Rebelution (band)

Formation and Courage to Grow

Rebelution was formed in the college town of Isla Vista, California, in 2004. The five original band members were Eric Rachmany, Matt Velasquez, Rory Carey, Marley D. Williams, and Wesley Finley, who were all University of California, Santa Barbara students.

Throughout 2004-2005, Rebelution began to build momentum through consistently playing local shows and by independently releasing an EP. All four current members graduated from UC Santa Barbara, getting degrees in religious studies (Rachmany), anthropology (Finley), film studies (Williams), and business economics (Carey).

Rebelution released their first full-length album Courage to Grow in June 2007, which would become the breakthrough album for the band. The album was praised for its crafty melodies, socially conscious lyrics, and savvy musicianship. Courage to Grow went on to garner mass downloads and radio play on stations such as San Francisco’s Live 105 where their single "Safe and Sound" was played on heavy rotation, with spins on San Diego’s 91X and Los Angeles’s KROQ. The album was selected as iTunes Editor’s Choice for Best Reggae Album of 2007. In addition, Courage to Grow peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Top Reggae Albums chart. Velasquez, one of the two vocalists, left after the release of Courage to Grow and left Rebelution as a four-member band.

Bright Side of Life

Two years after their first album, Rebelution released their second full-length album Bright Side of Life. On 4 August 2009 Bright Side of Life was officially released and dominated the iTunes charts, reaching the #1 spot on iTunes in the Reggae music genre, and the no. 3 spot for Top Albums Downloaded in the United States in all genres of music. The album reached no. 1 on the Billboard Top Reggae Albums chart and no. 34 on Billboard's top 200.

The release of Bright Side of Life marks the first release under Rebelution’s newly founded record label "87 Music" (named after their address while attending college at UCSB: 6587 Del Playa Drive.

The band also played at the Rothbury Music Festival, in summer 2009.

The band performed at the 2010 Harmony Festival in Santa Rosa, California along with other well-known acts such as The Expendables, Slightly Stoopid and Lauryn Hill. They also performed at All Good Music Festival, Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits and Wakarusa music festivals in 2010.

Peace of Mind

On January 10, 2012, Rebelution released their third studio album, Peace Of Mind, through their own label 87 Music. Peace of Mind: Acoustic features all twelve original album tracks stripped down acoustic as well as Peace of Mind: Dub remixed by Easy Star’s Michael Goldwasser (Dub Side of The Moon, Radiodread, Easy Star’s Lonely Hearts Dub Band). The album debuted at no. 13 on the Billboard 200 charts, no. 1 Independent and no. 1 Reggae, and the no. 4 iTunes album overall, selling 16,000 copies its first week, despite giving away half the album free to their fans over the six weeks prior to release.

In May 2014, Rebelution performed as a headlining act at the California Roots Music and Arts Festival in Monterey, California. In September 2014, the band performed as a headlining act at the California Roots: The Carolina Sessions Festival as well as The Reggae Rise Up Festival in Tampa, Florida. RRU has quickly became one of the largest and respected Reggae festivals in the country.

Count Me In

Count Me In, the band’s fourth full-length release on its own label 87 Music, and partnering for the first time with Easy Star Records, marks its tenth year together. Released on June 10, 2014, Count Me In debuted as the no. 14 album on the Billboard 200 albums chart and the no. 1 Billboard Reggae album. The album, which features contributions from Don Carlos and Collie Buddz, gave the band its third consecutive no. 1 album on the Billboard Reggae Albums chart. Rebelution is currently on the Count Me In tour with supporting acts Iration, The Green, and Stick Figure. In December 2014, Count Me In was named as the best-selling reggae album of the year by Billboard. An acoustic version of the album was released in 2015 and again topped the Billboard Reggae chart.

The band plays 100-120 shows a year. Tours have taken them to South America, Guam, Aruba, New Zealand and Europe. They've performed at many world-renowned music festivals including Bonnaroo, Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival, Glastonbury Festival, Lollapalooza, Hangout Music Festival, and Austin City Limits Music Festival. They’ve headlined and sold out Red Rocks and the Santa Barbara Bowl.

Other projects

Rebelution worked with Florida-based breweries Rock Brothers Brewing and Cigar City Brewing to create Rebelution IPA in Summer 2016.

Awards and honors

After its debut album was one of the most downloaded reggae albums on iTunes, Rebelution's Courage to Grow was named the iTunes Editors Choice: Best Reggae Album 2007.

Rebelution received their first Grammy nomination in 2017 when their album Falling Into Place was nominated for the "Best Reggae Album" award.

Members

Current members

Former members

Studio albums

Live albums

EPs