Welcome to Dub-Rock: Easy Star All-Stars

TURNING PINK FLOYD into reggae?

Easy Star Records co-founder Michael Goldwasser was skeptical at first. One of his partners at the label, Lem Oppenhimer, had the idea while walking down the street listening to "Dark Side of the Moon."

But then Goldwasser, Easy Star All-Stars' musical director and producer, worked out some arrangements and realized a reggae Floyd could work.

So, in 2003 "Dub Side of the Moon" was born, marrying the sound of Jamaica with Pink Floyd's landmark album.

"We really didn't realize the enormity of what we were doing," Goldwasser said. "I was aware of the album, but I wasn't as into it as everyone else."

And the album has been a huge success for Easy Star Records, with sales at more than 125,000 copies. Prior to "Dub Side," the small, independent label had never sold more than 5,000 copies of anything.

Goldwasser started the label with longtime friends Oppenhimer, Eric Smith and Remy Gerstein in 1996.

"We all really love reggae and we were lamenting about the lack of good reggae coming out in the '90s," Goldwasser said. "We weren't hearing a lot of reggae made with a lot of good instruments. There was a lot coming out of America but we didn't like it. We wanted to start our own label focusing on really good old reggae, using a lot of the sounds of the '70s."

Because Goldwasser was the only Easy Star co-owner with a musical history — he was a member of The Feds as a teenager and Special Request after that — he took on musical responsibilities. All four shared the business aspects of the label, and Easy Star began releasing music by new artists, previously unreleased old reggae and the various-artists collection "Easy Star Volume One." The group backing the guest artists on the compilation needed a name, so they chose Easy Star All-Stars.

The All-Stars feature a rotating cast of musicians on recordings, Goldwasser said, but they've had a pretty consistent touring band of late. Goldwasser said he doesn't tour with the band, however, preferring to stay in-house as producer and arranger, while also mixing recordings and playing guitar on some tracks.

"I just sit around and smoke cigars," Goldwasser jokingly said of his contributions to the band.

The business started as not much more than a niche label, but that all changed once Easy Star released "Dub Side," Goldwasser said.

"That really changed the trajectory of our career from a niche thing, to stuff people care about," he said.

Goldwasser said while he was surprised by "Dub Side's" success, he wasn't entirely shocked simply because of the quality of the album.

"In a way I'm not [surprised] — it just should be successful," he said. "I guess one of the reasons that some reggae covers haven't been as good is because they don't treat the original with respect — they just try to make a quick buck. We treat this as something we have to do seriously, Even if we are a little tongue and cheek."

Easy Star followed up the success of "Dub Side" with another British-rock behemoth in 2006 — covering Radiohead's "OK Computer."

Enter "Radiodread."

"We put a lot of thought into it because of the success of 'Dub Side'; we had to do something really good and really interesting, a little out of left field," Goldwasser said. "A lot of people would say, 'Dude, you got to do 'Wish You Were Here' now,' but we don't want to be that Pink Floyd reggae cover band."

With the success of "Dub Side," Easy Star was able to spend more money on "Radiodread," recruiting bigger names to guest, including Citizen Cope and the man who's often pegged with giving reggae its name, Toots Hibbert.

"To be a fan of him my whole life and get to record with him was amazing," Goldwasser said of Hibbert. "I actually had to fly down to Miami to record him there. ... It was great. I just have so much respect for him; he's a really talented singer he took ['Let Down'] to a new place."

In March, the All-Stars released a new EP of original material titled "Until That Day."

Did non-covers fly with fans?

"Oh, definitely, the fans are really receptive," Goldwasser said. "We've been touring long enough where there are places in the world that we've passed through several times so they've gotten to know our originals."

And while Goldwasser won't reveal who will be the focus of the next Easy Star All-Stars cover record, he said there's one in the works.

Perhaps 50 Cent or Wayne Newton in a rub-a-dub style?

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Written by Express contributor Rudi Greenberg

Photo courtesy Easy Star Records