John Brown’s Body: with that phrase, we’re reminded that the echo of human action is long-lived, even if things don’t always work as predicted. As a martyr of the abolitionist movement in the United States, John Brown was finally captured and hanged in 1859, following the violent raid of a U.S. arsenal in Harper’s Ferry, Virginia (now within West Virginia’s borders). He and his men intended to arm the region’s slaves for revolt. Fate stopped him in the implementation of that plan, yet it was still one of the final actions that sparked the American Civil War.

As the chosen name of one of the longest-storied and most prolific reggae bands born in the U.S., it rings of another force that has echoed through the decades – this time, through music and song. John Brown’s Body has evolved over the span of nearly 30 years (Anniversary: 2025), and that math ignores the steps taken during the musicians’ pre-JBB days.

In 2018, JBB declared that it would be taking an indefinite hiatus. Since that time, band members have been playing under different names and arrangements. However, to the delight of many, JBB announced that some of the original members would be reuniting for select performances in 2024. With that, it feels like the right time to check in with them to see how things are going with that process. It also seems an appropriate time to take a walk back to the band’s first movements, just to see how far JBB has journeyed.

Recently, I connected with singer/songwriter Kevin Kinsella and drummer Tommy Benedetti. We touched on the past, the present, and the future of JBB – along with discussions on reggae’s reach, the responsibilities of reggae groups from outside Jamaica’s borders, and the continuous process of exposure and growth, while working as a musician.

Part 2: Tommy Benedetti

(Part 1 with Kevin Kinsella was published last week)

Rootfire: What are your thoughts on John Brown’s Body members performing together again, under the JBB name? What lead to that?

Tommy Benedetti: We have seen each other, all these years, and some of us have played a ton of music still, together. It’s not like we were super estranged from each other.

JBB, with the most recent incarnation – I’ll call it the Fireflies (2016 album) era – we did our last show, before the hiatus, on New Year’s Eve; I think it was 2017 into 2018. Then, we were off for probably the better part of three-plus years. We got the crew back together with Elliot (Martin), to do the Grass Roots Festival. We did one show that was going to lead to the relaunch of the band, after the hiatus, but Elliot had developed some hearing issues, so he quickly realized that the live stage wasn’t really conducive to him, at this point – at least for the time being.

Nate (Edgar) and I had talked, and he was like, “Yo – we should do some work with Kevin (Kinsella).” I was like, “Dude, if you’re in, then that changes everything.” We had done some shows with Kevin, with partially Dub Apocalypse dudes, so we had some of my crew from DA, out here in Boston, and then a mix of old JBB guys. We did a few shows with that – we weren’t calling it John Brown’s Body. We’d go and play a mix of old stuff and some of Kevin’s newer stuff.

Once Nate came on board, that was really the catalyst. We did a couple shows with me, Nate, Lee (Hamilton), trombonist TJ (Shaper), Van (Gordon Martin), and JP (Jon Petronzio). As I’m looking around on stage, I’m like, “Man, this is John Brown’s Body, too.”

John Brown’s Body is a long story. There are different eras, if you will, and this is just a continuation – picking up where we left off. To me, it’s all one big musical family, so it’s not really that jarring.

I wish Elliot could be here – he might be here sometime down the road, you know? So, it was pretty seamless, getting the crew together and playing the music. The more difficult part, and the more time consuming,  is organizationally, businesswise: getting everything back cranking with management, booking, press – stuff that I, personally, haven’t dealt with in a bunch of years, to this level. When John Brown’s Body came back on the scene, people were exited to hear that, and that makes me feel really happy and proud.

The music’s always been the easy part for us. We’ve got a lot of years under our belt, playing these tunes. It’s kind of been a natural thing. We’ve all kept close in touch, all these years. With Elliot – a bunch of us played on his solo record, which hasn’t been released yet – but he’s got a solo record in the can, ready to go. He did release a single, last summer, of a tune that’s just kick ass. (“Ashes.”) We played on that, so just because we were not active on the road doesn’t mean that there weren’t works bubbling and that we weren’t getting stuff done. We certainly were.

We were blessed to have two incredible song writers in one band, with two really distinct, unique styles. Elliot and Kevin stand out, to me – nobody is writing songs like Kev or Elliot, in my book, at least.

RF: They both seem to have effortless styles – like it just comes naturally.

TB: They’ve come up with the stuff, since they were in high school, so they both have their own, unique take on songwriting. Kevin comes from a more classic – like Joe Higgs, Culture – songwriting craftsmanship, and Elliot is a little bit more adventurous with production; Elliot just drops the heavy vibes and rapid-fire kinda lyric, vocal technique. They’re both incredible. I love all of their music; it’s been part of my entire adult life, essentially.

RF: I brought up Tribulations (band predating JBB) to Kevin. How did you end up linked to the evolution of that band and what came after?

TB: Where I fit into that Tribulations era is, I was going to Berkeley College of Music back in the early ‘90s, and my buddy – Stacey Jones – was playing drums for Tribulations; he was at Berkeley, too. I used to go see Tribulations, and we just had mutual friends in the band. I wasn’t into reggae, at the time; I was born and raised on metal – I love rock. At Berkeley, I was playing a whole bunch of stuff, but reggae wasn’t really one of the things on my radar, at that point – early ‘90s.

I saw Tribulations play, and I was, completely, just blown away by the three-piece horns, the drum and bass, the songs. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. We could go see them at clubs, and Stacey – the drummer – knew my playing, from various sessions, gigs, and whatnot. He was leaving to join a rock band, and he said, “I want you to take my drum chair in Tribs. No auditions – you’re the guy for the gig.” I was like, “Holy shit!” I wanted to finish school and go on the road – that’s what I got.

I finished Berkeley, moved to Ithaca, and started touring with those cats. After, like, a year and a half being with them, that band dissolved – after however many years they had been together. I moved back to Boston, and within six – seven months, Kevin started calling me and said, “Hey, dude – I’ve got a new crop of songs. I’ve got a couple of the Tribs guys. Do you want to get together and play some music?”

That, essentially, is how John Brown’s Body started. That was probably ’95, at that point.

RF: I saw a Tribulations video, and it reminded me of Burning Spear vibes – maybe it was the three-piece horns.

TB: Burning Spear was, and continues to be, a massive inspiration for all of us: Aswad, Burning Spear, Steel Pulse – those were the big influences, especially compositionally, with the massive horn sections and just the incredible level of musicianship. We’re all players; this is what we do. We’re not part time musicians; this is what we do. We love the craft of our instruments and trying to get better, trying to develop, and all the bands I just mentioned were assassins. We loved everything about it.

RF: What was it like when you joined up? You said you weren’t really into reggae. Did you have to learn roots, dub… all of that was fresh?

TB: Yeah – I basically got a crash course. Of course, I heard Bob Marley, like everybody else, but my introduction to reggae, essentially, was Tribulations. They weren’t a roots outfit; they were more of a rock/reggae thing at that point, which was pretty big at that time, with 311 just coming up, the Bosstones, and stuff like that. But, I literally got a crash course. I remember talking to Stacey and being like, “Dude – yeah I can play. I’ve got the chops to play this, but, man – I don’t know.” He was like, “ It’s your gig. You got it.” So, I moved to Ithaca.

I remember it clear as day: Kevin, Elliott, and Josh – the bass player – just dropping dozens of vinyls on me and being like, “Check this out.” It was The Meditations, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Black Uhuru, Culture, The Gladiators, Burning Spear, and I basically finished college in Boston and went right back into school – learning on the job. We rehearsed, and we hit the road.

Pretty soon after joining, we went right to Jamaica for shows. I was in the band, like five or six months, and we were down in Jamaica, supporting Frankie Paul and Black Uhuru, so I got thrown right into the fire. Obviously, the more I listened to Sly and Robbie, Horsemouth, Mikey “Boo” Richards, and all these drummers, I started being like, “Oh – this is this guy.” It’s such a deep sound. It appealed to me, and I fell in love with it; I’ve been studying it ever since, and it continues to reveal itself to me, on a weekly basis. My “Mt. Rushmore” of drummers would be Sly, John Bonham, Manu Katché, and Alex Van Halen.

RF: As a reggae drummer, you’re expected to have knowledge of those drummers you just named, and their styles. It’s not like you can just come in and drop a new style down, entirely.

TB: Yeah – You’ve gotta be on top. You gotta know the beats: steppers, one drop. You certainly better know Sly and Robbie. I came to find out all these things. Even John Brown’s Body – when we came up, and we started touring, we were lucky to come up when we did. We were still able to go out and support Israel Vibration, with the three of them, Culture with Joseph Hill, and Jimmy Cliff. We would go out for two – three weeks at a time, with Burning Spear. Talk about getting thrown into the fire.

These were heavy, Jamaican crowds that we were playing in front of, and we got grilled. We had to step onto the plate, and that was a pretty amazing education and experience. We had to stand our ground and do what we did. Our hearts were, and always are, in the right place. We always put the music first, and I think that, many years later, when we backed Half Pint, Justin Hinds, Leonard Dillion, or The Meditations, that stuff all came to fruition.

RF: – What are your thoughts, when you see foundation reggae artists as opening bands?

TB: I get it. It’s unfortunate… that’s just the way the business is. For people like us – I’m an old guard too – in a perfect world, it certainly wouldn’t be the case, but, as I’m sure you know, this world is far from perfect. It makes zero sense, in any other way, besides financially and popularity wise: clicks and likes and all this bullshit that the music business deals with these days.

RF: How does it feel going from other bands you’re in – like Dub Apocalypse and Organically Good Trio – to JBB. Are they similar vibes for you?

TB: I’m thankful to say that I really do love all the music that I get to play, these days. Every band fills me up, in a different way. There’s nothing like playing JBB tunes; there’s just not. I love those songs; they’ve been part of my life since my early 20s. With Dub and OGT, those bands and those shows are my regional crews. That keeps me working, and I love it. We make records, and we have fun gigs, but JBB is an institutional band that’s been around for decades, plays bigger shows, and whatnot. But, musically, they all fill my cup the same way; they really do.

I remember, a bunch of years ago, playing Red Rocks with JBB on a Saturday night, and I flew home the next day and played our Sunday night Dub residency in Summerville to, like, 30 people. I guarantee you – I enjoyed each gig equally. I love getting to play music, with my brothers. Some of these guys in Dub Apocalypse, I’ve been playing with them for almost 30 years. It’s just a really important piece of my musical existence and who I am. Each band has a different style.

Dub Apocalypse is instrumental, kind of on the darker side of reggae – very improv based – very expressionistic, and we can go in many different directions. OGT is a traditional organ trio setting, where it’s Hammond B3, guitar, and drums; there’s no string bass, but Paul is doing all the stuff with the organ. Everything else in John Brown’s Body is its own beast. It’s like driving a Rolls Royce, when you get up into the JBB cockpit.

RF: What’s the current touring philosophy? How are you mapping out shows?

TB: We’ll see how it develops. We’ve only done, relaunching as John Brown’s Body, two shows. Both of them were out here, in the Northeast. One was up in Maine, and one was a little north of Boston. They were both electric. They were both, really, just beautiful experiences. I’m hoping we continue that trajectory, throughout what we have on the books the rest of the year. It’s hard to know where this is going to lead to, at this point. Right now, I’m just trying to put one foot in front of the other.

I know what we have on the books, and we’re not 30-year-old guys anymore. Some of us have wives, kids, houses, and multiple bands. A bunch of us are full-time players; whether it’s local, regional, or national, people are working. It takes some coordination, but, obviously, everybody wants to be doing this. We have the perfect crew assembled, at the right time – to present this music and to reintroduce the band. It feels just like I would want it to feel. Hopefully that continues, and we’ll see where it takes us.

I’d say, some sort of new music would be pretty mandatory, at some point – whether it’s a couple singles – I mean, a full length is hard to imagine at this point, but who knows? We’re going to get back into the studio, when we can, and knock out a couple tunes so we have a fresh product out there to drop on people – and, for ourselves as well.

RF: What are your thoughts on a live album?

TB: I don’t know if that’s a thing these days, with the way music is. People don’t even have the attention span to listen to a song, now, let alone a live album. Don’t get me wrong – I love the fuck out of live albums. I grew up on some of the greatest live metal: Judas Priest, Maiden, UFO, Deep Purple. But, also the reggae – direct line to Burning Spear: Live in Paris. ASWAD also – Live and Direct is just berserk. But, everything I’m mentioning was in the ‘80s. I don’t know how a live album would really translate. Everybody has their phones out – like that Cabot Theater show we did a few weeks ago (4/13/24) – you can go online and watch the entire show, somebody put up there. So, there’s your live album (laughs). I don’t know if that quite fits the mold, anymore, but I love live albums.

RF: JBB is headlining the Ithaca Reggae Fest in June (6/21,22/24). I know it’s not where you live, but is Ithaca a second home to you?

TB: It certainly is. I’ve been going there, since I moved there in ’94. A lot of those cats are from there/live there – Elliott, Kevin, Lee, a lot of the early JBB guys…TJ and JP, who are with us now. They currently live out there. Basically, everybody’s out there except myself, Nate…I can say, safely enough, that it is my second home. I mean, I’ve been playing music there and going there for probably 30 years. I met my wife there in ’99. It’s an important place in my life. I still enjoy going out there for shows, rehearsing, or whatever I end up getting out there for. It’s a beautiful spot.

RF: Where do you think JBB will be in ten years? I know you said you’re taking things a step at a time. Is that too far?

TB: I couldn’t even go there, man. Even if you asked me that ten years ago, I couldn’t have. In this business and in this world, everything seems too tenuous. For better or for worse, I’m a pretty short term kind of dude. I like to just enjoy the day and take it from there.

It’s hard to say, but right now, the best I can tell you is 2024 is going to be a great year for us.

RF: What does JBB mean to you? What does it feel like, being part of a band with the history JBB has?

TB: In the past 30 years, it has made me the player that I am. It has helped me develop what is, I hope, my own style and take on drumming – on reggae drumming. I’m not trying to be Carly Barrett or anybody. When I grew up, listening to drummers, it wasn’t about flashiness and who is the fastest, or who has the most likes. It was the sound. You could identify Alex Van Halen, from his sound, or John Bonham, or Jeff Porcaro, or Stewart Copeland. This is what appealed to me – having your own identity.

Being with John Brown’s Body and being able to play these songs that Kevin and Elliot wrote, I think has helped me craft a sound, I hope, of my own. Shit – it’s helped me get in Modern Drummer; it’s taken me all over the planet. I mean, it’s very important music, to me. It always will be. It’s inside my DNA, at this point. It’s in my blood. When I sit down to play JBB, it just happens; it’s natural. It feels good to grind; it was a grind, and there were tough times.

Scotty’s passing (JBB bassist, Scott Palmer) was tough, and that year – 2006 – the transition from Pressure Points to Amplify was a rocky road. I think we came out on the better side of that, and I think Kings and Queens is arguably our best record – my favorite. We always walk the walk – we put the music first, and that’s something that I’m always proud to say. We never had a gimmick. We never played a backing track. We do our thing, organically, and with massive intent. I’m proud to stand by that, for all these years, and it makes me proud to be a part of it.

RF: Do you feel the industry and studios make it hard to have that unique, identifiable sound, these days? In all genres…

TB: I do. I think everything has become completely homogenized, and there’s not much exciting stuff going on, to me – with exceptions, of course. I was a huge fan of Midnite. I love the Black Seeds. I love Creation Rebel – just dropped a new album in the UK. There’s good shit going on, for sure, but like you’re saying, there is a complete, low-hanging fruit, homogenization of music, and it just doesn’t appeal to me.

RF: You said you didn’t start off with reggae. What are your original inspirations, especially the heavier musical styles you are into?

TB: I’m north of 50, and I still go to metal shows. I just went last week – back to back – and saw Judas Priest and then Queensrÿche and Armored Saint, so I love that as much, if not more, than I did as a young dude. I love Tony Williams, Buddy Guy, Albert Collins, Albert King, classical music; my wife and I will go to the Boston Symphony Orchestra multiple times, out here. As far as metal – all the greats – Maiden, Priest, Saxon, UFO, Thin Lizzy, Zeppelin, Floyd – all that great stuff that’s just timeless. I just tend to like that era of the ‘70s, early ‘80s, the most. There’s a lot of music to love. There’s more than this lifetime could handle, of great music to listen to and learn from.

RF: That’s a good thing, right?

TB: I think, overall, it is a good thing. It’s just, the time to be able to listen to it kinda dwindles. It’s not what it was, 20 years ago. You don’t have the same amount of time, but it’s all good; you get it in. I just went to two, consecutive metal shows, back to back, and I’m an old dude… so if I can do it, it’s all good (laughs).

Somehow, in my life, there’s just a thread that works. I can enjoy going to a Tchaikovsky symphony, as much as I can to a Slayer show, as much as I can putting on a Ben Webster record; I just love music. If I like it, it just speaks to me. I’m just a loyal fuck too, man. I’ve been with the same band for 30. I’ve been with my wife for, like, 25 years. I guess I’m just boring (laughs). I find something I like and I just never fucking change. I don’t know.

RF: Will we see JBB doing extended tours? Will I get to see you all in my area of Virginia?

TB: We used to, obviously, get down to Virginia Beach, at least once a year. These days, that’s the thing, as far as getting JBB back up and running, which it is – we’re just not going to be doing that kind of level of touring. It’s just not really feasible or realistic.

When we announced that we were becoming active again, of course it’s great to see everybody pop up and be like, “Come here! Come to Austin! Come to Chicago!” Of course, we’ve been to all of these places, dozens of times, and I love these places. But, that’s not quite the way this is gonna be – this time. Nobody is going to saddle up for three weeks anymore, at this point. We just want to be strategic and smart – do what makes sense and do what’s fun, and not burn everybody out. Once again, as we’ve done for all these years: put the music first and make sure the music just stays at the highest level possible.

RF: You’re not trying to climb into a van for a month?

TB: (laughed) Nah – no vans. Shit, dude – we were out there on that grind for 20+. Don’t get me wrong. I love it, but I’m also glad at this point in my life to be able to still be playing 180+ shows a year and basically be sleeping at my place, almost every night – with the exception of maybe a week or two. It’s just an adjustment, man – it’s cool. Everybody’s gotta do it. You gotta have that period, in your band’s existence, where you go out there and you grind. You get out there, and you do three, four, five, six weeks. That’s just the way it is.

You have to get out there and keep grinding the merch and grinding gigs. If you stop, out of sight, out of mind – these days. I don’t think we’re going to jump into that realm this time. We’ll get it out there.

RF: The fans can come see you.

TB: I hope so, brother. We’re going to Colorado, in the fall. We’re going out to Dry Diggings (California music festival), in the summer. Those are two, historically, big states for us. Hopefully people come from different parts of the states. And then, we’ll see. Going forward, maybe we’ll spread our wings a little more in the following year. You never know.