On a Saturday evening back in late October, I made my way to Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn for a much-anticipated reggae show featuring The Bandulus and Uzimon. For those unfamiliar, Uzimon is a Bermuda-born, Brooklyn-based international reggae superstar specializing in dancehall, rub-a-dub and rocksteady known to kill men with lyrical bullets, but we will delve into his story some other time.

Today, we focus on the group of talented ladies and gentlemen that comprise The Bandulus, a Portland, Oregon sextet that infuses a blend of ska, rocksteady and early reggae with heavy soul vibes. The group embraces a classic ska/mod aesthetic by dressing dapperly in suits and ties, vintage hats, skirts with stylish tops and Doc Maartens, and despite all this heavy clothing, they perform with extremely high energy. Frontman and founder Jeremy Peña, drenched in sweat, strums the guitar vigorously, throwing every ounce of energy he can muster into his passionate singing. His powerful, heartfelt vocals are complimented by the heavenly harmonies of his female bandmates, Leah Farmer and, on this particular evening, Emma Bitter (she has since left the band), who shimmy and shake with at times coordinated dance moves, as lead guitarist Mario Salazar bounces like a rubber ball. The Bandulus exude contagious gusto, and while their name comes from the Jamaican patois word for bandit or scammer, their zeal is real and the only thing they will steal is your heart.

Earlier this month, The Bandulus released their fourth studio album, Tell it Like it Is, on Belgium’s Badasonic Records label. The 35-minute LP features a dozen delightful songs crafted with precision under the expert production of studio ace Nico Leonard, who Rootfire had written about previously for his work with Pyrotechnist and Victor Rice.  Equal parts Motown and Jamaica, The Bandulus’ lively grooves, stirring melodies, spirited singing and buoyant backup vocals provide the perfect vehicle to deliver themes of love and heartbreak.

Jeremy Peña

“Broken love songs are my favorite to write,” Peña told me. “Honestly, I try to write the same song over and over, just in a different way. Some of these come from experience, and others are imagined. My wife and I have been together for 23 years, so there is plenty of material to draw from,” he laughed.

Placing Tell it Like it Is in the context of The Bandulus discography, over the close to two decades that Peña and friends have been recording music, the fidelity has steadily improved, growing into a fuller, more robust sound. The Texas-born singer agrees: “It wasn’t until our 3rd album, Love a Woman, that I felt that the production was finally a good representation of what we sound like live. Big up to Curtis (Irie; Bandulus bass player who produced and mixed) on that one. He really knocked it out of the park.”

While the older music seems to have a bit more of a traditional 60s era ska focus as opposed to the later records that have a broader blend of styles, Peña said he doesn’t approach his songwriting with strategic intent. “I always want the ‘Dulus to make traditional ska, reggae and soul records. We don’t want to reinvent the wheel or experiment. Having backup singers helps me lean to my soul side a little harder, but I try not to write a song in any specific genre. We like everything to happen as organic as possible.  I just like playing roots music.”

Peña’s predilection for roots music likely stems from his own roots coming from a musical family. He estimates that he’s the fourth or fifth generation of Peñas to play music. Throughout his upbringing, his father had several bands who performed everything from Patsy Cline to Cheo Feliciano, and his mother usually sang for them. Delving back further into his family history, his grandparents on his father’s side had a bar and restaurant, where his dad ran the live music Thursday through Saturday. “My pops played pretty much every instrument he could, and he played them all very well,” Peña remembers fondly. “My mom is a hell of a singer, and so they’re pretty much responsible for giving me the music bug.”

Leah Farmer

Peña told me his first love was the drums, but he remembers the distinct moment around the age of 12 that he became drawn to playing guitar. “My best friend growing up, Jarred, his dad did all the art for the world-famous Antone’s nightclub in Austin. At the time, his dad was dating Susan Antone, sister to the club owner, Clifford Antone. I got to spend various weekends and time in the summer hanging out at their house. And every night we would go down to the blues club to see who was playing. This one particular Sunday, they had featured a couple of young and upcoming guitarists. One was named Jake “Guitar” Andrews and the other was Derek Trucks (of the now famous Tedeschi Trucks Band). I can’t remember who, I think Derek, but one of them played the old Santo & Johnny instrumental called ‘Sleepwalk.’ I was hooked! I thought to myself, if these young guys can play this, so can I. That evening when I got back home, I asked my dad how to play it. He showed me and I just couldn’t stop playing it. Probably drove my siblings nuts, but definitely made my parents proud.”

A few years later, in high school, Peña formed a band with his friends called Captain Bringdown and the Buzzkillers, who emulated punk bands such as Rancid, The Suicide Machines and NOFX. The Buzzkillers used to open for the Houston-based Los Skarnales, known for their proprietary blend of of ska, rock-a-billy, cumbia and punk.  Peña ended up quitting his band around the same time Los Skarnales was looking for a new guitarist. Peña had been working with their keyboardist, Ryan Scroggins, on some tunes apart from Los Skarnales, so Scroggins ended up recruiting Peña to play guitar for the band.

Eventually, the songs they had been working on turned into another band called The Trenchtown Texans, in which Peña “traded my distortion pedal for a delay and learned how to play ska, rocksteady, & reggae properly.”

Peña really sprouted his wings as a professional musician while with The Trenchtown Texans. “During this time, I also started to learn how to write, how to make contacts, how to tour, so many things. I definitely found my voice playing with Trenchtown.”

Then, around 2007 or 2008, Scroggins got a job at the zoo as a herpetologist. His new job took up a lot of his time, so Trenchtown couldn’t perform regularly. Peña couldn’t sit idle, so he started The Bandulus. “At first, I thought that Bandulus would only be a recording project. Maybe play a show or two,” he recalled. “I really didn’t think that I’d be where I am now, being a front man. I always thought of myself as a decent side man.”

Nevertheless, Peña shared some songs he had written with his “mentors,” Patrick Kelly & Willy Camero of the Austin ska/rocksteady band, The Stingers ATX (as well as Ryan Scroggins), and they helped him record what would become the ‘Dulus debut album, Ska, Reggae Soul.

Mario Salazar

Over the 15 almost 16 years of The Bandulus, the band has had a staggering amount of players — about 46 members. “Running a ska band is like that. Always needing a sub or trying to find a singer, or whatever,” said Peña. Two of The Bandulus longest tenured members, guitarist Mario Salazar and singer Leah Farmer, have been with the band since 2009 and 2010-2011, respectively.

Besides the lineup changes, despite his ancestral and musical ties to the Lone Star State, in 2015 The Bandulus relocated from Austin to Portland, Oregon. “I always knew that I wanted to leave Texas. We wanted to get away from the heat and experience a new place, Peña told me. “The west coast has always been my favorite, so in 2015, my wife and I had a chance to leave Austin, so we took it.”

They chose Portand because Peña knew he’d “have a band right away” due to the fact that Curtis Irie, Peña’s good friend and bassist for the band, had already relocated there and had a drummer and keyboard player lined up. Not long after getting settled in the Pacific Northwest, the “Portlandulus” got to work learning the two records the band had already released, plus all the new tunes Peña had been working on.

Fast forwarding to their latest record, it begs questioning why Peña opted for the exponentially heavier lift of taking his Portland, Oregon-based band all the way to Belgium to record. As it turns out, the entire album “was kind of an accident.”

According to Peña, “We originally didn’t plan a recording session. In July of 2022, we were supposed to play at the London International Ska Fest, but three weeks before the fest, the promoter cancelled it. Mario, Curtis and myself had nonrefundable plane tickets and hotel rooms, so we all decided to go with our wives to Europe and have some fun.”

He continued, “Three months prior to going, we played at Freedom Sounds Festival in Cologne, Germany. There we met Nico Leonard from Badasonic Records/The Moon Invaders/ Victor Rice Septet etc. and we hit it off. So when the news of the London gig came, I emailed Nico to see if we could record a few songs. I sent him five demos and we ended up recording eight tracks in the span of two days. We married those eight tracks with the four we had been working on in Portland and Tell It Like It Is was born.

Peña said that working with Nico was a dream come true. “I have been a fan of his for about 18 years. When I first heard The Moon Invaders, they had just released The Fine Line record. I couldn’t get enough of them. All their records have been staples of mine for years. And if you’re extra nerdy like me, you look to see where these records were recorded. All of these albums were recorded at the Pum Pum Hotel which is now Badasonic Studios in Chaleroi, Belgium. So I was definitely geeking out while we were there. At the end of the first day, we could hear how warm the tones were and we were just floored. I had the thought of having Curtis mix the record, but ultimately everyone thought we should have Nico do it. Nico gladly obliged and did an amazing job. I love the way it turned out. And now I get to brag about having Nico’s work on one of our albums.”

Looking ahead, The Bandulus will be heading to Europe again, this time to join label mates, The Utopians, for the Rocksteady Review European Tour. “I’m extremely excited about our upcoming tour with The Utopians. Nico will be playing drums for us and Utopian’s organist, Yoann, will be playing with us as well. This will be our first real tour over there. We’ve played Cologne before, but other than that, it’ll all be new. I’m excited to return to Cologne, but I’m really pumped about the Spain dates. We will be supporting the legendary Bad Manners for three shows. I’m also excited to open for The Pioneers, not only in Cologne, but in Gumpersdorf, Germany. Really all of it will be amazing and I can’t wait for the coffee, wine, & beers.”

Jeremy Peña

Mario Salazar

Leah Farmer, Emma Bitter & Jeremy Peña