1996-2013: Celebrating 17 Years Of An Original Island Sound

“…An extraordinary music experience that is both distinct and innovative, yet altogether familiar…”

“Go Jimmy Go’s Jamaican rhythms, Hawaiian vibe, American-style Soul and most importantly the drive to create music that is indeed food for the human spirit, always brings audiences back for more.”

Hawaiian Heavyweights

Go Jimmy Go has been the front-runner in Hawai’i’s music industry, creating original rhythms since the late ‘90s. With a wholly unique sound, the key to their success has been the band’s feverish chemistry of musicians. With a foundation of driving beats, drummer/vocalist Shon Gregory and bass man Jayder set the pace for Ian Ashley’s melodic guitar/vocals. Ryan Kunimura on trombone and tenor saxophonist Eric White add the sweet memorable flavor of “old Jamaica” while the frenetic moves and soulful vocals of lead singer Jason “Bison” Friedmann never cease to amaze audiences around the world.

In The Beginning

The band was formed in the Fall of 1996 where the original six members got together to create original roots-oriented ska, rocksteady, reggae music for the people of Hawai‘i. There was a budding roots reggae scene and 3rd wave ska scene, but there was void of old-school ska and reggae music, the kind reminiscent of original Jamaican Studio One and the like. With a focus on creating an original sound (rather than relying on other people’s music as covers), Go Jimmy Go forged ahead and got hot quick in the local Honolulu music scene and was scoring live performances on the radio, getting into rotation with their first radio single “Egyptian Ska,” and opening up for national touring acts like MTV hit Goldfinger, all within the first year of existence.

Soul Shakedown Party

The direction and fortunes of the band soon changed in 1998 with the introduction of Bison (formerly of Dynamic Pressure – Santa Barabara, CA) as lead singer and frontman. With moves like the notorious James Brown and pipes like the famous soul-shouters of yesteryear, Bison provided Go Jimmy Go limitless heights and even further prominence. Big shows regularly came to town and the boys got the opportunity to open up for some really hot acts like Hepcat, Save Ferris, Reel Big Fish and the Warped Tour ’99. Their live KTUH performance got regular play by call-in requests which opened them up to a statewide audience 24/7. It was about this time that the boys decided to hit the studio in the summer of 1999 to record their first album, Slow Time.

Slow Time Anything But Slow

The debut release, “Slow Time,” propelled Go Jimmy Go not only to a national spotlight, but internationally as well. Jump Up Records (Chicago, IL) released the album just in time for the band’s first ever tour of the U.S. mainland in 2000 and got rave reviews from here in America and all the way to the shores of Europe. The reception was warm and encouraging for a band making its home in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The live shows were firing on all cylinders! Go Jimmy Go’s string of shows at the infamous Hawaiian Hut in Waikiki were bringing in crowds from 800-1,000 people by means of their own promotion company, Pressure House Productions. Those were good times, but of course, the best was yet to come.

Soul Arrival

By 2002, Go Jimmy Go was ready to take the show to the next level and signed to Moon Room Records (Honolulu, HI) and recorded and released their second full-length album, Soul Arrival. The CD release party drew a capacity Hawaiian Hut crowd of 1,000 party people and kicked off a 17-date stint with the Van’s Warped Tour all across America that summer. Their biggest tour to date brought the band a loyal fan base from a big portion of the country and opened the door to even more touring in the rest. “Soul Arrival” garnered a Na Hoku Hanohano Award nomination (the Hawaiian Grammy), a #1 hit on two separate local commercial radio stations with “In Between Times” and “Bang The Skillet.” If that wasn’t enough, the year ended with the biggest single show they’ve ever played: a sold-out Blaisdell Arena of 8,000 fans for No Doubt’s Rocksteady Tour. With the momentum Go Jimmy Go began plans for striking it out as a full-time touring band with the blessings of what the next album would bring.

Road Warriors

2003 brought Go Jimmy Go many highlights and hi-jinks (two sold out shows with megastar Jack Johnson, War, Damien Marley, the 10,000 in attendance Ska Summit ’03 in Vegas), but mainly it was a year to start planning for the big move to full time touring status. By Spring of 2004, Go Jimmy Go announced the big news to everyone and all of Hawai‘i gave them a warm send-off to success in the mainland and beyond. The 3 tours of that year had the band crisscrossing the mainland U.S. playing festivals and making fresh new fans everywhere they went. In between tours back home in Hawai‘i, Go Jimmy Go was hitting the studio recording their highly anticipated third album, The Girl With The…Fishbowl Eyes. The album’s release in the summer of 2005 was received ecstatically and with rave reviews, such as the one from the Honolulu Star-Bulletin:

“At last, a highly touted long-anticipated local album that lives up to its pre-release hype! Go Jimmy Go gets it all right with ‘The Girl With the Fishbowl Eyes’ and should be a front-runner for a 2006 Hoku Award.” Despite all the great press at home, it was time to take the show back out on the road to the mainland and prove to everyone the reviews and critics were right. Three more U.S. mainland tours later, including the highly successful Ska Is Dead 3 Tour, had the band reaching out to newer audiences and making fans like never before in the farthest reaches of the country.

Island Sound Known The World Around

2006 was definitely a break-out year for the band opening up with the Ska Brawl Tour with veteran New York legends, The Toasters, all across the south, east coast and Canada. Not long after that, Go Jimmy Go took the show international with the Island Sounds Tour of Japan which coincided with their first-ever international release, Island Sounds, through Ska In The World Records. Two more mainland tours later, including one with “the best reggae band in America” according to Rolling Stone magazine, John Brown’s Body, had Go Jimmy Go ending on a high note for their best year yet. The success of so many high-profile tours and successful releases propelled Go Jimmy Go to a new level of success and prestige of which more was yet to come.

Always searching to take the music to new places Go Jimmy Go struck out on a 5 ½ week, 13 country, 39-date tour of Europe billed as Ska Brawl Europe, with The Toasters in early 2007. Promoting their first-ever European release of Fishbowl Eyes through Moon Ska Europe (UK), the tour was a smashing success through and through truly opening up the world to the “Island Sound Known the World Around.” Later that year Go Jimmy Go released their fourth album, Holiday Hell Yeah, which took the band in a fun new direction recording their first ever cover-songs of both Hawaiian favorites and soulful Christmas standards.

2008 And The Road Ahead…

These island boys started out the new year in bold fashion and struck out on their second Europe Tour, Hawaiian Punch Euro Tour 2008…this time as headliners and venturing into new, exciting territories. Not more than a few weeks after getting back Go Jimmy Go was sharing the stage on one of the hottest bills in the whole country at the Kokua Festival headlined by none other than Jack Johnson and Dave Matthews! Two sold-out shows at the equally beautiful and famous Waikiki Shell had the boys performing in front of a crowd of over 16,000!

As we head into 2009, the band looks forward to releasing it’s highly-anticipated fifth album with a tour of Japan, Hong Kong and Macau to follow in March, and a full US mainland or European tour in the summer time. “The Island Sound Known The World Around!” literally has the world chanting… ”Go Jimmy Go! Go Jimmy Go! Go Jimmy Go!”

Discography

Slow Time (Jump Up Records 2000 / MoonRoom Records - 2004)

Soul Arrival (MoonRoom Records - 2002)

The Girl With The...Fishbowl Eyes (MoonRoom Records - 2005)

Fishbowl Eyes LP (MoonRoom Records – 2006)

Island Sounds (Ska In The World Records -- 2006)

Open The Door 7” single ((Ska In The World Records -- 2006)

Fishbowl Eyes (Moon Ska Europe – 2007)

Holiday Hell Yeah! (MoonRoom Records – 2007 / Ska In The World – 2007)

Holiday Movie Marathon 7” single (Ska In The World – 2007)

Mama Bird 7” single (Jewels Records – 2008)

Go Jimmy Go Self-Titled (Ska In The World Records – 2009)

Go Jimmy Go Self-Titled (Go Jimmy Go Music – 2009)