Common Kings and Steel Pulse coming to Vina Robles
Common Kings (left) and Steel Pulse (right).
Tickets go on sale Friday
– Reggae bands Common Kings and Steel Pulse are set to co-headline at Vina Robles Amphitheatre, Wednesday, Sept. 13, as part of their Celebration Tour. Jakobs Castle provides support for the concert. Tickets are available via Ticketmaster starting Friday, June 30, at 10 a.m.
Common Kings are “more than a band of musicians, they are a family, a lifestyle, a community, a brother and sisterhood, having grown up together in California’s Orange County, four college mates who first met at a backyard barbecue 20-some years ago.” Music was the common bond for these Pacific Islanders (all but one first-generation Americans) who have together transcended their Polynesian reggae roots to achieve pop crossover success since releasing their first music in 2011 – Samoan-born Hawaiian lead singer Sasualei “Jr. King” Maliga and Hawaii-raised Samoan guitarist Taumata “Mata” Grey; Fiji-born bassist Ivan “Uncle Lui” Kirimaua, and L.A.-born Tongan drummer Jerome “Big Rome” Taito. The band has toured with Justin Timberlake, Bruno Mars, Meghan Trainor, Fifth Harmony, and CeeLo as well as headlining their own shows and music festivals around the world.
Common Kings have been releasing music on their own Island Empire/Mensch House Records label for more than a decade, with their first full-length debut, 2017’s ‘Lost in Paradise’, nominated for Best Reggae Album at the Grammys. The long-awaited follow-up, aptly named Celebration, follows a series of five songwriting camps around the country (Miami, Hawaii, Orange County, Nashville, L.A.), winnowing down 120 songs to 12 over the course of almost two years during and after the pandemic. Common Kings’ island rhythms are “as seductive as a lazy ocean breeze, with a narrative that is an All-American story with a tropical twist.”
Bearing witness to the accelerating negativity of global affairs, Steel Pulse emerges with musical vengeance to halt the disarray of humanity. The band’s 12th studio production, titled Mass Manipulation, reflects four decades committed to bettering mankind through music. Steel Pulse continues to be revolutionary in engaging controversial topics of racial injustice and human rights on a global scale. Their musical stance and conceptualizations are as potent and relevant today as they were at the beginning of their career. The album’s uniquely thematic approach provokes thought as it presses forward, toward humanity’s unification Steel Pulse reappears at a fated moment, armed with compassion, encouraging all people to reject false ideals, set higher goals, and demand more from themselves to further this unification.
Lead singer and guitarist, David Hinds’ creativity, human persona, and visionary views are revealed through inspiring compositions that capture the effects of the African Diaspora. These songs weave and interlock with each other, enticing all to stand together and unite. Through the example of Mass Manipulation, Steel Pulse demonstrates the, “endless possibilities that come from breaking down the walls of systemic greed and nurturing the fellowship of mankind.”
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