Image via Tritonics Facebook
The Tritonics started with a little white lie, after an acquaintance asked singer/keyboardist Jeff Stehr if he had a band that might be able to play reggae music at an event. “I told her, ‘Sure, I have a band that could do that,’” Stehr says. “Of course, I didn’t actually have a band, but I had musician friends who I knew who were into that music, so I knew I could put one together.”
Seven years later, that band is still together, and still retains the same focus on early rocksteady. “We love all kinds of reggae, but we especially focus on the pre-Bob Marley era—Toots and the Maytals, the old Skatalites, things that are a little rootsier, from before reggae got its bombast,” Stehr says. “We feel like it’s a phase of reggae’s history that’s not as exposed as the big, bombastic dancehall music that came after it. There are already a lot of other acts doing that sound, and we figured that as 50-year-old white guys we’d look pretty silly doing it.”
At their live shows, the band plays a mix of covers, including ska staples like “54-46 (That’s My Number)” and “A Message to You, Rudy,” and originals. And now the quintet has collected some of those originals on a new album, Dance Crasher, which they’ll release at Linneman’s Riverwest Inn on Friday.
Recorded with Semi-Twang’s John Sieger, the album stays true to the loose, jazzy, laidback sound of early rocksteady. It features assists from some local players from both inside and outside of Milwaukee’s small but intimate rocksteady scene, including singer Robin Pluer, Mt. Zion Sound System’s Saskia Nassalang, saxophonist Jay Anderson and We Six trumpeter Eric Jacobson. Like the classic Studio One recordings that inspired it, most of it was recorded live in the studio in as few takes as possible.
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“Nowadays when you’re recording with Pro Tools you can fix and tweak just about anything, and we wanted to avoid doing that as much as possible,” Stehr says. “One of the most authentic ways you can make a modern album feel like an older one is to leave in some of those mistakes, because if you listen to those old Studio One records, they had a lot of them. That studio would literally have musicians lined up at the door, and they had one shot to come in and record. If you flubbed your solo or came in late with the trumpet, it probably stayed on the record, because that was your one shot. You didn’t get nine of them.”
The band has assembled some friends for their release show, which will feature DJ sets from two fixtures of Milwaukee’s rocksteady scene, Ric Vespa and John Komp. “They’ll help set the vibe for the evening,” Stehr says. “Then we’ll have a couple of mini sets from John Sieger and Paul Setser from the Circle-A Café, who are both songwriters we really love.” And there’s one other guest who isn’t officially on the bill but that Stehr is just as excited about: Chuck Wage, a dapper, leisure-suited 71-year-old whose photo appears on Dance Crasher’s cover. He’ll be on hand to sign covers of the album, pose for photos and hit the dance floor.
The Tritonics’ album release show begins at 8 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 29 at Linneman’s Riverwest Inn.
