Images by: Chris Colclasure @chrisfiq
Interview By: Suzanne Sanchez
As any fan of Iration knows, they can turn the tides on any shore and take you to a mystical place in the music. Their musical superpowers have touched many souls in this dark crazy
world. They’ve reinvented a sound that cannot be replicated. Hawaiian roots are the touchstone to Iration, capturing the pure essence of their music. They’ve harnessed their deep
passion for music to share it with the rest of the world. If you got lucky this summer, you could have seen a phenomenal show with these gents.
The Sunshine and Summer Nights Tour with Atmosphere, Passafire, and The Grouch; an incredible mix of artists. The band’s electrifying shows in support of their last album, Coastin’ Dub has been the beat of the summer hands down. The release which provides a clear precursor to Iration’s openness to creativity that’s blended with hypnotic Hawaiian vibes that are so addictive you can’t stop listening.
Iration, is pushing hard and touring throughout the country. The band joined forces over 15 Years ago, and the world has watched their evolution of music. Since 2007, they have continued to create the best music with six hit albums reaching the top of the Billboard Reggae charts. In 2020, Iration announced released their 7th studio album Coastin’ Dub featured roots reggae artists from Common Kings, Eli Mac, Eric Rachmany of Rebelution and Stick Figure. They’ve formed massive alliances and collaborations with the most prolific artists in the reggae scene with Tribal Seeds, The Movement, Cage the Elephant guitarist Lincoln Parish, J Boog, Slightly Stoopid and Tyrone’s Jacket and they have proven their place on the stage.
Their latest releases off Coastin’ Dub; “Zen Island”, “Right Here Right Now”, and “Guava Lane” take you on a hypnotic transcending trip through the islands. Iration is rooted from Hawaii, and then they they moved to California and attended college together. From playing backyards in Isla Vista, California to now performing and touring on a national level, their dedication and hard work has paid off. IRATION has continued to hit the biggest festivals Lollapalooza, Hangout, BottleRock, South by Southwest, Life Is Beautiful, Outside Lands and more, sharing the stage with Slightly Stoopid, Rebelution, Sublime with Rome, UB40, and Dirty Heads and others.
I was able to get some time with lead vocalist of Iration Micah Pueschel before he hit the stage. This was more than a Q&A. This brief encounter divulged the true essence of their music, and
their purpose. In this meeting we discussed their music, love, and the passion for music. With great anticipation I was looking forward to this one. I’ve been hearing what a great guy the singer of IRATION is so I had a feeling along with my own intuition this would be a genuine conversation.
Suzanne-
How are you?
Micah-
Great thank you! How are you?
Suzanne-
Fantastic? I wanted to thank you and I know you are still on tour, probably crunched for time. Are you playing tonight?
Micah-
No worries, no worries. Take your time. Yes, we are playing in Jacksonville, Oregon there’s an amphitheater here so it should be cool. It nice here.
Suzanne-
You guys have been touring like crazy on the Sunshine & Summer Nights Tour. How’s the tour been so far, I know your fans are excited to see you!
Micah-
Yeah, we still touring with Atmosphere, Passafire, The Grouch, all the bands have been awesome to tour with. Great guys. We all get along well so it’s been a lot of fun.
Suzanne-
That’s great isn’t it. It can be difficult at times with heads butting or personality conflicts, things can get pretty heated on tours.
Micah-
Yeah, at the beginning of the tour we all spent some time together, so we got to know each other better. We were all saying were all so glad everyone is cool we get along well. In general, we tour with a lot of bands and crews that we know it’s a lot of repeats and people that we know from being in this genre and industry for along time.
Suzanne –
I’m really obsessed with your music. So funny thing I’m such a metal head, but this music drew me in! I have a few favorites for example your song “Zen Island” so in love with! Can you tell us
about it?
Micah-
Well thank you I’m glad you love it! On side note, we do get a lot of metal heads. Yeah, you’re not the first person that’s said this to me. I think its because its adjustment position of styles the aggressiveness and that raw emotion and anger that come from metal. Then reggae is on the very opposite side of the music spectrum emotionally. So yeah, we have screamo bands that hit us up and ask to come out to our shows. So “Zen Island” was on the first two songs that we wrote while starting the Coastin’ record. We were really trying to create some songs that has a kind of a soundscape and had a vibe that made you feel or had that lush feel to them. The first two were chill out, and then Zen Island. We were calling the whole project Zen Island for along time. The term Zen Island came from the whole concept to the mystical place and its like a dream state of beautiful, lush peaceful place, it’s like escapism. That was the kind of the whole basis of the project. It started from there and worked out from that point.
Suzanne-
I’ve listened to your music so many times, it very cleansing like surfing. I know you guys are from Hawaii. It’s really a beautiful story you are telling us through your music. Did the Hawaiian life help to cultivate your music?
Micah-
The bones of our music, it’s just ingrained in there. The island feels and sounds, the whole vibe it’s just kind of ingrained in what we do. That is just who we are. As much as any other band in this
genre of reggae and rock we do push ourselves to have different sounds. We try to go to different places in our music. Ultimately, there’s always an amount our Hawaiian roots that is instilled in our music and creative flow. We all grew up in Hawaii and listened to reggae and island music. The Hawaiian culture, and the music culture even through the Hawaiian music is traditional music that’s something I group up to singing to. It’s always part of the DNA. It is not something we are attempting to get away from, nor are we trying to force it in the music. It just always pops in there in different ways.
Suzanne –
Is there anyone that you have not collaborated with yet that you are aspiring to collaborate?
Micah-
I’ve been getting that question lately. I feel like Jack Johnson is someone whom we have always aspired to collaborate with. I have always looked up to him being from Hawaii. His career is kind of a standard for what I think all musicians would want the success level that he’s had. His ability to give back to the community and doing positive work. To make music as unique as his is always been inspiring. I think he is somebody we would love to work with. I think would make a lot of sense to work together. That’s one name that feels like it would work.
Suzanne-
I think you will do it no doubt.
Micah-
I would like to (smiling)
Suzanne-
Interesting thing about your music it’s not genre specific, but I think that’s the beauty of your music. You’ve stayed true to yourselves and your music. It’s hard to put you in one genre which is highly appealing as far as your abilities. What musicians do you draw your inspiration from?
Micah-
Like you said it comes from everywhere it’s hard to really pin that down. I mean obviously the reggae artist that we started with a lot of Bob Marley, and then a lot of different artists span across the board. From that point on it went to different places like Weezer, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Jack Johnson, and Fleetwood Mac. It’s probably things you would not expect to hear in the music, but the inspiration is all there. We have always looked backwards for inspiration and more of the looking to the artists that are classic, more so than the current music.
Suzanne-
I’m guessing you have a lot of fans trying to reach out and may want to talk about their relationship and experiences with your music.
Micah-
Yes. That what keeps us going. It keeps us motivated and maintains the perspective of appreciation that we get to do this all the time. It’s truly a special thing knowing what you are doing is
helping people of all walks of life.
Suzanne-
Life can be quite brutal, from my own experience in music it’s healing for the soul. Music heals right, Micah?
Micah-
Yes, Suzanne, music does heal. I think that’s the role we’ve taken in our music. We want to make music that helps people be happy and feeling good as opposed to making music that makes anybody feel worse or left out whatever that case may be. We want to make music that people can attach too and feel something. We always try to sprinkle optimism into the music. The mission statement in our live shows we hope by the end of the night you are in a better mood than when you came to the show.
Suzanne-
You guys have some mew music coming out soon?
Micah-
We are working in new music. We have a new song that we are playing called “New Style”. On the next album we are going back to trying to capture the energy of the band, live recording that’s our
new goal with the next. We want to go backwards to capture the synergy of the band that plays together, back what we did in the early days. That our next step musically. As soon as the tour is over, we are going back into the studio and try to write and record and finish our new album.
Suzanne-
Where are your favorite places to play in the country?
Micah –
This tour there’s been some good ones. New York, Florida, and Carolinas are great. We love playing at Red Rocks and Oregon. Obviously, Santa Barbara where the band was formed. We are lucky
we have a lot of great fans, and we get to play a lot of cool places.
Suzanne-
How do you juggle the music life and family?
Micah-
I think its like any other job. Work and family that parts of the deal. I have a great support system, a beautiful wife and daughter. As much as it can be difficult it brings me so much happiness
every day. That’s where my inspiration comes from in our music. Life and all of our experiences.
Suzanne-
In 5 years, where would you like to be?
Micah-
I think would to be consistently headlining. I think our music could live in the adult contemporary world outside of reggae. Ideally, we would like to keep building our music that we’ve been working on for over 10 years. Keep going on the track that we are on there’s a possible place for us to end up.
Suzanne-
When you put your work out there you can expose yourself to criticism and a lot of bumps on the road. What advice would you give to musicians aspiring to pursue a music career?
Micah-
Work with people who you aspire to. Surround yourselves with positive people. Understanding the craft of songwriting, understanding that the point of songwriting is to covey an emotion. Also be
able to be self-critical and being able to detach your ego a little bit from things. Make sure you’re open. And absolutely you must put in the time and work; it shows. Put the hours in that’s a major part of it.
This was truly an amazing experience, an outstanding musician so humble. The pure essence of the Aloha spirit.
Band:
Micah Pueschel – Lead vocals/guitar
Adam Taylor – Bass
Joseph Dickens – Drums
Cayson Peterson – Keyboard/synth
Micah Brown – Guitar/vocals
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