Katchafire is an all-Maori reggae band from New Zealand, who have achieved phenomenal success over the last few years. Their second album, Slow Burning has sold in excess of 1,000,000 copies. The band has also been busy internationally taking the stage in places such as; Roskilde in Denmark, SummerJam in Germany, and Rhythms of the World in England amongst many other tour stops. Opening the show will be Elan Atias who has spent the last ten years touring as the lead singer in The Wailers! Tickets are $15 general and $5 for HSU students. Tickets are available at the University Ticket Office, at the Works in Eureka, and at humboldt.edu/aspresents.
Reggae is one of the bloodlines of New Zealand music, and the all-Maori band Katchafire has become its foremost advocate today. A family affair from day one in 1997, founder and lead guitarist Grenville Bell and sons Logan (lead vocals) and Jordan (drums), remain the core of the band. Transcending their origins in a Hamilton garage as a cover band, Katchafire took their Marley-inspired original music to the bars and clubs, building up a fan base of thousands.
In 2003 Katchafire took a major step forward when New Zealand foreign exchange students Introduced their Kiwi reggae vibes to the fertile soil of the Hawaiian Islands. Underground popularity soon exploded onto the airwaves, and by the summer of 2006 Katchafire was topping the sales charts in the Aloha State and headlining at the 10,000 capacity Waikiki Shell. That’s when the band started giving their passports a considerable workout, from festival appearances all over Europe to increasingly successful mainland U.S. excursions. They now draw huge crowds all over the Pacific, from Australia to Guam and Saipan.
The last several years have found the band with an increasingly hectic tour schedule, featuring stops at the Big Day Out Festival at home, Raggamuffin tour of Australia, and new island conquests like Fiji. And each U.S. tour is bigger than the last, with stops at SXSW, Reggae on the River, House of Blues and many more. With a long-awaited fourth album due this fall, combined with their relentless work ethic and phenomenal live shows, It looks like only a matter of time before the whole world is Katchafire country.
LA native Elan Atias will bring his new band White Elephant to open the show. You may know Elan as the lead singer for the legendary Wailers. Yes, that’s right, those Wailers. Night after night, in front of thousands, Elan sang the words that Bob Marley had written and popularized with – as those thousands and the Wailers themselves will testify – stunning authority and authenticity. At first, people frequently thought he was lip-synching to Marley’s vocals; later, many, including people in Jamaica, assumed he was one of Marley’s children. Even Carlos Santana once mistook his voice as being a tape recording of Marley!
For more information and credit card orders call CenterArts at 826-3928 or at humboldt.edu/aspresents.