Philadelphia-based Reggae, Rock, and Hip Hop collective Rockers Galore have released a summery single, “Blood In The Sand“. It previews the band’s debut album Vamos a la Playa, which will be released on September 13th, 2024. Featuring Philadelphia guitarist Joe Jordan (Oxymorrons, Pure Hell, JJX), this song also includes a spoken word performance by Sydelle Prosopio.
Rockers Galore typically blends Roots, Hip Hop, Reggae, Rock, Haitian kompa music, and Latin rhythms, and the new single does, too. Since releasing their Port Au Prince’ EP in 2011, the collective have released several singles and EPs.
Founded in 2008 by multi-instrumentalist Blayer Pointdujour, Rockers Galore began as a solo project, gradually involving other artists and based on a songwriting partnership with guitarist Adam Benites.
Adam Benites recalls about the new single:
One of my best friends, Leo Mintek, took me to see a killer band named Locobeach in Brooklyn and, when I got back to Philly, I began writing this. Then everyone else did their magic. I did bass first, then I started layering guitars. Cleaned some stuff up and sent the idea to Blayer. He re-recorded the bass, did what he does and it really started to come to life. We wanted to write a jammed out ending, so we went to our rehearsal studio and started jamming. We all came up with the outro. We had been trying to get one of our best friends, Joe Jordan, to jump on something for a while now and I’m glad he’s on this one. He crushed it.
Blayer Pontdujoir adds:
For this song, I struggled to come up with lyrics for a while. Inspired by the Latin-style guitar playing, I decided to write about the Taino Rebellion. The lyrics detail the last fight of a Taino couple against the Spaniards in the early 16th century. Adam wrote the guitar part. I added drums and bass. Our horn players added their parts. After composing the skeleton of this track, we started playing it live. Michael created the final drum arrangement. We went to Creep Records to record vocals, mix, and master. I asked my friend Sydelle to recite a poem I had written about the last battle on the beach, and Joe Jordan ripped the guitar solo on the outro!
While “Blood In The Sand” was mixed & mastered by Arik Creep at Creep Records Studio, all other album tracks were recorded, mixed & mastered at Milkboy the Studio by Tommy Joyner (of Digable Planets), who has overseen recordings by James Taylor, Dave Matthews and Miley Cyrus, among many other artists.
