NOTE: “Today” and “tonight” refer to Friday, July 29.
PORT ANGELES — Throughout his decades-long career, Grammy-nominated reggae artist Pato Banton said he has strived to spread a message of love and peace with his music — steeped in Jamaican tradition and distilled in England.
“I think in every human being’s heart and soul there is a desire to live in an environment that is peaceful and loving,” the United Kingdom native said over the phone this week.
Banton and his band, The Now Generation, will perform this evening at The Metta Room, 132 E. Front St., Port Angeles.
Opening for Banton will be Guidance Band, a reggae group based in Hawaii with ties to Port Angeles.
Eclectic reggae
Banton has released well over a dozen albums since his debut in 1985. His 10th album, “Life is a Miracle,” garnered him a Grammy nomination in 2001.
Banton said his style includes a vast array of influences.
“I think my reggae music is not really branded by the style of reggae because I don’t play any particular style,” he said.
“That could be to my detriment among hardcore reggae fans that want you to stay within a certain box. But I play everything. I include salsa, ska, rock, hip-hop — you name it.”
The “one thing that stays true throughout is that my reggae is classified as positive reggae music,” he said.
He described his shows as “an uplifting experience — a happy experience.”
“A lot of people seem to get influenced by the negativity of the world and it impacts them on a deep level,” he said.
“I have always seen the negativity of the world as a challenge to rise above with love and more positivity. There is always a solution to every problem.”
Banton — who now splits his time between the Los Angeles area and Birmingham, England, — grew up in a time of racial tension, he said, which had a direct correlation on the way he sees the world around him.
“I lived in a very racist environment,” he said.
“We were being attacked by racist people and the police department in England. There was always a desire for us just to have a peaceful life where we could just be accepted for who we were instead of being discriminated against, and I think that kind of lead me to always looking at ways to find more harmony and more peace in the world.”
Born in London
Banton — born Patrick Murray in London in 1961 — moved to Birmingham when he was 8 years old, according to his biography.
Banton said he was influenced artistically by his stepfather, Lester “Rocket” Daley — a Jamaican immigrant.
Daley “affected me very deeply,” Banton said.
At the age of 9, Banton became the unofficial lookout for illegal musical gatherings at Daley’s home in Birmingham, according to his biography.
In his early teens, Banton began helping set up Daley’s musical equipment and learning the craft, he said.
“Eventually I became the DJ and selector for his sound system,” Banton said.
Banton would stay up all night entertaining the masses and was given the name “Patoo” by his stepfather, according to his biography — a reference to a Jamaican owl that stays up all night, calling “patoo, patoo.”
Cultural identity
Reggae music helped Banton form a sense of self when he was growing up, he said.
“When reggae music evolved, the artists from Jamaica started singing about African history, about spirituality and about God,” he said.
“At that point in my life, English schools never taught us anything about black history. They didn’t teach anything about Africa.”
Reggae music filled that void, Banton said.
“I was getting educated through reggae music. My entire age group in England . . . became a lot more aware of who we were as black kids who had come from Africa, gone to the Caribbean and England. It was the music that brought that awareness to us.”
Because he already had a love for writing poetry, Banton said it was natural for him to gravitate toward singing in reggae bands.
“This music inspired me, so I wanted to use this music to inspire others,” he said.
Banton became well known in the local music scene, according to his biography, and by his early 20s was the emcee, singer, songwriter and manager of reggae band Crucial Music, taking the band on tours of the UK and Europe.
Banton’s first recording was a double A sided single with Crucial Music titled “All Night Raving & Sensimilla.”
Marijuana advocate
As the title of his first single indicates, Banton has been a longtime advocate for marijuana decriminalization, he said.
“I have been singing about it for 30 years,” he said.
Because of Banton’s longtime vocal support in favor of legalizing marijuana, “I have experienced being demonized for many years,” he said.
That is changing, he said.
“More and more states across America now are decriminalizing and legalizing marijuana,” he said.
“I am blown away that I am seeing this in my lifetime. I am just very grateful to be alive to see the day where it is becoming more and more socially acceptable.”
Marijuana has been a major influence on Banton’s musical style, he said.
“In the early days, when I first started, I definitely used to smoke and write,” he said.
“It gives you that experience that there is more to the world than just the material reality.”
Nowadays, “I really don’t smoke anymore,” he said.
“I think as I have become more and more spiritually minded, I just seem to be naturally high. I don’t drink. I don’t really smoke at all. I really don’t need anything to stimulate me. I think the more spiritual I become, the less I need anything really to find true happiness — that natural high that just comes from loving God and loving humanity and wanting to be of service to humanity.”
Banton said he does not identify as Rastafarian, a religion commonly practiced by many reggae artists.
“I think in the early days I was inspired by the Rasta movement and the Rasta music, but I ended up doing my own spiritual studies,” he said, adding he draws much of his philosophy from, The Urantia Book, a work that originated in Chicago sometime between 1924 and 1955.
“Now I would classify myself as just a spiritual person,” he said.
Guidance Band takes the stage at about 9:30 tonight, with Banton taking the stage at about 11:30 p.m.
Tickets are $18 at the door.
Saturday show
Then on Saturday, Guidance Band will return to The Metta Room for a headlining performance beginning at about 9:30 p.m.
Tickets for that show are $5 at the door.
Both shows are produced by Joel Miller Presents.
For more information, call 360-797-1113 or visit www.themettaroom.com.
