Big Mountain Is Scaling the Heights to Reggae Success

Big Mountain, the San Diego-based reggae band, should be excited about performing at the “Reggae Sunsplash” concert tonight at the Greek Theatre.

After all, it has one of the hottest Southern California hits of the year in the single “Touch My Light,” and this is a chance for the up-and-coming outfit to showcase its talents in a major venue.

But Quino, the group’s single-named lead singer, sounds anxious as he prepares to share the bill with some top Jamaican reggae groups.

Explains Quino, “They’re musicians who follow the Rastafarian religion and have that Rasta spirit. We’re an American band and many of the reggae musicians look at American reggae bands as intruders. They think we’re bastardizing their music and capitalizing on it. They may be cold toward us backstage at the show--and I can’t say I blame them.”

The resentment may be even stronger because Big Mountain is headlining the first of the two Greek shows (the group will play earlier on the bill at Sunday’s Greek concert, and will remain in the package for the additional Southern California dates: Monday at the Ramona Bowl in Hemet, Friday at the Santa Barbara County Bowl, June 12 at the Pacific Amphitheatre and June 13 at San Diego’s Starlight Bowl).

According to James Lien, who covers reggae for the weekly CMJ New Music Report, Big Mountain might have good reason to be nervous.

“The success of an American reggae band like Big Mountain can be disturbing to Jamaican musicians,” he says. “Lots of Jamaican artists have worked for a long time to crack the American market. It could be upsetting to them to see an American band accomplish in a few years what they have not been able to accomplish in many, many years of trying.”

Purists also accuse American bands such as Big Mountain of diluting reggae. “Many of these bands co-opt the music and distort it away from what it’s supposed to be,” Lien adds. “There are so many examples of American bands going wrong and totally missing the point of reggae’s message--which is basically a spiritual and social message about making the world a better place.”

Big Mountain’s current album, “Wake Up,” features a reggae hybrid, incorporating jazz, rock, pop and ska elements.

“We play reggae from our hearts,” Quino insists in the band’s defense. “But we’re not from Jamaica, so the music will never comes out pure reggae. It will have the influences of music we listen to. We can’t help that.”

Quino, 26, part Scotch-Irish and part Mexican, figures Big Mountain can weather the storm of purist protests. “We’re used to adversity--it’s a way of life for us,” he says.

Originally called Shiloh, the band graduated from a tiny label deal that issued one obscure album and went to Quality Records last year--and then fell apart. Not long after the “Wake Up” album came out last September, three members left the band.

“We weren’t making any money and it didn’t seem like we were going to get very far,” Quino recalls. The band, he adds, is a much stronger musical unit with the replacements--drummers Billy Stoll and Lance Rhodes and bassist Lynn Copeland--teaming with Quino and longtime member Jerome Cruz.

Pop radio isn’t especially reggae-friendly, but the “Touch My Light” single was able to get enough pop airplay to make it a big Southern California hit.

“It’s a catchy love song with nice hooks,” Quino explains. “It’s perfect for pop audiences. It will never please the purists.”