Fort Knox Recordings and The Vinyl District are proud to present Memorial Weekend Blowout at U Street Music Hall this Sunday night, May 29th. Get your summer started off right, and blow out that three day weekend with the best DC funk, soul, reggae, and dub beats.
Memorial Weekend Blowout
Sun, May 29, 2011
10:00 pm – 3:00 am
U Street Music Hall
$10.00
Tickets available through Ticketfly
Ages 18+, ages 18-20 must buy tickets in advance
LIVE SETS:
See-I
Empresarios
DJ SETS:
DJ Who
Thunderball
Empresarios’ DJ Arsam and Sonny Cheeba
On the thirtieth anniversary of Bob Marley’s death, I got a little history lesson from the “book of See-I.” See-I is the name of a DC-bred “party band,” including five members of Thievery Corporation, that got its inspiration from the likes of reggae, delta blues, Southern California funk, dub, and so on and so forth. Before his regular show at the 18th Street Lounge, lead vocalist Archie “Zeebo” Steele shed a little light on himself, his brother Arthur (“Rootz”) and their origins. See-I release their self-titled debut album via Fort Knox Recordings on June 28th, and they headline the UHall Memorial Weekend Blowout this Sunday night.
As a musician influenced by reggae, how has Bob Marley’s influence affected you as a singer?
I would definitely say he is one of our teachers. And a big influence on the way See-I look at music. “Rootz,” my brother, was the one that actually got into Bob Marley, first. In school is [when I discovered him]. I remember when I first recognized Bob Marley. I heard the song “I Shot The Sheriff.” I thought it was [originally] an Eric Clapton song. I was like, whoa!
You know, Bob Marley, to me, made learning interesting. I became inquisitive, asking questions I’d never asked before. He made me think about [circumstances] that I looked at in one way, stuff from different angles. Once I got his music, it was like living in an illusion until you start to actually see through the layers and get to [society’s] nucleus.
Reggae, like blues and hip-hop, traditionally, speaks to those that need uplifting. It’s evolved since. What direction do you see reggae going?
I see it going in a lot of different directions. To me it’s a way of life, not just a form of music. In that sense, I see reggae becoming a part of the world and music in general.
Tell me about your music.
See-I is a concoction of funk soul rock reggae dub. It has an earthy, raw, organic power to it, you know. I like it say it’s got the Jamaican charisma with the soul of Mother Africa. That’s kinda how we like to explain [our music]. My feeling about recording [our] music is to, basically, sound [like a live band]. Planned. You know how some people like to record piece by piece. My engineer, I know sometimes he hates me because sometimes we got eight to ten people in his studio [and he hates it]. And an engineer really hates that many people in a studio because he can’t control it. That’s my vibe about music. At a point, you can say it’s kind of chaotic, but out of that chaos you come up with an energy that you [and your bandmates] equally contribute to. Make sense?
Dead or Alive, what musicians would you imagine See-I performing with?
James Brown, P-Funk, Frank Sinatra, Fela.
Where does your musical influence and training come from?
My moms. And a private black high school I went to. The guy that owned that school was Dizzy Gillespie’s mentor. I was in the choir. You know, I come from that old school [of thinking] where if you were going to be a singer, there were certain things you had to do. I can’t explain it. It’s that old… black… this-how-you-do-it… gotta-learn-these-gospel-songs-before-you-play-James-Brown type of training. That’s the school I came through.
How do you keep your creative differences, if any, at bay? Or is it pure synergy between you and your brother, “Rootz”?
We come up through that same school. “Rootz” has more of a Smoky Robinson-type [voice]. So when we grew up, we knew our parts. It’s hard to explain because I can sing with other people [and so can he]. Growing up, we were like, “This is my part and you’re obviously gonna do that.” It’s hard to explain. When I sing with him I don’t really have to [communicate with him beyond the music]. It just works like that.
[Matter of factly] I also have a son that plays with me. Keyboards. He produced “Reign in 2 Light.”
Any words of wisdom to up-and-coming artists they can enshrine?
If you want something bad enough, you will get it, and you will succeed. Anything you can set your mind to, you can attain. It’s not about getting something today or tomorrow. [The idea is] me saying “this is what I want to do, so I’m gonna stand here as long as it take me to make another move in that direction.” So, if you have that kind of love for [what you do], it ain’t gonna be easy, but you’re gonna be good.
