Photo by Ben Sarle
SEA CHANGE
John Brown's Body weathers storms.
The Improper Bostonian
Jan 20-Feb 2, 2010
By Paul Robicheau
A Boston-rooted reggae band couldn’t find itself in a better spot. Tommy Benedetti, drummer and co-founder of John Brown’s Body, is calling from the beach in Jamaica before his group climbs back aboard the Jam Cruise.
“We have one of the prime slots on a cruise–we’re playing at five o’clock on the pool deck as the boat departs from Jamaica,” Benedetti says. “People are going to be amped.”
Benedetti’s clearly amped as well. “There are a bunch of people on the boat who really love music and have pretty wide ears,” he says of the jam-happy January cruise, featuring such diverse artists as STS9, Dark Star Orchestra, Maceo Parker and John Medeski. “It’s always good to play to a newer crowd, so I’m excited.”
John Brown’s Body, which returns Feb. 5 to House of Blues (where it drew 1,800 fans last April), has been playing to newer, larger crowds for nearly 15 years.
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.
“We’re using the building blocks [of reggae] but taking it from there with different beats and textures,” says Benedetti, 38. “It’s a pretty aggressive show, very energized. It’s not kick-back-and-drink-a-fruity-drink reggae. That’s not JBB style.”
In fact, the band named after abolitionist John Brown only toughened and expanded its sound on its standout 2008 CD Amplify, which debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s reggae chart. The group took it further last year with Re-Amplify, getting producers like Dubmatix, Blue King Brown and GoldieLocks to remix tracks, even inspiring JBB to retool some live arrangements. “It just opens up the possibilities and ways to play your music that you may not have really thought of before,” Benedetti says.
JBB forged its new groove despite some destabilizing events. When original lead singer Kevin Kinsella left the band after 2005’s Pressure Points, harmony vocalist Elliot Martin stepped up to become frontman, though he had to deal with throat surgery. The worst blow came when bassist Scott Palmer died from cancer in 2006.
Other band members opted to drop out. But JBB soldiered on, adding bassist Nate Edgar, keyboardist Matthew “Kofi” Goodwin and new horn players to the longtime base of Martin, Benedetti and guitarist Mike Keenan.
“Obviously we’ve weathered a bunch of storms over the years, and it’s inspiring and really satisfying to wake up and know that your job for the day is to play music for people,” Benedetti says. “We went through all the changes and it really was a rebirth for the band.”
“There was definitely a period of doubt, but we knew we had work to do,” he adds. “The band that we have right now is so incredibly solid, and the musicianship is off the charts. It’s a real family vibe. That’s what John Brown’s Body has always been.”
It’s been a long journey since Ithaca, N.Y., native Kinsella moved to Boston with his roots reggae combo Tribulations and met up with Martin in 1989. The group morphed into John Brown’s Body in 1995, shortly after Benedetti joined with fellow Berklee music students.
In the late ’90s, the JBB sound was sunnier, the lyrics touting reggae’s spiritual inspirations. Martin still delivers conscious lyrics, his voice shifting from resonant singing to rhythmic raps, but the musical treatments have grown to the forefront as well.
“The band is more easily digestible for some people than it would have been in the past,” Benedetti says. “It’s not coming at people from a preachy angle. Elliot writes social-commentary lyrics, but we try not to get too specific–we’re obviously not Rastafarians–or pretend to be anything we’re not.
The Somerville resident adds that “it keeps on getting better,” with recent
JBB tours in England and New Zealand. “Playing new places and playing to new
fans and reaching new plateaus, it’s pretty humbling.”
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Photo by Ben Sarle