The Slow Natives - Live at Plattsburgh State

A Plattsburgh-based band rocks the audience with its reggae music

Story by Tats Kasama

In 1975, the Rolling Stones played "Brown Sugar" on a running flat-bed truck passing by the people in the streets of New York City. AC/DC did the same thing with "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock'n'roll)" in Melbourne, Australia, in 1976. U2 did it in New York City in 2004.

These similar scenes came to mind when I saw the Slow Natives, a Plattsburgh-based reggae band, in the field house of Plattsburgh State University College. They were not performing on a flat-bed truck, but on the fixed stage. Instead, the audience kept circling the track in front of the stage many times. More than 100 people passed by the stage instead of the stage passing by the people.

There were several more unusual things: No one in the audience was drunk, and the band started playing at four in the morning. The Slow Natives performed for about one and a half hours as the last group in Relay for Life, a fund-raising event held by The American Cancer Society. Because the event was 12 hours long, some of the audience members were sleeping, some were just sitting, some were playing catch, some were eating, and so on. I had never seen the scene like this, although I have attended the band's shows many times at bars in Plattsburgh.

As they already had two sets of gigs in Saranac Lake before coming back to Plattsburgh, the total time of performance that night was five hours. Though they seemed slightly less energetic than usual, the performance was tighter. It might be due to the earlier shows in the same night that had warmed them up or due to their accumulation of experience. Some members looked a bit tired, but the keyboard player, Ade, seemed to be on a high. She looked like she was having extraordinary fun doing three sets in a night. She was speaking more than at other concerts.

The show started with the tune called "Yikes Dub," followed by the greeting and the self-introduction.

The most featured instrument in the next song "Wasting It" was the trumpet. Mike, the trumpeter, played catchy riffs, solos and bridge parts with soft sound.

"Weapon" was also a catchy and memorable number with a nice chorus.

Shawn, the guitar player, sitting in the center of the stage, was playing more fluently, especially ad-lib-like obbligato, than he would normally other nights. He played with mostly clean sound, but his natural distortion in "Restless" was also comfortable to listen.

An instrumental tune "Debu-chan" was like they were jamming on a simple chord progression, and the unique rhythm of the percussionist, Krit, was the most impressive.

They sped up the tempo in the middle of an instrumental number "Techno," which is probably one of the slowest numbers usually, and Richaete's drums sounded more powerful as Jamse, on vocal and bass, agitated the walking audience, "Walk faster, walk faster."

Though the huge solid space of the venue made a strange echo, their sound was clear throughout the show because of the P.A. that night, and the audience was less noisy compared to those at downtown bars. Therefore, it was an opportunity to focus more on their music rather than excitement of the band and the audience, and I recognized their music was fun and amazing.

What is your favorite band in the North Country?

Upcoming shows for the summer 2007
(check slownatives.com for more detailed information)

May 5, 4 p.m. Outdoor Stage Downtown Plattsburgh, New York

May 11, 10 p.m. Maggie's, Plattsburgh, New York

May 17, 9 p.m. The Dewitt Shire Tavern Syracuse, New York

May 18, 10 p.m. Bull & Bear Pub Syracuse, New York

May 19, Noon. Reggae On The Ridge 2007 @ Lightning Ridge Farmz, Plattsburgh, new York

June 1, 10 p.m. Maggie's, Plattsburgh, New York

June 15, 9 p.m. Waterhole # 3 Saranac Lake, New York

June 22, 10 p.m. Maggie's, Plattsburgh, New York

July 6, 10 p.m. Maggie's, Plattsburgh, new York

July 20, 10 p.m. Maggie's, Plattsburgh, New York

Aug. 10, 10 p.m. Maggies, Plattsburgh, New York

Aug. 23-26, Vermont Roots Reggae Festival 2007, Coventry, Vermont

Aug. 31, 10 p.m. Maggie's, Plattsburgh, New York

Sept. 7, 4 p.m. Backwoods Pondfest, Peru, new York

Sept. 8-9, Reggae Festival, Madison, Maine

Sept. 14, 10 p.m. Maggie's, Plattsburgh, New York