Roots Collider
Local band blends live drum and bass with reggae, rock
Troy L. Smith
September 9, 2008
Roots Collider
You've felt the music of the Buddhahood and Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad.
Now welcome Roots Collider, the latest edition to the local scene, where some of the best and most popular bands create music driven by a vibe rather than a sound.
The trio isn't a talented jam band or a roots-reggae ensemble. It's a "diamond in the rough," says the group's bearded, laid-back bassist, Wil McKenna, 29, of Rochester.
McKenna and his bandmates - drummer Jimmy Grillo, 21, of Irondequoit and keyboardist Bill Smith, 30, of Penfield - play live drum and bass, a format typically associated with DJs and beat machines.
Though live drum and bass is extremely popular in Europe (especially England), it hasn't caught on the United States. In fact, Roots Collider's MySpace page claims that the band is the only one of its kind in this area, and MySpace, and PureVolume searches don't do anything to prove otherwise. Grillo links the genre's lack of mainstream success to a reluctance by trained musicians to embrace it.
"We've had a bunch of people come through [to play with us], and it just doesn't work," he says. "They don't recognize the genre or the concept of drum and bass and putting that in a live format."
Whereas drum and bass DJs "take a bunch of funk beats from the '70s and speed them up," he says, Roots Collider re-creates those accelerated beats on live instruments and combines them with roots music - jazz, rock, reggae and blues.
Not surprisingly, when McKenna first dreamed of starting a drum and bass band, he had trouble finding other musicians capable of fitting in - until he met Grillo through mutual friends.
"As soon as the guy played, I felt inspired," McKenna says.
Once Grillo was onboard, McKenna reached out to friend and keyboardist/sax player Smith.
Roots Collider has been an official trio since mid-January, playing in front of crowds that sometimes feel the vibe or are completely baffled by it.
"We're colliding roots music together," McKenna says. "Right now we're having fun being a raging power trio and just getting people familiar with the scene."
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