Best of the Bay alum: Rochford’s band, UNRB, has nabbed three Best of the Bay awards from CL, including the Readers’ Pick for “Best Local Ska/Reggae Band” in 2013 and 2014.
St. Pete College educated: Rochford honed his musical chops at SPC, which, he says, “has a great program and ridiculously accessible professors who will help you with anything. Dr. Taranto, the composition teacher, he definitely pushed me to get out of my safe zone. That’s kind of why some of the UNRB music gets so out there.”
Driven makes it happen: Atlanta’s annual multi-city Driven Music Conference is the place for emerging Southern artists to connect with music industry professionals, and get discovered and hired by talent buyers. Local reggae rock outfit Mighty Mongo earned their Warped Tour slot after playing for a panel that included Kevin Lyman, and it was that band that encouraged UNRB to jump on the Driven train, too. “The very first one we went to was the very first one he [Lyman] stopped going to,” Rochford laughs.
Lyman returned to Driven in May and got the full UNRB experience: “He was very interested in us, he loved our sound, he Tweeted about us when we did our public showcase,” Rochford says. That Tweet –“Ska is alive and well in south Florida with @unrb” – was the first thing they saw when they got off the stage. “We fan-girled a little bit in the green room.” Though no word from the Warped camp has arrived as yet, Rochford is confident it’s only a matter of time.
Them summer days: Driven also introduced UNRB to Summerfest talent buyer David Silbaugh, who invited the band to play the giant Milwaukee-wide music festival this summer. “We thought our tour had peaked at Summerfest,” he says, but the gig on the following night as part of the Sunset Concert Series in Carbondale, Ill., “caught us completely off guard with how great it was… All of a sudden Carbondale was rocking out with UNRB and no one had ever heard us before.”
It’s getting hot in here: UNRB’s Collateral Jammage EP was finished just in time for tour. The EP release show at the Local 662 in June brought the heat, literally, when the venue’s air conditioner, ice machine and POS system all went down in one fell swoop. “I feel like, in a weird way, that kind of epitomizes a UNRB show,” Rochford laughs. “It’s so reassuring to see a full crowd out there, they’re singing along to all of your lyrics and they legitimately do not care how hot it is, because they just want to see the band.”
The UNRB formula: The seven-piece is fueled by Rochford’s vocals and electric ukulele prowess, reinforced by a four-piece horn section, and keeps the momentum fast and driving via a muscular bass-drums rhythmic assault.
Five-year milestone: UNRB celebrated five years together this month. Rochford says the secret to their longevity is simple: “We all just get along.”
Coming up: UNRB plays The Goat House in Odessa with Survey Says! on Sept. 2, opens for MarchFourth Marching Band at State Theatre in St. Pete on Sept. 25, and stages their second Halloween show at Ale and the Witch in St. Pete on Oct. 31.
This article appears in Aug 20-26, 2015.