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A vital and exiting nine piece band which combines breakbeat, ska, rap and dub in a high energy musical fusion. (click here to listen to music) The name Maroon Town is taken from a remote upland community in Jamaica, formed by runaway slaves. The multiracial band Maroon Town started life in Brixton twelve years ago and while sticking to their fiercely independent ethos have released four critically acclaimed albums (read review) to world success. Their inspiring live act has been performed at prestigious venues and festivals all over the continent, from Scandanavia to Spain. They have even toured Japan, Canada and Venezuela and in 2000 they toured in Barbados, Jamaica, Sri Lanka, Brunei, Indonesia and Central Asia doing concerts and music workshops with the British Council. At the end of 2001 they performed 9 concerts in India from the Punjab to Madras.

Sponsored by Dr. Martens

Maroon Town made history when they were sponsored to the tune of £100,000 by Dr. Martens. This was Britain's biggest ever deal between an unsigned act and a major corporate sponsor. It guaranteed the independence and autonomy of the band who used the sponsorship to write, record and promote their latest album Don Drummond.

Performing Rights Society Foundation

Maroon Town gratefully acknowledges financial support from the Performing Right Society Foundation for the award given to them as a result of an application to the Performing Right Society Foundation Awards to Ensembles. The aim of The Foundation is to encourage, promote and sustain music creation and its performance, of all genres, at all levels of activity. This support has been very effective for the band. It is an excellent programme.

Live on Radio 1

Following considerable airplay of their single 'Are You Ready?' early in 1998, Andy Kershaw a big fan of the band, invited Maroon Town to do a live session including four songs and interview. The session was repeated in March 1999 with an offer of another live session in 2000.

British Council Canada

At the invitation of the British Council and the British High Commission, Maroon Town played at 'Alternafest' in Ottawa in September at the National Gallery of Canada. This was a four day musical event which formed part of 'UK Accents', a year long festival of British arts and culture as well as new UK sounds. Also playing were Nitin Sawhney and Martyn Bennett

Maroon Town go Caracas!

As a result of the single 'Are You Ready?' being a constant on radio playlists during 1998 in Venezuela the band were invited to tour with MTV nominated group, Molotov. They played 3 concerts in the main cities to a total of over 10,000 people. Their album Don Drummond was released in Venezuela in March 1999.

Brixton Prison

Maroon Town, one of the few bands ever to do so were invited to play to the inmates of Brixton Prison for their Christmas 99 celebration. The response from the audience was overwhelming with a near riot ensuing in the chapel as inmates clambered on chairs ripping off their standard issue shirts in an exuberant melee of dancing. The Governor's letter of thanks said it all "surely your career can only go up now you have played Brixton Prison"!

Midem 99

Maroon Town appeared live at Midem in January (the music business equivalent of the Cannes Film Festival) on the same bill as Squeeze on a platform devoted to the "Best of British" an initiative which aims to promote up and coming British talent. Started in 1997 it is the only event where all the major Organizations and Societies from Recording, Publishing and Copyright collaborated with the agreed aim of promoting British Music as a brand. Maroon Town were unanimously voted the hit of the event.

Maroon Town Caribbean Tour (see article written for Guardian newspaper)

Maroon Town performed in Barbados in December 99 at 'Pure Fusion' - a week of activities organised by the British High Commission in celebration of youth culture at the turn of the millennium, They then travelled to Jamaica at the invitation of the British Council for a single show at the 5,000 capacity National Arena as well as giving a workshop at the legendary Alpha Boys School, a haven for orphan and deprived children responsible for the legendary jazz musicians who went onto record the ska classics of
Jamaica. The band also performed and jammed with inmates at the Kingston prison - 'Gun Court' which was the first time a British pop band performed inside the penitentiary. One of the most memorable occasions in the history of Maroon Town! A few weeks later there was a mass breakout of 27 inmates from the high security prison. Unrelated or not!

Sri Lankan Tour

As part of their effort to represent modern and diverse British music abroad the British Council arranged for Maroon Town to tour Sri Lanka in February 2000. The band performed an outdoor concert in Colombo, travelled to Galle and Kandy to do two other concerts and put on a workshop for young musicians in the capital.

Indonesian and Brunei tour

In March and April 2000 Maroon Town were invited to tour in the Far East by the British Council where they performed several concerts and gave music workshops . They travelled the length of Java with local ska sensation Jun Fan Gung Foo. In Brunei they performed for the Sultan of Brunei's son, Prince Malik. See Brunei promotional materials

Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan - British Council

In September 2000 Maroon Town travelled to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia two former Soviet states at the invitation of the British Council office in Kazakhstan. They performed to over 5,000 people in two concerts in Almaty and Bishkeck in a sports stadium and in a cavernous theatre. The programme of events included a visit to and a performance in aschool playground (the best Maroon Town concert ever according to some members of the band for the sheer good vibes), a performance in a prison for young people - the Almaty Colony for Junior Boys which was an extraordinary experience as the band felt they were giving the gift of music and entertainment to the boys that day.

See Maroon Town at a boys prison in Kazakhstan on Youtube:

Maroon Town also visited a pioneering independent Drug Rehabilitation Unit set up single handedly by an extraordinary woman who was moved to doing something about growing addiction and drug abuse amongst young people. The centre with about 20 people although existing on slim resources does great work. For instance instead of weaning addicts off hard drugs with methodone as is the norm she prescribes them vitamins. A very progressive place.

The band also had a chance to jam in a couple of different night clubs with local musicians. A theatre/performance group called Rara Avis who had previously heard Maroon Town's 'Sunset in Calcutta' had created a sublime performance piece to accompany it and performed at two of the concerts on the dance floor. See their performance - click here

Maroon Town also visited Kyrgzystan - a spectacular eight hour road trip with the Tien Shan mountain range to one side and the steppes stretching out endlessly to the other for the entire trip. Here they played also played at the Kyrgyzstan State university as well as in a vast and grand Soviet style Theatre to over 2,000 music hungry youth.

Jerry Dammers and Basement Jaxx in Benefit Concert for Zhusan Rehabilitation Centre

In December Maroon Town organised a Christmas benefit concert in Brixton. Local ska legend, ex-Specials founder member and creator of the inspirational 'Free Nelson Mandela' anthem, Jerry Dammers kindly spun disks as well as other locals - Basement Jaxx. Mucho Respect to you! The result of this fabulous evening was that we raised over 1,600 pounds. Everyone involved (and there were a lot of friends who put their time in) were elated to find out that the Zhusan Centre purchased a a tractor with the proceeds to farm a small plot of land they possess. This will help to generate desparately needed revenue for the centre. Drug rehab in Kazakstan as yet receives no state funding, a sign of the dramatic and recent rise in drug abuse and addiction in this great country.

Tractor bought with proceeds from benefit concert........

Tour of India November and December 2001

At the invitation of the British Council Maroon Town toured the length and breadth of India. This is a very brief account of this tour because to detail it would take pages and pages! Maybe soon!

The tour began in New Delhi where they were the only UK representatives at a Human Rights Music Festival in the grounds of Gargi College. Maroon Town had met one of the organisers, Gautam Ghosh, a prominent local musician and composer whilst he was in the UK making links with groups and artists with a committment to community activism. The next concert took the band to Ludhiana in the Punjab, and Maroon Town could well have been the first western pop band to have played here! By plane and trains Maroon Town went onto Calcutta (Kolkata) where they were joined on stage by sitar and tabla players. A workshop was also given at the Calcutta College of Music. From Calcutta on the band went to Bombay (Mumbai) where two concerts were performed at the Cyclone Club and at the legendary outdoor venue Rang Bhavan. From there it was a very pleasant sojourn in Goa and a beachside hotel! The concert at the Kala Academy was described by the manager of the veune as the most lively audience reaction he has witnessed in 25 years!. The final two concerts were in Bangalore and Madras (Chennai). The concert in Bangalore was in the Planet M music store and in Chennai at an arts festival called the 'Other Festival'. Finally there was a workshop at the Vineyard Centre in Chennai, a community based centre, perhaps the most progressive any of us had come across in all our travels. (interview with Deuan) (see more photos)

Argentina April 2002

Maroon Town went to Argentina April, initially flying into Santiago, Chile and then driving across the Andes to Mendoza, which nestles in the foothills of the Andes where they inhabited the recording studio and home of Natalio Faingold, a long time collaborator of Maroon Town and close friend, for a few weeks to write and record an album. The also flew into Buenas Aires for a concert.

Ukraine November 2002

The band travelled with new additions - front man Sirreal, vocalist Dina Vass and keyboards Ali Pearce to this former Soviet Union republic for one week at the invitation of the British Council. From Kiev an overnight train ride took them to the city of Donetsk in the east of the country. There they played to 400 orphan and homeless children in the Gorkogo Palace of Culture.

The following day, before catching the overnight train back to Kiev there was what was billed a 'Masterclass' at the Donetsk Conservatoire in their jazz department. They hardly needed a 'masterclass' as the standard of musicianship was extremely high as is the tradition in the East of Europe! Nevertheless we performed to them, some 20 of their singers and musicians performed for us and it all culminated in a high energy jam.

Back in Kiev, after a stack of television interviews as well as recording a programme of several songs there was a performance in front of a full house at the university venue to some 1500 people. The place rocked and we were graced with the prescence of Oleg, lead singer from V.V. (Vopli Vidopliassova) Ukrainian's best known and loved band.

Finally after a three hour bus ride the band arrived at a young offenders prison for boys aged between 14 and 19 years in the town of Chernihiv and did a performance in their recreation hall. Evidently the boys loved it, as the place kicked off. Respect and thanks to Veana and Victoria from the British Council for organising the trip to the prison.

This was such a great trip, we learnt a lot about a part of the world, we know little about and met great people. This is a country ripe with enormous potential. Finally a big thanks to Liliana and our man Valentine of the British Council for making this trip possible and so brilliant..

Brazil - May 2003

In May 2003 Maroon Town went to Brazil for nearly three weeks to participate in a festival organised by Cultura Inglesa, a Brazilian language school with dozens of centres around the country that has been in existence for about 60 years. Integral to their teaching of the English language is the use of the arts. To that end they organise a range of cultural events. We attended their 7th festival in Sao Paulo spread over a three week period with dance, music, visual, mime, theatre etc. Embedded in Sao Paolo life for nearly three weeks with a highly organised team of festival organisers gave us a chance to become locals temporarily! We played several concerts in various branches of Cultura Inglesa in and around Sao Paulo as well as a gig at Urbano as headliners and as guests of Bocatto's band.

One thing led to another and we played on the Ane Marie Braga show - a daytime national TV institution in Brazil. From there we with the help of friends we made there, we got onto the Jo Soares show - a celebrity chat show. A little bit about Jo Soares and his 'Progamo do Jo' - this is the equivalent of the United State's David Letterman show - one of Brazil's best known programes. Jo Soares is a larger than life character and highly regarded in Brazil. Apparently as word goes the last Brit on the show was Sting talking about the rainforests! All 8 of us were interviewed on the sumptous leather sofas one finds on these kinds of chat shows. I told him about a gig we did in a Jamaican prison, a day after which 27 inmates broke loose and escaped. Quick as a flash Jo quipped "they heard you were coming back!" Anyway halfway during the interview (because the producers had observed us playing football beforehand) a football was suddenly produced in front of the 400 strong TV audience (and between 10 and 25 million Brazilians watching the show - choose what number to believe!) and we were invited to demonstrate our soccer skills to the Brazilian nation! Well, I think the joke may have been on us - but what the heck - we were willing. We played a song to see the show out and the audience simply would not accept just one so Jo invited a second! Watching back that night at the edited broadcast - they put everything in we did - not an edit.

To be invited to Brazil by a great organisation, to make some wonderful friends and to play football and music on one of their most popular TV programmes - now that is what we call having fun!

Central Asia - Uzbekistan - September 2003

Click here to read about this tour.

Please email me.if you have any comments or questions

Deuan German
Guitar/Manager

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