Despite touring and recording with top reggae-dancehall acts like Maxi Priest and Big Mountain, Paul Kastick never hides his love for rock music. He shows that passion on ‘My Reggae Rockin’ Journey, Vol 2’, an album containing reggae covers of rock standards.
The 19-song set was released on August 28 which is the drummer/singer’s birthday. Kastick produced most of the songs for GrooveGalore Muzik, his company, while sharing production credits on three tracks with American guitarist Rudy Valentino.
‘My Reggae Rockin’ Journey, Vol 2’ contains reggae spins on Foreigner’s ‘I Don’t Want to Live Without You’; ‘Love & Hate’, a Michael Kiwanuka original, and Lionel Richie’s ‘Wandering Stranger’.
“The three newest songs, ‘Wandering Stranger’, ‘Love & Hate’ and ‘Play Me That Song Again’, I had serious interest in over the last three years,” Kastick disclosed. ‘Wandering Stranger’ has always been my all-time favorite Lionel Richie song, while ‘Love & Hate’ was pitched to me by Valentino Music; I listened to the original and found it very inspiring. ‘Play Me That Song Again’ had my interest ‘cause it was right in my vocal tone, and I liked the challenge of changing it from a 3/4 /6/8 waltz groove to a standard 4/4 reggae groove.”
‘Play Me That Song Again’ is a Neil Diamond original.
Kastick officially made his vocal debut in 2023 with a cover of Steely Dan’s ‘Night by Night’. ‘My Reggae Rocking Journey Vol 1’, released in 2024, has reggae-driven covers of ‘Here I Go Again’ by Whitesnake and Poison’s ‘Every Rose Has Its Thorn’.