Jada from Reggae Festival Guide sat down with Leo Ahern the producer of Reggae on the River 2024. Who is he and what makes him tick!
Editor’s Note: Reggae on the River is August 2,3,4, 2024 in Southern Humboldt County, Northern California with an amazing line up, camping, swimming, arts & crafts, cannabis, more.
Q: First-of-all, tell our readers about your Reggae-based Soundsystem Guerrilla Takeover
A: Guerrilla Takeover Soundsystem was started in 2004 when I bought my first set of turntables and a Sound System in Berkeley. I purchased it specifically to bring to Reggae on the River and play a renegade, unsanctioned party on the rocks. Security busted me and shut it down after a few hours. By the following year, my cousin had joined me in our efforts to “take over”.
But I would say that the music from Jamaica really grabbed us both from a very young age. When a family friend name Big Rick moved in to help around the property, he would travel back and forth to Jamaica. He ended up marrying a woman from the Island. Rick would bring back these bootleg recordings of mix tapes from sounds like Stone Love and Renaissance Disco. Little did we know that was the beginning of Dancehall Artists like Bounty Killer and Beenie Man from Jamaica rising on the Reggae/Dancehall arena in real time. Shortly after, a neighbor named Sule moved in down the road and would bring mixtapes of Stone Love as well as other Jamaican Sound Systems. It fascinated us at the time—we would steal each other’s tapes constantly—it was just what we all loved to listen to and focus on.
So, while we were listening to custom dub plates from Jamaican sounds and going to ROTR every year, we also grew up in our tiny little town with the Angel Family. They owned a little Jamaican CD and accessory store at the edge of town. We went to school with Moese and Luna Angel who were both rising Reggae acts themselves at the time. Their mother’s brother is Junior Marvin (the guitarist for Bob Marley and the Wailers). (Rest in Power Moese, an honorary member of Guerrilla Takeover).
DIRECT FROM YARD
There was also a sound in our town growing up called Back-A-Wood Hi-Powa. They would string up their speakers and break out the vinyl direct from “Yard” at local parties. They would play songs like “Gimme Da Weed” by Jigsy King and “Complaint” by Garnett Silk. We were all mesmerized by Tenor Saw, Shinehead, Nitty Gritty, Shabba Ranks, Gregory Isaacs, Dennis Brown. They were our role models growing up.
Being young in the 90’s—and especially in our area that identified with Jamaica so strongly—we all listened to Reggae and Dancehall. Most white kids I knew had a necklace with a big African pendant or a Malcolm X T-shirt, or had dreadlocks, or were wearing red, gold and green… myself included. It was normal for us. Our lives were engrossed in Jamaican music and culture our entire youth.
OUTLAWS
Even though we were leading different lives than those in Jamaica, we realized there were similarities. We were poor—the young artists singing the songs were poor. The Jamaican artists hated the “system”… so did we. We had a similar hatred for the Babylonian lifestyle and felt marginalized just like the Jamaican artists. (We were young outlaws who were always scared the police would shoot us, or kick down our door at any moment, because most of our families survived off of growing marijuana, which was extremely illegal and dangerous then).
Because of all these factors, (plus we were young and loved extremely loud and bassy Reggae music), yes, because of that, we created Guerrilla Takeover.
Q: What is your personal connection with Reggae on the River (ROTR)?
A: It was always a thing that young people (and people of all ages really) in the Emerald Triangle went to every Summer. It was a right-of-passage for the youth. We worked all year to purchase a ticket. We camped in the worst conditions—in crappy little ripped tents with no sleeping pads on the rocks, in the full sun with maybe $20 in our pocket if we were lucky.
It was the best of times really. It was all new. My dad brought me there for my first time and later my mother went as well. I was always welcomed. The people were all so full of joy and happiness. I have volunteered; I have worked on the shade crew; I have bought tickets; I have scalped tickets; I have traded ganja for backstage passes.
When we first started, for years my cousin and I were terrible DJ’s. We always had the good selection of music, but we had to truly study the craft while growing up and eventually got better and enough notoriety by playing everywhere we could locally. We cut hundreds and hundreds of custom Dubplates, from Jamaica and beyond, and when people started recognizing the sound, Guerilla Takeover eventually were invited to play the festival (ROTR), which we enjoyed doing for many years.
Q: ROTR has a lot of acts! Did you do the 2024 ROTR booking yourself or do you have a team?
A: I did book the lineup. My partner at Hot Milk Entertainment is more on the legal side of the business (which has been a huge blessing). She has always made suggestions, and we work well together in that aspect. I have learned a lot in this process. I learned that no one person should be responsible for doing this amount of work! But in doing so, I feel that I have set the foundation for many great things to come in the future!
Luckily the booking process was started when we tried to make the festival happen in 2023, which had its roots planted in 2022. I felt that a lot of the Reggae festivals in the US that have dominated the market have similar lineups and have strayed away more and more from what is traditionally considered Reggae or its slightly younger brother, Dancehall.
Having grown up on this style of music, I wanted to be sure and make that be a highlight of our festival, just like ROTR ways did in the past. When we did the original booking, I assumed that SNWMF would follow in their more traditional footsteps and be a roots-heavy show and I felt that we could not have two roots-heavy events next to each other in a few months’ time. In looking forward to 2025, I would book more acts to fill that gap, but always try and stay fresh and unique at the same time.
I have made lots of connections over the years with artists, managers and booking agents. I mostly did the booking for Guerrilla Takeover when we booked shows in the past with a lot of these same artists while they were on their rise to stardom. Perfect Giddimani, Pressure, Chuck Fenda, Konshens, Demarco, Capleton()multiple times), Anthony B. I have shared the stage with the majority of the supporting acts and all of the DJs as well.
Q: What is your business relationship with Mateel Community Center?
MCC and Hot Milk Entertainment (HME) are partners in the return of the festival. The amount of work and organization that it has taken to get this airplane out of the hanger and back on the runway is truly immeasurable. There are so many facets of how this machine works, and in seeing that we can get the airplane off the runway and back into the air. So far this experience this year really gives me hope that this festival can continue into the future! There are lots of great people on the Mateel team that are putting in many hours of work.
WOMEN POWER
Just as it was traditionally in the past, a lot of women are in charge of many aspects of the organization and functionality of the festival. I want to give a big shout out to Alisha Goodrich, our festival manager, for always going the extra mile to make sure everything is in order… and always having her airhorn to remind people that this is a Reggae party!
Q: Your production company: Hot Milk Entertainment – How did you come up with that name?
A: In being a Reggae/Dubplate/Riddim fanatic, I have always been aware that nearly every beat that has ever come out of Jamaica, that has more than one song recorded on it, is called a “riddim”. The famous Hot Milk Riddim was always one of my favorites. It had songs like “Respect” from Shabba Ranks, Barrington Levy’s “Murderer” or Carlton Livingston’s “100 Weight of Collie Weed” recorded over it …and I was always drawn to it.
FRESH AND NEW
After DJing for 20 years under Guerrilla Takeover, as I was doing this new project on my own, I wanted to start something fresh and new. When ROTR and I were in verbal agreement about producing the festival, I literally made a contract with an artist and did not have a name. I had to choose a name on the spot. I thought of my favorite riddims and Hot Milk sounded just strange and obscure enough to use. For about ten minutes, I felt like I had made a mistake and then realized that a succesful business is so much more than a name. It’s the people behind it and what it stands for that’s really important.
Q: Does your entertainment company produce other events?
A: We had many plans of doing multiple kick-off events this year to promote the festival, but once the Reggae machine started going at full speed again, we realized for this first year we had to have 100% of our focus on helping make ROTR’s return a success. We plan to branch out and do more events in the future.
Q: Are you local to Humboldt County where ROTR is held?
A: My partner and I are both Mendocino County locals. The venue for ROTR is about 45 minutes away from where we both live. In being a Reggae DJ, Humboldt County was always like my second home. Guerrilla Takeover has played ROTR in Humboldt for years. We played all the old haunts in Humboldt: Club West/The Red Fox/MCC/Brass Rail/Stone Junction/ATL/Ocean Grove/Blue Lakes/ Jambalaya/Cecil’s, many private events in Humboldt, and we used to have a monthly Reggae party that ran for years in Eureka at the Pearl, and then we moved it to Benbow for a few years as well, both of which are in Humboldt County.
Q: It looks like ROTR is at a new venue?
A: County Line Ranch is our new home. It’s the same site where Reggae on the River was once held and the Reggae Rising festival as well. Back then it was known as Dimmick Ranch. It sits almost directly on the Mendocino/Humboldt County line. It’s amazing…lot of shade! There are grassy fields and lots of oak trees, and a large persimmon grove where artists and volunteer’s camp. It is directly across the river to the southwest from French’s Camp where the festival was previously traditionally held, so, it still shares that same legendary swimming hole that was always there in the past.. and we still have the same view of those gorgeous Redwood tree covered mountains to the East!
Q: Did having cannabis sponsors and vendors save the day in terms of making the festival viable?
A: Well, the vendor space flew off the shelf extremely quickly. (This goes to show that people knew we would have a full house and wanted to be a part of our exciting return!) There are literally people driving their wares across the country from New York to be a part of this opportunity. I would say that having so many amazing sponsors that have stepped up to the plate in support of the festival has really given us a major strength in our return as well!
We have a great sponsorship team offering amazing opportunities, and the community has really reminded us that this festival is still a pillar amongst the people…it is something that draws excitement… it is something that brings joy… and its legacy is valuable to the people that do business in Northern California.
CANNIFEST
Cannifest’s Cannazone is something completely new and it will be great to see what they bring to the festival as well! They plan on having a consumption lounge and will be showcasing local Northern Cali farmers cannabis for direct-to-consumer sales.
Q: Do you have plans for ROTR 2025?
A: I think Mateel and HME’s collective goal is to have a successful return this first year and work out the kinks as we go… see what went well and what didn’t. We plan to have Reggae on the River return in 2025 and beyond while making a better and better experience for the public year to year. Our goal is to throw the best possible event with world-class entertainment that we possibly can for our community and all those we invite into it.
We hope to see you there! Come join us for Reggae on the River’s 35th Anniversary… The Legacy Continues!
