There is a very unique brand of paradise experienced here in the Northeast, and it usually involves snowboard, a chairlift, and a a heightened elevation up into the mountains as the cold, crisp air dances a quarter-inch off the face. The embrace of November means ski and snowboard season is finally around the corner, and Roots of Creation have a special way of getting us properly ramped up — and it involves Boston’s version of paradise, the Paradise Rock Club.
The New Hampshire reggae-rock group hit the ‘Dise on Wednesday (November 10) to partner with Teton Gravity Research for a premiere of the Wyoming extreme sports media company’s new ski and snowboard film Stoke the Fire. Roots of Creation will then play a set as Grateful Dub, and they’ll be prize giveaways from Sierra Nevada, YETI, Volkl, The North Face, Atomic, and more.
To celebrate, we caught up with Roots of Creation’s Brett Wilson and Teton Gravity Research to discuss the party, the relationship between reggae and ski season, and their new album, September’s Dub Free or Die Vol. #1, a collection of dub and jam instrumental originals and covers, which was funded entirely on Kickstarter by the group’s dedicated fan base.
Hop on the lift and get high on our Q&A below.
Vanyaland: How did Roots of Creation link up with Teton Gravity Research for this show?
Teton Gravity Research: TGR has always lived in that confluence of music and sport — our films are soundtrack heavy, and our events often include live music and so we are always listening and watching for talented bands. Roots of Creation was put on our radar a few years back and we were able to link up with them to get them out to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to play at the world premiere of one of our recent films. We’ve stayed in touch in the years since with an eye towards additional opportunities to partner up and really amp up that kick-off to winter vibe, with our film and live music on the same stage. The Paradise Rock Club is the perfect location for this to play out.
In what ways do reggae and ski/snowboarding go hand-in-hand?
Teton Gravity Research: From the earliest days of TGR, music has been an integral part of our films — and creates emotional tie-ins for our audience, as our soundtracks often become the music that people think of when they’re ripping around in the snow. Reggae music has played a part in some of our best segments over the years and has definitely had a huge influence on our athletes and us as a company. The Grateful Dead has been an even bigger influence on our brand — from the band influencing the names of some of our earliest films to our current official collaboration with the Dead. We are really excited to be continuing this relationship with those genres with a band like Roots of Creation that brings it all together especially with their album Grateful Dub: A Reggae-infused tribute to the Grateful Dead which features Stephen Marley, members of Slightly Stoopid, and many more.
How did Roots of Creation determine the covers on Dub Free or Die Vol. #1?
Roots of Creation: Our newest album Dub Free or Die Vol. #1 was made for our diehard fans who love that jammy progressive rock instrumental meets heavy dub sound that they get to experience late night at festivals! We had our dub (melodica on the melody) and vocal version (featuring Hayley Jane) sitting on a hard drive in its raw sketchpad form… it just seemed like a perfect fit to treat the listener to some RoCknRoll vibes and lyric-based material as a little teaser of what’s to come at the end of the record.
Our saxophonist Andrew ‘Dub King” Riordan really brought it to life. I got to put some guitar armies on the end. Soulshine was brought to our attention by our longtime recording and live mixing engineer Pete “Boardz House productions” Peloquin — he’d been telling us that it would be badass to cover the Allman Brothers / Warren Haynes classic. We kind of didn’t heed his advice so he started to build the track on his own from scratch. It turned out to be an epic super jam with Paul W and DELA from Slightly Stoopid, Jesse Wagner (The Aggrolites), Nick Asta (The Elovaters) & more! Pete crushed it! Super fun to play it live and have the crowd sing-along on the hook. Also, rippin’ blues guitar is always a blast and Warren Haynes is a HUGE inspiration.
With the new album funded by Kickstarter, how was the creative process different from past LP experiences, and in what ways was the band able to really connect with fans?
Roots of Creation: We had done two previous crowd-funded records with PledgeMusic. When they went bankrupt we didn’t know what to do. Before the pandemic I was determined to fund this on our own… then COVID hit… boom… no revenue or shows. So we turned to our “RoC Family” and they backed the record and made it happen. It’s like taking a leap of faith. There is so much self-doubt that you battle in a crowdfunding campaign that is all or nothing if you don’t meet the goal! We have the greatest fanbase and friends in the world. The connection runs deep. We got to offer cool things like signed guitars, custom songs, private zoom concerts, music business consults, custom guitar picks, pins, vinyl, signed CDs, hand screen printed posters, and more!
Live streaming during covid took our music to the world and being able to update our Kickstarter backers with behind-the-scenes content, demos and the progress/success that they have made happen has been incredible. The “RoC Family” helped build a team that made the album the #1 selling reggae record in the USA the week it dropped, hit the Top 200 on college radio, get reviews/coverage in tons of awesome publications, and got the band millions of streams. All that feels amazing but I started playing music for the connection between the audience while on stage and to see that extend to the internet during these unprecedented times helped us get thru a dark period, stay creative and enjoy our mission!
TETON GRAVITY RESEARCH: STOKE THE FIRE, WITH CONCERT BY ROOTS OF CREATION :: Wednesday, November 10 at The Paradise Rock Club, 967 Commonwealth Ave. in Boston, MA :: 6:30 p.m., 18-plus, $19.99 :: Advance tickets :: Venue info