(WADI Magazine) Tribal Big Band

By Ida Washington

Staff Writer

The first thing you thinking when you get this CD, in this case is reggae. The second thing you are thinking is ZioniPentecostal Church. Shortly, thereafter you forget all of that because it is irrelevant. What is relevant is the novel sound of these 7 musicians. Zion Troop sports an ensemble of 3 (count em’) drummers, 3 guitar players, 2 singers and a partridge in a pear tree.

Lately I have been getting more “fusion” CD’s, this fits into that category, and I do not really know how to box it into a music type. There is definitely reggae sounds, but there is also remnants of rock and folk. Appropriately, their is a very tribal feel, but westernized. Sometimes they sound a little bit like The Grateful Dead, but that is because it is a very complete and orchestral effect to have so much percussion with so much of everything else. But, this is a good sound. unlike that of The Grateful Dead (En my opinion remember, not yours.)

To be sure, this Minnesota based tribe is still looking to find themselves, but give them a few more recordings and get lost in the music. You can check them out at www.ziontribe.net.

 

(Brainerd Daily Dispatch)

Sssssmokin’!

By JOHN HANSEN

Staff Writer

It’s not easy for a young band to get noticed in today’s cutthroat music industry -

- especially when it plays an eclectic mix of reggae, funk, bluegrass, jazz, dance and African music that scares off most of the potential audience before they even get in the door. Zion Tribe has found a way around that problem. At any given show by the Twin Cities band, you’re likely to see a half dozen fire spinners, a dude in a bear suit, another guy wearing a monster mask and a floating caterpillar made out of beach balls. That’s not to say the music plays second fiddle. After all, that monster mask is in service to a song called “Jealousy is a Monster.”

“A few people in the group are connected with The Fire Troupe,” drummer Robin Sedivy, 24, explained in a phone interview, using a tone of voice more suited to describing the weather than his band’s ridiculously flashy stage show. “Basically, they do acrobatic ballet moves in pairs with various rods or a p0, which is a bag on the end of a string. We’ve got fire fingers, which are gigantic hands with fire on the end of each fmger, a smoke cannon that shoots gigantic rings of smoke, and a smoke fnachine. We also made a giant caterpillar out of beach balls. It’s 20 feet long. We’re going to have to try to find some helium so it floats in the air so people can have fun with it. Some of our fire spinners are on tour right now, so we’re only going to have three to five fire spinners in this show.”

Zion Tribe has never been accused of being normal. The seven band members, to sty.nothing of the three who spin fire, bring different experiences to the mix. One lead vocalist, Tony Miller, recently rejoined the band even as he recovers from being struck by a bus. The other lead vocalist, who goes simply by Aimee B, prefers a spoken-word poetry style to traditional singing. The band is also known for inviting guest musicians on stage. Devon Evans, a former member of Bob Marley & the Wailers, will join Zion Tribe at the Zorbaz show. The band met the reggae veteran at Galactic Pizza, an Uptown Minneapolis joint where the delivery people drive around in electric carts and wear capes.

The first incarnation of Zion Tribe, the Noodle Project, formed in 2002 and put down a few tracks in a studio, a record attempt that was “not fruitful,” Sedivy said. Over time, with band members coming and going and coming back again, the current lineup formed and they compiled their first album earlier this year. Appropriately for a style of music that refuses to be pinned down, it’s a live album, consisting of five original songs with an average length of nine minutes. It’s available for $5 at shows.

The full article, in its orignial context can be found at:ww.brainerddispatch.com JOHN HANSEN can be reached atjohn.hansen@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5863.