http://www.boston.com/ae/music/articles/2009/04/21/amplifying_on_success/
Amplifying on success
The Boston Globe
4-21-09
By Katie Johnston Chase
We all know that what doesn't kill you supposedly makes you stronger, and for reggae band John Brown's Body, the decimation of the band resulted in the most successful album of its 13-year career.
Bassist Scott Palmer died of cancer in 2006, and a few people left the band around the same time, leaving only two original members: drummer Tommy Benedetti and co-singer/songwriter Elliot Martin. They recruited new bandmates and continued to refocus the music, incorporating elements of hip-hop, indie rock, and drum and bass into a more progressive reggae sound.
The result was "Amplify," which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard reggae charts last fall. The EP "Re-Amplify," featuring remixes by several big-name producers, followed in March.
Most of the band's members live in the Boston area, and they regularly play clubs such as Matt Murphy's, Atwood's, and the Alchemist; on Saturday the group moves up to the House of Blues. Benedetti, who lives in Somerville, called from a train headed to Philadelphia to talk about the new albums and his love of Slayer.
Q. You graduated from Berklee?
A. I did like three years.
Q. As much as you needed.
A. Yeah, exactly. Maybe a little more. [Laughs]
Q. Did you guys freak out when you heard that "Amplify" was No. 1 on the reggae charts?
A. It was a quite a day. I remember pretty clearly we were in Santa Fe, N.M.; we were on tour. And I woke up in the hotel and got a text message from one of the guys on our label, and I was pretty psyched, honestly. You know, these days . . . where we are, it doesn't translate to all of a sudden, megastar.
Q. But what does it mean? Does it change anything?
A. It makes the record company happy. [Laughs] . . . It means that people are still interested in what we're doing, which is really a blessing.
Q. In a blog post about U2 playing the Somerville Theatre, you wrote that you wished Slayer was playing instead. That seems surprising coming from a reggae guy.
A. I absolutely wish it were Slayer, and I would have been right up in the mix. . . . I think one of the things that makes JBB interesting is the fact that we do listen to a lot of stuff and we do incorporate different sounds and different vibes. When we play live, it's a high-energy, aggressive show.
Q. Aggressive - I don't think that's something most people would associate with reggae music.
A. You know, I was raised on rock music. Zeppelin and Floyd and Slayer and Megadeth. . . . I still carry that with me to this day, thankfully.
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