Pepper is a three-piece reggae rock band originally from Hawaii,[3] now based in San Diego.[4] The band consists of vocalist/guitarist Kaleo Wassman, vocalist/bassist Bret Bollinger, and drummer Yesod Williams. Since the band's formation they have released eight studio albums, as well as two live albums.
Pepper formed in 1996 with singer/guitarist Kaleo Wassman and bassist/singer Bret Bollinger, who had been friends since middle school.[5] The duo was influenced by the Hawaiian artist Three Plus and popular mainland groups like Sublime. The group struggled to find a drummer to be in the band, with Wassman stating, "We were going through drummers like a bottomless pit."[5] Wassman and Bollinger heard about a drummer named Yesod Williams who had gained success around their small town, and later met Williams at a party.[5][6] The two convinced Williams to join the band, and they had to come up with a band name.
In an interview with The Pier, Wassman said "We are three kids in High School in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. We're all waiters. We always use to get out of work around ten o'clock at night and then I would race home to watch Saturday Night Live. This was back in the 90's when you had all of these All-stars. There was a skit that they kept re-doing and it was called 'The Pepper Boy'. And, basically its this Italian Restaurant and these 'Pepper Boys' come up to the table, usually to a couple on an exclusive date, and they would come over and OBSCENELY crack pepper all over the woman's plate. It was so funny to us watching the date get so angry and of course the lady just loving the Italian affection. It was one thing the three of us would talk about the next day in Bret's (Bollinger) garage when we were rehearsing and we would just lose it, so we said Pepper for short".[7]
2002–2005: Kona Town, In With the Old, and mainstream success
After years of extensive touring, Pepper took to the studio with Steve Kravac (Less Than Jake, MXPX) to record their second album entitled Kona Town, released in March 2002. The track "Give It Up" was released as a single. The album peaked at #2 on the Billboard Reggae Albums chart.
Pepper continued to tour throughout 2003 and into 2004, including dates with 311 and Snoop Dogg, along with appearances at the annual Bob Marley Birthday celebration, San Diego's Festival "Street Scene", and a U.S. tour with Slightly Stoopid.[6][10]
In March 2004, Pepper released In With The Old, and got to #34 on the Billboard Heat Seekers and #18 on the Billboard Independent Albums chart. The album was recorded at 311's completely analog Hive Studios by board master Ron St. Germain (Bad Brains, Living Colour, 311, Tool, Sonic Youth, Soundgarden), the album showcases a broader range of influences shared by the trio. The band added punk keyboardist/producer Ronnie King on the album as well.
2006–2009: No Shame, Pink Crustaceans and Good Vibrations
The band released their fourth album (and minor label debut) entitled No Shame on October 3, 2006. With Ronnie King on keyboard again, it features production from Nick Hexum of 311, Tony Kanal of No Doubt, and Sublime producer/Butthole Surfers member Paul Leary. A music video was shot for the single "No Control", which became their first commercial single. The album made it to #96 on the Billboard 200 chart.
On March 20, 2007, Pepper released To Da Max: Mistakes and Outtakes (1997–2004), their first compilation album containing rare and B-side tracks.
Pepper appeared on all dates of the 2007 Vans Warped Tour. They toured with The Expendables and Passafire, on their "That's Where I Wanna Be..." 42-stop tour from October to December 2007.
Kaleo Wassman of Pepper performing at Warped Tour in 2007.
To promote this release, the band toured across the United States in 2008 from March through April with Redeye Empire and Iration. A European tour in support of Flogging Molly followed, including shows in Germany, Sweden, France, Italy and more. From August 1, 2008, to September 6, 2008, the band toured the U.S. on the Tailgate 2008 Summer Tour. The band then toured with Slightly Stoopid and Sly & Robbie. The band also headlined the "LAW Records" tour in October 2008 along with Passafire, and The Supervillains. This was their first tour consisting of only LAW Records bands. After a UK tour with Less than Jake, and a break in December, Pepper, Passafire, and The Supervillains toured the Northwest to complete the first LAW Records tour.
On April 21, 2009, the band released a greatest hits album called Kona Gold. It featured 19-tracks of Pepper's most popular songs.
Pepper released their new EP album titled Stitches on October 12, 2010. A single, "Wake Up", from the album was released June 28, 2010, along with "Mirror". The band toured with 311 to promote the album.[13] The EP peaked at #40 on the Billboard Independent Albums chart.
Pepper also toured on the "Like a Surgeon Tour" with Shwayze, Pour Habit, and Brother Ali in the Fall of 2010. They released Like A Surgeon Live on October 9, 2010, which featured 22 songs from their entire performance live during the tour.
Pepper was one of the headliners for the 2011 Vans Warped Tour. During the summer and fall of 2012, they toured with Sublime with Rome and Cypress Hill.
On September 3, 2013, Pepper released their self-titled sixth album on Island Records. It featured the singles, "Hunny Girl" and "F**K Around All Night", which the band shot two music videos for (a clean version and an explicit version with nudity).
Following a co-headlining tour with the Dirty Heads in the summer of 2014 and another amphitheater summer run with Rebelution and Sublime With Rome in 2015.
2016–Present: Ohana and Local Motion
On April 29, 2016, Pepper released their seventh studio album titled, Ohana. The album peaked at #8 the Billboard Independent Albums chart and made it to #130 on the Billboard 200.
The band released their eighth studio album Local Motion on June 28, 2019. It contained 10-tracks featuring top reggae artists like Stick Figure on single "Warning", E.N. Young (formally of Tribal Seeds), Micah Brown of Iration, Henry Fong, and Jinco. The album peaked at #1 on the Billboard Reggae Albums chart and made it to #13 on the Billboard Independent Albums chart.
Pepper was featured as one of many reggae bands on Collie Buddz riddim album, Cali Roots Riddim 2020 with their single, "Change", which was produced by Buddz and mixed by Stick Figure's touring guitarist, producer Johnny Cosmic.
On September 20, 2020, Pepper was one of several reggae and punk bands on The House That Bradley Built, a charity compilation honoring Sublime's lead singer Bradley Nowell, helping musicians with substance abuse. They covered Sublime's songs, "Date Rape", and "Work That We Do", as well as, Brett Bollinger covering "Mary" on the Deluxe Edition which was released on Pepper's own record label, LAW Records on January 15, 2021.[14]
Pepper performing at the Leader Bank Pavilion in Boston, MA (Summer Traditions Tour) on July 28, 2022.
In late 2022 and early 2023, Pepper celebrated their 20th year after their commercial success of their second album, Kona Town. They Kicked off their "Twenty Years of Kona Town" tour with a surprise single drop of "Stormtrooper (Kona Town Revisited)" featuring Josh Swain from The Movement and Kai Boy (formally of Iration). Brett explains, "The song has always had a special place in our hearts with our brother Josh Fischel originally blessing the track, and we are honored to have Josh of The Movement and Kai Rediske former lead singer of Iration to help us revisit and pay homage to the song 20 years later."
On June 2, 2023, Pepper released a single, "Get Me Ready", which, as stated on the band's social media pages, was just a demo first written by Kaleo in 2017 at Tim Armstrong's studio in Silver Lake. The song was finished (co-written) by Tim Armstrong of Rancid and Kevin Bivona from The Interrupters and then recorded five years later with a Two-Tone, ska vibe. The band also released a remixed version, "Get Me Ready" (Aloha Remix) that was produced by Wayne Lothian of The English Beat.
Pepper performing at the Westville Music Bowl in New Haven, CT in July 2023.
On November 17, 2023, Pepper will release a 6-track EP, titled, Makai, which will feature Edley Shine and Iration. The band's third EP will be available on a one-time hand numbered vinyl pressing limited to 250 units of each variant available exclusively through their LAW Records store.[15]
Other projects
In 2016, Pepper tried their hands as winemaking with their own wine collection based on their album titles and cover artwork. The first bottle they released was, "Kona Town Original Blend", which sold quickly.
In 2017, Pepper partnered up with award-winning winemaker Thomas Booth, a.k.a. "The Wine Boss" of Paso Robles, California. Their second bottle, "Blend 2" won Gold at the San Francisco Chronicle Competition in 2019. They also have a 2017 "Skullconut Malbec", and a 2015 Cabernet called, "In With The Cab", which is a play off their album, In With The Old. For two years in a row, they've won Gold, Silver and Bronze for all of their wines.[16]
Kaleo Wassman explains, "We didn't want to just license our name to the wine, we wanted to be active in the creation of it. And so it's really incredible for us to get these awards and accolades because we are being able to co-create this wine with Thomas." They look to add to their success with the release of "No Shame Chardonnay" with artwork based on their 2006 album, No Shame.[16]
In April 2023, Pepper collaborated with surf, skate, music & entertainment clothing company Volcom with a new clothing line called "Volcom x Pepper". It was created with long time Pepper artist and Volcom-sponsored surfer Ben Brough.[17]
311 is an American rock band from Omaha, Nebraska. The band was formed in 1988 by vocalist and guitarist Nick Hexum, lead guitarist Jim Watson, bassist Aaron "P-Nut" Wills, and drummer Chad Sexton. Watson was replaced by Tim Mahoney in 1990. In 1992, Doug "SA" Martinez joined as a second vocalist and turntablist.
Stick Figure is an American reggae and dub band founded in 2005 In Duxbury Ma. The group has released eight full-length albums and one instrumental album, all of which were written and produced by frontman and self-taught multi-instrumentalist Scott Woodruff. The live band consists of vocalist, producer and guitarist Scott Woodruff, keyboardist Kevin Bong (KBong), drummer Kevin Offitzer, bassist Tommy Suliman, guitarist, keyboardist, and guitarist/backup vocalist Johnny Cosmic and percussionist Will Phillips. Cocoa an Australian Shepherd, often joins the band onstage and has accordingly been nicknamed Cocoa the Tour Dog.
No Shame is the fourth album and major label debut by Hawaiian band Pepper. Released on October 3, 2006 through Atlantic Records, it features production from Producer and Songwriter Zach Barnhorst, Nick Hexum of 311, Tony Kanal of No Doubt, and Sublime producer Paul Leary.
Reggae rock is a subgenre of reggae fusion and rock music that primarily uses the genres reggae, rock, and ska. Typical lyrics of reggae rock songs incorporate love, personal awareness, and life challenges while incorporating music and beat elements of rock, punk, and hip-hop. The term "reggae rock" has been used to categorize artists such as Eddy Grant, and bands like the Police, Men at Work, Sublime & Sublime with Rome, No Doubt, Pepper, Slightly Stoopid, the Expendables, Iration, Dirty Heads, Rebelution, 311, SOJA, Big Sugar, and, to some extent, heavier bands such as Bad Brains.
The Expendables are an American reggae rock band from Santa Cruz, California.
Dirty Heads is an American reggae rock band from Huntington Beach, California. Their debut album, Any Port in a Storm, was released on September 23, 2008, by Executive Music Group (Fontana/Universal). Their latest album, Midnight Control, was released on August 26, 2023, by Better Noise Music. They have been associated with music groups such as Sublime with Rome, 311, and Pepper, and have toured with groups including Cobra Starship, Aer, and Gym Class Heroes.
The Supervillains is a five-piece reggae, ska/punk band from St. Cloud, Florida. The band has released nine studio albums.
Iration is a reggae/pop group from Santa Barbara, California. All members originally hail from Hawaii. They play a mix of reggae, dub, pop, and rock.
Slightly Stoopid is an American rock band based in the Ocean Beach neighborhood of San Diego, California, who describe their music as "a fusion of folk, rock, reggae and blues with hip-hop, funk, metal and punk." As a band, they have released thirteen albums, with their ninth studio album entitled Everyday Life, Everyday People on July 13, 2018. The band was originally signed by Bradley Nowell from the band Sublime to his label Skunk Records while still in high school.
Kaleo Kalani Wassman is an American musician who serves as the lead singer and guitarist of reggae, dub bands Pepper and Sabotage Soundsystem.
The Movement is an American reggae band originally formed in Columbia, South Carolina, in 2003. The two founding members, Josh Swain and Jordan Miller, then relocated to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where they acquired a live rhythm section in the form of local Philadelphia musicians Jay Schmidt and Gary Jackson. The band has released six studio albums. Their music is commonly described as a fusion of rock, reggae, hip hop and acoustic music.
Ballyhoo! is an American reggae rock and punk band from Aberdeen, Maryland. The group has sold over 30,000 copies of its five albums and more than 200,000 digital tracks.
Passafire is a reggae rock band based in Savannah, Georgia.
Fortunate Youth is an American reggae rock sextet from Hermosa Beach, California.
Of Good Nature (OGN) is an American band based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Their music blends foundations of many different genres including alternative, funk, pop, soul, and reggae.
Tropidelic is an American band from Cleveland, Ohio. They infuse multiple genres into a style that's a blend of reggae rock, hip-hop and high energy funk.
The Elovaters are an American reggae rock band from Boston that formed in 2014.
Iya Terra were an American roots reggae and dub band based in Los Angeles, California.
Through The Roots is an American reggae rock and pop band based out of San Diego, California. They are described as "easy-listening music with positive Cali-vibes and inspiring messages".
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