The reggae band Iration got its start at UCSB around 2004, but all the guys in the band grew up in Hawaii and met in high school.
The band is slated to play its biggest headlining show in San Diego on Friday at the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club's Four O'Clock Fridays show
Iration released their third album, Automatic, earlier this month. I recently chatted with lead singer Micah Pueschel about the Iration, San Diego and the band Pepper. You may be familiar with the band -- their track "Turn Around" was featured on 91x for many weeks and they played X-Fest in 2011, not to mention gigs at 710 Beach Club, Winstons, Canes, Longboards, San Diego's House of Blues and the Belly Up. Heck, they're almost a local band.
Pueschel told me that "we've always had fun [in San Diego]. It's just a great cit,y obviously: It's close to what we're used to -- being close to the water -- and we've always made it a goal to cement ourselves in San Diego. We play music that's very suited to San Diego."
We also talked about where "Turn Around" is getting radio spins:
"There are little pockets -- Philadelphia, New Jersey, Upstate New York, the Carolinas -- it's kind of random places, but we're stoked," Pueschel told me.
Pepper is also from Hawaii, did you guys know them?:
"They were a little older, but Pepper actually played my graduation party in high school, back in the day," Pueschel said. "We flew them back -- a bunch of my friends put in money and we flew them back from San Diego to play the show. They even played for free".
Any special surprises planned for the Friday's show in Del Mar?
"We're going to do an acoustic portion, which we've never done before, bringing the acoustic guitars onstage, so that's different," Pueschel revealed.
The band releasd Automatic on their own label, Three Prong Records, and are true independent artists. So feel free to buy the new record right now, right from the band! It's also interesting to note that Cage the Elephant guitarist Lincoln Parish appears on the album and had a hand in producing the record. The band has also toured with Pepper, so who knows? Maybe they will show up and join the band onstage on Friday -- Pueschel would neither confirm nor deny the theory.
So go see Iration after the races and show them some love!
Tim Pyles, a longtime local who grew up in La Jolla, is the unofficial mayor of local music who hosts The Local 94/9 via FM94/9 every Sunday from 9 p.m. to 12 a.m. He also books local acts at the Casbah, hosts the weekly Anti-Monday League, books/hosts the monthly Maryjane's Underground at the House Of Blues and is an entertainment writer for Pacific San Diego Magazine. Check out his website thelocalpyle.com and and follow him on Twitter @thelocalpyle. You can reach him directly here pyleste@yahoo.com
