Reggae with a violin: the story behind the Concrete Beach sound
There’s a moment at almost every Concrete Beach show when someone in the crowd leans over to a friend and asks the same question: “Wait — is that a violin?”
It is.
We’re Concrete Beach — a reggae and rock band out of Fall River, Massachusetts. Tropical grooves, a rock backbone. But the thing people remember is the strings.
From a Fall River garage to the South Coast stage
Concrete Beach started in 2019 as a six-piece garage collective — a handful of South Coast musicians chasing the same sound. We were gearing up for a 2020 Battle of the Bands run when the world shut down and the whole thing got cancelled. A lot of bands quietly disappeared in that stretch. We didn’t. We kept writing, kept playing, and came out the other side leaner and tighter — the five-piece we are today.
The violin changes everything
Reggae has a deep, well-loved sound — the offbeat guitar, the pocket bass, the easy rhythm. What it almost never has is a classically trained violin weaving melodies through the top of it. That’s what Nathan Mendonca brings, and it’s the reason people tell us they haven’t heard anything quite like us.
It’s not a gimmick sitting on top of the arrangement. Five people wrote around it for eight years, so the fiddle sits where a horn line or a lead guitar would sit in another reggae band — carrying the melody, then getting out of the way.
Five players, one groove
Every piece matters. Zachary Paul founded the band and fronts it on lead guitar and vocals, after two decades chasing this exact dream. Aaron Capone plays bass — Berklee-trained, and it shows. Jared Correia holds the rhythm guitar and harmonies together, and Andrew Bshara keeps the whole thing driving on drums. Put it together and you get a set that’s equal parts laid-back beach day and full-tilt rock show.
The music
Our full-length album Give It Time, recorded at Railroad Park Recording in Westport, MA, is the best place to hear where the sound landed. Daily Reggae reviewed it and wrote that we make time stand still — and singled out the violin on Jimi the Skiff, saying they’d never heard the instrument used as well in the genre. Our earlier EP, Invasion, is where it all began. Both are on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube.
Come hear it live
Recordings are one thing. Concrete Beach is really a live band — the South Coast, Newport, Providence, wherever there’s a stage and ideally a cold drink nearby.
We’re booking the back half of the year now. Dates go up here as they’re confirmed, and if you’d rather not check — drop your email and we’ll tell you. Run a room and want a reggae band with a fiddle in it? Come talk to us.
Wait — is that a violin? Come find out. 🌴