We refer to the song, “Rivers of Babylon” (written and originally performed by the Melodians), that we usually play as the final song of our live performances, as the “benediction”. It’s meant to be a blessing to our audience, to thank them for sharing the evening with us and to help everyone go back out into the world with a sense of peace and love in their hearts. It’s also a call to spread love and to stand up for social justice for themselves and others as we are ALL brothers and sisters. Unity!
We recorded the studio version of Babylon that we are releasing today on a day off while touring Europe in the summer of 2019. We set up a very “roots” studio session (which almost didn’t happen due to some extreme miscommunications and equipment issues) at a friend’s house in Belgium and recorded the rough tracks for two new future releases, Babylon being one of them. There were no headphone mixes, no stage monitors, no click track and very little physical and sonic separation of the drums/amps/players. All the basics, including the vocals, were recorded strictly live in one room together. Just a band of brothers making music together in the moment. Once we had a proper sonic balance between us in the room, we did 3-4 full takes of each song and called it a night. The vibes were right and upon initial listening we all agreed the music truly had “life” in it. The rough tracks sat on a hard drive to be dealt with at a later time.
Fast forward to 2020...the world is on lockdown because of a growing and deadly pandemic. Fear, suffering, and frustration are now, seemingly even more than usual, universal struggles. Hate, division, racism, aggression and injustice are ever present in our world and growing stronger by the day. The song that we call a blessing and a call to action seems to fit these times all too well. We decided to mix the song, add an additional guitar part and a couple additional vocal harmonies via remote home recording due to the current travel restrictions and social distancing requirements so that we can release our version of the song to the public. Missing playing live, which is our lifeblood and our true calling, we decided to make a “live together but apart” video recording of the song with all of us who was able/available recording their parts safely from their homes in various parts of the country/world. All was set to be released last week and then we received terrible news.
Our musical brother, Earl Appleton, who we had the honor and privilege of not only calling our main keyboard player (rarely missing a tour with us even though he was in extremely high demand) since 2004, but also to have him as a part of our family, had passed away suddenly and unexpectedly. Our collective feelings about Earl could easily fill pages upon pages (and likely will over time), but it is safe to say that we all were, and are, truly devastated by his passing. He was not only a truly gifted musician and understated legend in the reggae/ska world, but also a calming and beloved presence on stage and off.
It was at this point that the meaning/point of releasing “Rivers of Babylon” changed. It became not only our blessing to you, but also, even though he does not appear on the recordings of this song, a blessing and remembrance of our dear friend Earl and a call to action for us all to connect regularly with those we love to make sure they know that they are an important part of our lives and the world. You never know when the opportunity to do so will disappear. Spread love, share peace, enjoy the music of life. We’re all in this together brothers and sisters.
Sales/streaming revenue from the studio version of “Rivers of Babylon” will be donated to a charity/fund (still TBD) in Earl Appleton’s name/memory. Studio version is now available on Itunes/Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play and many more digital music services.
KZitem Music
• Rivers of Babylon
Apple Music
/ rivers-of-babylon-single
Spotify
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Google Play
play.google.co...
Amazon
www.amazon.com...
Musicians:
Kevin Batchelor - Lead vocals
Rocksteady Freddie - Backing vocals
Mark Damon - Bass, Backing vocals
Simone Amodeo - Guitar
Andy Mittoo - Keyboards
Joey Gallo - Drums
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