Trenchtown Experience (Bob Marley & The Wailers Tribute)

“ This... I wanna tell you is a Trenchtown experience... all the way from Trenchtown, Jamaica...” BOB MARLEY AND THE WAILERS!!! The MC`s introduction for Bob Marley`s show at the Rainbow Theatre in London in 1977 is now immortalised on one of the greatest live albums in rock- let alone reggae- history. In memory of that great band, this- for those who don’t already know- I wanna tell you is the sound of Bob Marley and The Wailers... all the way from London, England... TRENCHTOWN EXPERIENCE!! Yes that`s right, a British band that in 2024 will be celebrating its 30th anniversary of paying tribute to Bob Marley & The WaiIers - arguably the greatest Jamaican reggae band ever. So let me introduce you. Our band is an 8-piece drawn from London`s top professional session players on the reggae scene. Dropping names is all too easy for our musicians- UB 40, Yellowman, Third World, John Holt, Aswad- they`ve played with or for everybody who is anybody on the Jamaican & UK reggae scene. But we are not just jobbing musicians, we’re fans too -fans of roots reggae in general and of Marley`s brand of roots reggae circa the mid-seventies in particular. Bob Marley and The Wailers’ music had a hard edge to it at that time with blues-rock influenced guitar lines and rebellious lyrics. This music crossed over like no Caribbean music had done before or ever has since and Marley himself was well on the way to becoming an icon. That icon has left a great musical legacy with tunes like I Shot The Sheriff, No Woman No Cry, Get Up Stand Up, Could You Be Loved, Is This Love, Jammin', Lively Up Yourself, One Love, Redemption Song, Small Axe, Crazy Baldheads, Exodus, Three Little Birds, Trenchtown Rock (the Trenchtown Experience’s signature tune), Waiting In Vain, Natural Mystic, One Drop, Stir it Up and Them Belly Full- and Trenchtown Experience have performed all of these anthems over the years. Our original aim was to evoke the spirit of Marley’s music in his heyday in tribute to what was truly a great band, but we were determined to do it on our own terms. Unlike many tribute bands our aim was not to present a tongue-in-cheek pastiche of the original, but an accurate portrayal of the sound of the legendary band, so we've, of course, included an all-female backing vocal trio - our own version of Bob Marley's ‘I-Threes’. Even so our show is never so ‘worthy’ as to lose any possible entertainment value. Indeed the band’s 60 or 90 minute shows feature solo spots absent in Marley’s stage show and far more interaction with our audience. (Marley was a man of few words between tunes!) So there you have it- we’ve always aimed to be a tribute band with artistic integrity. There was only one Bob Marley and The Wailers. Today there is still only one Trenchtown Experience. Marley’s music is as popular now as it ever was and Trenchtown Experience are going to continue paying tribute to it both at home and abroad and making what has always been a powerful impact on every private, corporate or festival event on which the band has featured. But like the great man once said, ‘One good thing about music- when it hits you, you feel no pain’.