Are you Reggae for Rocksteady? - 06.06.2014 - AERA

Szene1.at 30.04.2014 04:02 Jr. Thomas is an American songwriter and producer of reggae and soul influenced music. Early in his career he established his reputation as the frontman, guitarist and songwriter for the Minneapolis based group The Dropsteppers. In 2013, Jr. Thomas teamed up with The Void Union rhythm section giving themselves the name The Venditions. Jr. Thomas meets The Venditions was the debut release available on Rocking Records and digitally. In 2014, Jr. Thomas and a new studio band including Brian Dixon, Scott Abels, Alex Desert, John Butcher, Chiquis Lozoya, Dan Boer, Zac Pike, Tom Cook and Brian Wallace began recording the following up from the debut album in Los Angeles. That release is scheduled for 2014 alongside a European Tour with The Void Union in May and June. https://soundcloud.com/jr-thomas-5 https://www.facebook.com/TheVenditions The Void Union Conventional wisdom has guided bands in the computer age towards isolationism; find one’s turf, stake a claim, and interpret peer success as a call to arms. Void Union has propelled itself out of cyberspace’s din with a counterintuitive mission statement: Preserve the Jamaican music of the 1960’s, collaborate with Ska’s originators, and actively recruit guest players from the ensembles that have proven equal to the task of reinventing the genre. Some of those musicians include Derrick Morgan, The Skatalites, Lynval Golding , King Django, Angelo Moore , Chris Rhodes ,and David Hillyard , all of whom feature on the Void Union’s recordings. In November of 2010, Vin Gordon joined the group for a watershed European tour. Thaddeus Merritt , Rick Smith , Rich Graiko , Alex Stern , and Anant Pradhan , comprise Void Union’s core, but, the band's philosophy lends itself to a collective atmosphere in which like-minded musicians sit in and assure that no show is the same as the one that preceded it. The audience at a gig is not a mere handful of die-hard Ska enthusiasts; a survey of the crowd yields suits, working stiffs, parents, children, dreadlocks, moptops, and...hipsters? All turn out to bear witness to a versatile ensemble that is as at ease providing the jazz-tinged instrumental foil to a Jamaican legend as it is leading a sing-along at a neighborhood bar. http://voidunion.com/ https://www.facebook.com/voidunion The Rocksteady Conspiracy Viennese good vibes machine strumming jamaican influenced lovesongs for all rudies. https://soundcloud.com/the-rocksteady-conspiracy https://www.facebook.com/TheRocksteadyConspiracy Presale-Tickets: //www.ticketgarden.com/tickets/the-void-union-ft-jr-thomas-us-the-rocksteady-conspiracy-at/