Posts Tagged ‘Reggae’

By: Rob Brayl
For BiggerThanBeyonce.Com

In case you haven’t heard, the one and only Snoop Dogg has released a new single under the name Snoop Lion. No, I’m not kidding. This is actually quite cool, because A.) it’s unexpected and somewhat funny & B.) it’s for an amazing cause: ending gun violence.

On No Guns Allowed, Snoop teams up with Drake and daughter Cori B. in a plea for peace on the streets.

Produced by Major Lazer and Ariel Rechtshaid, Snoop rhymes about putting weapons down on the reggae-influenced track: “Cause, no guns are allowed, in here tonight/ We’re gonna have a free-for-all, no fights/ I wanna get lost in the crowd, in here tonight.”

Go Snoop Lion!

Snoop’s 11th studio album, Reincarnated, drops on April 23rd.

Listen to Snoop Lion’s No Guns Allowed (featuring Cori B. and Drake) below + interview w/ Snoop explaining the inspiration behind the song following.

By: Maria Ciezak
For BiggerThanBeyonce.Com

MARIA CIEZAK: First and foremost, thanks for taking the time to answer some questions. I’m a big fan; in fact, Lincoln Parish of Cage the Elephant actually turned me on to you guys. I had the chance to interview him back in June, and he is your biggest promoter!

I recently saw you play with The Expendables, and you are an amazing live band. How did this tour happen, and how is it going?

MICAH from IRATION: We have toured with The Expendables before, and we were both going out at the same time, so we figured instead of having competing tours we should just combine efforts. It’s been great; one of the smoothest tours we have ever been on, and the crowds have been great.

MC: It almost seems as if you guys had success overnight, which I am sure is not the case. How was the music scene in Hawaii, and what made you all reunite in Cali?

MICAH: Well, we weren’t a band until we met up in California, so we were never really in the scene in Hawaii, although we love local music. We were all friends in school in Santa Barbara, so it made sense.

MC: Was it hard to break out? What would you say was your first big break as a band?

MICAH: Yes, it took a lot of hard work, and we don’t even feel like we have ‘broken out’ yet. We are still working hard. But our first breakthrough was probably the release of the Sample This EP. Falling is still one of our popular songs, and its success kind of jump-started our career.

MC: You guys combine such a cool blend of genres, including rock, reggae, and more. Your sound is very unique. What do you guys categorize yourself as, or do you not put yourself into one specific genre?

MICAH: I guess you could consider us reggae/rock, but yeah, we also kind of consider the songs ‘cheeky pop’ in that many of them have a tongue-in-cheek feel to the lyrical content.

MC: If you could tour with any band in the world, who would it be?

MICAH: That is tough, but probably a big rock band like the Foo’s or Chili Peppers. Muse, arena bands.

MC: How is the response to the new single Porcupine, and how did you hook up with Lincoln?

MICAH: The response has been great. We realize that it is a different sound for us, but we know our fans are music fans first and foremost, not genre fans.

We met Lincoln at a 92.9 KJEE radio show and Lollapalooza. Our manager made the connection, and the rest is coffee-fueled history.

MC: What do you guys prefer more: recording or touring?

MICAH: We love making records and the creativity of the studio, but we are a live band first and foremost, and playing in front of our fans is the most fun we can have.

MC: What’s next after the tour with The Expendables?

MICAH: Back to Hawaii for some vacay, then back on the road for our Winter tour in early 2013.

MC: For any BiggerThanBeyonce.Com readers who are not familiar with Iration yet, any parting words?

MICAH: Beyonce… Huge Iration fan.