Pepper is a group of 3 guys from Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. Kaleo Wassman, Bret Bollinger and Yesod Williams. I spoke to Yesod, the drummer to ask him a few questions about the group and learn more about their music. Their sound can be defined as rock music with a reggae influence. It definitely has an island feel with influences from Sublime, Police, the Clash.
So you guys are from Hawaii, but how did you actually meet each other? We all grew up together. Kaleo moved over to the island when he was 12 years old.
How long have each of you been playing music? Drums when I was 9 to 13, quit for 4 or 5 years. All together about 14 years. The other guys have been playing since 11o r 12 years old. We've all been playing for about 14 or 15 years. All our parents were in to music. My dad was in a band called The Law. They were catering on success in the early 80s. He played guitar and sang. They let the industry get the best of them and they ended up breaking up before the went over the top. Kaleo's dad lives in Honolulu and plays music at some bars.
How would you describe your music to people that are unfamiliar with it? Rock music with a reggae influence. Definitely has an island feel. Influences from Sublime, Police, the Clash.
How has your music evolved? It's become more energetic. Its become more of a finished thought rather than rambling on and on. Overall maturity in general. We try to just progress and evolve with the song writing.
What was your favorite performance thus far? We are definitely super blessed to do this for a living and we consider this the best job in the world. We were on tour about 3 years ago with the super villians and a band called expendables. For the encore we would all do a song together from No Effects.
Fat Mike- singer/bass player from no effects. He ended up playing bass with us for that song
Where have you always wanted to play but havent yet? Brazil, we want to go to South America.
What other sorts of activities do you guys do? We all grew up surfing, being from hawaii there isn't a lot to do but there are the best things to do. Surfing, stand up paddle boarding. I play a lot of golf. Its Football season again, we are obsessed with football. Trying to live an every day normal life is kind of a hobby too.
Is one of your songs you favorite? Its more about what song I'm into playing live at that time. It goes in rotation. If its a song you haven't really played for awhile it brings new life into the show. “Kelly Song” from our first CD, “Givin It.” Before this last tour we probably hadn't played it for 6 or 7 years. “Face Plant” from Kona Town.
What other bands are you currently listening to? The new Muse album. Im a big fan of Muse from England. UB40. Red Hot Chili Peppers. The new Jay Z album. Tupac, Sublime, older Metallica, Slayer. All the grunge air stuff like Alice and Chains and Nirvana and Pearl Jam and Rage Against The Machine has always been a big influence. We play so many different kinds because we listen to so many different types.
Did you ever imagine you would be in the place you are in now? Before we started the band, no. After we started the band I always had faith and knew it was something more than a hobby. Keeping faith and keeping persistent. You can kind of say yes, we have so many other goals we want to accomplish with this band and our career.
What would you like to do from here? We want to go and play music to all the people and all the places in the world that we haven't yet. We started to release our own albums on our own record limit. We want to push it to the limit and make it the biggest independent record label out there. We want to hit all realms of the music industry.
