"Anthem
Band "
Spanning
decades and cultures, the six members
of Anthem combine boundless energy
and diverse musical influences to
showcase their own brand of reggae
on Are You Ready, their debut CD on
Mack Avenue Records. The band, which
has been together in its current incarnation
for eight years, cites Bridgeport,
Connecticut as its home base, but
their constant touring has taken Anthem
as far afield as the Bermuda Reggae
Festival and Canada’s Edmonton
Folk Festival, winning them rave reviews
along the way. Anthem’s tight
harmonies and solid musical sensibilities
stem, in part, from the fact that
three of the band’s members
come from the same musical family.
Courtney “Coozie” Mellers
(guitars), one of the band’s
founders, is the uncle
of Jermaine (bass) and Carey (keyboards).
On Are You Ready, the band also called
on the talents of another member of
the Mellers clan: Coozie’s brother
Wilfred “Charles”, who
played drums on four of the CD’s
twelve tracks. Rounding out Anthem’s
line up are lead vocalist Rob Williams,
Donald Rose, another founding member,
on keyboards, and Leslie Ming, the
most recent addition to the band,
on drums. The songs on Are You Ready
range from the dancehall title track
to the alternative rock-flavored “Love
Slippin’ Away” to the
smooth R&B sound of “I Tried
To Resist.” The members of Anthem
wrote most of the CD’s twelve
tunes with two exceptions “One
Slow Dance” by Mack Avenue Records
CEO Gretchen Carharttand and “Paradise”
by Phil Collins. The song, which Coozie
describes as a blend of “dancehall
reggae and jazz” retains its
composer’s jazz intent thanks
to some powerful sax work from Jerry
Johnson (another ex-member.)
"In The Reggae Spotlight"
is pleased to profile ANTHEM.
It’s that ability to merge
an 80’s pop tune and a mainstream
jazz song in with their own infectious
originals that works to define Anthem’s
unique sound. Their Jamaican heritage
is the seed from which their reggae
roots spread, but each of the various
members also adds his own experience
and influences to the mix. Coozie,
for example, began his career as
a rapper, and moved on to produce
songs for some of Reggae’s
most renowned artists, including
Lee Scratch Perry, Sugar Minott,
Horace Andy, and Max Romeo. Leslie
has toured with R&B superstars
Hi-Five, and has performed or recorded
with a virtual who’s who of
the R&B world, including Gladys
Knight, the O’Jays, Christopher
Williams, and Bo Diddley. Carey,
the band’s youngest member,
brings a strong rock vibe to their
sound, as evident in his driving
guitar contributions to “Love
Slippin’ Away and “I
Have My Goals,” while staying
true to the R&B talents that
earned him a spot as a finalist
in Puff Daddy’s Making Of
The Band, and landed one of his
original tunes on an episode of
B.E.T.’s Soul Food. All of
these varied elements came together
on Are You Ready under the discreet
production efforts of Eric Schilling,
whose own varied credits include
work Badfinger. Recorded over a
two-week period at New Jersey’s
Bennett Studios, Are You Ready balances
the band’s vital exuberance
with subtle touches of refinement.
Positive and pop, roots and soulful,
energetic and seductive…Are
You Ready for Anthem?
Anthem
SPOTLIGHT
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is a new forum from roadsidereggae.com
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musicians who have not received support
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