Given that reggae music emerged out of poverty and desperation among the common people of Jamaica as a unifying voice that nurtured hope and provided cathartic resistance to the oppressive powers, one might think that reggae fans would largely object to the regressive and restrictive policies of this current political administration in the United States. Yet, as a microcosm of society as a whole which seems to become more divisive every day, rather than a cohesive community of likeminded people, the reggae scene here also has a rift. 

If you’re one of those fans that leans to the left, you may feel disappointed by the lack of reggae musicians speaking out about the questionable (euphemism in effect) actions and policies of the U.S. government. Over the past six months or so, I’ve been approached by a number of fellow reggae enthusiasts who have expressed their dismay over this dearth of rebel music coming from American reggae artists.

Look no further than SELF CONTROL out of Los Angeles, newcomers on the scene who have come out swinging. The band consists of J.C. Montañez, Sebastian Cardeñas, John Lalu, Dave Kaplan, Drew Barber and Tihane Wolfgramm. Their latest single, “Ice Breaker,” takes a firm stance against the overreach of the Immigration & Customs Enforcement agency, who have entered homes without warrants, detained and deported people without due process, targeted business owners and upstanding members of society as well as vulnerable people like pregnant women, high school students and grandmothers, seized people from sensitive locations like schools, hospitals and places of worship, separated women from their children, and arrested or detained people at courthouses while adhering to the legal process by showing up for their court appearances or routine ICE check-ins. This long list of transgressions against civil liberties and constitutional rights (not to mention common sense policy and tactics), has terrorized immigrant communities and triggered outrage by millions.

The song features a killer bassline over a roots reggae beat. Synthesizers add an eerie sonic element as gritty lyrics express resolute defiance:

Green man what you doing here at my door 

Say yay what you you doing at my door

Iyahman no wan see you no more 

He said boy get up out my town 

We don’t want you criminals around 

Rip ‘em up put a 45 to his face 

Whoah the green man run away

Whoah the green man go away…

and:

If the green man near, he better watch his every step

Jah Jah knows my sword is sharp and yes I come correct 

If you wanna come and see you won’t find no respect 

Load the 45 it’s  time for green boy take a rest 

Yes I love my land it’s where I kiss down and caress 

You could never ever curse the man who Jah Jah bless 

I never thought I’d see my motherland in such a mess 

If you wanna take me you’re gonna die like all the rest 

Recently, SELF CONTROL’s singer and bandleader, J.C. Montañez, joined James Paqua and I on James’ podcast, A Conversation in Dub to discuss “Ice Breaker,” as well as the band’s origin and path forward.  

According to Montañez, the song actually came together quickly in an impromptu fashion. A producer friend of his who makes drum tracks had joined the band in the studio one day. They had just finished recording another song from their forthcoming EP and were wrapping up their session, when Montañez’s friend showed him a “really killer drum beat.” Montañez suggested to his bandmates that they “throw something at it,” and he picked up a bass guitar and threw a bassline down. “It was kind of late on time,” he explained, “So we were like, you know what?  Let me just freestyle over it. Just gimme a mic and then I’ll just, you know, spit.”

J.C. Montañez

He continued, “And so we had the drum track going. The bassline is already up there, and this is about the time when all this stuff was happening in the nation about families being separated,  unfortunate things happening. And so I was just like, ‘What calls out to me?’ Whenever I do any freestyles live or anything, I just say whatever’s off the top of my head and, you know, whatever I’m feeling at the moment. So, we hit record and literally, first take, that melody just came out.”

Montañez said that the lyrics flowed seamlessly.  “It just kind of clicked together. I can’t say that I had  been sitting on this song for so long, and it was super methodical. We just had a cool drum beat, a wicked bassline, and then freestyled. It was honestly perfect timing. It became a good funnel for us to kind of say what we’ve been feeling about all the stuff that had been happening at the time and is still going on.”

Montañez related some details about how his family had been directly affected by this massive increase in ICE activity coupled with their unethical tactics. “My uncle has a warehouse out by Long Beach, and he hires a lot of immigrant workers. He gives people jobs when they come over here. They had ICE break down their doors without a warrant, and they were all hiding in a closet. The only reason they didn’t deport my uncle and the workers was because their van was already full of immigrants. So, that was a close call. I remember he called my mom and was like, ‘Hey, I’m stuck in a closet right now. ICE is inside our warehouse. If they take us, make sure you take my daughters and you raise them.’”

“In  the past decade, this stuff has sort of happened, right? These immigration raids,  but now, it’s been ramped up to such a high level. It’s no longer hearsay. Now, it’s like every Latino person that I know around me, even me being a citizen,  I know so many people, they’re all affected by it…at least their family members are. And even people at my church have been deported. These people are going to church, like, they’re trying their best. The people didn’t have criminal records and they were taken. So, yeah, I’ve seen the way ICE has affected our Latino communities and other ethnic communities.”

L to R: Dave Kaplan & Sebastian Cardeñas

Montañez continued, “And even like driving down the highway, there’s billboards, ‘Join ICE, immigration enforcement,’ this and that with all these incentives  to join ICE and become one of these officers that go in and raid people’s homes and stuff. And it’s insane because the money going into this is absurd. It’s so unfair.  I’m a paramedic. I’ve been working in an ambulance doing 911 for the last six, seven years, and I struggle to pay my bill sometimes. And I’m out here saving lives. And I have not once heard about a bonus or incentive to join my line of work. It’s one of the most underpaid fields to be in. But, you know, if I go do something horrible and strip people’s families away from themselves, then I can, you know, I can finally put food on my plate. It’s very backwards.”

As our conversation on the podcast evolved, Montañez added, “It was mentioned that L.A. was a crazy place to be – you know, there were riots, this, and that. Our studio was downtown L.A., where you would think there would be all these parades and all these riots going on – there was nothing going on. I could walk out at 2:00 AM and nothing would happen. And so we were thinking like, why is the National Guard coming here? Nothing is happening here. But the fear mongering was there. You know, we were told that L.A.  is some crazy war zone and all this stuff, but I don’t know, everything was cool downtown.”

Given the potential controversial nature of the song, I asked Montañez if there was any hesitation in releasing it. “There’s always gonna be some apprehension,” he responded. “Like, hey,  we’re a new band, you know, these are the first things that people are gonna be hearing. But at the same time, that’s what I think music is. It’s emotional. It’s it’s expression about what you feel. So, like, I don’t condone violence, I don’t condone anybody to do anything horrible, anything like that. But at the same time, it’s almost an instinct for us as humans to be protective of those around us, protective of our family members and of our home.”

Montañez went on to say, “The  song came more out of a guttural response to the horrible things that are happening, right? So it’s gonna come from deep within. It’s gonna have that, you know, that oomph to it. So I feel like when that lyric came out, it felt right, ’cause it’s, you know, ‘Screw this.’ This is something horrible that’s happening. If someone comes to my door, I don’t know who you are, you’re coming, you’re masked, you’re trying to take from my family, who knows what’s gonna happen?  It’s a song that comes from within. It comes from the intention to be an anthem for people who are going through those things, that sometimes, you know, they might feel the need to defend themselves, you know, obviously not with the 45, but remembering your rights within this country, remembering, you know, who you are.”

“We’re not out here to please anybody,” he summarized. “We’re here to just, you know, spread truth, spread what we feel, make music that we like, music that we care about. It was a song that came about quickly. It’s a song that was straight from the heart, straight from the mind, you know, with all the stuff going on, especially in that moment.”

As far as the response they’ve gotten from playing the song live at local shows in the Los Angeles area, he said, “People really like the message and really agree with things that we said. And also, some people don’t, and that’s okay. That’s all right. This is what we feel. This is what we think is right and wrong, and we’re gonna say that we believe this is wrong, and if people don’t like it, that’s okay.” 

L to R: Dave Kaplan, Sebastian Cardeñas and John Lalu.

He added, “As far as politics go, I try not to delve too hard into it, but I do think that, especially as reggae musicians, we almost have the necessity to speak out against certain things, right? Reggae music is music against social injustice. And this is something I mention a lot to people that I meet in the reggae scene…this is how our music was created. This is the whole point of it. Whereas today, I see so many bands that, aside from the spectrum of incidents that are happening  around the world, everyone’s just very quiet. Everyone’s just singing about being at the beach, smoking a blunt, and being happy. And, you know, reggae music helps us, reggae music helps us feel good, but at the same time, reggae music is rebel music. We’re supposed to be speaking about these abhorrent things that happen around the world. It’s our duty to do it. So, it is disheartening to see bands out there that don’t really use their platform to speak out against these things.”

“One thing about ourselves, I think we’ll always speak out against it. We’re not here to, you know, be famous and cater to everyone’s feelings. We know, as human beings, right from wrong. So we’re always gonna choose what’s right and say the things that are correct and fight towards justice.”

“That’s what I feel like this music is here for. So, I invite every artist, musician, creative person to always use your platform for good, use your platform to spark others to do good, and not just conform and be scared to speak out in fear of losing your platform…’cause I mean, we’re not gonna always be here forever as human beings. We’re all gonna die. So, you know, if I have a platform to do something good, I’m gonna do my best to speak out for others that can’t.”

With those noble aspirations lighting their fire, Montañez and SELF CONTROL highstep into the future with more singles and an EP on the way as well as notable gigs such as the United Roots Music Festival in Rosarito, Mexico, October 10-12. 

“We have something really cool here,” Montañez concluded. “Everyone in our band is really good friends with each other. Like, we talk every day and we have a place to record for free. So it seemed like this perfect formula to create something cool. We just started capitalizing off of it and just like, grinding. We’ve been working super hard. And yeah, the fruits have been showing. We’re just gonna keep working, and I still don’t have any expectations. I’m grateful to play music. I’m grateful to sing the songs that we write. It’s fun. If it turns into something great, you know, amazing. It already is something great for me. I already won.”