Following the summer sun, alternative reggae band Iration is currently on its Live From Paradise Tour, and brings its irie sounds to the sands and surf at Mandalay Bay Beach on Aug. 24. Las Vegas Magazine’s Kiko Miyasato chatted with lead vocalist and guitarist Micah Pueschel.
Recently, one of Iration’s tweets about the tour said, “Live from Paradise is not just about the vibes. We’re also all about the feels.” Is there a difference between “vibes” and “feels”?
I think “feels” is more about an emotional quotient, kind of like a direct feeling of the music, maybe—it’s the energy, the vibrations. And the “vibes” is kinda more subtle, not quite as physical. They’re similar. Feels are a little more palpable, vibes are a little more mystical.
You’re about halfway through the tour—how’s it been going?
It’s been going real well. Just the energy that we’ve been getting every night has been amazing. In some places where we’ve only been once or twice before and having these huge masses of people coming out and knowing all the words and singing along and being totally into it—it’s been awesome. It’s been a great tour so far.
Tell me your favorite part and least favorite part about touring.
Favorite part: obviously, getting to play in front of our fans every night, but I’m also a huge golfer. A big part of the tour for me is being able to travel all around and getting to play golf in different places. The worst part is being on a tour bus for that long with a bunch of dudes (laughs).
Let’s talk about your new single, “Chill Out.” What’s the messaging behind it?
It was inspired by a lot of things. In the political climate we’re in and the kind of gaslighting culture that’s been happening in politics and people getting demonized. It’s like the whole thing being about, basically, let’s just chill out and bring it back to accepting people for who they are and what they are and going back to those basic feelings as opposed to the confrontational, anti kinda thing that we’re in right now. I know the single seems more of a personal be yourself, self-help-type song, but it’s more directed to the political climate we’re in right now.
The single has a different melody than the band’s previous work—it has a more downtempo, R&B, electro vibe. What was the musical inspiration behind the song?
Whenever we make a record and we start writing new music we always try to go somewhere a little different and evolve slightly. What I’ve been personally listening to lately is a little more of that R&B, that more funky, jazzy kind of thing. Stuff like Steely Dan, Tom Misch, Leon Bridges, artists that are a little more on that R&B and funk tip—we’re just trying to incorporate that. We’ve added a horn section and some more musicians and we just want to play stuff that is fun to play and that is musically satisfying and musically interesting for us, and show the growth every time we make a record. We don’t ever want to be stuck in one genre; we like being diverse and eclectic musically—that’s our modus operandi. That’s who we are.
