A brief chat with Iration

Hawaiian reggae band Iration plays Riot Fest this year so we chatted with singer Micah Pueschel about what we can expect.H

Yellow Scene: Iration previously had two vocalists but you recently took on sole vocal duties. How have you adjusted to that?

Micah Pueschel: At first it was a daunting task because I hadn’t been singing a full set of music, and singing 90 minutes is a lot different than singing 45 minutes of music. But I think I’ve taken to it fine. I feel comfortable with it now, and I’ve gotten better at keeping my voice healthy and preparing, getting warm and doing the right things to keep the voice going. So yeah, I’m enjoying it now.

YS: Does Hawaii have a big reggae scene?

MP: Yes, definitely. Reggae is probably the most popular music in Hawaii, besides maybe native Hawaiian music. Reggae is a huge part of the local music, the local music is infused with reggae there. Everybody’s favorite style of music is reggae.

YS: It’s pretty big here in Colorado – is this a place you like coming to play?

MP: Definitely. Colorado, for us, has always been one of those markets that has been very good and friendly to us. I think they’ve always had an ear for reggae music, and roots music in general, and the “jam bands” genre of music. They’ve been more open to more styles, experimental styles, of music. We’ve always had a good crowd there.

YS: What can we expect from the Riot Fest set?

MP: I think for Riot Fest it will be a lot of what we generally do, which is a good blend of old, middle and new. We’re about to put out our fourth record, so we have a lot of material to draw from. We generally draw from a few of the older classic songs that people love, and then obviously we pick different songs from the other records. That’s what it will be. I’m not sure exactly how long our set is at Riot Fest. Depending on how long it is, we’ll play more or less new music. We know how it is with fans and new music – it’s not always the best thing to overload them with new stuff.

YS: When Riot Fest is over, what’s next?

MP: We have a tour in conjunction with the release of the new record. It’s coming out at the end of August, so we have a big tour. We’ll be doing mostly eastern United States, down to Texas. That’s the plan for the next few months through winter. We have some festival shows this summer, but that’s about it.