UNTAPPED TALENT: THE AGGROLITES' J. BONNER

A WISE MAN ONCE SAID, "AIN’T NO PARTY LIKE A WEST COAST PARTY." I BELIEVE IT WAS DRE... MAYBE SNOOP. NO MATTER. THE AGGROLITES WON’T ARGUE. IN FACT, ALL THEY’LL DO IS BACK IT UP, 200%. OUR VERY OWN VINNIE BAGGADONUTS TALKED WITH BASSIST J. BONNER ABOUT THE TIMELESS SOUND THEY POSSESS, THE MUSICAL LEGENDS THEY’VE BACKED, AND WHAT’S NEXT IN THIS, THE YEAR OF THE AGGROLITES.
Vinnie: I know you guys culminated from a bunch of different bands, so, if you could, give me a quick "How it all began."
J: Okay. Me and Roger Rivas come from this band called The Vessels. We used to play old skinhead reggae. Then that band broke up, and we weren’t doing anything. The other three guys-- Korey, Ryan, and Jesse-- are from The Rhythm Doctors. They were playing before us, you know? They were another skinhead reggae band that did organ instrumentals live in L.A., and they got pretty big. Then they broke up. We ended up doing a session for Derrick Morgan together-- well, I wasn’t in the session-- but they were gonna record Derrick Morgan’s record. Brian, our guitar player, was doing the session, and he had an all-star lineup for it. And the idea for The Aggrolites kinda started there, from Brian, and our other guitar player, Jesse.
V: Right on.
J: Then we did another session for Heartbeat Records, with Chris Wilson, for an Everton Blender record. The record’s out now. We were all in on the session, except for Korey, our drummer. Then we ended up backing Derrick Morgan at a few shows. That was fun.
V: So, then, how long have you guys been together?
J: Probably close to two years now.
V: Really? Damn. See, I started hearing about you guys a year ago or so, at shows and on other websites. Your name was one that everyone was mentioning.
J: My name?
V: No, no. The band’s name.
J: Oh!
Both: (laugh)
J: Crazy! Yeah, I was wondering how you’d heard of us. You said at shows?
V: Yeah. And when I started looking online to find the record, one of you guys emailed me about my website.
J: Oh, yeah. That was me. I was checkin’ out your art, and found our site on yours as a link.
V: Oh, hell yeah! I had to, man. I want everyone to check you guys out.
J: Hell yeah! Man, I was on your site for about an hour, looking at all the art. It was dope.
V: Word! Thanks. So, after you guys got together, how long was it before you were signed to Axe Records?
J: It was before we even had our final lineup. It started off with this guy, Jubal, from Dynamic Pressure, playing bass. He ended up splitting and going to Santa Barbara, so I took over on bass. Then our drummer broke his collarbone, so Scott Abels from Hepcat was playing with us for awhile. Matt Parker from Donkey Show was our organ player for awhile, too. The guy that plays organ now was our piano player. But Scott left us to go do Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards, and our old drummer healed up, so he rejoined. That was our final lineup.
V: Was it always a conscious decision to do old school reggae?
J: Oh, yeah. Both the old bands that The Aggrolites are made of were doing that already, but it was two different styles. The Rhythm Doctors had a different sound than The Vessels, for sure. And when we broke up, we still wanted to play that kind of music. But, you know, we’re not trying to fully do the old school thing. We’re trying to put other things into it.
V: Like funk.
J: Yeah. Our singer is really big into Tower of Power, so that comes through. And our drummer’s into fusion. I don’t know where that comes through, but it finds its way in there.
Both: (laugh)
V: So, what are the live shows like?
J: Oh, our shows, I love them. We’re one of the most fun bands I’ve ever played in.
V: Damn, dude. You gotta come to the Midwest.
J: We’re coming to the East Coast pretty soon. What city are you in?
V: I’m in Milwaukee, man, and I’ll catch shows in Chicago sometimes, too.
J: Ah, we’re not going to Chicago yet. We’re doing New York and Boston next week. New York, Boston, D.C., and Baltimore.
V: I’d heard a rumor that you were gonna be touring with Flogging Molly.
J: Oh, we already did that.
V: What?!? You already did it?
J: Yeah. But it was just out here.
V: Damn. I thought it was gonna be a national thing.
J: Yeah. Dave and Matt from Flogging Molly really wanted to take us on a tour, but their label, Sideonedummy, signed a couple new bands, and they’re the priority for the label right now. I think they’re taking Go Betty Go and someone else. It’ll happen sooner or later, though. Maybe when their new record comes out.
V: Is it easy to get gigs being relatively new?
J: The last year or so, we haven’t had to ask to get shows. Everyone’s really contacted us to play, which is cool. We’ll get emails, and pick and choose which shows we want. It’s pretty cool.
V: Are there any dream tours or shows you’d want to do?
J: Right now, it seems like everyone’s trying to get on Warped Tour. It might be a nice tour to get on with a decent slot, because, at our shows, we do get a lot of punk rockers and skinheads, you know? And Warped is a different crowd-- you get old people, young people... everyone. We kinda want to target that younger punk crowd and win them over, because we already got the reggae crowd.
V: So, how long have you been playing reggae music?
J: Uh, probably since 1998. It hasn’t been that long, but I’ve had other bands before this, you know?
V: What got you into it?
J: Well, I really started getting into it from The Clash. The Clash would cover a bunch of reggae songs, and I’m a huge Clash fan, so, you know. I’d look at the credits to their songs, and, like, "Police and Thieves" would be attributed to "J. Murvin and L. Perry", so I’d be like, "Who the heck are they?" So, I’d go and get "Police and Thieves" by Junior Murvin and Lee Perry, and from there, it just landslides. The Clash did a lot of reggae covers, so they were probably the biggest factor, as far as getting me interested in it.
V: You know, it’s funny. I listen to your disc, and could swear it was something that came out right along with Toots & the Maytals back in the day.
J: (laughs)
V: Then I look at your picture in the liner notes, and you guys look like you’re about to throw down at a B-boy competition!
J: (laughs) Yeah!
V: It’s mind-boggling how timeless the record sounds.
J: That’s dope, man. Thanks.
V: Was it a conscious thing, going for a sound like that?
J: Half-and-half. I mean, we’re always listening to that music, you know? Just sitting and cooking in that stuff all day. When we get together, it’s gonna come out similar to that. And we did purposely make some of it sound old, like the drums. We recorded those with a couple mics. Just a real gritty, live sound to some stuff. We didn’t want to make it too live, though, to where it sounded like we were just trying to be an old school reggae band. There’s a lot of newer stuff we did on it that they didn’t do back then.
V: Are people ever surprised when they meet you guys? Like they expect you to be 65-year-old guys from Jamaica?
J: Oh, yeah. People trip out, dude. After they know we’re white, a lot of people expect us to be skinheads. (laughs) But there are no skinheads in the band.
V: (laughs)
J: The A&R dude from Heartbeat was tripping out that this tiny period in Jamaican music that went by so fast was interesting enough to someone that they’d be trying to play it! Especially white dudes!
Both: (laugh)
J: It’s cool, though. We’ve been doing some work with Heartbeat for a little while now. Session stuff. Not Aggrolite stuff.
V: Have you ever been to Jamaica?
J: Nah. I’d like to go, though. I’d like to go with the key to the city, and check out the different studios and all that.
V: So, what’s next for you guys? Just the upcoming shows?
J: Yeah. And we’re headlining two nights in a row at The Whiskey, with See Spot and The Israelites. This is our first back-to-back, two day in a row headlining thing. We’re really trying to just get to a next level, where we’re more of a headlining band.
V: Yeah. Do you fear exhaustion from back-to-back shows, playing like you guys do? (laughs)
J: Aw, hell no, man. When we go on a little outing, playing for two or three days, we don’t want to come home! We always wish there was another show, you know? Because when you’re home, you just sit around and do nothing. When you’re out there, you’re having fun. It’s like an adventure.
V: And you have a supportive community out there?
J: The scene, you mean?
V: Yeah. It seems like a lot of the bands out there are pretty close, and you guys all play on each others' records.
J: You know, you’re right. Everyone does play on everyone else’s records. It’s a big melting pot. Even at the live shows. If a guitar player can’t make it, someone from another band will fill in for him. It’s pretty close-knit out here.
V: Do you feel like, after playing for six years, that The Aggrolites is going where it should?
J: Yeah. I’ve done more in The Aggrolites than I have in any other band. The Heartbeat thing kicked in, and I played bass on the new Cypress Hill record.
V: No shit?
J: It’s not out. It’ll be out soon, though. We backed Prince Buster, Derrick Morgan... and that all never happened before.
V: What’s it like playing with those legends?
J: (laughs) Crazy, man. Like, when we did the Prince Buster show, we were practicing with Chris Murray. He was keeping us on time with his vocals, 'cause we had to practice without Buster. So, we go out for the show at the Sierra Nevada World Music Festival, and we had to practice in this little barn. Buster hadn’t showed up yet, so we were just running through all the songs. And at one point-- I think we were playing "Blackhead Chinaman"-- halfway through, the barn doors swing open, there’s all this light, and all of a sudden Chris is no longer singing. Buster was singing! (laughs) I heard his voice, looked over, and there he was.
Both: (laugh)
V: Was it intimidating at all? Or just cool?
J: Oh, hell yeah. Especially with Buster. He had this assistant or sidekick named Delroy Williams. I think he worked for Sanctuary Records. He was, like, an iron fist! He knew how he wanted things to be. But when he got there and heard us, they were smiling, you know? After a while, you could just tell they were diggin’ it.
V: So, now that you’ve played with Prince Buster and Derrick Morgan, is there anyone else you’d like to get up on stage with you?
J: Uh, probably King Stitt, to do a Dynamite-style tune. Maybe The Lone Ranger. That would be freakin’ cool. But, as far as backing, I don’t want The Aggrolites to be a backing band. There are a lot of bands out here that just want to back people and play other people’s music. I don’t want that. I want to be on Cribs, dude!
Both: (laugh)
V: You could. Especially after seeing the "Pop The Trunk" video.
Both: (laugh)
V: Seriously, that song’s got the best party vibe to it. That shit is so fun.
J: That was a fun day, dude. Just a bunch of chicks in pajamas.
V: You should start that up in the live show-- just have girls dancing on poles.
J: Well, we didn’t have the poles, but we ended up playing some fraternity party. I don’t know how we got that, actually. But, yeah, it was the most girls I’d ever seen on stage. It was crazy. Everyone in the band was getting humped while we were playing.
V: And do you guys all have girlfriends?
J: Uh... we did at one point.
Both: (laugh)
J: But, it’s off and on again. Our singer, guitar player, and drummer have girls at the moment. Me? I’m open.
V: See, I just wondered if you had this string of girlfriends at that party, standing off to the side, giving you the evil eye.
J: Naw, naw. Plus, none of them were at the show.
Both: (laugh)