It’s almost uncanny. Sometime in 2005, someone asked me if there’d every be another Roots Roundup show. Given the last one at that point was in 1998. my reaction was a kind, gentle, well, not terribly likely, maybe when hell freezes over kind of response. And suddenly, we were doing two shows at Fabulous Fairview. And then… nothing. So, sometime this fall, someone again asks (It never fails to amaze any of us how often this comes up even after all those years). My response was much the same thing as the last response, “no, not very likely”. The very next morning, Greg has emailed me that indeed, we ARE doing a show. So, here we are.
Roots Roundup plays a high energy hybrid of globe-spanning music, mashing up the sounds of rock’n roll, reggae, ska, afro-beat, folk, funk and pure old school punk rock.The Roots Roundup lineup has evolved over the years as members pursued various musical interests including performing, writing, recording and teaching. Core Roots members Greg Hathaway, Dave Hannah (Dym-E-Tree), Barry Taylor, Keith Rose, David Hathaway, Mark Campbell, Shuggy Milligan and special guest trombonist Andy Cakes reunited in 2005, treating a full house of loyal and new fans to a truly rip-roaring two-night performance at the Fairview Pub in Vancouver.
Originally formed in 1985 in a small apartment in East Vancouver, Roots Roundup became widely known through the late 80′s and early 90′s as one of Canada’s hardest working, hardest touring and hardest rockin’ worldbeat dance bands. They released numerous independent recordings including “Get Rooted”, “What We Do”, “Syzygy” and in 1997, “Rootrospective”, a 16 song collection spanning their entire recording career.