Group performs socially conscious reggae

By Kelsey Whipple

Published Aug. 21, 2007

Adrian Zelski is not your typical lead singer. Sure, when he speaks, the vocalist of dub reggae sextet Dubconscious drops names, but only the likes of Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King and Gandhi. And in a world where most of his peers still chase sex, drugs and millions, his band's perspective is as refreshing as it is unusual.

"We're about peaceful resistance," Zelski said in the same obvious tone some people would use to say hello. "There might be one or two lines in our songs that make a love song, but the rest are about change. Reggae started that way. It's either a song about love or about social justice, and as frustrated Americans, it's important for us in the band to say we're about change."

And Zelski isn't kidding about the band's frustrations. The video for "Stereotype," the title song on their new five-song EP, is as blatantly anti-war as it is Dubconscious.

"I don't think Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, whatever, really have the answer," Zelski said. "We don't want to be a part of that. I don't see the point in ignoring the person who went after us on 9/11 and going after someone else for no reason. That's not OK."

The band members, however blunt they choose to be about their politics, are an easygoing group. With the new addition of female vocalist Shelley Olin on Stereotype and a full horn section, the album is a laidback blend of traditional reggae and dub-style reverb.

Robert Hannon, who worked with OutKast on 2004's Grammy-winning Speakerboxxx/ The Love Below, mixed Stereotype.

"You sit back and watch him on those million-dollar boards do things that only a sound alchemist can do," Zelski said. "He's a magician. I can't speak highly enough of him."

Dubconscious shares its hometown of Athens, Ga. with R.E.M. and a sound with the legacy of the reggae greats of the '60s and '70s.

It's a sound they're not afraid to play with, though, and Stereotype marks the band's deepest delving yet into the more experimental side of editing.

"People are always surprised that we do reggae and are from Georgia," Zelski said. "But who wouldn't be? There aren't a lot of groups like us in the Southeast. At (the Reggae on the Rocks festival), everyone else was African-American and from England and other places, real Rastafarians. We're different."

Despite completing a tour with The Wailers and a set at Bonnaroo, Dubconscious's focus remains on change, a topic Zelski is persistent in exploring. The band and its crew, 11 people in total, travel on a 40-foot bus filled with biodiesel. All merchandise is made from natural fibers, and yes, they recycle.

In the end, Zelski proved the band's almost controversial perspective yet again. Zelski said in five years he sees Dubconscious continuing its role in social change.

"I see us playing the perfect side stage, a part of the big social awakening that is happening right now because of politics and other things," Zelski said. "If there's a community Dubconscious could create in five years, that'd be great."

Amen.