Music is an integral part of the human experience. We utilize it for rituals and parties, marriages and funerals. Nations have anthems; regions have classic folk tunes; sports teams have fight songs. Our new column Harmony focuses on music, culture, place, and how they interact. Through interviews with artists from around the world, we’ll discuss topics like genre, community, and the concept of home. Today’s edition features an interview with Micah Pueschel of Iration.
“We’re so happy to be here in San Diego, our second home! Del Mar, where the surf meets the turf,” beamed Pueschel at 10,000 or so fans. The crowd roared back as loudly as a throng of chill reggae fans can. Without waiting for the applause to simmer, Pueschel strummed his guitar and Iration began their next tune. The crowd went back to swaying and jamming along. It was a sunny, muggy July evening–the type of long-lasting Saturday that makes you lose track of time until the sun finally sets. A perfect day for music about good vibes, relaxation, and love.
On the meaning of “We’re all about luv”
Yeah, that was something that we kind of coined in the beginning of our career just because a lot of the initial songs that we were doing from the Sample Disk EP and on were love songs. And not necessarily love songs about significant others and people, but it was love songs about places we were from, family, memories, things like that. So really, we think that most good art and good music all comes from a place of love initially, whether that’s familial love, love of where you come from or who you are, scorned love, broken hearts or whatever. It all comes initially from a place of emotion which generally is love. And we just felt like it was a cool way to say what we’re about, and we always try to put a fairly positive spin on things.
More on “love of where you come from”
So we’re all from Hawaii originally. Obviously that was a huge part of how we grew up and developed because in Hawaii, a big part of your life is interacting with the land. You live on an island so you have to maximize the things you have to do. It’s not a city where there’s like a million concerts or other things that you can do, so you find love in the ocean, hiking, being outside, just nature in general. I think that’s where that comes from, is that we just feel lucky to have grown up there. I think that’s a huge part of who we are as a band, and who we are in this scene of this world, you know.
On first getting into reggae
In Hawaii, reggae is like the predominant music style that everyone listens to, still to this day. More than Hawaiian music, more than pop music, more than anything else, hip-hop even… So when you grow up listening to it, and hear it on the radio, it’s in the local music, it’s what everyone’s listening to in their cars. So yeah, that’s how we came up listening to it, and it just became a part of who we are musically.
On bringing their music style to California
Well, when we were at [UC-Santa Barbara] and living in Santa Barbara, there was maybe one other reggae band, but we were like the first reggae band that started playing roots reggae… So initially, all the bands in college were like jam bands or prog rock bands, or you know, weird conglomerations of guys who just played instruments and were just like, ‘yeah let’s start a band in college right?’ So right after we started, we had crowds…like people just loved the live music.
And to the rest of the U.S.
The crowds aren’t obviously as big as San Diego, or Orange County, or San Francisco, but they’re growing. It’s maybe a few years behind where we are in California. So maybe here tonight, we’ll be close to 10,000 people or something like that. In Nebraska, there’ll probably be like 2000 people. In Ohio there’ll be like 1000. Different pockets are getting there… [Reggae] is music about feeling good. It’s not easy listening, but it is an easy feeling, you know? I don’t know how else to explain that, but it’s kinda there to make you relax. Chill a little bit. Sometimes it’s hard for people that aren’t from the coasts to understand that culture of chill. You grow up in the middle of the city, and your surroundings are not allowing you to just chill out. There’s constant noise and things happening.
On the sound of their new album
It was a two year process and I think that if you listen to it from start to finish, it incorporates pretty much like what we are as a band now, and what our sound is. There’s elements of reggae, there’s elements of rock, there’s elements of hip-hop, there’s elements of pop. So everything that we’d done up to this point, we were like, ‘ok there’s a little bit of all of those albums in here.’ So that’s what it is. Like I said, people classify us as a reggae band first and foremost, but we always say we’re just a band for the most part, just a music band, and we play whatever the song is and we try to just make it sound right.
On going with the flow of the song
You just let the song dictate whatever it is you’re doing. You don’t try to impress yourself on the song. You let the song be the controller, and say, what does the song need? Does the song need it? Like oh, normally we’d put a fat bass line or like super crunchy guitar, or cool synth sounds, but if the song doesn’t call for it, then you don’t need to do that. That’s why we don’t have horns on every single song. In my opinion, it’s cooler when not every song has horns, and all of the sudden you listen to a song and the horns come in and you’re like, ‘Oh, there you go, that’s cool.’ It’s a lift or change up.
Iration’s self-titled album is out now, and can be found on most streaming platforms. They are currently on a nationwide tour.
