It’s been 16 years since San Diego, CA’s reggae-rock band Mix Mob has put out any new music. The group disbanded in 2003 but has since reformed over the last year to release a new EP on July 12th, called: Paradise Found. Today, The Pier is proud to premiere their new song “Top of the World.”
Watch: Mix Mob – “Top of the World” (Lyrical Video)
Mix Mob came to San Diego, CA from Fresno in the late 90’s and early 2000’s catching the attention of Common Kings current manager, Kevin Zinger, who signed them to his Suburban Noize label, decking them out in SRH clothing and throwing them on tour. They put out their lone album, So Cal Drunks, in 2002, the same year Pepper released Kona Town, The Expendables’ Open Container and 1 year before Slightly Stoopid’s Everything You Need. Mix Mob was one of the few bands holding down the reggae-rock sound during a time where bands didn’t use social media and fans had to go to a store to buy music–This was an era of reggae-rock before Spotify, Facebook, Youtube or even Myspace.
Their debut album was 16 songs that featured plenty of distortion with its rock, hip hop and beach-reggae jams interluded with dub. The singer, Ryan Weaver, tells The Pier he grew up being inspired by 2pac, Bob Marley and Sublime’s Bradley Nowell. In addition to Ryan, the band consists of Matt Rowe on bass, James Luz on drums along with Mike Counts and Greg Kellen sharing rhythm/lead guitar.
With plenty of influence coming from Rock and Metal to Reggae and Hip Hop, the band would often be summed up as a cross of POD meets Sublime. One of the more Sublime sounding songs on the 2002 record was “Cruizer Love” that received significant radio play and featured Saint Dog of Kottonmouth Kings.
After Mix Mob released their first record in 2002, the group went in to record new material for a second album. Unfortunately the band broke up before they could finish the mostly completed record. Those unfinished songs sat in a vault until 2018 where most of that material is what the group has decided to revisit for the release of their new EP, Paradise Found. The EP was remixed and mastered by former DFrost drummer, Christian Cummings.
These songs were officially written in 2002-2003 so it’s interesting to hear what was inspiring the sound of reggae-rock at the time with more emphasis on distortion guitar, melodic hooks, beach-raps and punchlines. Rather than let these songs sit on a hard-drive, the group decided to put them out as a digital release ahead of dropping new material.
Since their return, Mix Mob has only played a couple of shows and will be having a release party on July 7th at Winstons in Ocean Beach, CA to celebrate the new Paradise Found EP. They printed up an extremely limited amount of CD’s for the show. Future shows are being discussed but in the meantime, hop on to Apple Music or Spotify and search out Mix Mob — Paradise Found EP will be available July 12th.
U>Mix Mob – Paradise Found EP Tracklist:
1.) Top of the World
2.) Down Home Town
3.) Mrs. Hollywood
4.) Rollin Dago
5.) Tragic Song
6.) My Neighbor
Related Links:
Mix Mob Facebook
@MixMobMusic
Article By: Mike Patti
Listen: Mix Mob – “Cruizer Love” (ft. Saint Dog)