Micah from Iration interview

Interview with Micah By: Josh King - @JoshK65

Show tomorrow night @Altar Bar

Iration will be coming to Altar Bar
on Saturday, February 22nd

We interviewed Micah who is a singer/songwriter for one of the best reggae bands in the world- IRATION

Visit their website at: irationmusic.com

Pittsburgh is known for freakishly long winters. From November until March the burgh is often in a deep freeze. If it wasn’t so cold you could confuse it for Hell. The older generation toughens their way through the cold and usually they act like it’s business as usual. The younger generation has alternative plans. There is a select group of young women in their early 20’s who have solutions to get through the wintery awfulness. “The solution is simple. Roll up some joints and turn on Iration,” says Jessica, a beautiful girl in her early 20’s.

Naturally, I did what the hot girl told me to do. I had her over, we rolled up a few joints, and tuned into the Iration album.  Instantly, I felt connected to the music. The bitter cold didn’t seem so bitter. There was hope. The single, “Summer Nights” took me to a place in my mind that seemed more than bearable. Try enjoyable. I instantly pictured the summer nights in Pittsburgh where the city is pure magic. I had my anthem for the winter. Iration’s music was great.

[responsive_youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3xbDa1xdXw]

I’m not the guy who reviews music and writes reviews. I never want to be that guy. I am a journalist and I do document a lot of things from my life. Given the fact that I interview bands and musicians on a daily basis- I didn’t want to write an opinion on this particular group because I was instantly a fan. However, the more I researched, it became clear to me that I had to let the world know about Iration. I had gone 3 months of suffering through the winter without hope and all of that came to an end when I listened to another track.

The single, “Back Around” was bone chilling. It hit close to home. I had to find out more about this band. I was able to sit down with Micah who wrote both of these phenomenal songs. I will release the full featured article in the March issue of the magazine, but in anticipation of his show tomorrow at Altar Bar, I felt the need to release a preview. It’s listed below the music video. Enjoy that music video and make sure you make it out to Altar Bar tomorrow night. I have a feeling that the combination of Iration and the historic Altar Bar is a perfect match. It should be a very special night.

[responsive_youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dqJQJ3Ievs]

Micah talks to Buzzntheburgh.com the night before his show in Pittsburgh is set to begin

“Iration has been my life for the past 8 or 9 years. It’s a lot of my creative outlets. It means a lot to me,” – Micah when asked about what Iration has meant to him personally.

– I interviewed him for 15 minutes and I must say, he is one of the most humble guys I’ve ever interviewed. For someone so extremely talented, it was a pure pleasure.

“If you lose anything, maybe you’ll get a 2nd chance. Maybe it will happen again. It’s a sad song, but its also an optimistic song,” –  Micah-talking about writing the song “Back Around”.

“Every one of the songs that I write deal with my personal life. There is so much out there to inspire music that’s real.” – Micah talking writing real music.

Micah and the talented reggae group will appear @Altar Bar. The show is brought to Pittsburgh by Drusky Entertainment, fresh off winning the best promoter award for the 4th year in a row.We will be writing a full feature on Iration that will be published in our March issue of Drusky Magazine.

Iration is an alternative/reggae group of musicians formed in Isla Vista, CA. The group is made up of members Joseph Dickens (drums), Joseph King (Engineer), Cayson Peterson (Keyboard/Synth), Micah Pueschel (Guitar/Vox) and Adam Taylor (Bass). All members met while growing up in Hawaii but formed Iration after reconnecting in Santa Barbara, CA. They have since released: two full-length albums, Time Bomb (2010) and No Time for Rest (2007), as well as three EP’s, New Roots (2006), Sample This EP (2008) and Fresh Grounds (2011).

Time Bomb, which has sold 36K+ copies, hit #1 on the iTunes reggae album chart and remains within the top 20 on Billboard’s Reggae Album Chart to this day. The album included: “Turn Around” (which spent 11 weeks at #1 on San Diego’s 91X, hit #1 on Riverside’s KCXX and on Santa Barbara’s KJEE, was in rotation at Honolulu’s KUCD and Sacramento’s KKDO, as well as being streamed on LA based KROQ), “Time Bomb” (which reached #1 on Santa Barbara’s KJEE and has sold 57K+ singles), and “Falling” (which has moved 83K+ units since inclusion on both Time Bomb and Sample This EP, was an iTunes Discovery Download, reached #1 on Santa Barbara’s KJEE, and #3 on Honolulu’s KUCD). The Fresh Grounds EP debuted at #1 on the Billboard Heatseeker’s Chart and on the Billboard Top 200 chart. The single “Summer Nights” from their Fresh Grounds EP reached #2 on the iTunes reggae singles chart. In 2012 the band released “Porcupine feat. Lincoln Parish” (guitarist for Cage the Elephant) and spent time in rotation on radio stations in Southern California, Colorado Springs, Montgomery AL, and garnered spins on over several alternative stations across the US including KROQ. Combined, Iration has sold 60K+ albums and EPs, along with over a quarter of a million single downloads to date. The group has been touring nationally since 2008, have performed at festivals such as: Lollapalooza, Wakarusa, Sierra Nevada World Music Festival, Sunset Strip Music Festival; and headlined several successful national headline club tours fostering multiple sold out shows throughout the country.

The third full-length album Automatic by Iration is due July 2, 2013. The album combines elements of reggae, rock and pop to create a truly unique listening experience – including additional production and instrumentation from Lincoln Parish, as well as the band’s previous studio partner JP Hesser of Castaway 7 Studios in Ventura CA. In an effort to promote Automatic, this summer/fall 2013 Iration will embark on a national major market headline tour supplemented by several shows supporting Sublime with Rome, plays at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas’ Thursday Night BLVD Pool Series, Orange County Fairgrounds’ Pacific Amphitheater, and San Diego’s Del Mar Race Track. The Hawaiian-bred musicians look forward to spreading their original sound and aloha spirit all the while never forgetting to get a surf in when possible.