Greg Hathaway
Greg “Twoshirts” Hathaway (also not the last to submit his bio!) loves mixing himself up some roots, rock, reggae, ska and punk music. Performing since his mid-teens at speakeasies, fund raisers, hullabaloos, shindigs, social functions, festivals, community halls, night clubs, pubs, barns, living room parties and on the street, Greg is a multi-instrumentalist who when asked “What do you play?” replies “What do you need me to play?”.
In between the time of Roots Roundup hanging up their hats and the present, Greg has mostly been in “Papa Greggae” mode, actively performing as a bass player/back up singer with numerous reggae bands including the original Bounty Hunta band, Trouble Maica, Dubfreque (with brother David, Mark Campbell and Andy Cakes) and most recently, Purple Soul. During this time he has enjoyed the pleasure of sharing stages with almost every touring reggae artist you could mention including Jimmy Cliff, Burning Spear, Toots & The Maytals, The Skatalites, The Wailers, Eek-a-Mouse, Yellowman, Beenie Man, Buju Banton, Culture, Easy Star All Stars, Byron Lee & The Dragonaires, Maxi Priest and Inner Circle… just to name a few!
Although he’s developed a reputation for his reggae sensibility, Greg “Twoshirts” Hathaway, musically, has always been hard to categorize. At age 14, along with brother David on guitar, Greg began as a singer with new wave/rock cover band Da Crunge and shortly after that switched over to drums for a hardcore punk band, The Unknown Fibres. Delving more into songwriting and guitar playing by his late teens, Greg, a founding member of Roots Roundup, started exploring a wide ranging mash-up of musical styles that let the music bounce from reggae to rock, ska to punk, folk to funk and this became the signature style Roots Roundup was so well known for. Judging by the amount of bouncing around on dancefloors witnessed at Roots Roundup reunion shows recently, this appears to be a recipe that has stood the test of time
Keith Rose
Keith is not the last to finish his bio so here it is…..
At a time… which seems timeless… I happened to become the bassist for RRU… they had been going through bassists like toilet paper when I joined so I took the job believing it was a 6 month gig at best…. 6 years later I was there for the demise… it was pretty! No hard feelings.
Let’s go back in time….. in my high school days I happened into a band with a smoky young lad with a blue flying Vee named David Hathaway… it was because of this connection that I should even be asked to the audition… it really didn’t go that great!!!… but I still became a member…remember?
Keith can also be seen with Geoff Berner and The Hard Rock Miners!
David Hathaway
David has been busy in the intervening years. He cofounded Dubfreque with Greg and Andy, a reggae/ska outfit that spent more than 5 years playing around BC, which also frequently featured Mark Campbell! He also spent 7 years travelling the world as a cofounder of iQuad, one of the most renowned kite demonstration teams in the world. When he’s not trying to convince Greg to do Roots shows, he’s usually found behind a computer as a web developer. Trivia note : Barry introduced David to kites.
Mark Campbell
Mark Campbell is a guitarist, bassist and transcriptionist from the west coast of Canada. He spent his early twenties playing in Roots Roundup and The Rootabeggars. Mark has also been a part of groups such as Ngoma, Space 9, Freeflow, Idle Peasantry and Zimbamoto. Mark currently spends most of his time trying to outsmart his five year old daughter but efforts as of yet have proven unsuccessful. Mark was also the first one to finish his bio!
Dym E. Tree
With limber lips and swingin’ hips, Dym-E-Tree arrived from outer space and landed on the lap of Greg Hathaway in 1983. In between Dym slam dancing to the beat of Greg’s Gretsch drum set in the Unknown Fibres and communicating with his alien home planet, Greg introduced Dym-E-Tree to Fela Kuti and other musical flavours beyond his formative years as New Wave Dave.
Dym-E-Tree began his trombone career at the age of 12 and took up bass guitar after arriving in Vancouver at 17. His first and only punk rock appearance was in 1983 with the wall of noise known as Stünd Künce, opening for Winnipeg legends Personality Crisis.
“I used to evaluate every intoxicant based on how well it would make me slam dance.”
At the tail end of 1985 at the invite of Greg Hathaway he returned to his trombone roots to lend a hand to some of Greg’s new songs, and in January 1986, Dym played with Roots Roundup for the first time.
The rest is history.
Currently, Dym-E-Tree is working on a number of new projects, including trying to piece his memory back together. Donations of thread and sewing needles gratefully accepted.
“I can honestly say music has saved my life for the second time.”
Bradford Lambert
As someone who’s worked with Greg and David quite a bit over the last decade and life long Roots Round Up fan, Bradford was the obvious choice when Roots went looking for a new drummer. You’ve seen him in The Sarcastic Mannequins and The Ford Pier Vengeance Trio and we are thrilled to have him on board with the Round up.
Eric Napier
Also a long time pal of the Round up, Eric is now playing keyboards with us!
Barry Taylor – Retired for lack of a better term 😀
Long a mainstay on the Vancouver music scene, Barry has recorded and toured with the Young Canadians, e, Shanghai Dog, and Roots Roundup. He also was part of the burgeoning avant guard and new music scenes in Vancouver.
Since the (first) demise of RRU, Barry moved to the Sunshine Coast in 1996, initially concentrating on sound design and then stumbling back onto the drum kit.
Resuming touring in 2009 saw him travel to Poland, the Baltic’s, and Russia twice with DarkBlueWorld, two Canadian tours with Deanna Cartea, and toured western Canada and the US with Petunia and the Vipers.
Since 2002 Barry has run BeaTee Riddims…a private drum and music teaching experience.
He also has an all encompassing passion for multiple line kite flying.
