by rick grant rickgrant01@comcast.net
Chillakaya is a modern reggae band from St. Augustine that plays all original music, which aroused my curiosity when I saw that they were playing at Culhane’s last Saturday night. Chillakaya was formed a year ago when players from Jax Beach and St. Augustine got together and jammed. They discovered that they had mutual musical interests and enjoyed creating original songs. The Chill-lads include Paul Trimmell on bass, Tony Phillips on guitar, Billy Knight on drums, Kemwa Phillips on vocals, and Perry Proia on keyboards.
The Chillakaya reggae machine is rooted in the relentless reggae beat with dance hall leanings. The players are all seasoned professionals who have fifty years of combined experience in various bands. It was an interesting experiment to showcase a reggae band in an Irish pub. The music is designed to get people on the dance floor for non-stop butt jiggling. Clearly, reggae is still a mainstream staple in many dance clubs.
I dig reggae that has clever changes which break up the monotony of its chunka, chunka beat. It does tend to get boring unless one is into dancing the night away. Chillakaya uses guitarist Tony Phillips to add creative solos that break up the endless drone of the reggae beat. He does that with hot chops and finesse, while comping with the beat. It’s difficult to fit in single note runs between the infectious beat. But, Tony is a creative player, as are the other musicians in the band. Drummer and bassist Billy and Paul maintain a killer groove, while keyboardist Perry adds the orchestration with organ and piano sounds.
Kemwa was born on the Island of Antigua, West Indies. He has been singing reggae style since he was six years old. Back home on the Island, he was a singer for the famous Crystal Sound. Kemwa moved to Jax in 1986 to further his musical career. His inspiration comes from Jr. Reid and other similar artists. Kemwa is also a popular DJ with an original style.
Keyboardist, Perry Praia came to Chillakaya from the Trinidad crew. He’s been playing as far back as he can remember. He plays a modern Fender Rhodes with infinite sound possibilities.
Billy Knight on drums is another player with lifelong experience who jammed with Cillakaya and was immediately drafted into the band based on his abilities on the traps.
As for guitarist Tony Phillips, he also has been playing since he was a wee lad and has played just about every genre of music. He has always gravitated to the positive, mellow vibes of reggae.
Bassist Paul Trimmell has 20 years of professional bass playing experience. He works well with drummer Billy to get into the groove pocket and mesmerize the audience with the reggae beat that seems to creep into every cell of the body.
Together, this group cranks out authentic Island reggae that conjures up late nights on some remote beach, drinking beer and inhaling a little ganja (strictly for the head, mon). The group got some young ladies on the dance floor and worked hard to keep the Culhane’s patrons in the reggae mood.
This band proves that reggae is more than dread-locks, Bob Marley T-shirts, and Island accents-either real or fake. It takes a group like Chillakaya to do it justice.
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EU Critic’s Choice Awards
