COURTESY OF VOLCOM ENTERTAINMENT Expatriate band Pepper returns to Hawaii to perform at Kualoa Ranch Sunday. They also will be performing with the Hellbound Hounds at the Garden on Nuuanu Avenue on Nov. 16 and on the Big Island next month.

Pepper spices
Kualoa surf fest

---

By John Berger
jberger@starbulletin.com

It's been about three years since Pepper left Kona for southern California, but the trio hasn't forgotten their Big Island origins. The Hawaiian flag flies proudly on their website at www.pepperlive.com, and there's a song or two on their current album "Kona Town" that reflects their years there. One of them, "Give It Up," sets two tales of teen trauma to a powerful moshing beat, finding one guy begging a girl for "dirty hot sex" and another discovering his girlfriend is fooling around with his father.

The girlfriend's name is Honey Girl. How local is that?

"It's totally geared towards people in Hawaii 'cause like no one else really gets it," Yesod Williams, the drummer, said in a Tuesday phone interview.

"(The other people) get the end -- 'Why you got to sleep with my dad?' -- they can put that together, but as far as all the other (local) stuff, it's just gibberish to them. Here and there people ask us about it, but I think people here pick up on the Hawaii thing more on the reggae and stuff like that."

The expatriate Big Isle residents have been touring steadily since "Kona Town" was released by Volcom Entertainment last spring. They actually started their promotional efforts with several shows in Hawaii in May before taking off for a series of cross-country dates on the Vans Warped Tour. After that they did independent shows along the East Coast before returning to California.

"We've just been playing a lot everywhere just to promote the album ... it's already sold over 10,000 copies and we're happy," Williams said.

Pepper returns to Hawaii this week for the Vans Triple Crown Surf Fest at Kualoa Ranch on Sunday, some club dates on the Big Island and then a double-bill in Honolulu with Hellbound Hounds when Volcom presents the world premiere of "Amplified," a new surf video, at the Garden downtown on Nov. 16.

The band will return to the Big Island in December for a "Rock 'n' Reggae Music Festival" fundraiser for a music/arts center in west Hawaii.

After that, early in 2003, they plan to rerelease one of their older albums, "Give 'n' It," with additional tracks that they recorded for "Kona Town" but didn't use. "Not a lot of people know about (the old album). You can only get it at our shows, so if we rerelease it, it will be much more available."

Williams says that the band's evolving relationship with Volcom gradually opened doors.

"We've been affiliated and friends with them since we moved over here. Ben Brough, who surfs for them professionally, told them about us and sent them our first CD. They were kind of interested ... they didn't sign us back then, but they let us use their office to make fliers, and helped us out with a couple of shows back when we were spending a lot of time in an old van and just playing anywhere to anybody that we could.

"And then in 2001, they signed up with MCA Records for distribution through Universal, and when that happened, they offered us a contract to join in on that deal. It's kinda cool because we're signed to an independent label but we've got the ability to be in all the record stores, and Ben's got a lot of original ideas about packaging."

PEPPER had essentially no prospects or promises when they left the Big Island for southern California in 1999. The band's founding members -- Kaleo Wassman (guitar/vocals) and Bret Bollinger (bass/vocals) -- informed Williams that they'd given their two weeks' notice at their workplaces and were headed for SoCal. Williams gave his notice as well and off they went.

"It was actually a split-second decision. We'd been talking about it -- I'd come over here on vacation to stay with some friends and see what was happening, and I had a feeling we'd do good -- but we never made any plans. Then one night Kaleo and Brad told me they'd put in their two weeks' notice.

Williams says that Pepper played, at first "to, like, nobody, at bars," but they've gradually built a following.

"It's hard for local bands to leave Hawaii and be successful on the mainland. It hasn't happened that much, but we've just been chipping away, and finally we're seeing results."

Vans Triple Crown Surf Fest Featuring Pepper with Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley, Pennywise, Face to Face, Long Beach Short Bus, Slightly Stoopid, Ooklah the Moc, Go Jimmy Go and Generic Where: Kualoa Ranch When: 10 a.m. Sunday Tickets: $22 in advance, $28 at the gate Call: 526-4400 Also with Hellbound Hounds 9 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 16 at The Garden, 1041 Nuuanu Ave., for an all-ages show

Click for online
calendars and events.