Florida’s Seranation continues cooking up catchy reggae rock music
Photo courtesy of Seranation.
Daily Reggae caught up with Florida reggae rockers, Seranation, to learn about the band’s jamming new single, “Not Today”, it’s fun music video, and the group’s new music on the way!
We are loving your new single, “Not Today” and totally agree it’s so important to take time for yourself. How did the song come together lyric and production wise?
Not Today was written in less than an hour. It was one of those things where our guitarist Adam strummed the chords, and the melody and lyrics came instantly.
Many of the lyrics were inspired by our lead singer J’s wife, Rikki, and how hard she works as a nurse. Daily stresses, long shifts and getting called in on your day off can definitely make you want to say “nope, ‘Not Today’”, and take some time for yourself.
Once we had all the lyrics written, we took the song to our Producer/ Engineer Josh Saldate and he knew immediately what to do with it.
He wanted the chorus to hit hard, like a “wall of sound” as Phil Spector once said. We think he achieved that, and were blown away when we heard the final version. We knew it was special.
The video for “Not Today” is awesome by the way! Was it filmed in some of your local favorite spots? Who did you collaborate with?
We actually had the help of many friends to film the Not Today video. The office shots were filmed at our friend Dave’s office at K1 after work hours. Dave even let some of the employees stay late so they could be extras in the video. We also used our good friend Jack Tenney’s (from the Joogsquad’s) warehouse to film the full band shots. We painted on the wall and lit off fireworks inside. We worried he’d be upset, but it turned out he couldn’t have been more stoked! It was awesome, we couldn’t have done it without him. We also filmed one scene in Saltwater Hippie Beach Bar on Madeira Beach (are our dear friends and sponsors). We tried filming the scene at night, but the bar was way too wild. We came back during the day and the shot turned out perfect.
For new fans, can you tell us about your story and how the band got together? It’s rad you’ve been jamming amazing reggae rock since 2014!
There is a long history with how the band finally came to be. Years before the band was formed, our guitarist Adam and drummer Josh were walking on the beach and saw lead singer J skim boarding. Adam offered him a beer and J asked Adam if he could play some chords over a melody he came up with. That song would later become “All Day”. J however did not join the band right away. It wasn’t until two years later, after our bassist Bianca and guitarist Adam’s first band, “Roots for Change” broke up, that the seeds of “Seranation” were sewn. Adam was sitting at a bar called Ricky T’s when again happened upon J, who was working there as a bar back. They discussed “Roots for Change” breaking up, and how Adam and Bianca were trying to form a new band. Funny enough, J said that his first band had just broken up as well and he too was looking to get back to chasing the dream again. Then it clicked. J turned to Adam and said “I can be your singer” and began singing acapella right there in the bar in the middle of his shift. That’s just J’s style. The rest is history.
You have some great shows coming up including a set at Reggae Rise Up Florida! How does the band prepare for live shows, and how do you balance playing new songs versus classic Seranation tunes?
To prepare for live shows we normally start by picking the intro / opening song and the closer. From there it’s really just about giving the setlist a nice balance of some fan favorites while also sprinkling in new songs. We run the set like we are at the show and if one of us makes a mistake at rehearsal, we keep going just like we would at the show.
What can you tell us about your new music? Is the band planning to release a lot of new tunes in 2024? How was your writing process evolved over the years and do you have a favorite writing location
We do plan on releasing a lot of new music in 2024. We have had changes in management and been on a few different labels in the past few years. We are on the other side of all that and are now completely independent! That means WE will be in charge of our releases and are very excited about that. Jeffrey James, friend and co-writer, lives out in Nashville. We loved getting the opportunity to write music with him in “The Music City”. It’s where we wrote “Not Today” and many of the other new tunes you will hear this year. In addition to Jeffrey James, we also co-wrote a handful of the upcoming songs with Rome Ramirez. We connected with him on a few sessions prior to touring with “Sublime with Rome” in 2019. We’re really happy those songs are finally going to be out in the world all these years later. Can’t wait for everyone to hear what we’ve been cooking up!
