 1991. The founding members were singer-songwriter and guitarist Dave Matthews, bassist Stefan Lessard, drummer/backing vocalist Carter Beauford and saxophonist LeRoi Moore. Boyd Tinsley was...
, The Flaming Lips
The Flaming Lips
The Flaming Lips are an American alternative rock band, formed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1983.Melodically, their sound contains lush, multi-layered, psychedelic rock arrangements, but lyrically their compositions show elements of space rock, including unusual song and album titles—such as "What...
, STS9, Furthur
Furthur (band)
Furthur is a rock band founded in 2009 by former Grateful Dead members Bob Weir and Phil Lesh. The original lineup also included John Kadlecik of the Dark Star Orchestra on lead guitar, Jeff Chimenti of RatDog on keyboards, Jay Lane of RatDog on percussion, and Joe Russo of the Benevento/Russo Duo...
, Ozomatli
Ozomatli
Ozomatli is a seven to ten piece band playing primarily Latin, hip hop, and rock music, formed in 1995 in Los Angeles. They are known both for their vocal activist viewpoints and their wide array of musical styles - including salsa, jazz, funk, reggae, rap, and others.In a 2007 NPR interview, band...
, Broken Social Scene
Broken Social Scene
Broken Social Scene is a Canadian indie rock band, a musical collective including as few as six and as many as nineteen members, formed in 1999 by Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning. Most of its members currently play in various other groups and solo projects, mainly based around the city of Toronto...
, and Jurassic 5
Jurassic 5
Jurassic 5 was an American alternative hip hop group formed in 1993 from members of two previous groups, Rebels of Rhythm and Unity Committee by rappers Charles Stewart , Dante Givens , Courtenay Henderson , Marc Stuart , and disc jockeys Mark Potsic and Lucas Macfadden...
.
Band leader Elliot Martin and members Tommy Benedetti, Matthew “Kofi” Goodwin, and live sound producer Jocko are all vegetarians. Nate Edgar and Matthew Goodwin both practice Yoga. Elliot Martin is also a Dubstep DJ that goes under the name Duke Blackout.
History
- 1996
JBB released All Time on their own I-Town Records label. The record made Rolling Stone Magazine’s “Top 10 Indie Records List”.
- 1997–2004
JBB signed with the venerable reggae label, Shanachie
Shanachie Records
Shanachie Records was founded in 1976 by Richard Nevins and Dan Collins. According to Harvey Pekar , it is one of the largest independent record labels in the world, and is currently distributed by E1 Music. Starting as a label that specialized in fiddle music, they began releasing work by Celtic...
, and released three albums -- Among Them (1998), This Day (2000), and Spirits All Around Us (2003). The Boston Herald
Boston Herald
The Boston Herald is a daily newspaper that serves Boston, Massachusetts, United States, and its surrounding area. It was started in 1846 and is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the United States...
called them "one of the world's best roots-style reggae bands" after the release of This Day. The positive reviews led to an appearance at the Bob Marley
Bob Marley
Robert Nesta "Bob" Marley, OM was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician. He was the rhythm guitarist and lead singer for the ska, rocksteady and reggae band Bob Marley & The Wailers...
Day Festival in Miami, FL., alongside Lauryn Hill
Lauryn Hill
Lauryn Noelle Hill is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress.Early in her career, she established her reputation as a member of the Fugees. In 1998, she launched her solo career with the release of the commercially successful and critically acclaimed album, The Miseducation of...
and others. After their release of Spirits All Around Us, the band had cemented themselves as a force on the national scene. With appearances at Sierra Nevada World Music Festival, Reggae on the Rocks, and Wakarusa, they earned a reputation for high energy, air-tight live shows.
- 2005
JBB signs with the hip New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
record label Easy Star and releases their fifth studio album Pressure Points. This record marked a crucial point in the sonic development of JBB, evolving completely from a more traditional roots approach, to a cutting edge twist on reggae and dub they called "future roots". Pressure Points was critically acclaimed and the Village Voice review called JBB "reverent as well as revolutionary" while Popmatters
PopMatters
PopMatters is an international webzine of cultural criticism that covers many aspects of popular culture. PopMatters publishes reviews, interviews, and detailed essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, books, video games, comics, sports, theater,...
described the record as “their strongest, most consistent effort to date.”
While Elliot Martin had only contributed a few songs to the previous albums, the balance had shifted on Pressure Points Elliot wrote 8 of the 11 songs on that album while Kevin Kinsella
Kevin Kinsella
Kevin Kinsella is a reggae and roots rock musician who has participated 10 studio albums since 1996. Formerly a member of John Brown's Body and a currently a member of 10 Ft. Ganja Plant, he lives in Ithaca, New York. He has a solo project which he sings and play keyboards for...
wrote 3.
- 2006
Tragedy and change struck the band with the sudden passing of bassist Scott Palmer from cancer.
Lead vocalist Elliot Martin and drummer/co-founder Tommy Benedetti decided to soldier on with a new energy and more focused musical attack.
The band recruited local Boston bassist Nate Edgar to replace Scott; he had been a fan since seeing Scott playing years earlier with DJ Logic
DJ Logic
DJ Logic is an American turntablist active primarily in jazz and with jam bands.Kibler was born and raised in The Bronx. An early interest in hip hop led to his using the turntables, practicing often. Kibler was also interested in funk and jazz music, and began collaborating with various musicians...
’s Project Logic.
Shortly after Palmer’s death, John Brown's Body underwent some dramatic line-up changes with the departure of Kevin Kinsella (Vocals and Rhythm Guitar) who formally left the band on good terms, along with organist/guitarist Nate “Silas” Richardson who stepped out to spend more time with his newborn son. JBB turned to its past to replace him: they tapped guitarist Mike Keenan, who had been a member of the Tribulations, the pre-cursor to JBB in the early ‘90s, that featured Kevin, Elliot and drummer Tommy Benedetti. JBB continued to tour and played to extremely enthusiastic audiences over the course of the month. By the end of the journey, they had also lost their horn section Dan Delacruz and Chris "C-Money" Welter who joined punk-reggae band Slightly Stoopid
Slightly Stoopid
Slightly Stoopid is an American band based in Ocean Beach, San Diego, California, who describe their music as "a fusion of acoustic rock and blues with reggae, hip-hop, and punk". As a band, they have released eight albums with their sixth studio album, entitled Slightly Not Stoned Enough To Eat...
.
According to the official web site:
Tommy, the only other original member left at this time, says “when Scotty passed away [on June 7, 2006], that was a breaking point for people who may have been considering leaving. With something as heartbreaking as that, there was an obvious bookend in this band’s career, so it made sense for some folks to take the opportunity to leave (according to a 2008 interview).
One of those people was Kevin Kinsella
Kevin Kinsella
Kevin Kinsella is a reggae and roots rock musician who has participated 10 studio albums since 1996. Formerly a member of John Brown's Body and a currently a member of 10 Ft. Ganja Plant, he lives in Ithaca, New York. He has a solo project which he sings and play keyboards for...
. Kevin had been talking about leaving the band a few times before that, but never took the final step. “With Scott’s death, I think he wanted to close the chapter on this band he had started and tie it all up neatly,” Elliot says. “He wanted JBB as an entity to cease. The only problem was that Tommy and I were really enjoying playing with the new guys and still felt like there was a lot we wanted to accomplish.” Even though things seemed to be falling apart around them, Elliot and Tommy both felt a powerful new energy playing with Nate, Mike and freshly recruited organist Matthew “Kofi” Goodwin.
Kevin’s departure actually freed Elliot to lead the band in new musical directions. For years, there had been a creative rift between the two primary songwriters and childhood friends. Kevin’s songs tended towards religious themes and roots reggae sounds, more in line with the group’s beginnings. Elliot’s writing emphasized futuristic and atypical rhythms, as well as dense metaphorical imagery. “I used to think that having two songwriters and vocalists was a strength that made us unique, but it probably confused a lot of people. Now our sound is more cohesive,” says Tommy. “We feel comfortable with one another and you can hear it in the music we’re creating.”
During the tense last months with Kevin, Elliot decided to make an attempt to bridge the gap between him and his old friend, writing three rootsier tracks (“Give Yourself Over,” “Speak Of The Devil,” and “Be At Peace”). When Kevin quit, Elliot found himself with three anchors for the next album, and for the first time, much less pressure to make everything fit within a perceived JBB sound. Feeling unrestrained, Elliot next wrote “The Gold,” a more up-tempo drum & bass-inflected tune featuring a guitar line reminiscent of an Ennio Morricone spaghetti western soundtrack, and “Make Your Move,” which takes the group closer towards hip hop. The title track was actually one of the oldest musical ideas to come to fruition on the record. Elliot says, “The seeds for that one are five years old. It was originally a hip hop
Hip hop
Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...
beat, like a Funkadelic
Funkadelic
Funkadelic was an American band most prominent during the 1970s. The band and its sister act Parliament, both led by George Clinton, began the funk music culture of that decade.-History:...
song. The bass line was the same, but much more slinky. I didn’t know what it would become, but I knew it should be the lead for this record.”
- 2007
The band steps in the studio to work on their sixth record at More Sound a recording studio owned by their live sound engineer Jason “Jocko” Randall in Syracuse, NY.
During that time the last of the big life changing events of the past few years involved Elliot’s voice and threatened the band’s ability to soldier on once more. Elliot began to notice problems with his vocal strength and endurance; after months of doctor’s visits and vocal training, the problem was finally revealed to be vocal polyps.
- 2008
Elliot Martin had surgery in early 2008 to remove polyps on his vocal chords and he also began voice training to teach him to put less strain on his throat.
According to the band's official website:
“I feel better every day. Each show back after surgery, I could feel myself getting stronger. Now I think I’m doing things I couldn’t even do before,” Elliot says. “Add that to the energy of the new line-up and this new batch of songs."
The band released Amplify on New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
label Easy Star Records. Amplify debuted at #1 on Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
’s Reggae charts. #10 on CMJ's World Music Chart, and made the “iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
best of 2008″ list for reggae records.
JBB toured across the entire USA for the first time in nearly 2 years.
All Music Guide
All Music Guide
Allmusic is a service of music guide, owned by All Media Guide. Allmusic was founded in 1991 by popular-culture archivist Michael Erlewine as a guide for consumers. Its first reference book was published the following year...
writes: “Elliot Martin has taken firmer control of the group, and it is now a completely different organism: although the John Brown's Body sound is still distinctly reggae-ish, it's denser, swirlier, sometimes downright funky, and loaded with more powerful melodic hooks.”
- 2009
JBB released their first remix EP Re-Amplify (Easy Star) hit the stores, also debuting in the Billboard Reggae top 10. Re-Amplify featured remixes by artists from around the world including Dubmatix (Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
), WrongTom (London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
) and their friend Disashi Lumumba Kasongo from Gym Class Heroes
Gym Class Heroes
Gym Class Heroes is an American hip hop rock band from Geneva, New York. They have collaborated with Fall Out Boy's Patrick Stump on numerous occasions, notably for providing backing vocals on the song "Cupid's Chokehold." Stump also produced the majority of their album The Quilt.The group formed...
(US).
After a few different incarnations, the horn section is cemented, featuring trombonist Scott Flynn, Drew Sayers on saxophone and Sam Dechenne on trumpet.
2009 brought the band to the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
for 16 shows with label mates Easy Star All-Stars, and 11 shows in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
with The Black Seeds
The Black Seeds
The Black Seeds are a musical group from Wellington, New Zealand. Their music is a fusion of dub, funk, afrobeat and soul.The Black Seeds have two double-platinum selling albums at home, and successful European album releases through the German-based Sonar Kollektiv label...
, also Easy Star labelmates. The tour leads to a musical brotherhood with The Black Seeds
The Black Seeds
The Black Seeds are a musical group from Wellington, New Zealand. Their music is a fusion of dub, funk, afrobeat and soul.The Black Seeds have two double-platinum selling albums at home, and successful European album releases through the German-based Sonar Kollektiv label...
and they will perform together at the 2010 Grassroots Music Festival in Ithaca, NY.
In December 2009 JBB covered “Bankrobber” by The Clash
The Clash
The Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...
for a charity record named “Shatter The Hotel: The Songs of Joe Strummer
Joe Strummer
John Graham Mellor , best remembered by his stage name Joe Strummer, was the co-founder, lyricist, rhythm guitarist and lead vocalist of the British punk rock band The Clash. His musical experience included his membership in The 101ers, Latino Rockabilly War, The Mescaleros and The Pogues, in...
in Dub
Dub music
Dub is a genre of music which grew out of reggae music in the 1960s, and is commonly considered a subgenre, though it has developed to extend beyond the scope of reggae...
”. All proceeds from the record went to benefit Strummerville
Strummerville
Strummerville is the Joe Strummer Foundation for New Music. It was established shortly after Strummer's death in the winter of 2002 by his wife Lucinda, who serves as a trustee...
,: The Joe Strummer Foundation for new music.
- 2010
JBB performed on Jam Cruise off the coast of Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
and Grand Cayman Island.
In April and May 2010 the group is performing their first tours of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Holland, and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
at festivals and headlining clubs.
Press Quotes
- "JBB is an eight-piece outfit that delivers some of the most forward-thinking reggae music in the world today." - LA2DAY
- "…the most gorgeous melodies in all of modern reggae music…" - All Music GuideAll Music GuideAllmusic is a service of music guide, owned by All Media Guide. Allmusic was founded in 1991 by popular-culture archivist Michael Erlewine as a guide for consumers. Its first reference book was published the following year...
- “The most authentic purveyors of Truth and Rights' music around.” -Village Voice
- “Some folks say they've seen the future of reggae and its name is John Brown's Body.”-Tallahassee DemocratTallahassee DemocratThe Tallahassee Democrat is a daily broadsheet newspaper. It covers the area centered around Tallahassee in Leon County, Florida, as well as adjacent Gadsden County, Jefferson County, and Wakulla County...
- “A seriously impressive live prospect.”-Total Music Magazine UK
- “More Massive Attack than Marley,” -New York Daily NewsNew York Daily NewsThe Daily News of New York City is the fourth most widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 605,677, as of November 1, 2011....
- “John Brown’s Body throws down reggae unlike any other act on the live circuit”-Glide
- “Instead of relying on traditional foundations to create their songs, Martin takes the band’s old world foundation and builds a complex and multi-genre crossbreed that places the band squarely on the forefront of the world music arena.” - Sentimentalist MagazineSentimentalist MagazineSentimentalist Magazine is an American magazine of indie rock music and culture, published quarterly.Launched in New York City in 2001 as The Sentimentalist, it changed its title to The Sentimentalist Magazine with Issue 14, and then dropped the definite article from Issue 16. As of January 2008,...
- “Rooted in island vibrations but incorporating elements of funk, hip-hop, dubstep, dancehall and probably a slew of other influences we’re overlooking, JBB stands at the forefront of progressive reggae — a genre so cutting edge, it doesn’t actually exist yet.” -Seven Days
- “Fans recognize the real deal. Initially inspired by ’70s roots reggae, the octet has given the tag ‘future roots’ to its now-denser, still-ebullient, modernized reggae, which draws on hip-hop as well as electro-dub.” -The Improper BostonianThe Improper BostonianThe Improper Bostonian is a glossy lifestyle guide for the city of Boston. The magazine comes out bi-weekly and reports on the area trends in a young and entertaining way.The magazine is a staple of the city, being free to people inside the city, and $14.95 a year for people who live outside Boston...
- “JBB’s foundations may rest on Marley, Tosh and other Jamaican pioneers, but the band’s influences range much wider, across...the near-countless subgenres lumped under ‘electronic music’.” -Glide Music
- “Starting with bands like John Brown's Body, and then even with an act like MatisyahuMatisyahuMatthew Paul Miller , better known by his Hebrew name and stage name Matisyahu, is an American Hasidic Jewish reggae and alternative rock musician....
, whole new (non-traditional) audiences are being opened up to the Reggae-Rock sound who never would have listened before.” - Singers & Players Global eMag
Musical style and influences
Artists that Elliot Martin listened to extensively—and was influenced by—while writing Amplify include Sigur RósSigur Rós
Sigur Rós is an Icelandic post-rock band with classicaland minimalist elements. The band is known for its ethereal sound, and frontman Jónsi Birgisson's falsetto vocals and use of bowed guitar. In January 2010, the band announced that they will be on hiatus. Since then, it has since been announced...
, Batch, Toumani Diabate
Toumani Diabaté
Toumani Diabaté is a Malian kora player. In addition to performing the traditional music of Mali, he has also been involved in cross-cultural collaborations with flamenco, blues, jazz, and other international styles.-Biography:...
, Sly and Robbie
Sly and Robbie
Sly and Robbie is the prolific Jamaican rhythm section and production team of drummer Sly Dunbar and bassist Robbie Shakespeare who joined in the mid 1970s after having established themselves separately in Jamaica as professional musicians...
, Radiohead
Radiohead
Radiohead are an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke , Jonny Greenwood , Ed O'Brien , Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway .Radiohead released their debut single "Creep" in 1992...
, Talib Kweli
Talib Kweli
Talib Kweli Greene , better known as Talib Kweli, is an American hip-hop artist and poet from Brooklyn, New York. His first name in Arabic means "student" or "seeker" ; his in Swahili means "true"...
, Aswad, Funkadelic
Funkadelic
Funkadelic was an American band most prominent during the 1970s. The band and its sister act Parliament, both led by George Clinton, began the funk music culture of that decade.-History:...
, King Tubby
King Tubby
King Tubby was a Jamaican electronics and sound engineer, known primarily for his influence on the development of dub in the 1960s and 1970s...
, Roots Manuva
Roots Manuva
Rodney Hylton Smith , better known by his stage name Roots Manuva, is a British rapper from Stockwell, South London. He is currently signed to Big Dada.-Biography:...
, Masaru Sato
Masaru Sato
was a Japanese composer of film scores. He was born in Rumoi, Hokkaidō and raised in Sapporo. While studying at the National Music Academy, Sato came under the influence of Fumio Hayasaka, Akira Kurosawa's regular composer for his earlier films. He became a pupil of Hayasaka's, studying film...
and Midnite
Midnite
Midnite is a roots reggae band hailing from St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, which has been playing since 1989.The band's music follows in tradition with the roots reggae bands of 1970s Jamaica. The lyrical portions of Midnite's compositions are characterized as the "chant and call" style which...
(whose lead singer, Vaughn Benjamin, lends a vocal to the end of “Speak Of The Devil”). Certainly not the typical play list for a reggae band, but the band’s deep reggae roots are not hard to find amongst all of the other influences.
“I think that the strongest reggae was coming out of the UK in the 70's and early 80's,” Elliot explains. “It was the best produced, had the most complex songwriting; it’s the most progressive reggae that's been made. Steel Pulse
Steel Pulse
Steel Pulse is a roots reggae musical band. They originally formed at Handsworth Wood Boys School, in Birmingham, England, composed of David Hinds , Basil Gabbidon , and Ronald McQueen .-History:...
, Aswad, Reggae Regular, Misty in Roots
Misty in Roots
Misty in Roots began life as a Southall-based British roots reggae band in the early 1970s. Their first album was 1979's Live at the Counter Eurovision, a record full of Biblical Rastafarian songs. It was championed by BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel, helping to bring roots reggae to a white audience...
, Mikey Dread
Mikey Dread
Michael George Campbell , better known as Mikey Dread, was a Jamaican singer, producer, and broadcaster. He was one of the most influential performers and innovators in reggae music...
, Dennis Bovell
Dennis Bovell
Dennis Bovell is a reggae guitarist, bass player and record producer. He was a member of the British reggae band Matumbi, and released dub-reggae records under his own name as well as the pseudonym 'Blackbeard'....
and Linton Kwesi Johnson
Linton Kwesi Johnson
Linton Kwesi Johnson is a UK-based dub poet. He became the second living poet, and the only black poet, to be published in the Penguin Classics series. His poetry involves the recitation of his own verse in Jamaican Patois over dub-reggae, usually written in collaboration with renowned British...
were doing groundbreaking stuff. I want to pick up where those artists left off. Of course, we don't come close to what those artists did, but I think that's where the idea comes from—that reggae can take other forms. I guess I'm just saying that I see our music as progressive reggae.” (Interview 2008).
Awards
- 2008: #1 Billboard Reggae Chart debut
- 2008: CMJ World Music Chart Top 10 debut
- 2010: #2 ZonaReGGae BEST of ’09 - The People ‘REVIVAL’ [Portugal]
- 2009: Best of 2009 Reggae Records – ZonaReggae [Portugal]
- 2008: iTunes Top 10 Reggae Records selection of 2008
- 2008: Best Dance/Dub/Club Album nomination NAR Lifestyle Music Awards [Barcelona, Spain]
- 2008: Most Anticipated Albums of 2008 – ThePier.org
Recent Collaborations
Elliot Martin performed vocals with Iowa reggae band Public Property on their upcoming album "Work to Do" set for release in July 2009. Martin Collaborated with the BaltimoreBaltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
based band Can't Hang on their 2009 Release Ride The Lightrail
Studio releases
- All Time (1996)
- Among Them (1999)
- This Day (2000)
- Spirits All Around Us (2002)
- Justin Hinds & John Brown's Body - Live At Grassroots Festival (2002)
- Pressure Points (2005)
- Amplify (2008)
- Re-Amplify (2009)
External links
- Official Website
- Official Myspace
- Live Recordings from Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...