Reggae | Arden Park Roots

Irie Magazine - September 2015 - Arden Park Roots

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Arden Park Roots

Cali Reggae

Back on April ‘420’ 2015, IRIE Magazine introduced our fans to our Norcal brothers, Arden Park Roots. Sacramento’s much loved surf/roots/rock/reggae band, APR has established themselves as a commanding presence in the California music scene. Their sounds include surf, roots reggae and rock. They have toured relentlessly over the past 7 years, playing over 150 shows a year while putting out 4 full-length albums; ‘The Hard Way’ (2008), ‘Pipe Dreams’ (2011), ‘No Regrets In the Garden of Weeden’ (2010) and ‘Burning the Midnight Oil’ (2014).

So when IRIE planned the launch of the Cali Edition, there was no question who should appear on the cover of the inaugural issue. Without further ado, IRIE Magazine is blessed to present an exclusive interview with Josh Dickel of Arden Park Roots!

The Interview

IRIE. Thank you for taking time to sit down with me this evening. I know you are really busy doing many things for your bands and others in the music industry. Can you please tell us a little bit about Josh Dickel and what you currently are doing in the music industry?

Josh Dickel: I am currently managing several bands. Arden Park Roots and Riotmaker from Sacramento, California, and Element of Soul from Placerville, California. I also currently manage operations for Anxiety Boy Records. Anxiety Boy is our independent label founded eight years ago by Tyler Campbell, lead singer of Arden Park Roots. I manage national tour booking, festivals, advertising, promotions, and graphic design for our bands. However, our business philosophy is not like many. We do not ordinarily use agencies, we believe in building direct relationships with venue owners and managers.

IRIE. You have also been known to be a great source to others in the industry and have strong relationships with so many. What do you feel you can attribute that to?

Josh Dickel: When other people contact me I just send them to the source because I simply love helping these national bands succeed. It makes it a lot easier because it can be difficult to book bands here. Unless you know them directly, owners will often not let you play at their venue.

IRIE. About what age did you start getting involved with the music industry and can you tell us a little bit about it?

Josh Dickel: Well, my father was a touring musician until I was 15. He played in a couple different bands when I was growing up including a couple rock bands and a cover band. I remember there were a lot of band practices at our house and events that he performed all around California.

IRIE. Can you tell us how you discovered reggae music?

Josh Dickel: Because of my father’s background, I was exposed to all types of music. When I was real young, my mom used to take me and my brother to that annual Whole Earth Festival in Davis, California. That really opened me and my brother’s eyes to the Rastafari culture.

As I got older I had heard about other events such as Reggae on the River. So I started attending those events. That was about when I truly fell in love with the vibes.

IRIE. Can you tell us about how the reggae scene has evolved in California and how that may’ve had an influence on local bands?

Josh Dickel: I remember four years ago when I first started managing Arden Park Roots, I would try to book shows for them and the moment the word reggae came out of my mouth, they would just flat out say “nope” or “sorry, we don’t have reggae shows here.” Since that time, over all these years we’ve been trying to spread good vibes and music to all these venues with hundreds of shows in California and throughout the country. Finally with a lot of effort from promoters, bands and the fans especially, they started getting some recognition and now it’s not as hard for bands of our genre.

IRIE. You mentioned that the music of Arden Park Roots doesn’t appeal to just one age group or generation… what really we find interesting about APR is that they have done some rather unique collaborations in the studio that some may not be aware of.

Josh Dickel: Arden Park Roots loves to collaborate with all kinds of artists. In 2012 we collaborated with bay area legend Spice-1 and he performed in the studio with us on the track ‘The Music.’ Spice 1 also performed with us live at Arden Park Roots’ Sacramento Hall of Fame Induction. The Hall also includes great bands such as Cake and Papa Roach. There are a lot of artists we would like to collaborate with in the future. We set our standards high and would love to be able to do something with 311 and E-40.

IRIE. Your bands have been pretty busy over the past year, year and a half touring across the country and performing at some of the best events and festivals. Is there any specific events or festivals you feel has contributed to the success of this genre in a major way?

Josh Dickel: Of course you know, the mecca of everything we do in this genre is going to be California Roots Festival. That’s the event that every California band wants to perform at. BUT, there are also many other righteous events that we love to perform at. Reggae in the Hills. is a one of a kind event and we have a great group of fans there. We would also love to perform at Sierra Nevada World Music Festival, Reggae on the River or Shoreline Jam next year…that would be awesome. We are always striving to perform at all the events throughout the country where there are fans who want us. That’s where we play.

IRIE. We definitely agree that those are some very great events. We have also been involved in these events and can definitely understand their influence. I only have one last question for you so you can back to your busy schedule… There are quite a few newer bands throughout California. Are there any particular bands you feel are ones to look out for?

Josh Dickel: There are a lot of bands around the country that are under-rated including Oogee WaWa from Long Island New York, Pasadena from Pasadena, Maryland, and Sol Seed out of Eugene Oregon. There are many great bands out there, those are just three that I listen to all the time.

IRIE. Thank you so much, Josh! Is there any last comments you would like to add?

Josh Dickel: I would just like to give a huge shout out to all our fans that have supported us. Without you, we wouldn’t be able to do what we love.

IRIE. Much Respect! Irie Magazine Logo


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