The Cool and Deadly

Call it a melting pot or tossed salad, America is truly an amalgam of cultures. Nothing good remains isolated. And that’s just as true for rockabilly, punk and such. The Cool and the Deadly follow and expand on the punk/reggae legacy of such pioneers as the Clash and the Bad Brains. It’s rough and tough.

While the band’s roots are down deep in the fertile, fertile soils of Brooklyn, New York, the band members represent a mixed bag of cultural representations. Lead vocalist/rhythm guitarist Danny Baptista (a.k.a. Danny Zion) was brought up on a cocktail of hot-rod, punk and skate as grew up in a Portuguese community in Massachusetts. The drummer, Bill “Prince Polo” Szeflinski, is a Milwaukee native of Polish descent, and guitarist Harvey Valdes is a first-generation Columbian-American.

The music, like the band members, is a mix of influences. The songs tend to surprise, leading you one way and then catching you off guard. Heavy on the bass, you’ll hear reggae morphed into surf with a dash of rock.

Midnight Cruiser is a kind of reggae/surf rock hybrid. Excellent repeats, reverb and a slow and easy beat treat the listener well. You Don’t Owe Me Shit turns up the reverb and introduces what I have to label as “angry beach.”

Overall, the band maintains a reggae beat as the base and then mixes in a bit of punk, etc. The result is a unique sound that takes the genre away from those stereotypes that many quickly assign to this kind of music. If you’re looking to expand your reggae library or looking for the missing link between reggae and punk, this is your group!
Richard Davis - Car Kulture Deluxe - Car Kulture Deluxe magazine

The Cool and Deadly
Album Review
by Kellie Moreland

Reggae has long needed an inventive face-lift to broaden the sound of the genre, and if the Brooklyn based Reggae-Dub group The Cool and Deadly have their say the musical vibrations from the islands will be accompanied by their signature blend rock/pop with a very edgy and cleverly wicked guitar rifts.

The Cool and Deadly, a four man cavalry with deep roots in the Brooklyn, New York community introduced the masterfully mesh sound of rock and reggae with induced funk flavor while performing live shows.

Lovers of rock and reggae will be able to appreciated the ingenuity of the funky feel good vibes you hear once your ears tunes into the progressively rhyhmatic tracks on the album. The collective efforts to soothe our hunger for timeless music is never lost, but actually celebrated with tracks like “Cross the Line”, “You Don’t Owe Me Sh*t”, “Where is Sunshine”, and “Mirror of Life”.

If Bob Marley were a rock star, the sounds of The Cool and Deadly would be his forte; his roots of reggae would definitely rock out a shift of psychedelic grooves that beg for mercy.. - Pop that magazine

The Cool and Deadly
(self-titled)

beyond race magazine:




Brooklyn-grown Reggae-Dub group The Cool and Deadly's latest self titled release is 21 tracks of unadulturated, unclassifiable groove. The group seamlessly amalgamates the tough reggae sounds of the kingston streets and London's "proper yardies" with influences of rock,blues,and electronica,serving up a heavy-handed,straight rudeboy-inspired mash-up mix.

Although largely an instrumental album, The Cool and Deadly starts off right with "Cross the line," a truly rough Reggae-Dub track brooding with deep, bluesy bass vocals and intense rock breakdowns. "You don't owe me shit "follows suit with distorted,rumbling vocals and guitar riffs that vary from deeply lamenting blues sounds to the funkier dancehall style series of rips and rhymes.

Languid,rambling guitar solos featured alongside indestinguishable distorted vocals on "Under Attack," with a concrete-solid bassline fuse, makes it impossible not to slide the hips of every person's hips within sound's reach. Much more suited for lounge scenes, songs like "Gold dust dub," "Caravan Dubbers," Eastern Star," "Saturn's Rings," and "Chiefed by the Double Tongues," follow the classic innovation of Nightmares on Wax and Thievery Corporation by absorbing and mixing influences from around the globe with contemporary beats and samples.

Experimental and somewhat abstract tracks like "March of the Kings" may strike some purists as hard to swallow, but also exhibit the imaginative, evolutionary process of creation and growth representative of the group. The drifting, flowing musical tides of "Gypsy Eyes," "Molasses Rum dub," "Gangster of Monte Leone," and "Ease it out" are absolutely perfect joints for a Brooklyn summer. With their self-titled effort, The Cool and Deadly's experimental, matchless style keeps listeners hooked, waiting for the next unexpected, revolutionary ace up their sleeve to be laid on the table.

-Christie Craft- - Beyond Race Magazine

R E C E N T P R E S S / T V A P P E A R A N C E

The Cool and Deadly taped a live performance for "Fearless Music TV" on Fox 5 which aired
nationally in the US and in Brazil in Fall 2007.

“...true talent! The Cool and Deadly have extreme passion and musicality... .”
4 stars by SWEPT AWAY TV

"Call yourself The Cool and the Deadly and you better rise to the occasion.
Our guess is that this Brooklyn-based quartet - which mixes reggae, dub, dancehall,
rock, - will do just that.They might remind you of the Clash, in their "Sandinista!"
days. Edgy, slinky, a bit psychedelic - the Cool and the Deadly pack a lot of sounds
into their presentation. "
BOSTON PHEONIX

"... Choruses are catchy and lyrics are well thought out. Bass parts don't follow guitars so
closely and are more unique. All the songs are very well put together. This band deserves
your attention."
Sidehatch Entertainment

“...unadulterated, unclassifiable groove... . ”
Beyond Race Magazine

“...rock/pop with very edgy and cleverly wicked guitar riffs. ... introduced the masterfully
mesh sound of rock and reggae with induced funk flavor...”
Pop that magazinee

“... The Cool and Deadly will impress and introduce you to a rock reggae rhythm that can
rattle ones insides.”
Northeast In Tune Magazine - The Cool and Deadly LLC

dub-heavy with some occasional rock guitar thrown in for good measure, The Cool and Deadly toured in support of a brand new full-length disc ( "Rudeboys Revenge") that is chock full of groove and attitude.

The Cool and Deadly whose edgy reggae recalls The Bad Brains at
times and is diametrically opposite that of their laid-back West Coast counterparts.
Predictably, there's lots of great bass thump to be had all over 'Revenge'
and the hypnotic pulsing of the beat along with some keen guitar staccato bursts ala Gang of Four make for an intriguing listen.

'Revenge' boasts solid production for the most part -- it stands to reason that The Cool and Deadly are at their best making that gritty dub-based reggae that informs most every nook and cranny of their album.

Check out the standout track, "Future Has No Love," for proof of this. It'll be interesting to see what becomes of The Cool and Deadly ... perhaps with some solid roadwork
and some good press, a national breakthrough might not be too far off in the future.
Stay tuned.

Amped Up! sez: ***1/2

- Amped Up !

Good news for slackers. Did you not get around to picking up the highly original
The Cool & the Deadly’s recent Deadly EP release? Well lucky for you, as its
new album Rudeboy’s Revenge features all the killer cuts from that, plus a whole
bunch more dirty reggae goodness.

After a dubbed out intro, the messy punk rock of Impurities is certainly a surprising
way to kick things off from this New York three-piece. However, it’s not long before
the band settles back into its reggae dub groove, and yet again it still amazes
me how it’s music sounds modern and vintage at the same time. There is certainly
a lot of soul to digest here thanks to Danny Baptista’s howling vocals.

While I enjoyed revisiting previously released songs like Future Has No Love and
First Time, it’s not till I get towards the album’s end where I am treated to the
best new songs not already featured on the EP, like the excellent Spin This Earth,
Digital Glitter (my personal fav), and the kick drum stomp of Cross the Line.

I am still dying to see this The Cool and Deadly perform live to see how its original
sound translates to the live environment. In the meantime I will have to be content
to listen to these jams on record. This is the perfect sonic offering to test those
old speakers, I have already smoked two pairs.

Reviewed by Pilipo - The Pier.org

Too many reggae/rock hybrid acts do a disservice to both musical traditions, limply employing Rasta iconography to spice up otherwise bland guitar pop. New York's The Cool and Deadly—whose core members Danny Zion (vocals, guitars) and Bill Szeflinski (drums) formerly anchored the reggae band Zionix and hard rockers El Knife—are a shining exception. Rudeboys Revenge draws on a diverse set of influences from rocksteady to surf rock to the Bad Brains' manic hardcore punk, and the result is anything but derivative. Adding further to the flavor is guitarist Harvey Valdes, whose ballsy solos on tracks like "Cross the Line" and "The Future Has No Love" add a layer of unpredictability to the mix.

--
Jesse Serwer
Freelance Writer - Jam Rock Magazine

"a crackling vinyl fuzz that recalls City of God more than Zion. The Cool and Deadly’s ability to dive headlong into heavier, chunkier territory(the metal-flavored “Rudeboy’s Revenge,” the frantically paced “Future Has No Love”)sets them even farther apart from the pack." - Orlando Weekly

"The Cool and Deadly digdub, making for a more gritty transmission reminiscent
of strife-riddled Kingston, Jamaica,
as opposed to the permanent haze of Long Beach cool. The band's sound is in
league with "Sandinista!"-eraClash
and the rock-reggae of latter-day Bad Brains records. - Caller Times : Corpus Christi Texas

The Cool and Deadly creates a reggae fuzz rock crossover that surprisingly works, as it comes dripping with a realness and rawness that can’t be faked. The Deadly EP is the Brooklyn band’s second release and this time the band has gone for quality over quantity. The EP features four originals and their alternate dub versions except for the track Tonight.

Opening with the western influenced the Future has No Love, the band immediately generates interest with its original lo-fi sound. Album highlight First Time is a romantic reggae groove and has a classic 50s feel to it. Certainly one of the more catchy reggae songs I have heard this year, but with a welcome zero pop shine.

Rudeboy’s Revenge turns up the heat and the distorted guitar as it drives a storming groove, and is kinda reminiscent of the Bad Brains I Against I era. The dub versions of three of the songs are well constructed and make a nice inclusion to this release.

As with all EPs, the purpose is to give you a taste and hopefully leave you with wanting more. Well The Cool and Deadly certainly achieved that here, this is one Deadly EP. - Reggae-Rock www.thepier.org

A rhythmic balance of reggae and rock that offers us something that sometimes we forget as viewers to really respect- true talent! The Cool and Deadly have extreme passion and musicality. If “The Future Has No Love �, was not their feature song, then their talent would not have captured so many eyes, for all of our eyes are seeing the love.. - Swept Away TV