 |
 |
 |
|
The story of the Swedish reggaeband Urban Tribe actuality starts on a beach in Thailand when Adam Atterby and Charlotte were on honeymoon in Kamala, Phuket. The idea was to simply write a tribute song to Bob's Bar – a wonderful little reggaebar by the beach hosted by Mr Surin "Bob" Sikapain. The whole thing snowballed and two months later, Adam had material for a full length album. The album was recorded in Adam's studio in the Old Town in Stockholm during the summer, with post production and bits and pieces added during the fall and early winter. Renowned dubartist and producer Internal Dread was brought in to do dubbing and also to lend his expertise to the final touches of the mixing of the album. Toaster Bamma B was gracious enough to put the final icing on the cake by appearing on three tracks ("We Say No", "Soul Rebel" and "Bob’s Bar").
After the release of the album, "Bob's Bar", things went from strength to strength for Urban Tribe. Here's a brief overview of what happened in the past months:
13 April 2005: Review from The Beat
The band got an e-mail from LA based magazine The Beat yesterday saying they'll be getting "a REALLY nice review" in the next issue that comes out late in May 2005...
26 April 2005: Radioplay in the US
"We Say No" has been added to the reggae-playlist at KBOO 90.7 FM in Portland, Oregon - apparently they have gotten a hold of the band's songs through another reggae DJ in the US. The word is slowly spreading! Also, "We Say No" and "Bump Dem" are currently residing in places number 3 & 4 on the Top 10 mp3-list on swedish reggaecommunity Skawars...
7 May 2005: Distribution deal for US!
As of today, the band has signed a distribution agreement for the album with Reggae Ejaness Comprehensive, who own and operate mega-site ReggaeCD.com. So "Bob's Bar" will now be available throughout all the US....releasedate will be set soon.
18 May 2005: Releaseparty at Fasching, Stockholm
Thanks to all 340 who showed up at jazzclub Fasching in Stockholm Monday night - there was definately love in the air! The gig cannot be considered as anything but a complete and utter success...The members of Urban Tribe were almost a little embarassed by the fantastic response. Adam Atterby is mixing the recordings in the studio right now, and the DVD will hopefully be edited next week.
26 May 2005: New manager:
Urban Tribe are very pleased to announce that they now have a manager; Mr.Ron Hammond. Ron has been employed by Steel Pulse for the past 7 years, working as the right-hand man for Richard Hermitage, Steel Pulse's manager. Ron came over from England to check out the band's releaseparty at Fasching and apparently he liked what he saw because a few days later they were offered his services. Ron has the support of Steel Pulse in this and will also continue working for them.
4 June 2005: First major order in the US
Urban Tribe have just received word of the first major order of our album in the US - one of Ejaness subdistributors directly ordered 100 copies after hearing the album. This means they have to send a lot more albums to Ejaness in N.Y. They'll have to call the CD plant in Germany to order another 1000 copies, becuase the first 1000 is now running out! Not bad for an independant release... The release date for the album in the US is now officially June 14th.
19 June 2005: Live DVD release
It has now been decided that the DVD recorded at the release-party at Fasching will be released in the US some time this fall. Eric Jones at Ejaness in New York had some very nice things to say about the test DVD they sent him; let's just say that the review he gave it included words like "excellent", "superb" and lots of exlamation marks...exciting news, indeed! Also the CD will be released in a US-version with a new cover - this time featuring their faces on the front page. The new edition will be printed and pressed in the US.
Urban Tribe consists of :
Adam Atterby - leadvocals, guitar, additional keyboards
Anders Kappelin - bass
Steve Nilsson - drums
Frank Rönningen - organ, clav, Rhodes & Moog
Mikael Atterby - guitar
Petter Svärd - percussion
Charlotte Atterby - backing vocals
Christian Lindström - backing vocals
Tessan Andersson - backing vocals
Tobbe Eliasson - sax
Martin Pålsson - trombone
|
|
Track list
|
- Fool With A Gun
- We Say No
- I Believe In You
- Bump Dem
- Soul Rebel
- Silver And Gold
- Bob's Bar
- Better Than This
- Chant Them Down
- Bad Man
- Revolution
|
Rating :
from 5 (excellent) to 1 (poor)
|
|
Vocals :
4/5
|
Backing :
4
|
Production :
4
|
Sound quality :
5
|
Sleeve :
4/5
|
Released on June 14th, the debut album "Bob's Bar" from a new reggae group from Sweden called Urban Tribe. It's an 11-piece band, complete with a fantastic sounding horn-section. The sound of the band is phat and juicy, immediate comparisons to great traditional reggae bands like Steel Pulse, Inner Circle and Bob Marley & the Wailers will be made. The band is build around Adam Atterby who is a writer, producer, composer, musician and singer! Listen to his story how it all began ......
"It all started in February 2004, when I got the idea of writing a tribute song for my home away from home, Bob's Bar in Kamala Beach, Thailand. I went to our bungalow and wrote the song right there and recorded it upon
returning to an icy Stockholm. Recording and producing the song left me with an itch I just had to scratch so I kept writing, and writing ...until, about two months later, I had 11 songs ready. The album was recorded in my studio in the Old Town in Stockholm during the summer, with post production and bits and pieces added during the fall and early winter. I had a rough version of the album with me when I returned to Kamala in November, so I got the chance to hear the song "Bob's Bar" where it really should be heard - at Bob's Bar.
Then, on Boxing day 2004, the tsunami struck. I was working on the final mix of the album when my wife woke me
up saying a huge tidalwave had struck Southeast Asia. We sat dumbfounded and watched the terrible reports
coming from the TV - I simply couldn't believe it. All the phone lines were down and we couldn't get in touch with
Bob or any of our other Thai friends and it wasn't until the day after that, finally, Bob gave me a call to let us know he was allright, although there wasn't much left of the bar of, fot that matter, the rest of Kamala. All was lost. As a good measure of what kind of man Bob is, he still asked how my wife Charlotte was and if our son had been born yet. Here we have a man who has just lost everything that he owns and he still wants to know if we had gotten our baby yet. I think that is remarkable. At the time I write this, it is still very unclear if there will
ever be a Bob's Bar in Kamala again. The fact is that it is up to us - if we all come, he will be there."
Urban Tribe present themselves as seasoned musicians, capable of playing excellent roots reggae, delivered in a positive mood. The album definitely brings positive vibes, although some of the themes here are aggression, corruption, crisis and greed. Listening to the album we never would have guessed these are Swedish guys! The rich and mature sound makes one think the band has been playing worldwide for several years. The album has strong crossover potential as can be heard when listening to tunes like Fool With A Gun and Soul Rebel, the latter being a very danceable tune with some nice dancehall flavors.
This album is dedicated to all those who lost their lives and livelyhood in this tragedy and 20% of the price of the album goes directly to Bob to help him rebuild the bar. For more info check the website www.urbantribe.nu or email Adam Atterby at info@atterby.com
Excellent set....trust us...listen to the album and...enjoy! Enjoy the album Mix here below
Teacher & Mr. T.
|
|
Back to 'Book An Artist' Main Page
|
|
