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Leroy Smokes with Dred I Dread and Kanser at Fine Line Music Café on 3/12/05 By: Helen Blodgett --------------------------------------------------------------------------------Dred I Dread, featured Peewee Dread on vocals, who featured a giant purple hat on his head and a voice that sang with an obvious love for the music. Rawle G, the drummer from Kingston, gave us some fun interludes, talking happily from his nest of drums perched at the back of the stage. Everyone seemed so happy to be playing: the keyboardist, Eric Lilya, was hopping around with his hands somehow managing to stay steady. Floyd, the saxophonist/hand drummer, pulled out the air trombone during a song. He punched the slide out with so much conviction that my ears created the sound. These musicians with so much enthusiasm converged with their gifts in 1998 to form the band. In their first year, they were hailed as the “Best Local Reggae Band” by City Pages. While they sang the line “rumors of war,” it sounded right as Bush’s attention turns to Iran and Lebanon. All of the acts spoke well to each other, filling the customary role of music as recording the history that doesn’t make the schoolbooks. Leroy Smokes finished the night. They’re a live hip hop band with no member with the name Leroy Smokes. The original guitar player was the namesake for the band, which started up in 1996. From their genesis as a punk group in high school, they have grown with new band members and ideas into their present full band, hip hop sound. Which on Saturday night, was in full force. The trumpet was gorgeous! During their first two songs, the keys player, Fred (Friendly) Gotfredson, conspired with the trumpeter, Kyle Borchert, folding in a Cuban montuno, bringing complexity and beauty to the set and emcee. Toward the end, the band pared down the music to one voice, coming from bended knee, saying “We’ve all got one thing in common…and that’s that we’re going to die…that’s right…cool.” The people next to me unintentionally poured beer to the floor and people started dancing harder.

Spotlight Dred I Dread headlines carnival_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Dred I Dread, named best reggae band at the Minnesota Music Awards last May, will headline a Winter Carnival concert on Saturday in Davies Center. Doors will open at 8 p.m. for the show in the Council Fire Room. International Connections will appear as a special guest. Put together in 1998 by drummer Rawle Gopie, originally from Kingston, Jamaica, Dred I Dread was chosen Best Local Reggae Band by City Pages magazine after less than a year of playing together. "Listen to the Revolution" (2000), the Minneapolis band's debut CD, was produced by Tony "Asher" Brissett, keyboardist for Black Uhuru. Fronted by New Orleans native PeeWee Dread, Dred I Dread has opened for national acts such as DMX and Lee "Scratch" Perry, and has headlined throughout the Midwest. International Connections is a new age, dance-oriented reggae band with members from both Madison and San Diego. Led by the charismatic Willy "Dred-I" Wilson, I-C is on the fast track to becoming the region's premier reggae band. The concert is sponsored by the University Activities Commission of the UW-Eau Claire Student Senate.

Dred I Dread brings confident reggae sound to Zoo Bar Crystal K. Wiebe-------------- The Zoo Bar is a renowned blues bar, but sometimes it provides music that isn't so blue. Tonight, it goes astray with the reggae band Dred I Dread, and despite the blues expectations, drummer Rawley Gopie hopes to see an audience. "It's going to be a very, very active show," he said. Bass player Art Erikkson said, "We just get down. I get off on just sprinting from side to side on the stage." Although they are known as a reggae band, drummer Gopie said Dred I Dread's unique sound isn't easy to pin down. Calling the sound a "hybrid," with hints of funk, blues and even hip hop showing up in the music, you can hear a lot of reggae influence in Dred I Dread's sound, Gopie said. "We are like Fishbone because we are very hard to define," he said. When the Minneapolis-based group came together two years ago, Gopie had come to Minnesota for a break from the New York scene. There, the Jamaican man had been writing and performing punk rock. "It's pretty amazing for Americans to see a Jamaican singing punk rock," he said. But reggae has always been his first love, and when he met Peewee Dred, Gopie, who has been writing music for 15 years, was glad to come back to his roots. Even though he had known founding member Peewee Dred from college, Erikkson first heard about Dred I Dread at a street festival where he was handing out flyers. Someone came up to him and said the band was looking for a bass player. Erikkson had recently graduated college and said he was "looking for something to keep it interesting" between working at a music store and teaching. "The first time I performed for them, it was a live performance," Erikkson said. Although the band has had trouble keeping a steady line-up - they are currently in between keyboard players and have a new female vocalist - they recently released their debut album, "Listen to the Revolution," partially thanks to Erikkson's efforts as band manager. "When you're a new band, people don't give you much attention," Erikkson said. After he realized the band's potential, he decided to take on the dual role of bassist/manager. "I was working part-time at the music store, but it gradually got to the point where I was at work and I was trying to get shows booked," he said. For the past few months, Erikkson's life has been more or less devoted to "just doing band stuff," he said. Erikkson attributes much of the band's success to the originality of their music. "We don't do cover after cover of Bob Marley," he said. In the twin cities, Erikkson said Dred I Dread's music can be heard on stations ranging from hard rock to light rock. "We cross all those sides," he said. "There's a pop-like influence, so it's radio friendly," Gopie said. Both Gopie and Erikkson believe that deep down, everybody likes reggae music, which is at the heart of Dred I Dread's sound. However, Gopie said, "most people just don't understand reggae music" and so they can appreciate the American influences and look of the band. "With Dred I Dread, at least they see people they can relate to," Gopie said. "We're a diverse band - white, black, young, old, male and female," Erikkson added. Breaking through the image of a "local band," Dred I Dread will be touring New York in October and hitting the west coast in January. "We're venturing out of our comfort zone to test the waters to spread the music," Gopie said. In the meantime, the winner of the Minnesota Music Academy's "Best Reggae Band for 2000" award can be seen tonight in their second appearance at The Zoo Bar at 9 p.m.

Singing sweet songs... Dred I Dread invokes the spirit of Marley in their music, but they want to make more than reggae.---Matthew Janda/Diversions Editor.... The new album The new Dred I Dread album, tentatively titled Questions & Answers, is due out in March. The band will be playing several local shows before they go into the studio to record, displaying some of their new material in the concerts leading up to the Q&A sessions. “We’ve got to get the fans inoculated to them,” Dread said. The new album will also be recorded with a pair of new Dreds, guitarist Levitt and keyboardist “Killya” Lilya. The last members left the group on not-so-chummy terms. “Philosophical differences,” Dread said flatly. “(The former members) didn’t want to travel. But everybody has their own motivations. We’re not a temp service. We all work together and live communally (the band recently purchased a house). Family members have to take care of the family business.” As far as recording, Dread said that all it takes to get an album done is to get in the studio and do it. He said that the band is not too busy to do it, but they are not in a rush. He added that the music will be more while still sticking to their roots. But Dred I Dread will not be complacent for long. “As soon as the album is finished, we’ll hit the east and west coasts,” Rawle’ said. Much like every show they perform, Dred I Dread is looking forward to Friday night. Rawle’ warned, however, that Carpet patrons may be disappointed if they show up expecting a Bob Marley tribute show. “We haven’t been playing Marley songs,” he said. “But we’ll probably play one or two in his memory. One of our main rules is to not play many Bob Marley songs.” What’s in a name? And now the answer to the question anyone not familiar with the band will be asking Friday night: “What does Dred I Dread mean?” Dread said it is Jamaican for “fear my dreads,” which basically means that “if you don’t want to understand me, then I don’t want anything to do with you.” “If you have enough time to talk about someone, you have just as much time to talk to them,” Dread said. Which is exactly the kind of thing this band preaches. Dred I Dread will be performing on the main stage at 9:30 p.m. Friday at the Red Carpet. The show, as always, is 21 and up. Cover charge is $2.

BEST LOCAL REGGAE BAND Dred I Dread In small Caribbean and Central American towns, any music with a hint of hip hop gets the tag "reggae." In the Twin Cities, most of what locals call reggae is a kind of pop-rock so soft it could put Sting to sleep. But Dred I Dread adeptly follows the south-of-Mexico aesthetic, mixing deep dub riddims with hip-hop and ragga vocals. Fronted by dreadlocked singer-emcee Pee Wee, the ensemble has become a staple of the Red Sea club on the West Bank, mixing a larger dose of originals into their set of classic dance-hall covers. In a reggae scene ruled by talented middle-agers, it's good to see a young band bring a new audience to Jah's jaws.