The story begins on a flight home from San Diego. I had been living in SD for a year soaking in the southern California culture at the beaches. One place that reminded me of my roots back in Eugene, Oregon was Ocean Beach (except that it was next to the ocean). I loved walking down Newport Ave eating burgers at Hodad's or cruising over to Sunset Cliffs taking in the view. So as my flight circled above OB en route Eugene I began writing the lyrics to "Roots". With a ped and pad in hand and a vision in my heart I knew it was time to form the band that made the music that resonated with this culture and within me.
Reggae music first grabbed a hold of my heart while I was visiting Hawaii ten years ago. Since I've visited my family there at least two times a year and seen some of the best live musicians at backyard luau's and small little clubs. The fact that Hawaii has two or three FM stations pumping out local music 24/7 is sweet.
In the summer of 2007, when I returned home to Oregon, I assembled a diverse mix of musicians and we began creating reggae inspired pop/rock/hip-hop. We hadn't been a band more than a couple months when we went on our first west coast tour supporting my own headlining dates. While we were in LA we recorded our first self-titled EP, featuring songs like "Don't Walk Away", "Roots" and "Real Love". We played a lot of places around Oregon that year especially in Bend, Portland, Ashland and Eugene opening for some great bands like Pepper, Giant Panda Dub Guerilla Squad and Passafire that has helped get us more exposure.
In June of 08 we had some line-up changes and the band was about to call it quits but we decided to keep playing some dates here and there barely staying afloat. It wasn't until March of 09 after a Hawaii tour and the addition of Matt Salinas on guitar that we began writing and recording new material.
We self-produced our new CD "Summer Of Love" with the help of some friends back in Nashville, TN (thanks Chris and Jeff) and are releasing it on our own label (Ocean Ave Records). It features five songs, including the radio single "Sweet Love" and a crowd favorite "Burrito Boy", an ode to our favorite Mexican restaurant in Eugene. Another radio single that is featured on the CD is "Taking Over Me". You can read the story behind the song and download it free
here.
We will be playing some more shows to support the "Summer Of Love" EP, especially colleges. If you would like to book us for your college, university, private party, etc email: boardwalkagency@gmail.com or call Brendon @ 541.740.0034
Thanks for reading and listening to our music!
We hope you enjoy the tunes,
Paul Wright (lead singer/guitarist of ROOTDOWN)
P.S. You can download our first EP free by visiting:
rootdownsound.com/ep
Discography
"ROOTDOWN EP" – NOV. 07 - buy on iTunes
"SUMMER OF LOVE" - JULY 09
Download the ROOTDOWN EP for free by clicking the cover:
text 'roots' to 66937 (mozes) to get mobile updates and a free ringtone!
