Pepper 'No Shame' album

Mahalo, and welcome to the world of Pepper! Kona, Hawaii’s favorite sons make their long-awaited Atlantic/East West Records debut with their fourth studio album, No Shame. It’s a bold artistic leap forward for the Island-born-and-bred trio. No Shame defines what Pepper (Singer/Guitarist Kaleo Wassman, Bassist/Vocalists Bret Bollinger and Drummer/Vocalist Yesod Williams) is all about.

“No Shame is different from the other albums we’ve done because we had so much artistic freedom,” says singer-guitarist Kaleo Wassman. “We had plenty of room to explore the range of possibilities of the band, which was so much fun to do.”

With the band’s trademark penchant for the musically unpredictable firmly in place, No Shame is indeed a tasty and rewarding blend of styles and sounds unlike anything Pepper has recorded before. The 18-track collection, which was recorded over the better part of a year, in a variety of SoCal studios with no less than 4 producers, is a triumphant culmination of months of hard work that began on the road in the summer of 2005.

“We wanted to make a record that perfectly catches the Pepper vibe and I think we’ve done just that,” says drummer-vocalist Yesod Williams. “On This record, we’ve really succeeded in bringing the positive elements of our live show into the studio.”

The threesome credits the diverse stable of producers they recruited for much of the success of the project, including Nick Hexum of 311, No Doubt bass player Tony Kanal and former Butthole Surfer turned producer Paul Leary (Meat Puppets, Supersuckers).

“The one thing they all had in common was an incredible amount of enthusiasm and fun,” says bassist-vocalist Bret Bollinger. “The producers’ styles are really quite different from each other, but the various approaches really worked great for us,” he adds. “We like to think this album has a firm grasp on what we’ve always done best, while at the same time it’s also a big progression for us.”

The band members acknowledge an entirely new approach to recording this time for changing how they look at the record-making process, and Yesod says initially collaborating with Hexum at 311’s The Hive was a big part of that.

“He totally changed the whole studio experience for us,” boasts the drummer. “Recording used to be something we dreaded, where we felt like we were always compromising ourselves. But Nick turned everything around to where it was so much fun. That’s the main thing we gained from this experience.”

“I think Pepper has hit their stride and really come into their own for the first time,” says Hexum. “They can’t really be compared to any other bands right now; they’ve really found their own sound.”

“All we wanted to do,” adds Kaleo, “was to make an amazing record. Whatever sounded the best, that’s what we went with, and this is also the first album that we’ve ever explored vocal harmonies as much as we should.”

No Shame also includes three between-song skits starring Pepper’s tour manager and resident guru, known affectionately as “Coach,” whose approach to promoting the new album is a simple one: “Tell your friend, tell your girlfriend, tell her girlfriend, and Pepper will take it from there!”

Pepper formed out of Kona’s fertile music scene in 1998, and relocated to Southern California in 1999. Now in its fourth year, Pepper host the annual Kona Town Music Festival in their hometown of Kailua-Kona on the big island of Hawaii. Thanks to a relentless touring approach the band has developed a devout fan-base across the country. They’ve toured with the likes of 311, The Wailers, Slightly Stoopid, G-Love & Special Sauce and Snoop Dogg. They’ve played at festivals like The Bob Marley Day Celebration, San Diego’s Street Scene, Reggae on the River, Sierra Nevada World Music Festival, Download Festival in Boston and most recently X-Games and Lollapalooza 2006. The band’s catalogue has sold well over 200,000 units to date. All of them independently released, 1999’s Give’n It has sold over 25,000, 2002’s Kona Town has sold over 110,000 and 2004’s In With The Old almost 70,000 and 2005’s Pepper Live DVD recorded over two sold-out nights at the Troubadour in W. Hollywood, has sold 5,000 copies.

Pepper made a big slash at Alternative radio in early 2005 with their hit ‘Give It Up’ – The song received serious airplay at key stations like KROQ/LA, WXRK/NY, 91X/San Diego, Q101/Chicago, KXTE/Las Vegas, KEDJ/Phoenix and KUCD/Honolulu. ‘Give It Up’ climbed the Alternative Rock chart and peaked around 30. The hysterical video for ‘Give It Up’ was embraced by Fuse where it won on ‘Oven Fresh’. ‘No Control’ is the first single off of No Shame.

Pepper spent this summer opening for 311 and The Wailers and will hit the road again following the release of No Shame for a coast-to-coast co-headlining jaunt with partners-in-crime Slightly Stoopid.

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Pepper - No Shame