Where did all the music go? The last 50 years began as the most innovative time- rock music peaked, soul and funk were reborn into HipHop, only to be capped off by a constant regurgitation of the same putrid gumbo the machine had force-fed us from birth to adolescence. Somewhere a horn was blowing, then a sound worse than silence. Surely pop will continue to eat itself, but wasn’t there something left worth holding on to?
And so a group of 6 brave individuals came together under the same ideals of passion for music and pride and ingenuity in its craft, striving beyond the grasp of the mainstream and commercial. Despite a greater accessability to American music, they took a starting point near Kingston, JA circa 1972. And as of 2001 they were known as Uprite dub Orchestra.
Uprite bases their inspirations on a traditional design, Ska like the days of Desmond Dekker, Dub like when Tubby was King, and brings it forward with progressive music & lyrics. Armed with organic instrumentation, driven by tight horns, their live shows swing from clever instrumentals to conscious lyrics, rocking Ska to deep bassey Dub, haunting melodica melodies to punchy horn lines, from minimal to the maximum. The recent addition of MC Villain (credentials include Warsaw Poland Bros and Heavyweight Dub Champion) has opened up a whole new level for musical exploration and electrically-charged live shows.
This is not a group that will end up on a big corporate major label, perhaps because the Jamaican music that serves as Uprite’s foundation isn’t marketable to the machine... and that’s fine with Uprite. Come out and turn on to the true independents who will always remain D.I.Y. Their mission is to deliver as many souls as possible from the maw of evil corporate music dinosaurs and cultural fascists, into the salvation of sweet soul music and sonic bliss
Some Highlights:
Uprite dub has been blessed to share the stage with The Skatalites, Anthony B, Yellowman, the Gladiators, the Abyssinians, Winston Jarrett, Cherry Poppin Daddies, Israel Vibrations,
the Itals, John Brown's Body, Go Jimmy Go, Warsaw Poland Bros. The Toasters,
Long Beach Shortbus, Chris Murray Combo, Pepper, B-Side Players, and the Slackers.
We have been featured at music festivals such as Portland Hempstalk 2006, Victoria BC's
5th annual Ska Festival, '06 Brundage Mt. Music Festival, Shining Stars '04 - '05, '06 Salem Art Fair, and the 1st annual
NW World Reggae Festival.
We are played currently and frequently on such radio stations as KBOO
and KPSU in Portland, OR, KYRS and KCDA in Spokane, WA, KBGA in Missoula, MT,
and KMFB in Mendocino, Ca.
Our current projects include our first full-length studio album to
be released through Megalith Records (NYC) plus a Dub remix version of the album, perhaps a special 45 vinyl press single release, and Brandon Hutson is working on his first solo effort.
Uprite dub Orchestra conducted 11 successful tours between summer '04
and summer '05, selling to date 2000 copies of their first album, Dubrite.
