It’s been a few years, but the East Vancouver band known as Roots Roundup is back on the bill playing their high-energy hybrid of globe spanning music.
The band , which is making its way to Ashton Creek’s Lorenzo’s Café Friday, mashes up the sounds of rock ’n roll, reggae, ska, Afro-beat, folk, funk and punk.
Originally formed in 1985 in a small apartment in East Van, Roots Roundup became widely known throughout Canada during the late ‘80s and early ‘90s as one of Canada’s hardest working, hardest touring and hardest rockin’ world beat dance bands.
They toured Canada and the western U.S. extensively and released numerous independent recordings including two self-titled cassettes, as well as Get Rooted, What We Do, Syzygy and in 1997, Rootrospective, a 16-song collection spanning their entire recording career.
Disbanding in 1993, the members of Roots Roundup all continued performing, recording and touring in many different bands and musical projects. Reuniting every once in a while over the years to perform a few shows here and there, core Roots Roundup members Greg Hathaway, Dave Hannah (Dym-E-Tree), Barry Taylor, Keith Rose, David Hathaway, Mark Campbell, Ford Pier and David Macanulty recently reunited in February of this year and have performed well received shows in Roberts Creek, Vancouver, Victoria, Cumberland, Cortes Island, Denman Island and Saltspring Island.
As these recent shows were taking place, Roots Roundup has been contacted by numerous festivals and promoters offering further opportunities to perform. And so the original “roots-rock-folk-funk-reggae-ska-dance-party” continues to roll into the 21st century with on-going plans for more music and more shows.
Roots Roundup take the stage at Lorenzo’s Café, 901 Mabel Lake Rd., Ashton Creek, east of Enderby, Friday at 8 p.m. Doors open at 6 p.m. and cover is $10. Call 250-838-6700 to reserve a seat.
The band is also taking part in the Routes and Blues outreach project (see page A11) and will perform at Don Fink Memorial Park in Seymour Arm Saturday at 7 p.m.
