Revival Through Reggae

Music has always puppeteered my mental state. Emo, hip hop, country - they’ve all had their time in the sun. But reggae has always had my heart.

It's June 2025 at Cali Vibes in Long Beach, and I'm basking in the Southern California sun with a beer in hand and live reggae in my ears. For 48 hours straight, I'm smiling with a clear head and a happy heart. It’s been a while since that happened.

I engaged in (and started!) conversations when my antisocial younger self never would. I bought the festival tickets and the hotel room on a whim when my younger, not-so-spontaneous self would never do such a thing.

I was a new me, and this new me felt good.

I had found my people. I had finally reserved my spot in the world, rather than mimic high school me and test the waters from place to place. I found a family to belong to.

Not by blood, but by beats.

Rebelution’s music has been my guiding light throughout my life. Like front man Eric Rachmany, I’m just a kid from the Bay Area who finally decided to chart his own path.

Eric 🤝 Alex.

I remember riding around on my longboard with red, green, and yellow Skull Candy earbuds, reggae coursing through my ears and soul. That’s who I am again.

The music has helped me stay grounded. It’s helped me see clearly and treat myself with the self respect we all deserve. And today, it’s helped me decide to switch careers into something more writing-centric, something that makes me smile as much as those two days in Long Beach did.

At this pivotal point in my life, I couldn’t be happier to have reggae music once again pulling the strings.