SOJA
Arlington, Virginia, United States
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On SOJA EP: If the words "Bob Marley, "UB 40" and "Steel Pulse" inspire a tingle in your brain and a prickling in your desire, this is the next addition to your decorated reggae collection. With it's insightful, probing and reflective lyrics, calling out for veils of illusion to be breached, supported by some of the thickest grooves to make their way into our reggae collection in months, Soldiers of Jah Army deliver a no brainer pick for any remote fan of reggae. This is the kind of reggae that takes every ounce of your attention- half of you is entranced in the beats while the other half is entranced in the dead-on, piercing, socially conscous versus. A must! - CDBaby.com
Already established as a reggae power on the East Coast, Soldiers of Jah Army (SOJA) don’t necessarily need a landmark recording to cement their place in the genre. But the Virginia-based quintet hammers the point home on Get Wiser, the band’s third and most complete release to date. It is a brilliant, convincing collection of US reggae at its best.
Preaching awareness and begging for social consciousness in times of international turmoil, SOJA makes a strong political statement, challenging its audience to embrace clarity and wisdom in light of spoon-fed agendas and diversionary propaganda.
The seasoned vets gain instant credibility on the album by enlisting a who’s who of reggae music as guest musicians, including the Wailers’ Junior Marvin on two tracks, Rare Essence’s Go-Go Mickey, and Misael Clemente of Puerto Rico’s Gomba Jahbari. The 14 songs marry relaxed, roots-inspired songwriting with creative arrangements, rotating a variety of feature instruments — from guitars to brass, woodwinds to percussion.
Vocalist Jacob Hemphill’s lyrics are enlightened and positive. “Every tongue of everyone / Of every state in every land / Has everything to be thankful for,” he chants graciously on the opener “Open My Eyes.”
SOJA’s musicianship is beautiful and refined as the band slowly closes in on ten years together as a unit, enchanting fans with an array of hypnotizing island grooves and melodies.
Get Wiser writes the manual on how a band known almost exclusively for its live shows can make magic in the studio. With the help of soundman Jim Fox and drawing from years in the game, SOJA has crafted a reggae masterpiece — raising the bar a few notches and packing some serious ammo for the road. (Innerloop Records)
By Peter Stewart of PerformerMag.com - performermag.com
Add to the ever-growing list of impressive home-grown American roots reggae talent the band Soldiers of Jah Army(SOJA) This group of Washington D.C. area youths, all only in their early 20's performs with a confidence and proficiency well beyond their years, and on Peace In a Time Of War, they present roots fans with a gift from above that may set a new benchmark for US reggae. Lead singer Jacob Hemphill has a remarkable voice and passionate delivery seemingly made for roots reggae. He transitions efforlessly from a slightly raspy Maley-esque growl to a smoother, almost Ali Campbell-like wail that is mesmerizing. The songwritting to is amazingly strong and consistent, Peace in a Time of War is truly breathtaking, awesome showcase for SOJA's talent. It is a major statment that bodes well not only for the group's potentila, but also foe the future of the American Reggae scene.
-Mark Harris, May 2003 - Reggae-Reviews.com
Febuary 2005 issue of The Beat Magazine. Written by: Tom Orr
Given the depth of Soldiers of Jah Army's "Peace In a Time of War", they come across as a band with decades of reggae wisdom behind them. True, they have been under reggae's spell since pre-high school days, but theese young lions have been a working musical outfit for only a few years. Peace In a Time of War is equal parts blazing fire and healing water, full of locked in riddims and quietly powerful vocals. Singer /guitarist Jacob Hemphill is easygoing in explaining what the band wants to achieve." We hope to influence the listeners of our music in the same way that other musicians gave us the inspiration" Let's hope they succeed- they've picked up alot from thoose who came before them, creating an entrancing sound that the next generation of singers and players would do well to glean from. "As opposed to the majority of popular music," Hemphill explains, "reggae has a message encouraging justice and unity. Because music can have such an impact on the way people think, it is important that this influence is in a positive way and this is why we play reggae."
- The Beat Magazine
Add to the ever-growing list of impressive home-grown American roots reggae talent the band Soldiers of Jah Army(SOJA) This group of Washington D.C. area youths, all only in their early 20's performs with a confidence and proficiency well beyond their years, and on Peace In a Time Of War, they present roots fans with a gift from above that may set a new benchmark for US reggae. Lead singer Jacob Hemphill has a remarkable voice and passionate delivery seemingly made for roots reggae. He transitions efforlessly from a slightly raspy Maley-esque growl to a smoother, almost Ali Campbell-like wail that is mesmerizing. The songwritting to is amazingly strong and consistent, Peace in a Time of War is truly breathtaking, awesome showcase for SOJA's talent. It is a major statment that bodes well not only for the group's potentila, but also foe the future of the American Reggae scene.
-Mark Harris, May 2003 - Reggae-Reviews.com
Discography
2012 Release: STRENGTH TO SURVIVE
2009 Release: BORN IN BABYLON (SOJA-007)
2006 Release: GET WISER (SOJA-006)
2004 Singles: 9-1-1 (SOJA-005)
2002 Release: Peace In a Time of War (SOJA-003)
2000 Release: SOJA EP (SOJA-002)
All music recorded, mixed, mastered & dubbed by:
Jim Fox at Lion & Fox Studios. Washington D.C.
All Music (c) SOJA, LLC
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CONTACT:
Elliott L. Harrington
Red Light Management
New Legend Music
elliott.harrington@redlightmanagement.com
www.redlightmanagement.com
_________________________________________
Photos
Bio
Mention folk music to the average listener and the list of usual suspects come to mind: Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Woodie Guthrie, etc. Talk to SOJA lead singer/guitarist Jacob Hemphill, however, and you’ll walk away with a different perspective. “To me, Rage Against The Machine, Wu -Tang Clan, Sade, Johnny Cash, Bob Marley – they’re all folk artists,” he says. “There’s no difference between Raekwon saying, ‘I grew up on the crime side, the New York Times side, where staying alive was no jive,’ to Bob Marley saying, ‘Cold ground was my bed last night and rock was my pillow, too,’ to Johnny Cash saying, ‘I know I had it coming, I know I can’t be free, but those people keep on moving (around) and that’s what tortures me.’ Folk is all about storytelling and passing on a legacy. It’s timeless, it’s limitless and it crosses all boundaries. That’s what this band is striving for. It’s a tall order,” he laughs, “but we’re making our way.”
They’ve raised the bar with Strength to Survive, their fourth full-length album, an intoxicating mix of hot-rod reggae grooves and urgent, zeitgeist-capturing themes. The album, produced by John Alagia (Dave Matthews, John Mayer, O.A.R.), is the band’s first for ATO, the label co-founded by Dave Matthews.
Hemphill says the album was greatly inspired by Bob Marley’s Survival. “That’s the greatest reggae album ever made,” he says. “It has the best basslines and the best lyrics ever heard on one record. Marley wrote it after he went to Africa. I was 13 or 14 when I listened to it for the first time and it triggered all these long-forgotten memories of when I lived in Africa as a kid. My dad was an IMF res rep in Liberia in the late 80’s. I remember when the coup first started—- my family had to hide in these iron bathtubs for 3 days because the military was shooting at everything. I was 7 and that was one of my first memories. We made it out on the last flight. So Africa was always a big part of our lives—- it defined our family, in a way. Music came right after that, so, for me, music was always tied to Africa and music was always something powerful.”
Shortly after returning from Africa, Hemphill met Bobby Lee (bass) in the first grade in Virginia. The two instantly became best friends, finding common ground through their love of hip hop, rock and reggae which they performed together at their middle school talent shows. Throughout high school, they met Ryan Berty (drums), Kenneth Brownell (percussion) and Patrick O’Shea (keyboards) and together formed SOJA. The band gigged locally in the DC area while a couple of the guys finished school, all the while making plans to hit the road after graduation. They actually wound up owning the road.
Over the course of the past few years, SOJA has sold more than 200,000 albums, headlined large theaters in more than 20 countries around the world, generated over 40 million+ YouTube views, amassed nearly 2 million Facebook fans, and attracted an almost Grateful Dead-like international fanbase that grows with each tour, with caravans of diehards following them from city to city. Most impressive of all, they’ve accomplished all this on their own. This 8-piece band has spent the past year and a half grinding it out from venue to venue, playing more than 360 dates, including headlining sold-out tours of North and South America, as well as opening for O.A.R. and sharing stages with everyone from Dave Matthews Band to Matisyahu.
With Strength to Survive, the band makes an impassioned call for unity and change with universally relatable songs about faith, hope and love. “I could go on and on about the horrible damage we’ve done to the earth or the problems that arise when countries compete for money over an imaginary border, but the album has one central theme,” says Hemphill, “and that’s our hope for the world to be one family.”
It’s a concept best exemplified in the song “Everything Changes.” “People out there with no food at night,” sings Hemphill, “And we say we care, but we don’t, so we all lie/But what if there’s more to this, and one day we become what we do, not what we say/Maybe we need to want to fix it. Maybe stop talking, maybe start listening/ Maybe we need to look at this world less like a square and more like a circle.”
Among the album’s many highlights is the ethereal “Let You Go,” about the road not taken, “Mentality,” the disc’s hard-hitting opening track, and the one-two punch of “Be With Me Now” and “When We Were Younger,” the latter bringing together the macro and the micro with the simple yet resonant line, “All of my answers, now that I’m older, turn into questions.”
Hemphill says the band’s simple and honest approach to music is what’s enabled them to break through obstacles of language, distance and culture in amassing an international following. “What’s the alternative – pop music?” he laughs. “Pop music—especially American pop music, is about having money, sleeping with models, living in mansions, spending
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