ROOTDOWN is a rock band with reggae and hip-hop undertones. Formed in 2007 by American Singer-Songwriter Paul Wright, the

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

-based group released their debut album ''ROOTDOWN EP'' in 2007. The band is best known for the song "Taking Over Me" from their second album "Summer of Love", which charted in the top fifteen of the Air 1 radio chart. ROOTDOWN also has other accomplishments from "Summer of Love" including rising to as high as number 6 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 ...

top reggae albums chart. Rootdown also as of recently had a popular radio song off their album Tidalwave (2009) called "All I wanna do". They have shared the stage with such notable musicians as

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 ...

, Tyrone Wells, and many others. They most recently showcased at the

National Association for Campus Activities The National Association for Campus Activities (NACA) is an organization designed to provide information and resources for campus activities programmers throughout the United States and Canada. Formed in 1960, NACA links the higher education and ...

(NACA) West Conference where they were booked by over 25 college campuses in the Western region. Rootdown tours primarily on the West coast, playing shows from

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

but most recently have branched out touring on the East Coast in the Spring of 2009 playing shows in

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

down to Jacksonville,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. In 2009, they have played at such campuses as

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering co ...

Mount Hood Community College Mt. Hood Community College (MHCC) is a public community college in Gresham, Oregon, United States, named after Mount Hood. Opened in 1966, MHCC enrolls around 30,000 students each year and offers classes at the main campus in Gresham, as well as ...

, Corban College, CSU Monterey Bay, Northwest Christian University and

Western Oregon University Western Oregon University (WOU) is a public university in Monmouth, Oregon. It was originally established in 1856 by Disciples of Christ pioneers as Monmouth University. Subsequent names included Oregon State Normal School, Oregon College of E ...

. They are releasing both of their EPs as one album in Japan in the Spring of 2010 under the record label Surf Rock International based out of

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

and distributed by

Pony Canyon , also known by the shorthand form , is a Japanese mass media publishing company founded on October 1, 1966. The company publishes mainly physical home media on compact discs, including music, films and TV shows and video games. It is affiliate ...

History

Composition

ROOTDOWN was formed in 2007, and currently consists of Paul Wright (

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

and

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

Matt Salinas Matt may refer to: *Matt (name), people with the given name ''Matt'' or Matthew, meaning "gift from God", or the surname Matt *In British English, of a surface: having a non-glossy finish, see gloss (material appearance) *Matt, Switzerland, a mu ...

(

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

) and Craig Paulsen (

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

and

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

Band members

Current members

* Paul Wright – vocals, acoustic guitar (2007–present) *

– electric guitar (2009–present) * Craig Paulsen – drums, percussion (2007–present)

Guest musicians

*Tim Hemphill (founding member 2007) – trumpet, percussion (2007–present) *Ethan Souers - Bass (2011–present) *Christian Kinyon - Electric guitar (2011–present) *Chris Rogers – saxophone (2009)

Past members

*Justin Fish – bass, vocals (founding member) (2007) *Jesiah Dzwonek – keyboard (founding member) (2007–2008) *Zane Fischer – guitar, vocals (founding member) (2007–2008) *Dylan Wages – bass (2008) *Markos Photinos – drums (2008) *Jackson Michelson - bass (2008-2011)

Discography

ROOTDOWN EP (2007)

# Real Love # Don't Walk Away # Pick Up Yourself # Roots

Summer of Love (2009)

# Sweet Love # Summertime In The City # Taking Over Me # Burrito Boy # Baby Come Back

Tidal Wave (2011)

ThePier.org Review of ROOTDOWN "Tidal Wave"
/ref> # Good Day # Tidal Wave # All I Wanna Do # Golden # You’re Mine # Storm Warning # Growing Up # HB # Karl Malone In a Cowboy Hat # Weekend

References

External links

Eugene Weekly ''Eugene Weekly'' is an alternative weekly newspaper published in Eugene, Oregon. The paper, published every Thursday, has a circulation of 39,850. It publishes an annual "Best of Eugene" list, a restaurant guide ("Chow!"), and special section ...

ROOTDOWN's "Summertime"
*

Corvallis Gazette Times The ''Corvallis Gazette-Times'' is a daily newspaper for Corvallis, Benton County, Oregon, United States. The newspaper, along with its sister publication, the ''Albany Democrat-Herald'' of neighboring Albany, Oregon, is owned by Lee Enterprises ...

Courtyard Music Festival welcomes new students with music, eats
*

The Advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. The Advocate, The Advocates or Advocate may also refer to: Magazines * ''The Advocate'' (LGBT magazine), an LGBT magazine based in the United States *''The Harvard Advocate'', a literary magazin ...

Rootdown rocks New Student Orientation
*ThePier.org
ROOTDOWN Artist Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:ROOTDOWN Reggae rock groups Alternative rock groups from Oregon American pop music groups Musical groups established in 2007 American Christian rock groups Musical groups from Eugene, Oregon 2007 establishments in Oregon