Miles Ahead | NYC • MIA • KIN • LDN • TYO • JHB • RJ

Blending musical versatility, instrumental prowess, beautiful vocal harmonies and a premier rhythm section, the Easy Star All-Stars have established themselves as one of the top international reggae acts on the scene today. Thanks to their best-selling tribute album releases, Dub Side of the Moon (2003), Radiodread (2006), Easy Star’s Lonely Hearts Dub Band (2009), Easy Star’s Thrillah (2012), the remix album Dubber Side of the Moon (2010), as well as original releases Until That Day EP (2008) and First Light (2011), the Easy Star All-Stars have built a growing, dedicated fan base throughout the world, bringing together fans of reggae, classic rock, dub and indie rock into one big family. The band has toured in over 30 countries on 6 continents. They’ve played many major festivals around the world, including an unprecedented three-day, three-stage stand at Glastonbury in 2009, which earned them a UK Festy Award Nomination that year.

Cas Haley first gained national recognition in 2007 on NBC's America's Got Talent, where he performed a stunning acoustic reggae cover of The Police's 'Walking On the Moon'. His performance quickly went viral and helped him secure a well-deserved second place on the show.

Since then, Cas has been on a musical journey that has taken him around the world, blending Southern soul roots with reggae-inspired rhythms in seven original albums. His latest project, "BOOTS ROCK REGGAE, VOL. 1," is a unique collection of America's favorite country and rock songs, reimagined with Cas's signature style. By bridging his country roots with his love for reggae music, Cas is creating something truly special and unforgettable. Join him on this exciting new musical adventure and experience the magic of his music for yourself.

Damian Robert Nesta Marley, also known around the world as “Junior Gong” and more recently as “Gongzilla” was born in 1978 to parents Bob Marley and Cindy Breakspeare, Miss World 1976.  As a young adult, he developed a passion and a gift to speak for those who cannot always speak for themselves. A self-proclaimed ‘Spiritual Revolutionary’, Damian has worked assiduously to carve his own niche in music history and to add a new perspective to the Marley legacy for the 21st century. 

At the age of 13, Damian began performing in a group called “The Shepherds” which comprised of Shiah Coore (son of Third World guitarist Cat Coore) and currently a member of his band, and Yashema Beth McGreggor, daughter of reggae singers Freddie Mcgreggor and Judy Mowatt and then began touring with his brothers, Stephen, Ky-mani, Julian and Ziggy. 

By 1996, Damian had already made his stamp as a different kind of Marley when he released his first solo album “Mr. Marley”, a heavily dancehall-influenced album produced by his brother Stephen Marley.  His second album “Halfway Tree” was released in 2001 by a major record label and showcased Damian’s unique gift for blending dancehall, reggae and hip-hop styles.  This album won Damian much recognition and remained on the Billboard Top Reggae Album Charts for 158 weeks and earned him his first Grammy for Best Reggae Album in 2002. 
While honored by this recognition by the global music fraternity, Damian continued to work in the studio, laying the groundwork for the tracks that would become his highly anticipated album, “Welcome To Jamrock”. The lyrics in this album presented Marley as a true spiritual revolutionary, as he used his talent to evoke a spiritual change while trying to enforce a better way of thinking.  He is described as “rhyming with the conviction of a street preacher with the intellect of a university economist”.  

Damian’s hit single “Welcome to Jamrock” was listed as one of the Top 100 Songs of the Decade by Rolling Stone, and at the 2006 Grammy Awards, he won Best Reggae Album and Best Urban/Alternative Performance for Welcome to Jamrock. Damian is the only Jamaican reggae artist in history to win two Grammy Awards on the same night. He is also the only reggae artist to win in the Best Urban/Alternative Performance category at the Grammy Awards. The New York Times called Welcome to Jamrock the “best reggae song of the decade.” 
Welcome to Jamrock led the pathway to Damian’s critically acclaimed collaboration with Nas for 2010’s much lauded album “Distant Relatives” – a project which explored the relationships between reggae, hip-hop and Africa. The album title refers not only to the bond between the artists, but the connection to their African ancestry, which inspired the album both musically and lyrically. USA Today referred to the album as a “potent and often provocative collaboration” and by Rolling Stone as “an Afrocentric winner.” The album debuted at Number 5 on the Billboard Top 200 Album Chart and Number 1 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, Rap Albums and Reggae Albums charts, with Billboard heralding the album as “a dynamic hybrid.”    

The Distant Relatives Tour kicked off in 2011 and saw Damian traveling and performing for thousands of fans all over the world, including South America, Europe, The United Kingdom, The Caribbean and North America.  

Damian continued to cross musical boundaries in 2012, as he went on to partner with Skrillex for their groundbreaking track “Make It Bun Dem”, which Rolling Stone called “a monster mash up of dubstep and dancehall” and has led to several remixes of the original version.  Damian recently released two other singles; “Set Up Shop” and  “Affairs of the Heart” which both received widespread airplay. 

Damian continues to tour with his band all over the world as a way of entertaining and healing as he continues to spread the message for those whose voices cannot be heard. He is working with his brothers Stephen and Julian under their Ghetto Youths International Label, to discover, develop and sign gifted artistes by applying their musical talent and vast experience to create new and different styles of music.  

Damian is currently in the studio working on his upcoming solo album.

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New York City's Easy Star Records has produced three of the best-selling and trendsetting reggae albums around - the Easy Star All-Stars' Dub Side of the Moon, Radiodread and Easy Star's Lonely Hearts Dub Band - while building an international brand and roster that has come to signify quality and class.

The independent label has created an impressive body of work that includes those above-mentioned in-house productions, along with progressive recordings from envelope-pushing acts like Protoje, Jesse Royal, John Brown's Body, The Skints, The Black Seeds, Rebelution, Passafire, Backbeat Soundsystem, Gentleman's Dub Club, Cas Haley, New Kingston, The Expanders, Lila Ike, The Late Ones, Marcus Gad, Tommy T, JonQuan and Ticklah; reissues of classic reggae from the vaults of Sugar Minott and Linval Thompson; new music from reggae legends The Meditations and Sister Carol; and collaborations with international reggae stars like Matisyahu,  Michael Rose, U Roy, Luciano, Anthony B, Christofer Martin and Morgan Heritage.

Easy Star has steadily built a scene that extends in many directions, following any path where reggae leads, bringing together young producers and musicians, reggae stars, and even artists outside the genre who have been influenced by Jamaican music, like Citizen Cope, blues musician/musicologist Corey Harris, Janelle Monáe, Jason Mraz and Kelly Clarkson.

The label manages its in-house musical collective/touring band The Easy Star All-Stars, who have played in over 30 countries on 6 continents. Dub Side of the Moon, Radiodread, Lonely Hearts and Thrillah have formed the backbone of a growing franchise of reggae re-inventions of classic albums; the band is at work on the next installment, targeted for 2022.

Easy Star has also developed a strong sense of how to market reggae to both core genre fans and a mass audience, leading to work consulting on marketing for albums such as Gov't Mule's Mighty High. Easy Star's musical director Michael Goldwasser produced albums for Corey Harris and Israeli band Hatikva 6, as well as remixes by Umphrey's McGee, Rebelution, Jason Mraz, Yoko Ono and more, bringing the Easy Star sound further outside the family. And Easy Star has raised its profile as a lifestyle brand with events such as Easy Star Reggae Tuesdays, which was one of the longest-running weekly reggae parties in New York.

Colin Patrick Harper hails from the Bermuda Islands. In the music industry, he is known as the reggae artist Collie Buddz. Buddz was born on August 21, 1984 in New Orleans, Louisiana. After graduating from high school, he attended Full Sail University in Orlando, FL, where he decided to study studio engineering.  Upon graduating from college in 2006, Buddz began looking for work in the recording industry as a performer or producer. One of his first major gigs was working with recording star Shaggy on the single "Mad Mad World" from Shaggy's new album entitled Intoxication, which was release in 2007. That was the same year he released his self-titled debut album with Sony Music. The album was a moderate success, but well-received by critics.  WWE (World Wrestling Enterprises) fans would immediately recognize Buddz's voice from the entrance theme ("SOS") for WWE superstar wrestler Kofi Kingston, which was included on the 2008 compilation WWE The Music, Vol. 8. Over the next year, he would continue making guest appearances on the works of other artists.  It is no small coincidence that his stage name "Buddz" is slang for marijuana. There have been photographs taken of the artist holding bongs and other pot-smoking paraphernalia over the years. Of course, other reggae artist such as Bob Marley have made weed seem an essential part of the reggae lifestyle.  At the end of the decade, Buddz started his own record label called Harper Digital. When not working in the studio, he found himself selling out venue after venue on one of his many exhaustive tours. In 2011, he would finally release his second album entitled Playback. As was the case with the first album, this album was a modest success commercially, but the critics loved his work.  With a couple of albums and a good reputation under his belt, Buddz is a frequent performer at many of the major reggae festivals around the world.

Grammy-nominated reggae/hip-hop/alternative artist. The new self-titled album, Matisyahu, is out now on vinyl, digital and CD.

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Dubmatix is continually evolving his style, taking new influences on board on each new recording; by now it simply doesn’t do justice to the incredible breadth of his work to slap a ‘dub’ sticker on it. 

"...collaborations see him effortlessly incorporating all conceivable facets of reggae and dub with a striking self-assurance and combining them with an exceptional willingness to experiment and take new directions."

This kaleidoscope of variety is particularly in force of his upcoming brand new album. As well as working as a musician and producer, Jesse King is also a sought-after remixer and app designer, with recent remixes including tracks for the Easy Star All-Stars, John Brown's Body, Zion Train, Martha & The Muffins, Don Letts and Mungo’s HiFi. 

For his new album he spent 2 years in the past and a lot of time in tweaking the knobs on high class Roots Tunes inna crossover style…! 
SOUND CLOUD REVIEW DEC 2014

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