Go Jimmy Go
1996-2007: Celebrating 11 Years Of An Original Island Sound
“…An extraordinary music experience that is both distinct and
innovative, yet altogether familiar…”
“Go Jimmy Go’s Jamaican rhythms, Hawaiian vibe, American-style
Soul and most importantly the drive to create music that is indeed food for
the human spirit, always brings audiences back for more.”
Hawaiian Heavyweights
Go Jimmy Go has been the front-runner in Hawai’i’s music industry,
creating original rhythms since the late ‘90s. With a wholly unique
sound, the key to their success has been the band’s feverish chemistry
of musicians. With a foundation of driving beats, drummer/vocalist Shon Gregory
and bass man Jayder set the pace for Ian Ashley’s melodic guitar/vocals.
Ryan Kunimura on trombone and tenor saxophonist Eric White add the sweet memorable
flavor of “old Jamaica” while the frenetic moves and soulful vocals
of lead singer Jason “Bison” Friedmann never cease to amaze audiences
around the world.
In The Beginning
The band was formed in the Fall of 1996 where the original six members got
together to create original roots-oriented ska, rocksteady, reggae music for
the people of Hawai‘i. There was a budding roots reggae scene and 3rd
wave ska scene, but there was void of old-school ska and reggae music, the
kind reminiscent of original Jamaican Studio One and the like. With a focus
on creating an original sound (rather than relying on other people’s
music as covers), Go Jimmy Go forged ahead and got hot quick in the local
Honolulu music scene and was scoring live performances on the radio, getting
into rotation with their first radio single “Egyptian Ska,” and
opening up for national touring acts like MTV hit Goldfinger, all within the
first year of existence.
Soul Shakedown Party
The direction and fortunes of the band soon changed in 1998 with the introduction
of Bison (formerly of Dynamic Pressure – Santa Barabara, CA) as lead
singer and frontman. With moves like the notorious James Brown and pipes like
the famous soul-shouters of yesteryear, Bison provided Go Jimmy Go limitless
heights and even further prominence. Big shows regularly came to town and
the boys got the opportunity to open up for some really hot acts like Hepcat,
Save Ferris, Reel Big Fish and the Warped Tour ’99. Their live KTUH
performance got regular play by call-in requests which opened them up to a
statewide audience 24/7. It was about this time that the boys decided to hit
the studio in the summer of 1999 to record their first album, Slow Time.
Slow Time Anything But Slow
The debut release, “Slow Time,” propelled Go Jimmy Go not only
to a national spotlight, but internationally as well. Jump Up Records (Chicago,
IL) released the album just in time for the band’s first ever tour of
the U.S. mainland in 2000 and got rave reviews from here in America and all
the way to the shores of Europe. The reception was warm and encouraging for
a band making its home in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The live shows
were firing on all cylinders! Go Jimmy Go’s string of shows at the infamous
Hawaiian Hut in Waikiki were bringing in crowds from 800-1,000 people by means
of their own promotion company, Pressure House Productions. Those were good
times, but of course, the best was yet to come.
Soul Arrival
By 2002, Go Jimmy Go was ready to take the show to the next level and signed
to Moon Room Records (Honolulu, HI) and recorded and released their second
full-length album, Soul Arrival. The CD release party drew a capacity Hawaiian
Hut crowd of 1,000 party people and kicked off a 17-date stint with the Van’s
Warped Tour all across America that summer. Their biggest tour to date brought
the band a loyal fan base from a big portion of the country and opened the
door to even more touring in the rest. “Soul Arrival” garnered
a Na Hoku Hanohano Award nomination (the Hawaiian Grammy), a #1 hit on two
separate local commercial radio stations with “In Between Times”
and “Bang The Skillet.” If that wasn’t enough, the year
ended with the biggest single show they’ve ever played: a sold-out Blaisdell
Arena of 8,000 fans for No Doubt’s Rocksteady Tour. With the momentum
Go Jimmy Go began plans for striking it out as a full-time touring band with
the blessings of what the next album would bring.
Road Warriors
2003 brought Go Jimmy Go many highlights and hi-jinks (two sold out shows
with megastar Jack Johnson, War, Damien Marley, the 10,000 in attendance Ska
Summit ’03 in Vegas), but mainly it was a year to start planning for
the big move to full time touring status. By Spring of 2004, Go Jimmy Go announced
the big news to everyone and all of Hawai‘i gave them a warm send-off
to success in the mainland and beyond. The 3 tours of that year had the band
crisscrossing the mainland U.S. playing festivals and making fresh new fans
everywhere they went. In between tours back home in Hawai‘i, Go Jimmy
Go was hitting the studio recording their highly anticipated third album,
The Girl With The…Fishbowl Eyes. The album’s release in the summer
of 2005 was received ecstatically and with rave reviews, such as the one from
the Honolulu Star-Bulletin:
“At last, a highly touted long-anticipated local album that lives up
to its pre-release hype! Go Jimmy Go gets it all right with ‘The Girl
With the Fishbowl Eyes’ and should be a front-runner for a 2006 Hoku
Award.” Despite all the great press at home, it was time to take the
show back out on the road to the mainland and prove to everyone the reviews
and critics were right. Three more U.S. mainland tours later, including the
highly successful Ska Is Dead 3 Tour, had the band reaching out to newer audiences
and making fans like never before in the farthest reaches of the country.
Island Sound Known The World Around
2006 was definitely a break-out year for the band opening up with the Ska
Brawl Tour with veteran New York legends, The Toasters, all across the south,
east coast and Canada. Not long after that, Go Jimmy Go took the show international
with the Island Sounds Tour of Japan which coincided with their first-ever
international release, Island Sounds, through Ska In The World Records. Two
more mainland tours later, including one with “the best reggae band
in America” according to Rolling Stone magazine, John Brown’s
Body, had Go Jimmy Go ending on a high note for their best year yet. The success
of so many high-profile tours and successful releases propelled Go Jimmy Go
to a new level of success and prestige of which more was yet to come.
2007 And The Road Ahead…
Always searching to take the music to new places Go Jimmy Go struck out on
a 5 ½ week, 13 country, 39-date tour of Europe billed as Ska Brawl
Europe, with The Toasters. Promoting their first-ever European release of
Fishbowl Eyes through Moon Ska Europe (UK), the tour was a smashing success
through and through truly opening up the world to the “Island Sound
Known the World Around.”
As it stands, there is still so much to look forward to from these over-achieving
island boys. Go Jimmy Go’s fourth album, a Christmas-inspired set of
soon-to-be classics, Holiday Hell Yeah!, will take the band forward into the
new year with a newly found dynamic and verve and 2008 looks to be even brighter
as there is a new album in the works (their 5th!) as well as second tours
of Europe and Japan again.
Discography
Slow Time (Jump Up Records 2000 / MoonRoom Records - 2004)
Soul Arrival (MoonRoom Records - 2002)
The Girl With The...Fishbowl Eyes (MoonRoom Records - 2005)
Fishbowl Eyes LP (MoonRoom Records – 2006)
Island Sounds (Ska In The World Records -- 2006)
Fishbowl Eyes (Moon Ska Europe – 2007)
Holiday Hell Yeah! (MoonRoom Records – 2007)
Sharing the stage with:
Jack Johnson, No Doubt, The Skatalites, Flogging Molly, War, Tower of Power,
Papa Roach, Damien Marley, Eek A Mouse, , Stain’d, Goldfinger, Reel
Big Fish, Hepcat, Pepper, Slightly Stoopid, Longbeach Shortbus, Voodoo Glowskulls,
The Aggrolites, John Brown’s Body, plus many more...
Notable Tours:
Van’s Warped Tour ‘02
Ska Is Dead 3 Tour ‘05
Ska Brawl Tour ‘06
Island Sounds Japan Tour ‘06
John Brown’s Body Pressure Points Tour ‘06
Ska Brawl Europe ‘07
+ 7 other independent tours throughout the US
The Band:
Jason “Bison” Friedmann – lead vocals
Shon Gregory – drums, vocals
Ian Ashley – guitar, vocals
Jay Kalk – bass
Eric White – tenor saxophone
Ryan Kunimura - trombone
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Infos:
Homepage: Gojimmygo.com
Soundfiles: Go
Jimmy Go on MySpace
Label: MoonRoom
Booking: Europe
Agent: Mutti
