by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

Los Angeles band the Aggrolites have chosen their moniker well. Singer Jesse Wagner has noted elsewhere that it combines halves of the Aggrovators and the Crystallites, names from the golden era of Jamaican soul, from ’69 to ’72, that so inspires them. But more to the point, the initial aggression they present—check the baseball bat and bulldog stances in the band snap on their self-titled second album—gives way to a sound that’s as sweet and charming as it is rough ’n’ tough, what they call “dirty reggae.”

“If you asked each individual guy, there’s about 10 different ways how the term came up,” laughs Wagner, “but I don’t think it really matters. It’s the sound of it, the energy of it, the soul of it, the feel, the rawness, the grittiness—it’s recorded in that way that a lot of that music was recorded in those days. It’s not over-produced, it’s not overly polished. Get in the studio, set up the instruments and pound out some live jams, feed off each others vibe and go for it.”

Just “going for it” is sorta how these former members of the Vessels and the Rhythm Doctors (plus, a bit later, a drummer from Hepcat) came together. They were tossed together as a studio and onstage backing band for Jamaican legend Derrick Morgan, though that record isn’t likely to see the light of day. “It’s kind of in the past now,” Wagner says wistfully, “because we’ve luckily been blessed with some success so far with where we’ve taken this band, so some things just got buried.”

Blessed they are, and not only with a signing to Epitaph offshoot Hellcat on their own merits and further back-up gigs for the likes of the great Prince Buster and the late Phyllis Dillon (someone get Toots Hibbert’s people on the horn!). They’ve also got ridiculous skills—I defy any listener to find a single weak track on their 19-song album—and a chance to not only share the music they love, but to expand the palette of that sound.

Jamaican pop at the time was eagerly absorbing elements of American soul—Stax, Motown, what have you. The Aggrolites further flavour the mix with bits of boogaloo, Chicano soul-rock and swampy, Meters-style funk. The core, however, remains classic early reggae—just check the echoes of Jackie Mittoo in the organ-grinding of keyboardist Roger Rivas (to Canadian ears, it’s pure, vintage hockey-rink kitsch-cool, arena rock-steady if you will). Does it even bear mention that these guys have a fondness for old-school tube amps and such?

The anachronistic gear assembled for their album got double usage, when Rancid frontman/Hellcat capo Tim Armstrong asked them to back him for his forthcoming solo effort, A Poet’s Life, which was recorded in the same week, at the same studio. “He said, ‘I want it dirty reggae. Just do it like the Aggrolites.’ He gave us full permission to do what we want. The whole thing was how the Aggrolites would record an album, but with Tim Armstrong songs.”

Wouldn’t you like to hear that? Apparently, given the trickle of tracks so far, so would Wagner! “We only did it once and only heard it that day, so it’s going to be as much of a surprise to me as to anyone else. So far, what I’ve heard, I’ve liked. He went off to his own studio and totally produced it, mixed it and everything, and I think they did a really good job as far as keeping that Aggrolites sound—dirty and gritty.”

With the Expos and Our Mercury at Lambi on Sunday,
Dec. 3, 8 p.m., $15, all ages

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