PEPPERBy Rei Nishimoto
Island Spice
“It’s been great. We sold out Red Rocks in Colorado. It’s been far over everyone’s expectations,” says Pepper drummer Yessod Williams, about their recent summer tour with Slightly Stoopid. They were touring in support of their current release, Pink Crustaceans and Good Vibrations, and have attracted fans along the way.
“You go downstairs and look at the plaques on the wall,” he continues about Red Rocks. “It goes back to Elvis Presley playing there. The Beatles have played there. Led Zeppelin played there. All of these great bands that are huge influences have shared that same stage. And to have sold it out too…we were blown away. That place is huge.”
“This has got to be the fifth or sixth tour we’ve done with [Slightly Stoopid]. It’s always a blast. It makes those rough times on the road so much easier when you’re out with your friends. It’s like summer camp with our friends and hanging out. It sucks when you tour and you don’t talk to the other bands.”
The trio began in the Kona area of Hawaii in 1996, creating an energetic style of reggae. They relocated to Southern California in 1999 to expand their base and capitalize on opportunities, which later resulted into future tours with 311, Snoop Dogg and The Wailers. But Williams is proud of where he and the rest of the band are from.
“In Hawaii, that’s by far the most popular style of music,” he explains. “We get such few famous artists who would come over and perform. The ones who would, a majority of them were reggae like Yellow Man, UB40, Gregory Isaacs and anything like that. I think just being an island and that whole island vibe just marries itself with reggae. We were encompassed in it growing up our whole lives.
”What sets Pepper apart from traditional reggae is their energetic style. For a trio to perform music without additional members, they managed to build a live show that matches the energy of their music.
“We finally figured out how to put on a real rock show,” Williams says. “So I think we infused a lot more rock into our music. There’s this misconception where people think we have this mellow show, like this island breezy type show. It’s a high energy and spontaneous…the crowd’s interacting constantly. We don’t make a setlist. We plan out the first four songs and then we have the crowd call out whatever song they want to hear.
”They placed their live show to the test during the 2007 Vans Warped Tour, where they played in front of punk rock kids looking to rock out.
“This was the third time we did it, and it was the first time we were one of the headliners on the main stage,” he recalls. “Our show’s high energy and I think the fact that we didn’t sound like any band on Warped Tour was great for us. We stuck out like a sore thumb and it turned people’s heads. It was such an honor because we were on the same stage as Bad Religion, Pennywise and Flogging Molly. We had a great time on and off the stage the entire time.”
Pepper has have a tour wish list of musical acts they would love to play with.
“Definitely NOFX,” Williams says. “We’ve played on Warped Tour with them, when we were on one of the side stages. NOFX would be an endless blast of a tour. If you’re reading, Fat Mike, please take Pepper on tour with you!”
On the web: pepperlive.com
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