Super-Massive mixes roots, rock, reggae, more
If you go
What: Super-Massive, with Smoke Stack Horizon and In a Circle
When: 10 p.m. Saturday
Where: The Lemon Grove, 122 W. Federal St., Youngstown
Tickets: $3; call 330-301-0282
- Place:Knox Bldg
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110 W. Federal St., Youngstown
By JOHN BENSON
When Super-Massive bassist/ singer Nick Blasky attempts to describe his Cincinnati-based band’s sound, he quickly mentions a roots-rock-reggae style with a West-Coast feel.
It’s the latter description — West-Coast feel — that is code word for sounding like Sublime, which has a ubiquitous influence (or stranglehold, depending on who you ask) over the modern reggae scene.
“It kind of has that Sublime feel, but there’s a newer reggae scene with bands like The Movement and Revelation Revolution, groups that we’re closer to than Sublime,” Blasky said. “But I think that scene wouldn’t exist without Sublime for sure. They opened the door in that musical direction.”
Super-Massive’s own door opened five years ago when various Queen City-based musicians wanted to have fun performing out as a reggae cover band. A few lineup shifts later, and the sextet — Blasky, Jeremy Lacinak (vocals, guitar), John Gentry (guitar), Andrew Lenihan (keys), Tim Hensley (drums) and Alonzo Leggette (percussion) — became primarily an original act. The group’s self-titled effort came out in 2008, with the band readying the release of its sophomore album this summer.
“The first album we went in with the idea of representing ourselves and having a good time but also making it as cheaply as possible,” Blasky said. “We still managed to put out a good album. I’m pretty proud of it. It has a lot of good grooves to it and a decent sound but it was like more of a live recording. Whereas the second album, we were able to stretch out a little bit and really kind of get into the studio side of things like the old Steely Dan tricks they use to do to eliminate dissonance. It’s sounding pretty interesting.
“I’ve never had the chance over the years to relax in the studio with an album. So it’s definitely more produced and going to be more fuller, bigger sounding, for sure. We have a rocker song, ‘Blurry,’ that is more straight-ahead backbeat reggae, and then there’s this big, epic drawn-out thing called ‘Playing it Dub,’ which goes through four or five different sections. It’s more of an experiment and about applying more of the open improv idea with a big, giant rock ending.”
Up next for Super-Massive is expanding its fanbase, which is why the six-piece is about to make its Youngstown debut Saturday at the Lemon Grove. The group is also scheduled to appear at Jonesfest III taking place Sunday at Nelson Ledges Quarry Park. Blasky admits if his band has one hurdle to overcome it’s the stereotypes associated with reggae. Comparatively speaking, he believes his act sounds more like a Steel Pulse or funky jam band than anything else.
“The biggest complaint I hear from people who aren’t really into the reggae thing is the repetitiveness of it; the top end of the rhythm section does the same thing over and over,” Blasky said. “What I can say about us is we tend to keep that varied. There’s a ton of different ways to approach it, and we’ve made it a small mission to vary up the rhythms. It definitely has some Bob [Marley] in it, and we still play a lot of Bob, like four or five tunes we keep in the rotation. People have given us grief for them in the past, but the truth is they’re so much fun to play it’s really almost all for us at that point, but audiences do tend to enjoy it.”