Tribal Seeds 'come around' Casselman's

Steve feeling the music at Casselman's. Photo by Paul Edmisson. 

When Samantha Hanson from Cassleman's urged me to come down and see Tribal Seeds, I wasn't sure what to expect. I was not real familiar with Tribal Seeds although I had heard of them. The Tribal Seeds are a reggae/rock band that was formed in 2004 by brothers Tony-Ray (T-Ray) and Steve. Through a mutual friend, John (bass) joined the band next followed shortly by Guitarist Tony and Drummer Carlos through an online inquiry. Joe plays percussion and is the sixth and newest member of the band. Although the guys enjoy a lot of different genres of music, it's their love of reggae and particularly Bob Marley, Steel Pulse and Midnite that brought them together. Once Joe was in place, the band started spreading their infectious rhythms up and down the west coast and soon found themselves touring to Hawaii, Guam, Aruba and Mexico. 

L to R: T-Ray,Tony, Carlos, Steve, John and Joe. Photo by Paul Edmisson 

After seeing Tribal Seeds play Casselman's here in Denver in support of the "Come Around" tour, I could see why they have such a big and loyal following. Although this line-up of the band hasn't been around for long they get up there and play like a bunch of 20 year seasoned veterans. On stage, T-Ray is the more stoic of the guys, barely letting a grin slip between his lips. His concentration is on the keys and he seems very focused in what he is doing. He needs to be focused to be able to pull off the phenomenal timing of not only his playing, but also the sampling that he uses. Joe is the Ying to T-Ray's Yang and during the last part of the set had a perma-grin plastered on his face. Joe is just one third of a great rhythm section, playing percussion to match Carlos' "rat-a tat-tat" drumming and John's infectious bass lines. John's bass playing is so infectious that even he can't resist the bass lines and is constantly swaying, half walking/skipping/jumping around his section of the stage, bobbing up and down along with the crowd.

Tony's guitar riffs are reggae, pure and simple. When you are supposed to hear guitar, you hear it. And when your not supposed to, you don't. I don't know how long it took Tony to perfect his live sound, but I have heard bands a lot older than these guys not be able to get the tone they want after years of trying to nail it. For the most part his leads are simple and uncomplicated, yet match the sound and feeling of the songs so well. 

Steve getting the crowd into it at Casselman's. Photo by Paul Edmisson

While all this is going on, Steve finishes the crowd off with his unbelievable voice and almost hypnotic stare. I get the feeling he could stand on stage, put his hands in the air and say just about anything he wants and the crowd would just about go nuts. It was somewhat surreal hearing that voice come out of such a young looking face. This is a singer that puts rasp in his voice exactly where it is needed, to match the song best. Steve is a fairly charismatic singer and I'm pretty sure he knows it. Every once in a while he will get the slyest grin on his face and that grin says to me, "Yeah, I got you". And he does. He made a fan out of me, and I am a fan of very little reggae. He not only got me, but the rest of the crowd as well and I base the success of a band's performance partially on crowd reaction. Was there a reaction? Just look at the photo above and tell me.

To hear Tribal Seeds is one thing. To see them is another ball game entirely. This is a very tight, very professional band. They know exactly what they want and what they want to play. Steve's lyrics have substance and meaning and he sings his words with heart. The rest of the band has the music writing responsibilities and they write songs that keep you hooked with light flowing rhythms to epic orchestral beginnings as on 'Vampire'. This is the first reggae band I have seen live, and I get the feeling the bar has been set pretty high. I can only hope that future reggae bands that I see are as good as Tribal Seeds are live.  If you get the chance to see Tribal Seeds live, I recommend you go.