The band released a new album, YardStyle, earlier this year, which features new songs and new renditions of some classics. 13 tracks of languidly-paced, percussion-heavy acoustic reggae. A fragrant spiritual groundation. This heavy, heavy musical statement, runs the gamut from classics like “Turn The Lights On” to brand new cuts “Calling All the Youth” and “Police Bway the Vampire”. Featuring Reggae legend Willi Williams and an extended family of brethren, this is the heartbeat sound of Big Sugar.
=0D=0A=It’s like the sound of Negril at night, in Johnson’s words. More accurately, it’s the sound Big Sugar during those long days on the road; a rolling jam session that travels from the bus to the radio station to the backstage lounge. “That place where our entire band gets together on a regular basis,” is how Johnson describes it. “We listen to the drumming and the chanting and we have a moment of mental focus before every show, we burn frankincense and other things, and everybody gets their mental game together, then we walk out and do a rock show.”
=0D=0A=Willi Williams, the Jamaica born and bred Armagideon Man’s influence is felt all over Yard Style. “He’s a pretty major force in solidifying this thing conceptually,” says Gordie Johnson. Williams is a semi-permanent fixture in the Big Sugar line-up—where he joins bassist Garry Lowe, drummer Stephane “Bodean” Beaudin, one-man horn section Kelly “Mr Chill” Hoppe and toastmaster DJ Friendlyness.
=0D=0A=” It features reggae legend and longtime collaborator Willi Williams to great effect, as on “Armagideon Time”, while Big Sugar classics “Turn The Lights On” and “100 Cigarettes” are revamped sweetly here. Perfect for summer patio parties and cheaper than taking a trip to Negril.” ~ New Music Canada
=0D=0A=“Big Sugar …What’s new? They’ve gone acoustic and it’s fantastic. It’s a slow, chill and stripped down album.” ~ The Adventures of an Urban Flower Girl
=0D=0A=“Yardstyle is subtitled ‘The Acoustical Sounds of Big Sugar,’ but don’t expect a Canadian version of an MTV Unplugged album. The album, which features some well-known Big Sugar songs, some deeper cuts, and some new songs, like Calling All the Youth and Police Bway a Vampire, is unashamedly raw and honest in its presentation of a deeply spiritual interpretation of the songs.” ~ Lithium Magazine
=0D=0A=“The album is full of great tracks, from familiar songs like Turn the Lights On, 100 Cigarettes, and Little Bit A All Right, to new songs such as Calling All Youth and Police Bway a Vampire. What ties it all together is the percussion-heavy rhythm and the background sounds of ocean waves and tree frogs. It ends up sounding like a group of friends getting together and jamming outside under the open skies.” ~ Hubadub
=0D=0A=Presented by Got Pop? & 106.9 The Wolf
=0D=0A=http://www.porttheatre.com/index.php/events/mar-2015/the-acoustical-sounds-of-big-sugar/
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