In an Exclusive Interview with Pepper’s Kaleo Wassman, it was confirmed that Pepper is well into the production of a new record & while notating the different producers that the band is working with, Kaleo confirmed a completed song with Edley Shine of Born Jamericans.
Edley Shine was one half of a 90’s dance-hall reggae group, the Born Jamericans. Known as #DaBigVoice, Shine brings a deep, roughneck melodic texture to the sound as heard on the two Born Jamericans records with 94’s Kids From Foreign and 97’s Yardcore.
What’s unique about this collaboration is the first major event that Pepper played was opening up for Born Jamericans on the island of Kona in 1998. Fast forward to 2020 during Pepper’s winter tour during a stop in D.C. & Edley Shine happened to be in the house to perform on-stage with Kash’d Out for their ever first live performance of “Weed Man.” When Kaleo found out that Shine was in the building, he reached out to accommodate him to jump on stage with Pepper to perform Born Jamericans fan favorite tune, “Yardcore.” 
[Related: Exclusive Interview – Pepper]
Kaleo tells The Pier: “When you have a situation like that where Edley Shine comes on stage to do ‘Yardcore,’ you feel like you’ve never been on stage before. That’s exactly how it felt. I was just in complete awe, and if you find any photos or video of that, you’ll just see me grinning from ear to ear the entire time.”
When describing Shine to The Pier, Kaleo explains: “Edley Shine’s frequency has been neglected for way too long. He really does bring this BASS, and I’m not just talking bass as in a sub-woofer, but like a foundation with this frequency through his voice. Working with him and how my voice frequency is so different from his, however, be able to work in harmony together in that state is a reason why this track is so important to me.”
The song is tentatively titled the “Moon Demo” and it was produced by Left Coast Sound, the production duo of Jungle Josh & David Foral. The song is expected to be on Pepper’s next album and while there’s no firm release date, the boys are working with a lot of the same producers from their Local Motion record, which includes Left Coast Sound, who produced “Brand New Day.” Henry Fong & Jinco, who produced “Carnival.” Noah Cronin, who produced the “Sugar” (808 Remix), as well as additional production from the Naughty Don.
When asked to describe the “Moon Demo” and the collaboration with Shine, Kaleo explains: “To have a track that David Foral & Jungle Josh brought, this heater, I would say that its exactly the evolution of what I want to do sonically with the positivity of this genre. I would say it is so important for us to always remember how influential straight Jamaican reggae is. I think with all of the projects I have going on right now, my baseline is straight old school Jamaican reggae. And the whole reason behind it is without Jamaica, without our brothers & sisters in Jamaica, without any of that, we would have none of the bands we have in the states right now. They are the absolute roots of this genre and I will continue to bring them forth in awareness for anyone who is willing to listen to the music that we make.”
Stay tuned for more info as it’s made available to us.
Related Links:
Pepper Website
Edley Shine Website
Law Records Website
Article By: Mike Patti
