Cincinnati reggae band The Pinstripes will return to Jackie O’s Pub & Brewery, bringing with them their award-winning world music style.
The group formed in 2003 as a punk band when they were still high-school students, and have since evolved into a robust reggae group.
“It’s evolved a lot, because we’ve gotten better as musicians, composers and performers, and we’ve really honed in on what we want to do and what we want to be,” said Mike Sarason, vocalist and saxophonist for the group.
The group has been passionate about its unique style of reggae music ever since, winning the Cincinnati Entertainment Award for Best World Band three times.
“It’s an honor to get to win it,” Sarason said. “It’s cool that Cincinnati has those awards in general and that we have a robust enough music scene to have a world music category.”
The group has played across the country, including at the 2012 South By Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, which features film and music from across the nation.
The extensive touring has garnered the band a large following nationwide and online, and though the group’s main strategy will be to make good music, it has other plans for appealing to a fan base.
“We’ll play at Reds Stadium, weddings and other events that are not a conventional show,” said Leonardo Murcia, trombonist for the band. “They actually end up turning out some of the most loyal fans. We’ve never tried to shy away from the more obscure performances, because those have been very successful.”
The group’s most recent album, The Pinstripes/I, was released earlier this year with lyrical content focusing on social and political issues. The song “Dollar (In Our Pocket)” talks about the value society puts on money and the hidden costs involved with purchases.
“It’s about how our modern world has placed the value of money in the dollar over a lot of other things,” Sarason said. “There are a lot of hidden costs. We don’t really know what’s going on, and, even if you think you’re not involved, how you spend your money affects all this stuff.”
wh092010@ohiou.edu
