John Brown’s Body: Live at JSC on Sept. 2

August 7, 2015

John Brown’s Body, the East Coast indie reggae/dub band that draws a following wherever it goes, is scheduled to perform at Johnson State College’s Dibden Center for the Arts at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 2.

Free tickets for current JSC students will be available starting Tuesday, Aug. 25, in the Dibden Box Office. Tickets for the rest of the JSC community and the general public are $10 and available the day of the show via the Box Office, jscdibden.boxoffice@jsc.edu or 802-635-1476.

The nine-member band, which last played in Vermont in January at Higher Ground in South Burlington, will be arriving in the Green Mountain state after a summer of touring from the East to West coasts.

Named for the Civil War song about the radical abolitionist who led the raid on Harper’s Ferry, W.Va., John Brown’s Body was formed in 1995 in Boston, a city the members now call home, along with Ithaca, N.Y. The band’s latest album, Kings And Queens (2013), debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard and iTunes reggae charts.

According to the Village Voice, the band generates a sound both “reverent and revolutionary at the same time.” That sound, according to John Brown’s Body, is “future roots,” using reggae as a foundation, but incorporating dub, drum and bass, dancehall, hip hop and other musical explorations.

For their live shows, the band members boast super-heavy rhythms, a three-piece horn section, air-tight drum and bass and “the most gorgeous melodies in all of modern reggae music,” All Music Guide notes. They have performed with a variety of groups, including the Dave Matthews Band, The Flaming Lips, STS9, Furthur, Ozomatli, Broken Social Scene and Jurassic 5.

For more information about the Johnson State show, contact Emily Neilsen, 802-635-1408 or Emily.Neilsen@jsc.edu.