Virginia Beach - I found myself in the familiar territory of the Seaside Raw Bar, just below Shaka's in Virginia Beach, nestled at a table with the heart and soul (respectively) of one of the area's best reggae/rock units, No Dreads.  So without further ado...

33: And we've got...?
Chris Cesare: Christopher James William Cesare I.
Miles Mulkey: Miles Mulkey.

33: Christopher, your place in the band is...
CC: I play guitar, and I sing backups.

33: And Miles...
MM: I play guitar, I sing, and me and Chris here both write songs.

33: How long have you guys been together as a band?
CC: Miles and I started No Dreads in '06.  That would make it four years pushing on.
MM: Pushing on five.  We've lost a couple people on the way and added a couple new additions.  We're just trying to work with what we have now to make No Dreads the best it can be.  We got a new bass player; we both play guitar now.  We used to switch off on bass and guitar when we were a three-piece.
CC: Yeah, we used to have another drummer named Nigel, and we just jammed a lot of things out when we first started out.  That's why we became a band.  We weren't trying to be a band when we first started.  It was a thrown together collaboration.  We were both in other bands, and both bands were supposed to play that night, and they couldn't so we made the best of it, and when we jammed it felt...
 MM: There was an obvious chemistry.
CC: Obvious chemistry.  It didn't feel like anything I'd ever played in, personally.  It was the best experience as far as jamming out with other musicians, and that's why we decided to keep playing it as a band.  The feeling was mutual.

33: What kind of music did you start out playing?  Was it always kind of reggae/rock?
CC: Yeah, it was mostly reggae.
MM: It was a common thing we could all agree on.
CC: We could all jam on that.  We have other influences from punk rock to Nirvana.  Hip-hop...
MM: All sorts of other realms...country...metal...we try to incorporate a lot of that in our music as an original band.
CC: The best way we can play those songs, and the way we feel most comfortable, was in a reggae format. 

33: What's the present lineup of No Dreads?
MM: We got Miles Mulkey on guitar and vocals, Christopher Cesare on guitar and vocals, Jason Sukle on bass, John Zontini on drums...

33: From the Influence?
MM: Yeah, from the Influence.
CC: Yeah, he played guitar for the Influence, but what a lot of people don't know is he is an all-around musician.
MM: And Jordan Dungan on percussion.
CC: I met Jordan Dungan on Thanksgiving in 2009.  He was up and down with me the whole night.  “Let me play hand drums,” and this and that.  A lot of people come up to us and ask us to do that.  Jordan's our boy.  He is the shit at what he does.  We couldn't do it with out him these days.
MM: He's definitely become an integral part of our band. 

33: Got anything out on CD?
CC: Got a few albums.  Our first album we did...
MM: Let me clear this up.  First thing we did back in the day was a little mix CD we gave out.  We opened for Badfish in '07.  We sold a hundred of them that night.  We've probably gotten rid of about three or four hundred of that.  Then we had Choppy Waters - that's another little mix CD.  We're currently about to go into the studio in the wintertime and work on our next album.  The name is unknown.  I'm thinking it's going to be six old songs and six new No Dreads songs.  We got some big plans on where we're gonna record it and how we're gonna record it.  This will be our first official album.
CC: We've got like forty-something original songs.  The best is yet to come.

33: Where are you going to be recording?
CC: We have a lot of friends that have good studios.  They all have their own style of recording.  We'll probably record our songs at a couple of different places.
MM: My plan is, I want to go down to the Outer Banks (my girlfriend has a crib down there); we're gonna set up in there and record our entire album, and then get it mastered by the dude who did our last six-song EP, Tom Gwaltney.
CC: Tom Gwaltney is the shit.  He was our introduction to a real time producer, and we learned a lot from him.  If you could agree with me, Miles, I think some of our best stuff was recorded in the garage through us on a cheesy recorder.
MM: Some of the best material that we have on track as of now...

33: Any favorite bands that you like to play with from around here?
CC: Duburbia...
MM: Jay, rest in peace.
CC: Jay came to a few of our practices.  Jay, as big as he was, the way that I saw him, he was the biggest guy as far as the music went around here, and he came to our practices just to sit and listen...
MM: Definitely one of the biggest influences on local musicians, Jay Kelly...
CC: I'm tearin' up right now just talkin' about it...he was that much of a big deal to me.  Besides Jay, of course Jackmove, Dennis is here tonight...honestly, my biggest influences are the guys I play with in No Dreads.  Seriously, Miles is my influence, and if it wasn't for Miles, I wouldn't have stepped it up to where I am today.
MM: For me, the other bands, other than in Virginia Beach which Christopher has pretty much covered, Tsunami Rising has looked out for us a lot on the road up north...Pasadena...
CC: Murphy's Kids...
MM: Murphy's Kids - very cool band.  Feed God Cabbage...
CC: Feed God Cabbage - they're good guys.
 MM: There's a lot of bands from the northeastern U.S. we've been hooking up with for the past three or four years.   New Jersey, Maryland...up around the Baltimore area...
CC: The bottom line is, if you want to have a good time, and not be afraid to get drunk with us when we're playing, because we do like to drink a little...
 MM: We're classified as good music...uplifting, encouraging, positive lyrics...a lot of emotion in the music we play...
CC: It's not about making the cash, it's about making friends and making good times...

So carry your sorry asses!  Get ye to the next No Dreads show and put their livers to the test while enjoying the inspired irie feel of some VB reggae rock.  The Wolfe commands you!  Now go and enjoy...

By Director, Genre Lead, and Editor: Andrew Wolfe

The Wolfe was born to a small litter in the mountains of West Virginia and transplanted to suburban Virginia Beach in the iconic year of 1984.  Left to the public school system, he soon became immersed in the varied subcultures of suburbia. Quickly he became a connoisseur of the rich substrata of disaffected youth in post-Reagan America.  Having to leave corporate tool-hood behind, the Wolfe prowls the silent alleyways in search of the next great spark of local music - the incendiary device that will reignite creativity in a music world gone wrong (apparently in the throes of Bieber Fever).

And other fun facts ...

Age: 33
Place of Birth: Parkersburg, West Virginia
Gender: Raoul Duke
Religion: Gonzo
Likes: Good music.  Drinking.  Smoking.
Dislikes: Ignorance.  People who take themselves too seriously.  People who say "I just wanted to touch bases with you."  It's "base" asshole, not a baseball reference.

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