The Aggrolites

The Aggrolites emerged in the twenty-first century as a ska outfit intent on restoring the authentic sound of the genre as it had flourished in Kingston during 1963 or in London by 1979. They assembled in 2002 when musicians drawn from a pair of lesser-known Southern California reggae groups gathered to serve as the backing unit for a single Los Angeles performance supporting Jamaican pioneer Derrick Morgan. The lineup featured Jesse Wagner handling vocals and lead guitar, Brian Dixon on rhythm guitar, Roger Rivas at the organ, J. Bonner on bass, and Korey Horn behind the drums. The event proved successful enough that the musicians remained together afterward to attempt an album with Morgan, although that project was ultimately abandoned.

Despite the unfinished session, the ensemble adopted the name the Aggrolites—drawing “aggro” from the British skinhead slang of the 1960s and 1970s that denoted bottled-up aggression and appending “lites” as an homage to the Skatalites—and quickly became the preferred ensemble for West Coast ska and reggae bills. In that capacity they supported visiting veterans such as Prince Buster and Culture’s lead singer Joseph Hill. Without a horn section, the group relied on Rivas’s prominent organ lines and Wagner’s vocals for their own material; their first album, Dirty Reggae, was captured during a live-in-the-studio date in 2003.

After Horn departed in favor of Scott Abels, previously of Hepcat, the Aggrolites joined the Hellcat Records roster, an Epitaph subsidiary, in 2005. Their self-titled second album appeared in May 2006, followed by Reggae Hit L.A. in June 2007; by the latter release Horn had rejoined and Jeff Roffredo had taken over bass duties. The 2009 release IV marked their final album for Hellcat, while their fifth long-player, Rugged Road, surfaced on Young Cub Records in 2011. A live recording followed in 2012, after which new studio output slowed until 2017, when the band backed Dela of Slightly Stoopid on his debut album Opening Night. At that point the roster comprised Rivas, Wagner, and Roffredo alongside rhythm guitarist Ricky Chacon and drummer Alex McKenzie. This configuration produced Reggae Now! in 2019, the group’s first full-length album in eight years.