Iya Terra are an American

roots A root is the part of a plant, generally underground, that anchors the plant body, and absorbs and stores water and nutrients. Root or roots may also refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''The Root'' (magazine), an online magazine focusing ...

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

and dub band based out of

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

History

Formation and Self-titled EP (2013–2014)

Iya Terra first formed in 2012 when vocalist and lead guitarist Nathan Feinstein & bassist Nick Loporchio Met in the winter of 2013, Feinstein had moved to Las Vegas that year, and met Loporchio who was then attending UCLA, where he graduated with a degree in Molecular Biology The duo added more members to their band including Luis Tovar on keyboard and Danny Monar on percussion in the spring of 2014. With the newly added members, the band recorded their first raw album, a 6-song self-titled EP In Ventura, CA at Castaway 7 Studios; that released in the spring of 2014.

''Full Circle'' (2015)

After the addition of Blake Bartz on drums in the fall of 2014 and Nick Sefakis on rhythm guitar in March 2015, they released their first studio album titled ''Full Circle'' on April 14, 2015. The 10-song album was engineered by the award-winning producer J.P. Hesser and recorded at Castaway 7 Studios in

Ventura, California Ventura, officially named San Buenaventura (Spanish for "Saint Bonaventure"), is a city on the Southern Coast of California and the county seat of Ventura County. The population was 110,763 at the 2020 census. Ventura is a popular tourist des ...

. It debuted at #4 on the

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

Reggae Charts and #12 the

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Top Reggae Albums charts.

''Sacred Sound'' (2017)

Iya Terra's second album ''Sacred Sound'', which debuted on March 17, 2017, featured several reggae artists like

Stick Figure A stick figure, also known as a stickman, is a very simple drawing of a person or an animal, composed of a few lines, curves, and dots. On a stick figure, the head is most often represented by a circle, which can be either a solid color or som ...

and E.N Young from

Tribal Seeds Tribal Seeds is an American reggae band based in San Diego that was formed in 2005 by the Jacobo brothers, singer Steven Rene and producer Tony-Ray. Biography Formation (2003–2005) From San Diego, California, award-winning reggae group Trib ...

among others. The album peaked at #1 on the ''

'' reggae albums chart on April 8, 2017.

''Coming To Light'' (2019)

Despite Blake Bartz's departure, Iya Terra added Tanner Arebalo on drums in 2019. The band's third album, ''Coming To Light'' released on July 26, 2019, peaked at #2 on the Billboard Top Reggae Albums chart. It featured

The Movement The Movement may refer to: Politics * The Movement (Iceland), a political party in Iceland * The Movement (Israel), a political party in Israel, led by Tzipi Livni * Civil rights movement, the African-American political movement * The Movemen ...

, Zion Thompson of The Green,

Jesse Royal Jesse Te Ahukaramu Royal (born 22 March 1980) is a professional rugby league footballer from New Zealand who currently plays for the Kurri Kurri Bulldogs in the Newcastle Rugby League. He has previously played in the NRL for the Newcastle Knigh ...

among other reggae artists. On May 29, 2020, the band released a live acoustic album, ''Iya Terra Live at Sugarshack Sessions''. Iya Terra was featured as one of many reggae bands on

Collie Buddz Colin Patrick Harper (born August 21, 1981), better known by his stage name Collie Buddz, is a Bermudian reggae artist best known for his single "Come Around". Career Although Harper was born in New Dadyal Hospital, AJK. He studied audio enginee ...

riddim album, ''Cali Roots Riddim 2020'' with their single, "Monterey Sunshine", which was produced by Collie Buddz and mixed by

's touring guitarist, producer Johnny Cosmic. In September 2020, Iya Terra was one of several reggae and punk bands on ''The House That Bradley Built'', a charity compilation honoring Sublime's lead singer Bradley Nowell, helping musicians with substance abuse. They covered Sublime's song "Mary" on the Deluxe Edition.

''Ease & Grace'' (2021)

The band released their fourth album, ''Ease & Grace'' on July 30, 2021. The album peaked at #11 on the

Reggae Albums chart, just short of the Top 10. ''Ease & Grace'' debuted at #1 on the current chart after selling 372 copies in its first week in the United States, according to data provided by sales tracker

MRC Data Luminate (formerly Nielsen SoundScan, Nielsen Music Products, and MRC Data) is a provider of music sales data. Established by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett in 1991, data is collected weekly and made available every Sunday (for albums sales) and eve ...

(formerly

Nielsen SoundScan Luminate (formerly Nielsen SoundScan, Nielsen Music Products, and MRC Data) is a provider of music sales data. Established by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett in 1991, data is collected weekly and made available every Sunday (for albums sales) and eve ...

). The album's total consumption from pure album sales plus stream equivalent albums was 974 units. This included 743,160 audio streams and 5,083 video streams in the U.S.

Collaborations

The band collaborated with The Ries Brothers' song "Troubadour". They also collaborated with

on their song "Redwoodz". They collaborated with

Fortunate Youth Fortunate Youth is an American reggae rock sextet from Hermosa Beach, California. History Formation and ''Up-Lifted EP'' (2009–2010) Fortunate Youth was formed in 2009 in Hermosa Beach, California by Travis Walpole, Dan Kelly, Jered Draskovi ...

on their song, "Groovin", which released on September 17, 2021.

Touring

Iya Terra performed on their first tour in August 2014 planned by Nathan and Nick L. without additional management proved to be a success. It was called "The Link Up Tour" with

Ital Vibes Ital, also spelled I-tal (), is food often celebrated by those in the Rastafari movement. It is compulsory in the Bobo Ashanti and Nyabinghi mansions, though not in the Twelve Tribes of Israel. The word derives from the English word "vital", ...

. The banded signed up with

Rude Entertainment Productions Rudeness (also called effrontery) is a display of actual or perceived disrespect by not complying with the social norms or etiquette of a group or culture. These norms have been established as the essential boundaries of normally accepted beha ...

after The Link Up Tour and quickly went back on tour performing with the biggest reggae artists like: Arise Roots,

Alborosie Alberto D'Ascola (; born 4 July 1977), better known by his stage name Alborosie, is an Italian reggae artist. He is sometimes called the "Italian Reggae Ambassador". Music career Early life (2001–2005) Born Alberto d’Ascola and raised in ...

Barrington Levy Barrington Ainsworth Levy (born 30 April 1964) is a Jamaican reggae and dancehall artist. Career Levy was born in Clarendon, Jamaica. He formed a band called the Mighty Multitude, with his cousin, Everton Dacres; the pair released "My Blac ...

Black Uhuru Black Uhuru is a Jamaican reggae group formed in 1972, initially as Uhuru ( Swahili for 'freedom'). The group has undergone several line-up changes over the years, with Derrick "Duckie" Simpson as the mainstay. They had their most successful per ...

Common Kings Common Kings are an American, Hawaiian, and Samoan reggae band from Orange County, California. The band's debut album, ''Lost in Paradise'', was nominated for a Grammy Award. History Formation (2011) Born in the South Pacific and raised in Orang ...

Easy Star All Stars Easy Star All-Stars is a reggae collective founded in 1997 by Michael Goldwasser, Eric Smith, Lem Oppenheimer and Remy Gerstein of New York City-based Easy Star Records. The band is known for its reinterpretations of classic albums in reggae styl ...

The Expanders The Expanders are an American roots reggae band from Los Angeles, California. Biography Formation and Self-titled album The Expanders formed in Los Angeles, California in the summer of 2003. The band's sound is influenced by vintage 1970s and ...

, The Green,

House of Shem House of Shem is a roots reggae band from New Zealand. They have had songs featured on the Conscious Roots compilations. In May 2008, their debut album, ''Keep Rising'' was released throughout New Zealand. It was released again in April 2009 t ...

John Brown's Body "John Brown's Body" (originally known as "John Brown's Song") is a United States marching song about the abolitionist John Brown. The song was popular in the Union during the American Civil War. The tune arose out of the folk hymn tradition of t ...

Julian Marley Julian Ricardo Marley (born 4 June 1975) is a British-Jamaican reggae musician, songwriter, producer and humanitarian. He is the son of reggae music icon Bob Marley, and Lucy Pounder. He follows in his father's footsteps and is a devout Rasta ...

Ky-Mani Marley Ky-Mani Marley (born 26 February 1976) is a Jamaican singer and musician. His name is of East African origin, and means "Adventurous Traveler". He is the only child of Bob Marley with Anita Belnavis, a Jamaican table tennis champion. In 2001 ...

Marlon Asher Marlon Asher is a Trinidadian reggae singer from Enterprise, Chaguanas, Trinidad and Tobago. His first hit was "Ganja Farmer." He later went on to release more reggae songs, one being "Fit and Strong." Marlon Asher grew up in Enterprise Street ...

Matisyahu Matthew Paul Miller (born June 30, 1979), known by his stage name Matisyahu (; ), is an American reggae singer, rapper, beatboxer Beatboxing (also beat boxing) is a form of vocal percussion primarily involving the art of mimicking drum mac ...

, Nahko,

Pepper Pepper or peppers may refer to: Food and spice * Piperaceae or the pepper family, a large family of flowering plant ** Black pepper * ''Capsicum'' or pepper, a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family Solanaceae ** Bell pepper ** Chili ...

Yellowman Winston Foster , better known by the stage name Yellowman, is a Jamaican reggae and dancehall deejay, also known as King Yellowman. He first became popular in Jamaica in the 1980s, rising to prominence with a series of singles that established ...

and others. The band made their debut at the 31st annual

Reggae on the River Reggae on the River was an annual reggae festival active from 1983 until 2019 in Humboldt County, California. It was frequently held on the last weekend in July or on the first weekend in August. History Reggae on the River began in 1984 as a be ...

Humboldt County, California Humboldt County () is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 136,463. The county seat is Eureka. Humboldt County comprises the Eureka–Arcata–Fortuna, California Micropolitan Statistica ...

in August 2015. Then followed it up with a some shows with Tomorrow's Bad Seeds and Hawaii's own Ina Vision. Iya Terra performed live with Twiddle, with which they also toured in 2018. Iya Terra were slotted to support

during their 2020 Once In A Lifetime summer tour. They were also scheduled to support

Iration Iration is a reggae/ pop group from Santa Barbara, California. All members originally hail from Hawaii. They play a mix of reggae, dub, pop, and rock. The group is one of the leading bands in the genre of sunshine reggae. History Formation and ...

for their Heatseekers spring tour that same year. Both tours were canceled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. Having originally announced their participation at the 2020

California Roots Music and Arts Festival The California Roots Music and Art Festival (Cali Roots) is an American annual music and art festival, featuring reggae, reggae rock, folk, hip hop acts and live painting on-stage. The festival was founded in 2010 and is held at the Monterey ...

before the cancelation, the group instead appeared as part of the "Cali Roots: Can't Stop The Music An Online Music Festival Experience" due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

restrictions.

Awards and honors

On December 26, 2021, Iya Terra made it to third place with the third most votes by

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

and

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

users for the fans-choice "2021 Album of the Year" by '' Surf Roots TV & Radio'' for their album ''Ease & Grace''. This is the band's first time being nominated with the reggae rock streaming TV channel on

Amazon Fire TV Amazon Fire TV (stylized as amazon fireTV) is a line of digital media players and microconsoles developed by Amazon. The devices are small network appliances that deliver digital audio and video content streamed via the Internet to a connecte ...

Apple TV An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...

, and

Roku Roku ( ) is a brand of hardware digital media players manufactured by American company Roku, Inc. They offer access to streaming media content from online services. The first Roku model, developed in collaboration with Netflix, was introduce ...

Other Projects

To celebrate Iya Terra's album ''Ease & Grace'', the band teamed up with The Wine Boss (

Paso Robles Paso Robles ( ), officially El Paso de Robles (Spanish for "The Pass of Oaks"), is a city in San Luis Obispo County, California, United States. Located on the Salinas River approximately north of San Luis Obispo, the city is known for its hot ...

) for a special bottle of Red called "Ease & Grapes". It's a blend of 60%

Cabernet Franc Cabernet Franc is one of the major black grape varieties worldwide. It is principally grown for blending with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in the Bordeaux style, but can also be vinified alone, as in the Loire's Chinon. In addition to being us ...

, 30%

Petit Verdot Petit Verdot is a variety of red wine grape, principally used in classic Bordeaux blends. It ripens much later than the other varieties in Bordeaux, often too late, so it fell out of favour in its home region. When it does ripen it adds tannin, c ...

and 10%

Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Sauvignon () is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Australia and British Columbia, Canada to Lebanon' ...

, flavored with cherries and spices.

Lineup

Current band members

*Nathan Feinstein – Lead Vocals, Lead Guitar (2012–Present) *Nick Loporchio – Bass (2012–Present) *Luis Tovar – Keyboard (2014–Present) *Nick Sefakis – Rhythm Guitar (2015–Present) *Tanner Arebalo – Drums (2018–Present)

History

Formation and Self-titled EP (2013–2014)

''Full Circle'' (2015)

''Sacred Sound'' (2017)

''Coming To Light'' (2019)

''Ease & Grace'' (2021)

Collaborations

Touring

Awards and honors

Other Projects

Lineup

Current band members

Past band members

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

References

External links