Bio

The state of Florida is an estuary of sorts, of both climate and culture: a place where the freshwater-deep-South diffuses seamlessly into the saltwater-sub-tropics.

And so it's only natural that this estuary of mangroves and mudflats would be the birthplace of The Freecoasters, a band who seamlessly diffuse the rhythm-and-blues musical traditions of the swampy American South in to the steamy, sun-drenched, tropical rhythms of Jamaican rocksteady and reggae.

Founded in 2014, The Freecoasters were designed to be a sort of musical anachronism: a perfect blend of these two musical heritages that never truly overlapped. The sum of these elements is a sound that is vibrant and alive; familiar, but entirely new. 

Originally the brainchild of bassist and founding-member John Schiller, the musical vision was a blend in equal-measure of the 60's and 70's American Southern soul music of labels like Stax, Atlantic and Hi-Records, and the 60's and 70's Jamaican reggae and rocksteady of labels such as Studio One and Treasure Isle.

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Numerous regional and national tours, more than 500 shows and two full-length records later, The Freecoasters are hitting their stride and bringing the heat. And shouldn’t they? Because, sure, in the summertime it gets hot everywhere. But down there in Florida, the heat is just a little different.

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