Posts Tagged ‘Ishamel and the Peacemakers’

One of the coolest reggae bands I have played with is Ishmael and the Peacemakers.

Ishmael and the Peacemakers is led by ( you guessed it! ) Ishmael. He is a reggae drummer, songwriter and lyricist from Barbados.

Ishmael Sealy was the drummer for the Killer Bees from Austin Texas, as well as for the BlackSheep from Philly/DC. He really made a name for himself with those bands.

Most top reggae musicians know exactly who he is when you mention his name.

Since I mention Ishmael so much in previous posts, it should be no surprise to you that he was a heavy influence in my development as a drummer. When I first started playing with him, he pointed out a lot of intricacies about reggae music that I had no idea existed before.

Things such as:

• The major differences between different types of reggae beats
• Varying tempos between songs
• Song structure
• Roots, culture and history
• Being creative without sacrificing the basics
• .. the list goes on and on

All these things have stuck with me over the years and continue to help me along the way.

Take a listen to Ishamel’s wicked song called “Burning Van”.

Aside from being a great musician, Ishmael is a great human being. You can learn a lot from his music as well as from him personally.

I invite you to become a friend of his:

• Peacemaker Facebook Page
• Peacemaker Myspace Page

Peace!

One day, a co-worker of mine, Amanda, asked me how I was doing.

“Irie!” I replied…

“What the…?” was her answer….

…and the convo rolled on about about the meaning of the word irie.

I forgot that many people don’t know what irie meant, so I figured I would take a few moments to explain this cool little word to ya.

Irie ( pronounced EYE-ree ), is a state of mind. It’s a state where everything is at peace within, and your mind is full of joy.

No wonder, when someone smokes ganja, they say they feel irie.

Irie, is a jamaican/patois word, that can mean a lot of things, but it’s always something very positive and respectful.

Check out urban dictionaries many different meanings for irie.

My life was as it’s most irie when I was living in San Diego, playing reggae drums and living in a little beach town. I was playing with Ishmael and the Peacemakers, and the album we were promoting was called, “Feel ‘N Irie”.  <— take a listen to the first track, and you will begin to understand the wonders of irieness.

I hope you have an irie day.

Peace!

I loved traveling across the states with different bands. There was always something new to see, someone new to meet, and great vibes to spread.

Because we were to close to Colorado, a lot of bands I played with from California would do mini tours into the mountains and across that enormous state. It was always a gas, and the breathtaking beauty and size of the Rockies was always a source of spiritual refreshment.

It was a cold December evening, and I was the assigned driver for Ishmael and the Peacemakers. We usually drive in four hour shifts or so, and it was my turn.

We were running a couple of hours behind schedule and we were quickly approaching a very big mountain. Here was our dilemma:

• If we took the main highway around the mountain, it would take us 4 hours or so.
• If we took the pas that went UP and over the mountain, it would take us about 2.
• We were LATE.

After a vote, we decided to take the pass… how bad could it be, right?

We started up the side of the mountain, and most of the band started falling asleep.  It was just me and the Israel Vibration Dub album that I loved so much. This is a seriously deep and hypnotic album, with no vocals. There is something quite magical and ethereal about it – I can’t really explain.

After about 20 minutes or so, it pleasantly began to snow.  This was beautiful, of course, and since we were in the Rockies, it was to be expected. Everyone was asleep by now and the snow was very light.

About 15 minutes later, the snow thickened considerably and a funny thought crossed my mind… what if it keeps snowing and we get stuck on this mountain?  There is nothing for miles around and nobody uses this road….hahahaha…. we could freeze to death….hahahaha….gulp…  I drove on with Israel slowly churning in the background.

I decided to finally slow the van to a stop and assess what the road felt like. Everyone still asleep, I crept out of the van and walked out into the snow.  My foot sank into the powder immediately, and I could see that about an inch and a half had already accumulated and was a clean blanket across the entire road. This was not cool.

I then looked to my left and there was nothing but pine trees going almost straight up as far as I could see.  I then walked to the right of the van and it was a sheer drop into complete blackness… with no guardrail.  Things were getting very bad, very quickly. We were now in a blizzard.

Shaking, I got back into the van and decided to just drive…. I drove through almost no visibility as the white rain continued to buffet and shake the van. I hadn’t seen another vehicle on the road for hours.

I was sweating and praying the entire time. The only thing that kept me centered was Israel Vibration reassuring chants in my ears.

I drove for what seemed an eternity, not knowing if we would live through the storm…

The next thing I remember is stepping out of the van into the most beautiful and clear night I have ever seen. There were thousands of brilliant stars in the sky. And best of all, we weren’t dead.

We apparently passed completely through the storm and made it to the other side of the enormous mountain. The guys in the van had no idea how close to death we had come, and that Israel Vibration and JAH had kept our ship steady.

I don’t believe in apparitions, ghosts, demons or any of the little nasties that are used by snake oil salesmen to scare us into following their twisted ways of thinking… Sorry, without people to scare to death, these men would be quite powerless.

Some of these superstitions are pure insanity:

Here are some beauties:

• Aliens are actually demons in disguise
• Black people are devils
• White people are devils
• Jews eat children (yes…EAT children)
• Russians eat their own young ( yes, someone actually told me this once )
• ( And my favorite! ) Mickey Mouse must be executed…rofl

Yes, people, you have heard it right….Mickey Mouse must die.

These are all very entertaining examples of how paranoid the human mind can be.

I’ll never forget the time I was traveling with Ishmael in Denver, Colorado. Our hotel was in a shady part of town, and we were packing up in the morning to drive to the next town.

As we stood in the parking lot, my companion Bunny Mystic was talking to me when we saw a woman walking in the parking lot towards us.

Well, “walking” doesn’t quite describe it. She was shambling towards us. Her uneven ‘fro had traces of what looked like straw and cardboard in it. And she had the most nasty cracked white lips.

It was a zombie.

“Ronnie,” Bunny whispered to me, “It’s a duppy..”. Bunny looked kinda scared, and I knew what a duppy was because he told me a few nights before.

At this point, I was getting a little scared.

We went around the other side of the van to lose sight of her.  Waited a few moments…Then as we came around the other side, she was already in the balcony above us!

As she stared down at us, we freaked out, hopped in the van, and drove off like two hungover bats outta hell.

Now I ask you….  Did we indeed see a duppy?  Or were our minds ( freshly tainted with ghost stories ) fill in all the horrific blanks for us?

Whatever the case, it was funny as hell.