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UPDATE: The show has been cancelled.

It鈥檚 not often that you find a Canadian reggae band, and it鈥檚 even less likely to find one living anywhere but the west coast. But, Tasman Jude is breaking that mould and proving reggae can come from just about anywhere鈥攊ncluding Grande Prairie, Alta.

The band came together a couple years ago, after Caleb Hart and his pal Al Peterson took the stage in front of a crowd of college students for an off-the-cuff, spontaneous performance at an open mic night.

鈥淎 few minutes before, we were kind of waiting for our turn to get on the stage and we were like, 鈥榳ait a minute, what are we going to play?鈥� We didn鈥檛 have songs, we had never even jammed together.

鈥淎nd then we got up there and we had 140 college kids captivated and it was amazing and that was the birth of Tasman Jude,鈥� recalls Hart, the band鈥檚 frontman.

Since then, the guys鈥攚ho met while working at a taco stand and quickly bonded over a mutual love of reggae music鈥攈ave dedicated their lives to their craft. They鈥檝e filled out their sound by adding a couple of bandmates (Derek Wilder and Bethanie Earle); they鈥檝e written a boat load of songs and they鈥檝e released an EP, as well as a brand new full length album, titled Green.

Green is the first of three concept albums, with Gold and Red to come in the future.

The colours represent the colours of reggae, 鈥渢he foundation of it,鈥� said Hart.

鈥�Green is the first one. It鈥檚 the earthy one. It鈥檚 the most roots like sound that you鈥檒l hear from Tasman Jude. It鈥檚 very true to our foundation.

鈥淭he next album is going to be called Gold. That鈥檚 more of an island pop kind of vibe, really anything that makes you want to dance鈥攁lmost like a Hawaiian, southern Californian, Caribbean, West African kind of mix.

鈥淭he third album is called Red and that one is going to be our most diverse. It鈥檚 more of an arena, rock-reggae vibe.鈥�

The band is currently touring in support of Green. The tour will bring Tasman Jude to Jasper Nov. 13 before the band heads overseas for shows in the Caribbean and Australia.

This will be the band鈥檚 second time in Australia.

鈥淲e went down for two weeks and did 11 shows in 14 days. That was pretty incredible,鈥� said Hart, acknowledging that the reggae following in Australia is much stronger than in Canada.

Hart said he hopes that, because of Tasman Jude鈥檚 efforts to grow the genre, up and coming Canadian reggae bands will have an easier time finding a place in the local music scene.

鈥淏ecause of what we鈥檙e doing now, we know that other reggae bands will be able to do more in a couple of years. It鈥檚 still very hard right now. With pioneering anything it can be difficult.

鈥淏ut the beauty comes in the challenge.鈥�

Nicole Veerman
[email protected]