The Wailers' Atias takes reggae a step beyond Marley
The pop music landscape is strewn with replacement singers; vocalists who have had to step into the shoes of better-known predecessors in already established acts. But perhaps none has had as daunting a legacy to live up to as Elan Atias, the American who now fronts The Wailers, the late reggae legend Bob Marley’s old band.
“I just give thanks everyday that I get to do what I love,” says Atias at the prospect of being compared to the beloved Marley. “I’m not trying to fill Bob’s shoes. I am my own person, and I am my own artist. Bob, as one of the main members of this band who took it to international stardom, would always say this band is not about one person. It’s about the message and the movement.”
The Wailers perform Friday night at Minglewood Hall. Lead vocalist Elan Atias is at the far left.
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Atias and The Wailers perform Friday at Minglewood Hall.
After the break-up of The Wailers, his legendary partnership with Bunny Wailer and Peter Tosh, Bob Marley formed Bob Marley & the Wailers in 1974, taking several member of the former group’s backing band, including brothers Aston “Family Man” Barrett (bass) and Carlton Barrett (drums). Together Marley & the Wailers put reggae on the international music map, recording a series of classic works, including 1977’s Exodus, crowned by Time magazine the best album of the 20th century.
The Barretts continued The Wailers after Marley’s death in 1981. Carlton Barrett died in 1987, leaving “Family Man” today the sole original member of the group.
(One-time Wailers guitarists Al Anderson and Junior Marvin also front a band calling itself the Original Wailers, though the legality of that group is, according to Atias, in question.)
In 1996, The Wailers tapped Atias, then just 23-years-old, to fill the vocalist position. Born to an Israeli-Moroccan father and Jewish-Native American mother, the Los Angeles native had been a fan of Marley’s since he was a child and impressed band members with his eerie vocal similarity to the late singer.
Atias stayed with The Wailers until 1999, when, feeling constrained in Marley’s shadow, he left to pursue a solo career.
“I was feeling a little trapped in the past,” Atias says. “I was telling Family Man, ‘We’ve got make new music and move forward as a band.’”
On his own, Atias landed songs on the soundtracks to the TV version of “Sex and the City” and the Adam Sandler movie “50 First Dates.” And in 2006, he released his full-length debut, Together As One, a well-received effort produced by No Doubt’s Tony Kanal that found the artist updating the classic reggae sound of The Wailers with touches of ska, techno, and New Wave.
But offered the chance to at last work on an album of new material for The Wailers, Atias returned to his former band two years ago. The new album, expected for release in early 2010, is built around old unused drum tracks laid down by Carlton Barrett and just recently discovered by his brother.
“From that we had the idea that really came from Santana’s Supernatural album where we get all these artists who were influenced and inspired by The Wailers — contemporary artists from different genres — to add their own vibe and write new songs,” Atias says. “I can’t mention the names of the artists until we sign all the deal, but it’s going to be a very special project.”
Meanwhile, Atias and The Wailers are continuing the legacy of Marley on the road and through their commitment to social activism. Most recently the band has teamed with the World Food Program and the United Nations to start the program “I Went Hungry (… to save a life),” an entertainment industry initiative where artists forgo all or part of their hospitality riders, with the saved money going to combat worldwide hunger.
“We realized we were wasting so much food backstage that we started telling the promoters to give that money to the World Food Program instead,” says Atias, who estimates the program has fed more than 600,000 people.
In addition to giving up their riders, the band also sells wristbands to support the program and encourages other artists to do the same.
“It’s really the essence of what Bob and The Wailers have always stood for,” Atias says of the program. “The message and the movement keep going on.”
The Wailers
Friday at Minglewood Hall, 1555 Madison Ave. Doors open at 7 p.m. Tickets: $20, available at the box office, by phone at (866) 609-1744, and online at minglewoodhall.com. For more information, call (901) 312-6058.
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