A national ska and reggae tour appeared just a few hours south of Knoxville on Sunday. The headlining groups consisted of the Toasters, the Pietasters, Royal City Riot and Hub City Stompers. The event, known as Three Floors of Ska, collected a vast and various crowd to listen to old and new tunes from the aforementioned groups, as well as a longer list of local ska and reggae performers.
The final group to appear on stage was the Toasters, which has been providing groundbreaking ska and reggae since 1981. Its music can be heard in many movies, television shows and its records can be purchased all over the world. The group’s guitarist and vocalist, Robert “Bucket” Hingley, is a recognizable face, voice and person inside and outside of the small ska and reggae community. His performance on Sunday mirrored his hard work and dedication toward bringing the message behind ska and reggae to farther destinations around the globe.
The Toasters carried with it a younger, but worthy, line-up of musicians. Particularly, the band’s trombone player, Logan LaBarbera, caught the crowd’s auditory and visual responses. His live performance displayed his passion for the music. LaBarbera’s tones were top notch and well placed as a backing band member and soloist.
The new band on the scene, Royal City Riot, tore through the audience with extreme vigor. Busting out of Long Island, N.Y., it offered rhythm and melody unlike any other group of the night. Although this particular show was in Atlanta, these young and upcoming musicians play Knoxville fairly often. Royal City Riot describes itself as a mixture of ska, reggae and soul. Its mixture of instrumentation allows such a combination to be made, but this band does more then just combine the various styles; it reinvents them in its own way.
The group’s rhythm section is held down by drummer, Anthony Vito, and bassist, Matt Spitz. The connection between these two was unmatched by any other drummer-bassist combination of the night. Providing further texture to the mix was guitarist and vocalist Jesse Litwa and, on the organ, Jared Kaplan. The harmonies provided by Litwa and Kaplan on their given instruments coincided with their unmistakable vocal stylings. And if this didn’t entice the crowd enough, Jon Degen and Ata Secilmis provided added flavor on the saxophone and trombone, respectively. Degen’s sax solos were complimentary to Secilmis’ trombone solos, and within the various songs’ arrangements, this relationship did not falter. In addition to Royal City Riot’s arrangement, Degen and Scecilmis provided backing horns on the Toaster’s final song.
Royal City Riot plans to come to Knoxville in the summer of 2011, where they can be viewed by UT’s population. In the meantime, music from its newest CD on Megalith Records, “Coast To Coast,” can be heard at www.myspace.com/royalcityriot. Its song, “I Need Your Touch,” even references Knoxville. Its music is proving to be the next generation of ska, reggae and soul, and being founded in New York leaves only a few opportunities to see the band. Supporting groups like Royal City Riot at worldwide events, such as Three Floors of Ska, brings it back and further progresses the music scene.
