GRIMPLE played a benefit for the legalization of marijuana at a reggae club in Berkeley, which proved a few things. One is that reggae clubs do not allow the smoking of buds openly, but rather they force you to hide out in little designated corners and rooms. Two is that the hippies that work the doors at reggae clubs will never lower the cost of a ticket, even at a benefit, and even when the show is almost over and there are just as many punks staring in through the outside windows as there are in the club. Three is that reggae clubs have a shut off switch that kicks in whenever a band gets too loud, and bands like GRIMPLE tend to cause the sound system to shut off while they are just trying to do a sound check. Other than that, reggae clubs are irie mon!

Photographs by Sam Bortnick