Summer Comes In February

About halfway through Earthkry’s set, vocalist and guitarist Aldayne Haughton posed a question to the audience at Cafe Nine: ​“Do you want us to stop or keep playing?” The thunderous confirmation he received nearly shook the walls of the intimate room on this Fat Tuesday — a night typically known for outlandish behavior, but here, in this bar, simply for celebrating music and life.

Earthkry, a four piece reggae band from Jamaica, was the headliner of a two-act bill that also included local act The Alpaca Gnome Trio, a three-piece band that is a smaller version of The Alpaca Gnomes, typically a seven-piece band with a loyal following. One of the things the band is known for is wearing pointy gnome hats, which band members hand out to fans in the audience.

The Bridgeport-based trio — Benny Mikula on vocals and guitar, Kim Curtin on vocals and fiddle, and Michael Gargano on cajon — played a more stripped-down sound to the room that filled up slowly but steadily as they played their 10-song set. Their upbeat sound gently but firmly got the bodies in the room moving more and more as their set progressed, heads nodding and faces smiling. More than one person in the audience told me ​“I love these guys” and the loving vibe between the audience and the band not only musically but mentally was palpable, giving the impression that we were all already friends of theirs.

Mikula announced before the band’s third song that ​“this one is for our friend Patrick at the bar,” and nodded to one of the two audience members in one of their shared gnome hats. The music itself remained in the vein of positivity and love, with titles such as ​“Welcome Home” and ​“Together We Can.” The Alpaca Gnome Trio conveyed the warmth and vitality of an outdoor summer concert in a small dark room in February.

The four members of Earthkry came to the stage for their set and launched right into a reggae that quickly revealed itself to include a melding of many genres of music. The four musicians — Haughton, Philip McFarlane on keyboards and vocals, Kamardo Blake on bass and vocals, and Kieron Cunningham on drums — created a sound Haughton noted himself was “influenced by vintage reggae but also other influences.” As the band’s set went on, it sounded as if its members had chosen the best parts of every kind of music and made it a part of what they do. There were guitar solos that lingered and made the instrument speak as Prince did, vocal harmonies reminiscent of great 70s R&B bands like Earth, Wind, and Fire, keyboards that kept bringing one back to the great Billy Preston, and back beats that owed as much of a debt to bands like P-Funk as they did to Steel Pulse. They announced that they were going to play a song from one of their influences, telling the audience “if you know it sing along,” then launched into Bill Withers’s “Ain’t No Sunshine.” The crowd went wild, including, with full disclosure, this reporter.

I have to be honest here: it was really hard to take pictures, video and notes when all I wanted to do was dance. This band and this crowd seemed to feel the same way as their strength and stamina appeared to never let up, and maybe even grew as the night went on. The room got more full, people got closer to the stage without encouragement, and the entire front of the club moved and danced with unbounded joy and delight.

The band received and returned the love throughout the night. Though Haughton announced more than once ​“we don’t want to talk too much up here,” they engaged the audience several times in a connective and kind way. They joked about being happy to be in CT but having ​“trouble with the weather,” noting that ​“where we are from even in the winter it is summer,” but they still shared their warmth, vitality, and message.

“Earthkry means ​‘voice of the people,’ so we are going to sing about Mother Earth … seems appropriate,” Haughton told the crowd before singing the song of the same name, noting that it was about ​“the home that we all share: planet Earth. We are all earthlings.” With lyrics such as ​“the earth is crying, mother earth is crying, the people dying,” they united the crowd in a peaceful and joyous way, through concern and love. Before ending its 15-song set with the tune ​“Hard Road,” Haughton said it was ​“an honor, a joy, and a privilege to play rock and reggae for you.” But when the song ended the crowd was not having it and screamed for an encore, to which the band responded that they would.

“You guys have been a wonderful audience, it’s the least we can do,” Haughton said. ​“But I’m not playing to an empty floor.” He requested with a big smile that any of the empty spots remaining up near the stage be filled in with audience members. He did not have to ask twice.

Haughton also offered the crowd ​“peace and blessings” before the encore. ​“Peace and joy every time.” It was not a stretch to imagine that this band does just that, with the voice of the people, wherever they go.

Earthkry continues their Survival Winter Tour throughout the U.S. into March. Find dates and more info here.