Indiecore Memphis: CCDE promote "Tennessee Reggae" and northeasterners Charge The Atlantic charge Minglewood for Wakarusa

In preparation for the Wakarusa Music Festival, located in Ozark, Ark., the Waka Winter Classic tour is stopping through Minglewood Hall Feb 7 to host five local acts of the reggae/funk persuasion and award one a slot at the actual festival in June.

(photos by Phil Clarkin)

The buzzed-about local groups include Chinese Connection Dub Embassy, Charge the Atlantic, Agori Tribe, Zigadoo Moneyclips, and Funkesky. Joseph “I-Dae Han” Higgins plays keys for Chinese Connection Dub Embassy (CCDE) and explained why his group deserves the prize.

“Wakarusa and CCDE seem like the perfect marriage,” Higgins said, “It’s a big festival that really caters to a lot of reggae and jam bands, stuff we’ve always appreciated and been apart of since we started.”

The group of musicians has loosely been playing together for five years and evolved from other local bands to form Chinese Connection Dub Embassy around 2012. Higgins elaborated on the collective community of “Tennessee Reggae,” citing bands from Nashville, Chattanooga, Knoxville, and Memphis. The keyboardist hopes the upcoming show will bring attention the scene he has grown to love.

“The actual essence of reggae in Tennessee has always been overshadowed,” Higgins said, “We think through Wakarusa and opportunities like this we can put the actual brand of music and the idea of reggae music on the map.”

Higgins further described what separates Tennessee Reggae from other musical scenes and mentioned fellow Memphis bands Ras Empress and Roots of a Rebellion as fellow movers and shakers.

“Tn Reggae; we really thrive on a lot of mixing genres while still holding down the truth and the essence of traditional reggae,” Higgins said, “We mess with rock and reggae, country and reggae, r&b and reggae; the list goes on. I think with ours we bring the whole soul aspect.”

Despite the diversity of Chinese Connection’s Tennessee-bred sound, the group is not without healthy compettion at Minglewood Hall for the upcoming Wakarusa slot. This comes in the form of Rhode Island-turned Nashvillian rock/funk/reggae group Charge the Atlantic. Drummer Peter Racine explains the group’s intentions for the upcoming performance and Wakarusa.

“A couple of us have tickets to go this year already,” Racine said, “I would like to replace those tickets with a plane pass.”

The skinsman shared that at an early age each member of Charge the Atlantic took musical influence from various rock and reggae-esque bands like Incubus, 311, and The Police. Separately they all pursued music educationally, which is where some of the members met.

“Two of the guys went to URI (University of Rhode Island), one kid went to Berklee college of Music, I myself went to university of Massachusetts Dartmouth” Racine said, “We’re all jazz trained and educated musicians who are heavy on promoting music within the music.”

Charge The Atlantic cites their refreshing sound as a deciding factor for their recent move to Nashville as well as the financial benefits opposed to other musical cities like L.A and New York. Regardless of their whereabouts, Racine shared why the group is ready to hit the road.

“We’re all from the Northeast so this will be our first trip to Memphis. We’re super excited about playing in Memphis for the first time and having it be connected to Wakarusa,” Racine said,

“We’ve heard about how much it catapults bands and gives bands an opportunity to play in front of festival fans; which are, in our opinion, the best fans you can attain.”

Chinese Connection Dub Embassy player Joseph Higgins hinted at what to presume at Minglewood, and what not to presume at Minglewood.

“You go to any CCDE show and you’ll probably expect the same thing but you're never going to get the same thing,” Higgins said, “We have surprise guests and we’re gonna have new material.”

He also shared his condolences for the other groups, including Charge the Atlantic.

“We’re crossing our fingers that this’ll be the one to put TN Reggae out there and just build unity through our music, their music; with everyone in one room” Higgins said, “That’s our end result. We want everyone to have a good time/we want CCDE to win it!”