Aswad’s Reggae Will Sunsplash Irvine Meadows

The reggae pendulum may be swinging back toward Aswad, the veteran British group that headlines Reggae Sunsplash ’95 at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre on Sunday and San Diego State’s Open Air Theater on Monday.

Reggae has made significant inroads with hip-hop and dance-music audiences here, thanks to Ini Kamoze’s “Here Comes the Hotstepper” and the dance-hall deejay crew led by Shabba Ranks and Buju Banton. That should benefit musically savvy groups such as Aswad, which can smoothly blend reggae’s many facets into its sound.

“Within the reggae structure, the deejays in Jamaica are now moving back to the [socially] conscious lyrics,” said guitarist-singer Brinsley Forde during a brief L.A. stopover prior to the 45-city Sunsplash tour.

“We’ve always been geared toward that, and it’s nice to see the dance hall coming back to the positive [message]. People are listening to and dancing on beats [again] . . . which is basically the foundation reggae has given to the world.”

Added bassist-singer Tony Gad: “The first 12-inch singles, the remix thing, dub, versions, deejays, rappers--we’ve always said that all those things came out of reggae. As a music, it’s been innovative for years. We’ve always enjoyed experimenting, and the scope is really wide now of what you can do with what we play.”

Aswad’s core trio of Forde, Gad and drummer-singer Drummie Zeb is augmented by seven musicians for the Sunsplash tour. Also on the bills: Big Mountain, Buju Banton, Freddie McGregor, Wailing Souls, Worl-a-Girl, Sister Carol, Junior Tucker and Christafari.

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The versatility of Aswad--from its trademark vocal harmonies to hard-hitting rhythms and high-tech electronic sounds--was displayed on its massive international hit album “Rise and Shine” last year. The single “Shine” reached the Top 5 of the English pop charts, and “Heartbeat” went to No. 1 in Japan. The CD also won Aswad (which means “black” in Arabic) its first Grammy nomination here.

Early this year, Mesa/Bluemoon released the revamped “Rise and Shine Again” with five extra tracks that enhanced the original songs and turned a strong CD into an excellent one. Later this month, the label will release “Dub: The Next Frontier,” where many of the same songs are given the Aswad dub treatment.

Buoyed by the commercial success of reggae and happy with its new management and label team, Aswad is a confident unit as it enters its third decade. The three members displayed an easygoing camaraderie, their conversation ranging from memories of sneaking into Bob Marley’s first big London gig to the fresh energy of younger musicians they’re working with now.

“For our 20th-anniversary album, we’re working with a guy from Chicago named Ricky Rainbow,” said Drummie Zeb. “He [is too young to] know TV programs like ‘The Man From U.N.C.L.E.’ or ‘Mission: Impossible,’ yet he’s working with us, and musically we don’t feel any age difference.”

The members of Aswad were born and raised in England, among the first generation of children of West Indians who immigrated there after World War II. They grew up listening to the Stones and Motown songs on the radio. The roots reggae of Bob Marley & the Wailers provided a cultural rallying point for them in the mid-’70s.

“We were getting to the age when we were about to leave school, and we were seeing all the negative stereotypes and situations that were out there,” Forde recalled. “I think the need to identify--to say ‘This is us, and this is what we want’--inspired us to start writing about the conditions that we were experiencing. There was that need, and Bob and reggae music at that time was very positive.”

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Aswad’s first single, “African Children,” topped the English reggae charts and led to the group’s debut album, “Aswad,” in 1976. Robinson joined the group in 1978 and, over the course of 15 albums, Aswad overcame early doubters to establish a reputation as a reggae innovator.

The group began incorporating electronic sounds and pop elements on its “Rebel Souls” album in 1985. Three years later, the moves paid off when “Don’t Turn Around” topped the British pop charts--Ace of Base’s hit version last year was closely patterned on Aswad’s.

And don’t expect any future shifts away from the wide range of reggae sounds in the Aswad arsenal--from sweet, lovers’ rock to hard dub improvisations.

“You have three people with different vibes and feels, and we’re able to put them together, and that’s life,” Forde explained. “That’s reality as a human being. When we were younger, we picked up on a thing, and we were angry about it and shoved it in your face.

“Now we’re older--we know what our parents complained about, and we know more of the situations between a man and a woman. Hopefully, we find it easier to explain how we feel, so, whether it be the tenderness of a man to a woman or the aggressiveness of someone fighting against injustice, it comes out the way we see it.”

* Reggae Sunsplash ’95 is Sunday at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre, 8800 Irvine Center Drive, Irvine. On the bill: Aswad, Big Mountain, Buju Banton, Wailing Souls, Worl-a-Girl, Junior Tucker, Sister Carol and Christafari. $16.50 to $25. (714) 740-2000 (Ticketmaster).