Coyaba, Wailers entertain reggae fans at Bluebird

“Is this love, is this love, is this love, is this love that I’m feeling?”

Most likely yes, or it’s the thick haze of smoke, patchouli and body odor getting to your head.

Lovers of all kinds flocked Sunday night to Bluebird Nightclub for The Wailers, Bob Marley’s former back-up band.

For local group Coyaba, opening for the legendary reggae ensemble was the biggest accomplishment of their musical careers thus far.

“To open up for a band like the Wailers, it’s just magnetic what’s in the air,” Coyaba percussionist Laura McKinney said. “There is all this great anticipation and excitement, so it is really an honor to be up there. We’re just fans up there too. It will be fun to see everybody cut loose with the Wailers. Nobody will hold anything back.”
The Wailers have been prominent in the music scene since the early 1960s when Jamaican reggae first started to culminate.

While the members of the group have fluctuated throughout the years, key member Aston “Familyman” Barret was the one original to take the stage Sunday.

“He was the arranger of all Bob’s tunes — he taught Bob how to play guitar,” Coyaba guitarist Justin McKinney said. “I mean, Bob had the voice, but he needed something else.”

Coyaba also used Sunday night’s gig as a CD release party.

With seven members in the band and the use of a non-traditional lineup, Coyaba is self-defined as “dub reggae.”

Drew Carlstrom played a dull brass saxophone, while Clint Carty stood before a laptop and mixing board, giving the group its dub undertones.

“Bob Marley inspired me to sing,” Coyaba lead singer and bassist Josh Jackson said. “I sung his songs and loved it and it really uplifted me. I don’t think I’m a great singer — I just do it to try to sing from within, from in the heart.”

On stage, Justin McKinney’s guitar style had a surf tone with ska rhythmic qualities, while his wife Laura McKinney played a variety of percussion instruments.

“They’ve brought reggae to Bloomington for years,” said Harmony Gist, a recent IU graduate and friend of the group.

When members of The Wailers began to take the stage, the audience and performers were united through a series of chants and the spirit of the performance.

“I’ve seen them a few times,” Gist said. “It’s their beat; it’s their energy. The whole crowd at a reggae show is positive energy.”

Consumed by this energy, the whole crowd at the show was moving.
Audience members found two ways to dance to the music, made simple by the prominence of a syncopated beat.

Patrons either gently swayed back and forth, eyes squinted, jaws slightly ajar, or allowed their entire body to be overcome and controlled by the spirit of the music, wiggling their arms through the air and lifting their feet as if walking on hot sand.

The Wailers manned the stage for several hours, delivering originals and Marley covers and pleasing a sedated crowd.

“They were the popular reggae back in the ’60s, and they made it more mainstream,” audience member Sam Alig said. “The fact that they are still coming out here and playing after all these years is
incredible.”