Last week reggae-rock-hop fusion quintet Iration performed at Sunshine Theater, cultivating some warm vibes on a rather dreary day to a crowd. However essential the genre is to the indie climate, reggae rock has never been my strong suite, and I often grow bored of shows that don't change up the flavor per say.
To some extent, Iration brought some variation to their set-list. The trumpeter totally made my night, and the tenacity the musicians had on stage was substantial. I don't envy sharing the airspace with a hot-boxed audience, but I suppose the band is used to it at this point, keeping the energy up and bouncing around all throughout the concert.
Though as my expectations stood, the general mood of the show didn't really change throughout — at the very least, it was a jovial vibe. On a technical level, Iration isn't worth writing home about, and that's okay. Fans seemed to be having a jubilant time and the theater was packed to the brim with a friendly ambiance. Iration have years of experience in writing, playing and evoking that sunshine aura they grew up with, and Albuquerque deserves some of that musical daybreak in this windy grey winter.
I was pleasantly surprised with the band's latest record, “Hotting Up,” mostly because of the solid production that went into it. As Iration’s Adam Taylor reveals in his conversation with the Daily Lobo, the group went into the studio with the desire to produce a hip-hop-sounding record with reggae and rock instrumentation.
Not every song utilizes upstrums and feel good hits...well, most of them do. However, the crisp production makes the music sound more than the sum of its parts. I've never been disposed to the style but I respect the direction they took with recording.
DL: How was your day?
AT: It was good! Ate at a Turkish restaurant.
DL: Is this your first time in ABQ?
AT: No, we've been here before. We've been to Launchpad a lot. We played here at Sunshine about five or six times before.
DL: Is it a thing with bassists that get the short end of the stick, that you always have to do the interviews? The last band I talked with were just like, “Yeah, send the bassist.”
AT: (laughs) Usually Micah or I do it! But he was golfing earlier.
DL: I hate saying this, but I don't listen to a lot of reggae. I researched you guys, though, and your style is super interesting.
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AT: Yeah, I wouldn't say it's all the way reggae per say. It's a bit different, there's a lot of elements all over the place.
DL: You guys are from Hawaii?
AT: We met out there but we formed in Santa Barbara. We all went to (University of California, Santa Barbara). Tight around when we were graduating we got the band going.
DL: Considering how the Isla Vista culture is, it's cool how the songs aren't always about being drunk or high, like most bands in the genre. You often just sing about being happy.
AT: I think that's another part of it. That's not what we're trying to do. We're trying to do something a little different, and I think we're lucky in that we get invited to rock festivals and hip-hop stuff. We can kind of flow in and out of the genre in that sense.
DL: That was all part of the plan, right?
AT: It was definitely part of the intention. The foundation was stemmed out of a love for reggae, but you mature and grow as people. For me, especially, I'm just into the classic reggae — Steel Pulse, Bob Marley. So, you know, once you go through the whole catalog you need to find new music.
DL: What are you into these days, out of curiosity?
AT: A bit of everything. Tame Impala, Two Door Cinema Club, Bruno Mars, The Weeknd, Action Bronson.
DL: I'm sure it definitely broke the whole norm in Isla Vista, to experience a band that doesn't completely exploit the culture.
AT: It was good though. Coming out of Isla Vista was nice because it's a square mile and so densely populated that you get people from everywhere. You play all these parties and people go back to their hometowns and spread the word.
Then we started touring nationally. At first it was just friends spreading the word and now we kind of got a fanbase all over. It's pretty good.
DL: What year did you start touring like that?
AT: Around 2008 or ‘09. We started playing more seriously around 2006. As in playing outside of the party scene — bars to clubs to big venues, theaters and so on.
DL: Have you guys played the Santa Barbara Bowl?
AT: We did! We headlined the Summer Round-Up which is a summer party the bowl has every June. Definitely one of our favorite venues.
DL: I want to talk about the production on your latest record, because it's solid.
AT: This was our first record where we used a producer, King David the Future. He actually does mostly hip-hop and we were looking for more of an upbeat, bigger sound in terms of drums and bass.
We wanted that hip-hop element more, and he was perfect because he came in and took our sound and helped shape it, make it more modern. It was awesome working with him, he can take any idea you have and put it down for you to work with. We're gonna work with him on our next record too.
DL: Any details on that?
AT: Not yet, we've just been doing demos. We'll start recording it later this month, but that's just where we’re at right now. Micah is still finishing writing some of those. Looking forward to getting back in the studio.
DL: I heard on the way here it was a pretty treacherous bus ride?
AT: We had a gnarly one the other night, we hit an elk. But we were all in the bus sleeping, we just heard about it from the driver in the morning. I slept through the whole thing! We're all okay!
DL: Where you off to after ABQ?
AT: Tomorrow at Tuscon, the Hard Rock Joint in Las Vegas on Friday and then we finish the tour at Long Beach on Saturday. After that we're gonna take a break spend a week surfing back home and then get back in the studio. We just got some fly dates, we're doing Florida and also got a summer tour that will be announced soon, but not much info on that right now.
Check out Iration's catalog on all streaming services, as well as bandcamp and YouTube. More information the group is available online at www.irationmusic.com.
Audrin Baghaie is the music editor at the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at dailylobomusic@gmail.com or on Twitter @AudrinTheOdd.
