Heavily steeped in years of tradition, reggae is a corner of the musical map where nobody is ever surprised to encounter more than their fair share of traditionalists. While respectfully doffing their various bits of headgear to those who came before them, Jeremy Schiftan and Alex “Sinks” Sinclair of Melbourne dub/reggae juggernaut Echo Drama have prioritised good music over pigeonholes in a band where the musical influences are almost as diverse as its audience appeal.
“To be honest I was kind of a purist before joining the band,” says Sinks, one of the two vocalists who brings his own distinctive hip hop sound to the musical table. “I was a bit skeptical of fusing all these different elements together, but I guess once you’re doing a particular sound and you’re doing it well and people are liking it, you kind of carve your own niche in a sense. So long as you’re doing it in an integral way, anything’s possible.”
Schiftan, the band’s drummer and founding member concurs, “We’re talking reggae sounds, beats and rhythms that anyone can get down to. I think that they’re the great equaliser, musically speaking. I think for me, as an awkward teenager, that was the stuff that’d make me feel good, that I could always dance to, and I was like…. this can talk to a lot of different people. But [reggae] still kind of sits in a niche I think. In the music scene a lot of people kind of dismiss it and pass it off as some weird obscure exotic stuff. Either that or else people have clichéd associations with reggae being this real hippie stoned out thing. I guess we wanted to be able to play that sort of stuff to all types of audiences and so, you know, we needed to incorporate some other kinds of styles and things that people are more familiar with.”
When asked about the other members and what they contribute to the sound, Schiftan is interrupted by Sinks laughing at him for referring to them as “peeps”. It’s clear that these guys don’t take themselves too seriously, and that there is a certain degree of good-natured ownership of the stylistic contributions of the individuals.
“Thando [Sikwila] is really more from an R&B/soul kind of background,” explains Schiftan of their Zimbabwe-born frontwoman. “I mean, straight away that’s really shaped the sound a lot. Its a big voice, and also obviously having a female voice, like a classic soul voice up front, is really different, especially in the local scene. I can’t really think of another act that’s got that same combination of sounds. Thando’s soul sound is really easy to get into, and everyone turns their head when they hear her.
When the opportunity arose to support The Easy Star All Stars at The Hi-Fi Bar last week, Echo Drama pulled out all the stops. “We rehearsed pretty hard for that one. We had to make sure we had a set worthy of that Hi-Fi stage,” said Schiftan, who saw it as a career highlight for the year-old band. “The gig was great… finally hearing our lineup through that sort of sound system really helps you go ‘Oh yeah hang on that’s where the vision was going’. When you’ve got bass like that and a kick drum booming in a room that size, the impact of our grooves kind of really hit home.”
Echo Drama’s next stop on the road to world domination is their upcoming residency at Fitzroy’s Evelyn hotel. Schiftan explains. “We’re playing big sets each week. We’ve got heaps of new material that we’re gonna start showing off. The support bands each week are great too. It’s basically a lineup of all the great guys we’ve had the privilege of playing with over the last year of doing shows.”
According to Sinks, the criteria wasn’t reggae bands, it was good bands. “Good bands and bands that I reckon all contribute to our kind of mix as well. We might do a little glimpse of something, and they’ll be the guys who do that really well so there’ll still be somewhat of a sonic consistency. All the stuff we do has the same roots and origins more or less. It’s diversified itself and we’ve taken on a few of the elements, and there are other bands that do similar so it all kind of works.”
When I mentioned Melbourne Reggae institution The Red Eyes playing their last ever show recently, Sinks reflected, “It’s sad to see reggae diminish, but we just love it. I’d say I’m a music person first, and then I get into specifics. Let’s just make good music that’s accessible… and then rock the house.”
BY MAX PFEIFER
