You may not be familiar with the band, “Reggae Workers of the World” (RWW if you’re in a hurry.) That’s okay — that just gives me more joy to be able to be the one to introduce them to you. Since you’re reading Rootfire, you almost certainly know The Slackers and The Aggrolites,  two spectacular ska/reggae bands that are never afraid to blend other sounds to make some of the most captivating music out there. Well, if you ever wondered what a band consisting of Slackers frontman Vic Ruggiero, Aggrolites frontman Jesse Wagner and a spectacular drummer like Belgium’s Nicolas Leonard might sound like, RWW is your answer. And that answer sounds really good.

As you might guess from the very active status of these gentlemen’s other projects, RWW releases aren’t a yearly affair. However, after nearly a decade since their second release, the appearance of their third record, New Thing, is particularly exciting. From the first note, it’s obvious that it was worth the wait. Their record label, Badasonic Records, describe New Thing perfectly: “Reggae Workers Of The World take a bold step forward while staying deeply rooted in the timeless sounds that define them. The album captures the full scope of this transcontinental supergroup’s musical identity: soulful, genre-defying, and driven by classic songwriting.” 

After being blown away by the album, I had questions. Thankfully, Vic was accommodating enough to jump on a phone call from the tour van.

The art of choosing an album’s track order

Rootfire: First of all, I’m feeling a special fellow that got the pre-listen, because that album is a banger! [Laughs] It’s nice. I really enjoyed it. The first question that came to mind: do y’all obsess over tracklisting? Because the tracklisting is perfect, and it’s even more challenging with all the different styles and everything. So I’m wondering if y’all spend a lot of time kind of like, “All right, how are we going to track this thing?”

Vic: We do it afterwards. It’s one of those things when you have a recording and you see the way the songs came out. I made a record one time with somebody and they had a plan in the beginning. They were like, “This is how the record’s going to go,” and whatever, and you can’t really guess. You got to kind of work with what happens. I remember hearing that when The Beatles made Sgt. Pepper’s, they said: “The songs just kind of came out and we realized, hey, these all make sense together.” And that’s kind of how it happens. Then you just spend a lot of time figuring out what the playing order is once you got the songs.

Rootfire: Gotcha. It flows real nice.

Vic: I’m glad that it lands that way, though, because we really do [think about that]. I’m an album guy…I think with albums and EPs, the flow is really important.

Rootfire: Same. So whenever it really hits, I notice right away, and that’s one thing I noticed with this one. 

Vic: That’s cool. Thank you. I’m glad that it worked. [Laughs]

“J’en Suis Fou”

 Rootfire: I was taking in a few of the specific songs. “J’en Suis Fou.” So, first of all, on vocals that’s… 

Vic: That’s me and Jesse Wagner.

Rootfire: You and Jesse! Okay, okay, cool. And this is from the Dick Rivers version, right? I had never heard it before, and I suspect it’s a really cool thing when you play it for audiences and they’re like, “Wait, I recognize this song. Oh shit, it’s ‘Love Me Do’ in French!” [Laughs] 

Vic: I think we probably have the worst French accents ever. [Laughs]

Rootfire: I was going to ask if any of y’all speak French!

Vic: The drummer is from Belgium and he’s from the French part of Belgium, so he is our coach when we do things that way.

Rootfire: Oh, nice! That makes sense. I super enjoyed that one. And then I found out that this guy, Dick Rivers, had done it way back. I had no idea, so it was a cool little rabbit hole I went down.

Vic: We’ve actually been playing that Beatles’ song for years, ever since we got together. That was one of the things that I always wanted to do. That song, “Love Me Do,” I thought would make a great ska. And we’ve always played it, and then not too long ago, Nico played me the French version—the 60s French version—and I was like, “This is crazy! Can we do this? Can we do this?” And so he wrote it out for us. We wrote it out together, but we wrote it out phonetically. Because French, it doesn’t look like it sounds.

Rootfire: That’s hilarious. Questionable accent or not, it sounds like you know what you’re saying!

Vic: Great! That’s really great.

Nico Leonard (L), Vic Ruggiero (C), Jesse Wagner (R)

“Busy Beaver” and reggae’s risque humor tradition

Rootfire: So as y’all obviously planned, “Busy Beaver” had me fucking rolling! I could not stop laughing at that shit. And, I mean, obviously, it’s in the tradition of old blues and R&B and all that trickling down into reggae and calypso and mento, where you have the double-entendre which is not at all disguised. It’s right in your face. 

Vic: Yes. [Laughs]

Rootfire: And I’m Trini, so I was loving it, because when you have Sparrow and those guys, they used to do—

Vic: Oh, yes!

Rootfire: Yeah, they would love that.

Vic: That’s very much in that tradition.

Rootfire: Exactly! So I recognized it right away. What I was curious about, would y’all at all worry about the possibility of anybody being like, “Oh my god, how could they- that’s so salacious” – or is your thought process more of: “Yo, we’re honoring this tradition that exists, it’s obviously farcical, y’all need to calm down?”

Vic: Well, [laughs] I think these days you have to be careful in some ways, right?

Rootfire: Right.

Vic: Because you want to make sure you’re not saying anything that’s demeaning or something. You got to be respectful.

Rootfire: Precisely, yes.

Vic: But also, in the tradition of reggae…calypso and reggae both got some dirty joke history that [laughs] we can’t ignore it and it’s like, hey, so long as we try to keep it cool. [Laughs]

Rootfire: Exactly, that balancing act. And again, it’s one of those things where if you do it right, I think it comes across the right way. So to me, I was like, “Ah! I know exactly what y’all are doing with this one,” and I think it just comes across as fun.

Vic: I tried to make it more funny by putting in the chomping noise, the [makes chewing sounds] the busy beaver’s chomping on the wood. And I was like, we need a sound effect. It’s got to be 60s kind of…

Rootfire: [Laughs] I was about to mention that! That to me is one of those things in the 60s where they would have the hilarious Foley kind of noises and all that kind of thing. It’s all just a big jokey thing, and it really gives it that humorous vibe.

Vic: You got to make sure people get that it’s a joke. If people don’t know that you’re joking, then you’re just an asshole. [Laughs]

Rootfire: Yep, that’s when you get in trouble. That’s when you’re just, “Oh, this guy’s a piece of shit.” And then, similarly, the “Psychosomatic” song. My favorite thing about that is that you can hear that y’all are fighting not to crack up when y’all are doing those back-and-forths.

Vic: Oh yes, yes, yes! [Laughs] I got to say, Jesse is a really, really funny guy. He has the nature of a comedian. It’s fun because when you have that kind of a guy, I can bring out my funny tunes too. Also, I can be like, “Hey, let’s play around.” And it’s fun that it translates onto the recording, ’cause we listen back to it and we laugh, and we’re like, “Oh, that’s pretty good. It’s pretty funny.”

The Freedom of being in Reggae Workers of the World

Rootfire: Well, you in part  just answered my next question, ’cause I was wondering if part of the enjoyment of this specific band—and especially this album—is the freedom to let loose and enjoy every second of the creative process? I mean, y’all go and rock out on “157 Wardor,” and then y’all are creating your versions of these old-school things. Is that a big attraction of this project?

Vic: Oh yes, definitely. The way that it started was both Jesse…The Agrolites had taken a bit of a hiatus. Nico, the drummer, had two bands that decided they didn’t want to tour anymore. I think one of the bands broke up and the other guys just decided, “We want to stay local.” And I saw two of my favorite musicians very underemployed. And I felt like, “Oh god, I better take this opportunity…” because usually those guys are so busy, and I’m so busy that we never get a chance to do something like this. And I saw the potential for a supergroup or whatever you want to call it. I was like, oh, this is great! I would love this. And I was having a tough year. It was really busy. I had a lot of shit going on. I was having all sorts of things happen. But I just thought, “If I don’t do this, I’m really going to regret it. I’m going to be upset later on.” And so, yes – and they didn’t even know each other! I had to introduce them. I thought they would have known each other already.

Rootfire: I love that.

Vic: And Jesse said: “Hey, I’m going to fly over to Belgium and you’re going to introduce me to this guy. I trust your taste. I know you got good taste in people and musicians.” And I’m like, “Yeah, I know you’re going to like him.” And now it ends up that Nico plays drums for The Agrolites when they do European tours now.

Rootfire: Brother, that is beautiful!

Vic: Yes.

Rootfire: And I mean, that is some friendship trust. It’s not about, “All right, I’ll drive across the country” even. “All right, I’ll fly to Belgium!” [laughs] To meet this guy I’ve never met.

Vic: Right, right, right! [Laughs]

Rootfire: That’s gangster.

Vic: That’s why these guys are cool, because I know that’s the kind of guys they are. They’re willing to just go there and be like, “Okay, let’s see what happens.” We’ve all taken risks before ’cause we’re all guys that have been in a bunch of bands and done a lot of music.

Rootfire: Yes. You know the possible magic that could come from a risk.

Vic: Yes, yes, so, it is good. And I’m glad you enjoy the stuff.

Pushing the envelope even further on New Thing

Rootfire: When [the new album review requests] came in, and David [Shiffman, Rootfire editor] sent out the call, it was immediate. I didn’t know the other acts, I checked them out, I was like, “that’s cool, that’s cool.” But then I heard this and… it hits. I’m a big fan of mixing different styles and genres, and obviously my foundation is also reggae and all that kind of stuff, and just being able to cohesively put all those things together is something that I just think is—again, I use this word a bit too much sometimes—but a magical thing.

Vic: I’m glad it works because I know that I was nervous at first because we all come from reggae and ska backgrounds and bands. People know us for making that music. And then it was like, is it going to be okay if we do a soul tune? Is it okay if we put something that’s a bit rock and roll mixed with ska, or two-tone?

Rootfire: Yes, I totally get that.

Vic: And then we thought: “This is what we all like. We all get into a bunch of different music, and who cares? Let’s just throw it out there and see what happens.” It’s for the joy of the music.

Rootfire: 100%. And I personally feel like the time couldn’t be better. And I’ve heard a few people saying this, just in terms of the fact that now you have everything so siloed and so polished and whatever, people actually craving different versions of things that they like.

Vic: Mm, yes.

Rootfire: So… I just think it’s dope, but that’s my opinion. But I also think the time is right for throwing in a little different things in the callaloo, a bit of different things in the sauce. [Laughs]

Vic: Oh yes! Reggae particularly, reggae and ska, the whole Jamaican… I mean, the whole Caribbean, really, the influences come from so many different places.

Rootfire: Exactly!

Vic: And then they end up making this new sound. That’s the way that all that music happened. And so, to kind of just stop and say, “Oh no, we only play reggae this way because that’s how it was done already,” it’s like you’re kind of not really getting the whole vibe of the thing. There’s Latin music in there, there’s tons of different beats that are coming from, you name it, all over the place.

Rootfire: Bredren. That’s exactly how I see it, so I think you’re going to find a lot of adopters. 

Jesse Wagner (L), Nico Leonard (C), Vic Ruggiero (R)

Why Nico is a secret weapon and labels like Badasonic are doing things right

Rootfire: Speaking of… again, I don’t know, you’re reading my mind dude, ’cause you already answered how it came together before I could ask. But I was curious also as to how y’all make the East Coast, West Coast, Belgium thing work? Do y’all always get together in Belgium, or does it just depend?

Vic: It depends. Really there’s not that many bands in the world, really, that I feel comfortable with that way. Both of those guys were in bands that I felt like, you’re my musical cousins. The Aggrolites; Nico’s bands were The Moon Invaders and a group called The Caroloregians, which is kind of a bit like The Agrolites, a little more soul, sometimes and surf.

Rootfire: Cool band, really beautiful band.

Vic: And there was stuff that I was like, these are the kind of people that I need to always be in touch with. And The Slackers would tour with these bands, and we got to know each other. So, it kind of makes sense. But there’s really not that many. It was Hepcat, Aggrolites, Moon Invaders…there were a couple bands from Italy and France. You meet these guys and you’re like, “My brethren, my people.”

Rootfire: Right! [Laughs] My tribe.

Vic: My tribe! There you are, you like the same music and you’re trying to put forth this music that not everybody is willing to do. A lot of people don’t get the sound right, or it takes a certain amount of dedication to do those sounds, especially when we’re trying to be kind of old-style, retro, that’s what I like.

Rootfire: I’m glad it keeps working out. I saw that this last one, y’all recorded it at the label studio in Belgium?

Vic: Yes, Badasonic. That’s also why Nico is great because he’s a drummer and he has a studio, so you know that the drums are going to sound great. That’s the hardest thing to get sounding great.

Rootfire: That’s the foundation, yes!

Vic: Yes. And then he’s also a really musical guy. He knows actual composition. He can write out horn charts. He’s a very, very talented dude. As opposed to me, who is—I’m more of a folk musician, I just kind of sound everything out by ear and I write out simple charts. Nico can actually score a string part or something. He’s actually, like, a stuffy musician. [Laughs]

Rootfire: Oh, crazy! That’s dope. Badasonic is his label?

Vic: It’s his label. Him and another guy that I know who’s also a really talented sound guy. They decided they were going to have a label and put out bands that they like.

Rootfire: Ah, nice.

Vic: And I think to some degree it’s a labor of love, and then also they are smart about it because there are these small labels that are doing pretty good. Like I think Daptone was the first guys that really broke out.

Rootfire: Right.

Vic: There’s Colemine Records that does all that funk. There’s a couple of other labels I remember that put out really specific types of soul music. There’s one called Kimberly from Canada.

Rootfire: Yes, yes,! [Laughs approvingly in Canadian]

Vic: And this is really smart. These guys are very smart about the way they release music. Just small amounts and, yes…I wish I had such focus. [Laughs]

Album release, European Tour and the kick-ass Canadian reggae scene

Rootfire: Well congratulations to you all, it’s a dope album. When is it coming out? Did I see April 20-something?

Vic: Yes, I think so, ’cause we’re going to be on tour. We’re touring in Europe right around that time. [Note: The album was released on April 24] And we’re actually also touring with a cool combo because there’s a band called The Bandulus. They’re a really awesome band, originally from Texas, but they’ve kind of moved around the US a bunch. We made a really nice combo on one of the US tours that we did. So we had this Reggae Workers meets The Bandulus and it made this fantastically crazy revue band. It was really good.

Rootfire: Nice! So now Europe gets to vibe it.

Vic: Yes, and hopefully we can do it again in the US and really…We didn’t do it a whole lot, but it was on a Slackers tour, and we were the opening band for The Slackers. I kept telling everybody, “Man, you better show up early for this. Show up. This is really good.” I’m like, “I couldn’t have planned this, I’m just along for the ride, but this is great.”

[King Sagz and Vic chat about Sagz’ old band opening up for Slackers in Canada]

Vic: Canada has got a great bunch of people that are coming out to see the shows. When we do those Canadian tours, whether it’s on the East or the West we really get some cool folks out. But the East is really.. Ontario and Quebec really have a scene.

Rootfire: Well, Quebec, if I could move to Quebec, I would do it, because that scene…in Ontario it kind of ebbs and flows and it’s happening and then for a few years not as much. But Quebec and Montreal especially, they’re like, “Oh my god, we love this, we’re here for it.”

Vic: Yes, that’s true. I mean, they’re really obsessive about it.

Rootfire: Yes. [Laughs] All the way.

Vic: All the way.

Rootfire: I could only hope there’re enough that way that Reggae Workers has an opportunity to come through, ’cause I would love to see y’all live sometime. All right, Vic, thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it.

Vic: Yes, thank you, and you caught me at a great time. I’m even stuck in traffic, so the van got even quieter, it’s been great.

Rootfire: Boom! Just as I planned psychically. [Both laugh] All right, brother, you have a safe drive.

Vic: All right, later.