Persistence

“A sprawling supergroup that combines the spacey atmospherics of dub with the brassy big-band soul of African pop.” - New York Magazine 

“It can’t be done, man!” That’s what Dave Hahn (The Slackers, The Stubborn All-Stars, Antibalas), mastermind behind Dub Is A Weapon, heard when he first floated the idea of a live dub group, as he and his mates listened to some prime 1960s King Tubby cuts in the band van. “Everyone seemed to think you could only do dub in the studio,” Hahn recalls. Hahn set out to prove them wrong, with skills learned live and on the road, and with help from a Jamaican beatnik percussionist, an old high school friend, and young upstarts from the Brooklyn scene. Together they’ve honed their live take on the genre’s spaced-out grooves, a sound felt in full force on their Vaporized album and on stage.

Soon Come is a project focused on bringing foundation reggae riddims to life using almost entirely analog equipment. 100dBs mixes and dubs the music live, creating a platform for New York's most talented singers and deejays to flex their skills on the microphone.

Friday, March 13th at The Gutter

200 North 14th Street, Brooklyn U.S.A.

Doors at 9PM. 21+ with ID. *

* Canceled due to the coronavirus outbreak and subsequent NYC shutdown.

Blast Off!

THE ROCKSTEADY 7
Plus: DJ 100dBs on the wheels of steel

The Rocksteady 7 is an influential American ska and jazz band from NYC. Founded in 1997, the core of the group has consisted of tenor saxophonist and band leader David Hillyard (The Slackers) and legendary percussionist Larry McDonald (Lee "Scratch" Perry, Gil Scott-Heron). In live performances, they are supported by a rotating cast of top shelf nyc musicians. Given reggae's globally reaching influence, the Rocksteady 7 holds true to the genre's roots and the self-described "Jamaican Jazz" sound combines ska, rocksteady and reggae with extended jazz improvisation, intricate melodies, and complex harmonies. The group incorporates many diverse elements of world music with rocksteady rhythms, including ska, jazz, calypso, as well as early African and American jazz influences.

100dBs is a producer and DJ living in Brooklyn whose signature style blends performance and selection: astral echo pedal on a wild crate-digger's chase through the genealogy of a tune. He came up listening to Kraftwerk and Giorgio Moroder, thanks to the bootleg cassettes his mother managed to bring with her from Cold War Romania. An adolescent encounter with a Lee Perry record flipped his whole world and led to formative dub experiments on an old four-track. He got his start spinning hip hop nights on the Lower East Side and has toured the world since. He's rocked parties for burners, breakers, Berlin artists and Brooklyn's reggae revivalists.

Saturday, March 23rd at Hank's

345 Adams Street, Brooklyn U.S.A.

Doors at 8PM. $8 - $12. 21+ with ID.

Man From Wareika

The Rocksteady 7 is an influential American ska and jazz band from NYC. Since the early '90s the group has consisted of tenor saxophonist and band leader David Hillyard (The Slackers) as well as percussionist Larry McDonald. In live performances, they are supported by a rotating cast of musicians, including drummer Eddie Ocampo and Dave Wake on keys among others. Given reggae's globally reaching influence, the Rocksteady 7 holds true to the genre's roots and the self-described "Jamaican Jazz" sound combines ska, rocksteady and reggae with extended jazz improvisation, intricate melodies, and complex harmonies. The group incorporates many diverse elements of world music with rocksteady rhythms, including ska, jazz, calypso, as well as early African and American jazz influences.

The Rocksteady 7 continues it series of tributes to the Jamaican Jazz masters at Hank's, with this concert focusing on the music of the late, great Rico Rodriguez. Expect two sets of sounds drawn from the earliest days of ska (Rico's work with Count Ossie and Prince Buster), his late '60s reggae days in Brixton, his seminal 1977 album on Island/Blue Note, and his crucial work with The Specials.

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100dBs is a producer and DJ living in Brooklyn whose signature style blends performance and selection: astral echo pedal on a wild crate-digger's chase through the genealogy of a tune. He came up listening to Kraftwerk and Giorgio Moroder, thanks to the bootleg cassettes his mother managed to bring with her from Cold War Romania. An adolescent encounter with a Lee Perry record flipped his whole world and led to formative dub experiments on an old four-track. He got his start spinning hip hop nights on the Lower East Side and has toured the world since. He's rocked parties for burners, breakers, Berlin artists and Brooklyn's reggae revivalists.

Friday, September 22nd at Hank's Saloon

46 Third Avenue (at Atlantic), Brooklyn, U.S.A.

Doors at 8PM. $8 cover. 21+ with ID.

Skiing The Gowanus

Saturday, August 12th at Hank's Saloon

46 Third Avenue (at Atlantic), Brooklyn U.S.A.

Doors at 10PM. No cover. 21+ with ID.

Free Man Free

Yup, it's hard to believe, but Rocksteady 7's own Larry McDonald will be turning 80 this June! Larry has had a long and varied career so far with early gigs with Lennie Hibbert, then Carlos Malcolm's Afro Jamaicans, playing on a slew of classic reggae tracks in late '60s and early '70s, playing with Boris Gardiner Happening, then moving to the states and playing with Taj Mahal, Gil Scott-Heron, and most recently, Lee Scratch Perry. He has played percussion on literally thousands of tracks at this point! Larry is a founding member of the Rocksteady 7 and has been at the core of its sound. This will be a special concert for his birthday; expect special guest musician appearances and renditions of some classic tracks Larry has played on over the years!

The Rocksteady 7 is an influential American ska and jazz band from NYC. Since the early '90s the group has consisted of tenor saxophonist and band leader David Hillyard (The Slackers) as well as percussionist Larry McDonald. In live performances, they are supported by a rotating cast of musicians, including drummer Eddie Ocampo and Dave Wake on keys among others. Given reggae's globally reaching influence, the Rocksteady 7 holds true to the genre's roots and the self-described "Jamaican Jazz" sound combines ska, rocksteady and reggae with extended jazz improvisation, intricate melodies, and complex harmonies. The group incorporates many diverse elements of world music with rocksteady rhythms, including ska, jazz, calypso, as well as early African and American jazz influences.

100dBs is a producer and DJ living in Brooklyn whose signature style blends performance and selection: astral echo pedal on a wild crate-digger's chase through the genealogy of a tune. He came up listening to Kraftwerk and Giorgio Moroder, thanks to the bootleg cassettes his mother managed to bring with her from Cold War Romania. An adolescent encounter with a Lee Perry record flipped his whole world and led to formative dub experiments on an old four-track. He got his start spinning hip hop nights on the Lower East Side and has toured the world since. He's rocked parties for burners, breakers, Berlin artists and Brooklyn's reggae revivalists.

Saturday, June 10th at Hank's Saloon

46 Third Avenue (at Atlantic), Brooklyn, U.S.A.

Doors at 8PM. $8 cover. 21+ with ID.

Brighter Shade of Roots

THE ROCKSTEADY 7
Play the Roland Alphonso songbook
Plus: DJ 100dBs on the wheels of steel

Saxophonist Roland Alphonso was one of the major figures of early ska and reggae on several fronts: his recordings as a soloist and bandleader, his work as a member of the Skatalites, his prolific log of session appearances on 1960s Jamaican recordings, and his role as arranger for Studio One. (The Skatalites backed everyone from Jimmy Cliff, Ken Boothe and Toots and the Maytals, to Lee Perry, Marcia Griffiths and Bob Marley and the Wailers.) Although his roots were in the jazz he played as a teenager and young man, he adapted to the emerging Jamaican popular music so well that he became one of its defining innovators. Certainly he was one of reggae's most accomplished instrumentalists — Alphonso's tone was in a league with American jazzmen and R&B players. His versatility allowed for a wide scope of recorded material, from up-tempo ska novelties and ballads that showed his skill at jazz improvisation to numbers with an R&B/soul base. Alphonso died in 1998 when a blood vessel burst in his neck just after he had completed a solo while playing live with the reformed Skatalites.

The Rocksteady 7 is an influential American ska and jazz band from NYC. Since the early '90s the group has consisted of tenor saxophonist and band leader David Hillyard (of Slackers fame) as well as percussionist Larry McDonald (Afro Jamaicans, Bob Marley, Taj Mahal, Gil-Scott Heron). In live performances, they are supported by a rotating cast of musicians, including drummer Eddie Ocampo and Dave Wake on keys among others. Given reggae's globally reaching influence, the Rocksteady 7 holds true to the genre's roots and the self-described "Jamaican Jazz" sound combines ska, rocksteady and reggae with extended jazz improvisation, intricate melodies, and complex harmonies. The group incorporates many diverse elements of world music with rocksteady rhythms, including ska, jazz, calypso, as well as early African and American jazz influences.

100dBs is a producer and DJ living in Brooklyn whose signature style blends performance and selection: astral echo pedal on a wild crate-digger's chase through the genealogy of a tune. He came up listening to Kraftwerk and Giorgio Moroder, thanks to the bootleg cassettes his mother managed to bring with her from Cold War Romania. An adolescent encounter with a Lee Perry record flipped his whole world and led to formative dub experiments on an old four-track. He got his start spinning hip hop nights on the Lower East Side and has toured the world since. He's rocked parties for burners, breakers, Berlin artists and Brooklyn's reggae revivalists.

Friday, January 27th at Hank's Saloon

46 Third Avenue (at Atlantic), Brooklyn, U.S.A.

Doors at 8PM. $8 cover. 21+ with ID.