Iration Is 'All About Love'

On April 18 at 7 p.m. PT/10 p.m. ET, Yahoo Live will live stream Iration's concert from the  House of Blues in Cleveland. Tune in HERE to watch!

Iration isn't ashamed to admit that the band is all about spreading love. The reggae rockers' Twitter profile says, "We're #AllAboutLuv," and frontman Micah Pueschel explains that his band's music naturally brings people together.

"We are a reggae band per se, but we've always wanted to make it clear that we're not Rastafarians and this isn't a political thing for us," he says. "Reggae started as a religious and a political type of music. For us, it's really about giving back something that's positive and real that everybody can latch onto or understand or see something in it. We think that everything is about love. The Beatles said it best – what is there that's a more universal theme than love? Not just [love between] a man and a woman. It's love of your home, love of your family, losing love, finding love, love of a pet. These things that affect and change you."

Iration itself was born of brotherly love – the band members became close friends while attending high school together in Hawaii. The pals scattered during college, but many of them ended up in Southern California in the early '00s and frequently got together to jam at UC Santa Barbara, where a few of the band members went to school.

"We started playing for fun in garages and playing covers," Pueschel explains. "Basically any of our friends could join in the band. But then it progressed and we got more serious. We bought a PA system and it snowballed. I went to school at Pomona College in Claremont and when I was in college I'd go up [to Santa Barbara] and watch them play. We'd come home to Hawaii in the summer and I'd play with them just for fun. When I graduated I traveled in Europe for a couple of months and I didn't really have a plan, so I moved to Santa Barbara. Kai [Rediske], my best friend, said, 'Just move up here and we'll figure it out.'"

They did indeed figure it out, and ended up gaining a wide and loyal fanbase, releasing three albums and touring the world. The band's lineup has changed since their college days – a few times, in fact – with Rediske and other members leaving, but Pueschel believes these shifts have helped the band evolve into something greater than the sum of its parts. "Every time someone left the band we've gone through an evolution and become something a little different," he says. "We've had a different style or a different focus. It's evolved in that way. We haven't set out to do it, it just happens. We've trusted that everything happens in the right way, and it always works out for us."

Iration, which also features drummer Joseph Dickens, keyboard player Cayson Peterson and bassist Adam Taylor, are currently touring in support of their 2013 album Automatic, which debuted at No. 1 on both the Billboard and iTunes reggae album charts. In addition to several headlining dates, the band will play numerous festivals including San Francisco's Outside Lands and the Hangout Music Festival in Gulf Shores, Alabama.

"Playing festivals as a musician is probably the most fun thing that we do," Pueschel says. "As musicians, you also love watching other artists. [At festivals] you get to meet other artists, see them play. It's usually just a fun time. Also being able to play in front of so many people who might not have known who you are – it's great opportunity to make new fans."

Now the band is hard at work on a fourth full-length album, which they intend to release this summer. "We went into the studio at the beginning portion of this year," says Pueschel. "Now it's about getting those final details together. Our music is so [well] suited to the summer. It's tied into summertime and that whole thing, so it's important to get the music out in the summer. People love listening to our music out on the beach or on boats and in those settings."  

And of course Iration is the soundtrack to plenty of summer lovin', too.