GEORGETOWN - Tickets to this summer's reunion show by The Police in Seattle came and went in a matter of mere minutes - not once, but twice. Both shows at Key Arena are sold out, but those with a desire to indulge the roots music that gave The Police part of their signature sound can do so with relative ease by checking out the traditional ska sounds of Seattle's own Georgetown Orbits.
Don't remember ska, you say? Five decades worth of ebb and flow have brought the blend of Afro-Caribbean and Jamaican folk music with American jazz and R&B influences into and out of the popular music spotlight in waves, an appropriate analogy given the classification used to specify eras.
The first wave of ska in the early 1960s was defined by a guitar chop on the backbeat - the upstroke, they called it - while the piano and horn section played the same riff. Prince Buster and Coxsone Dodd were the foundation of the time, although the Skatalites and Desmond Dekker are names more recognizable to the casual music fan.
The next wave of the late '70s and early '80s was the "TwoTone" revolution - mod suits and porkpie hats were part of the essential visual aesthetic of the time. Prominent bands included The Specials and Madness amongst others, and featured a faster tempo and a foray into more aggressive lyrics consistent with the class and racial tensions of the time in the United Kingdom.
The mid-'90s saw yet another resurgence, this time with the music trading away the R&B influence for a faster punk rock burnish. The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Reel Big Fish, Less Than Jake, and more saw airplay on MTV and album sales creeping up on Billboard's charts before waning late in the decade.
BACK TO THE ROOTS
If there is a fourth wave to come, perhaps it's a return to the origins of the genre. Celebrating ska's more traditional roots, the Georgetown Orbits dispense with the third wave's pop and punk, dropping it back into a slower tempo with allowances for talented musicians to shine with their respective instruments. Authenticity never sounded quite so right.
Toby Kremple and David Obright met at a show in 2004 and found they shared a common affinity for ska and its many permutations. Over the course of several months, well-placed classified ads and referrals from friends helped the two round out what was soon to become the Georgetown Orbits - named to honor both their Seattle neighborhood and the original moniker of the Skatalites.
With Obright on drums and Kremple on bass, the rhythm section was a lock. They added Orion Anderson on guitar, Stanley Florek on the keyboards, and a three-piece horn section featuring Tim Kerans on tenor sax, Jay Abolofia on trombone, and Dan Loren on trumpet, bugle, and flugelhorn.
Their roots troupe was completed last fall with the addition of vocalist Darryl Grandison, a veteran of the local reggae scene who also performs in a roots reggae outfit called Amusicator and helps delineate the lineage of the genre.
"Ska really was Jamaica's answer to American jazz music," Grandison explains. "If reggae was my mother's music, then ska was my grandmother's music. Reggae took the guts of ska and syncopated it differently."
Based on his love of ska and on the advice of a friend, Grandison answered a classified ad for the Georgetown Orbits and the rest, as they say, is history.
"The first time I auditioned," he admits, "I really loved their spirit and how they cared for the music. It was magic."
THE NEXT WAVE
Over the course of their two years, the Orbits have shared bills with such notable ska acts as the Skatalites, The English Beat, and the Toasters. Club shows have been fairly consistent across the city, culminating in appearances last summer at the Northwest FolkLife Festival, The Victoria Ska Festival, and Seattle's Hempfest.
With a solid line-up now in place, the band is preparing to enter the studio this spring and record their first full-length album. With only one 7" single currently available, fans are no doubt hungry for something they can take home from the lively performances the band puts on.
Kremple asserts that "there's no current epicenter for ska - it's in every corner of the world." Given the respect he and his band mates have for the music, it may be there doesn't need to be a ground zero, a scene, or even a new wave.
Not that they need validation, either, but they're getting it from a rather reputable source. Lynval Golding was a key component of London's TwoTone scene in the late '70s as a founding member of The Specials. He calls the Pacific Northwest home now, working on myriad musical projects, touring on occasion with Dave Wakeling of The English Beat, and performing in his own Seattle-based traditional ska band, the Stiff Upper Lips.
"[The Georgetown Orbits] really play the roots of the music and it's wonderful," says Golding. "They're one of those bands that reminds me of where I come from. They've got a really great feel for the music."
The band's eight members are a fine example of what an overriding passion can provide - each comes from a unique background, most are from out of state, and the gap between oldest and youngest is nearly 20 years. The one truly connective thread between them all is a very tangible love for the music.
"Everyone (in the band) is in different spots in their lives," says Kremple, "but this brings us all together and gives us a medium in which we communicate with each other."
Given the reaction of a packed showroom at the band's performance earlier this month, that medium is connecting with all sorts of music fans across the city. It wasn't simply ska fans dancing across the floor of the Nectar Lounge during a recent Saturday night gig. It's Grandison's hope that the band, their music, and their influence will be felt further than these crowded dance floors or festival lawns.
"Ska is something that's really, really danceable, and it never has a negative message," he says. "Hopefully we'll reach enough people, and especially the younger generation, and make positive things happen through positive people."
Check the Georgetown Orbits' website, www.georgetownorbits.com, for a list of upcoming shows as well as some nicely done live recordings from local gigs that you can stream.
Columbia City writer Philip Roewe may be reached via editor@sdistrictjournal.com.[[In-content Ad]]
