Date: Wednesday, August 31st, 2011
Line up: Quinazo Featuring Quino from Big Mountain
Location: Winstons. Ocean Beach, CA
On August 31st, Quinazo, a band featuring Quino from Big Mountain, played at Winston’s Bar in Ocean Beach, San Diego. Big Mountain is the band highly known for the reggae version of Peter Frampton’s “Baby I Love Your Way.” Quinazo is comprised of two keyboardists, a bass-player, drummer, guitarist, and percussionist, with Quino conducting the players on a musical journey. DJ Carlos Culture presented the band at his Fulla Vibes show held every Wednesday night at “Club Kingston.” What a night to remember!
The reggae was pure classic reggae with the skanking of the guitar, reggae keys, and the “heartbeat” of the drum, as Quino stated when he announces the drummer at the end of the show. “New Day” was a great song with great vocals. Quinazo sang “The House” which speaks of current times, as Quino mentioned everyone is working for their house nowadays. In fact, Quino seemed so passionate about the topic of each song he sang, I could tell he was really into the music by the way he sang.
The band took a break before getting into a song called, “Free Up.” Quino then spoke about politics and building bridges across nations, and how governments need to make decisions for “the people,” which led him into, “Love Is The Only Way.” The show developed a more romantic touch, and reminded me of reggae from the 90s, such as UB4O. There was something tropical in the sound, especially with the mix of percussion, keys, and high-riff guitar. This was apparent in “Touch My Light,” and when Jerome Cruz played solo guitar.
Next, the classic Big Mountain cover of “Baby I Love Your Way,” with the music getting sweeter with “Sweet Sensual Love.” Quinazo pumped up their set with the song “Revolution,” which Quino announced as a “hot stepper” song, and even kept the song going after finishing it. The crowd loved this! “Should” and “Calling You Out” were also jamming songs, with the latter song announcing the players once more, and calling it a night. The crowd demanded one more song, though, and Quinazo ended their set with a cover of Bob Marley’s, “Exodus.”
– Article by: Liz “sandieganliz” Pimentel
– Photo by: David Norris
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Here’s Quino representing The Pier following the show! Check out out entire PhotoGallery on FACEBOOK
