The Slackers

Ara Babjian: Marcus Geard Battery: David Hillyard Bass: Saxophone Jayson Nugent (aka Agent Jay): Glen Pine Guitar: Trombone/song Victor Ruggiero: Song/Orgue/Piano/Guitare Marc Lyn: Song
Tell the story of the Slackers (which is the name given to Jamaican musicians who play soft songs (the slack) and make the public laugh to forget the hard life, but which also means lazy). Anyway, talking about the Slackers is a bit like telling the story of a (great) family. The genealogical tree is insane, the ties are multiple and each has an incredible talent, a rocky personal history. All these people, put together, give us something crazy. As a great thinker of the 20th century, Johnny Hallyday (in his real name, Jean-Philippe Smet), said, "you are all great."
For more than 15 years, New York's combo has been rolling its hump all over the world (they are even treading Brazil for the first time in early 2006), the band formed in the early 1990s for love of ska, reggae and rocksteady music. Each musician works in other bands, because the music is first and foremost one thing that is shared: Hepcat , Stubborn All-Stars , Agent 99 , Leftöver Crack , David Hillyard and the Rocksteady 7 , Vic Ruggiero also tries a solo project very recently, one can also find among others, Ruggiero and Hillyard playing on the (definitely misestimated) album of Rancid , Life Wonder Wait and follow the punkers on tour. Thus they end up signing on Hellcat Records , a label held by Tim Armstrong ( Rancid ). CQFD.
Prior to this signing, they had made an album, Better Late Than Never (in 1996 on Moon Records), which had seen Doreen Shaffer (Skatalites) push the song. In 1997, they released Redlight ( Hellcat Records) with guest, Larry McDonald, percussionist for the Melodians and Toots&the Maytals. In 1998, the band released The Question , written on the road, the album allows the Slackers to become a little more known overseas. Wasted Days is what we call the album of maturity, with all the poncifs that it involves. In 2003, the combo frankly imposes itself with Close My Eyes , a small jewel in reaction to September 11 (you have to listen and listen again "Old Dog"). Then comes the more interesting productions as they are low-run or original. The Slackers And Friends is in the right line of what ska and reggae groups do. We invite all his buddies and we make a huge beef, which we record. It gives the best of the best. Well, almost, because the best of the best, with the Slackers, is live! Live at Ernesto is to put in your anthology the most beautiful live. Again, no chichi, it's not the stadium of France, nor a copacabana beach in the background. Ernesto is a dark Dutch club that sweats rocksteady. Finally, the Slackers released a split cd Live following a festival, From New York to Luxembourg, where each of the 4 bands of the evening left 3 tracks. The Slackers offer revised versions of their song ("Stay Away" is of all beauty). And that's enough to understand who this band is, which is running at more than 150 concerts/year and remains a reference in this area. Stay tuned!