By Anita Stewart, Managing Editor
January 23, 2021
Self-titled release: Rippah Shreddahs
Release date: February 14, 2021
Rippah Shreddahs is a reggae/ska band from the mountains of Morgantown, West Virginia, a little college town just south of the Southwest Pennsylvania border, a most unusual place for a band playing that genre. Blending the music with some cool rock licks and a strong peace message, the five songs on this recording have a nice, mellow groove. This is a self titled, independent release.
The band is fronted by the enigmatic Jeremy Yeats AKA Doctah Fiendah; by day he works as an assistant teaching professor at West Virginia University and the band has been a side project for a number of years. Before coming to West Virginia to teach Yeats was teaching in Colorado and before that Hawaii where his love affair with the ukulele and surfing began. While in Colorado, he started to sand and snowboard–the lyrics about these sports show up quite often in his music.
To add to the island flavor of the music, Yeats has become an expert on the ukulele, one of the most trendy instruments to play during the past ten years or so. The rest of the band is: Shenain K. Wilson AKA Shayne (drums), Xavier D. Williams AKA The Ace of Keys (keyboards), Kevin Claybrook (bass) and Rasta Bob Lampenfield (bass, guitar, and keyboards). From time to time, others sit in with the band. The band’s new EP is scheduled to drop on February 14, 2021 and was recorded at Interval Studios & Publishing and mixed and mastered by Johnny Interval. Other featured musicians on the album include: Julian Yeats (vocals), Siri Yeats (vocals), Johnny Interval (guitar), Thom Holum (trombone), Kyle Jerome (saxophone), Matt Wilkolak (trumpet) and Andrew Lunsfjord (synthesizer).
From the band’s site: “The Rippah Shreddahs jam original reggae music that has blends of mostly folk reggae, rootsy reggae, and jawaiian; but our music also has hints of ragamuffin, ska, dancehall, jazz, funk, rock, and punk. A major theme within our music is unity, and we address issues of race, ethnicity, colonialism, gender, sexual orientation, and oppression to challenge the status quo.” (www.shredreggae.com)
(Download whole album for free at: https://www.reverbnation.com/rippahshreddahs)
Track List:
Rippah Shreddahs–great keyboards and horns, this is an intro song.
Nipple Deep–a reggae song about snowboarding! How cool is THAT? Lots of cool horns in this one!
Wireless–this song had a jazzy kind of rhythm with a dancehall and blues feel, great keyboards.
Hawai’ian Pride–this is a rock and roll song with a reggae chorus complete with uke and horns.
Sau Sai–more of a rap song, cool rhymes and nice back-beat. Love this one!
A release from 2020:
- Ana Popovic’s Commanding Performance in Tampa Leaves Audience Wanting More - February 26, 2024
- Sierra Ferrell, Country’s Golden Girl Sells Out Her Clearwater, Florida Show - June 2, 2023
- Chatting with alt-rock duo Migrant Motel - May 25, 2023
