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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Reggae, rock, rap all on tap this week

Wailers kick it off at Knitting Factory

Roach Gigz will perform at The A Club on Saturday night.

Bob Marley’s Wailers, two Canadian rock groups, and an irreverent rapper with a revolutionary background – those are just a few of the diverse items on the fresh sheet for touring living music headed to Spokane in the coming days.

Here’s a closer look:

The Wailers, with Outernational and Civilized Animal

When, where: Friday at 8 p.m. at The Knitting Factory Concert House, 919 W. Sprague Ave.

Tickets: $21, through www.ticketfly.com

More than three decades after the death of the legendary Bob Marley, his band, The Wailers continue to spread his message of peace, love and revolution.

And not only through music.

The Wailers has championed the United Nations World Food Programme for years. Most recently the Wailers contributed a new, exclusive track, “A Step for Mankind” to Oniric Records “Solutions for Dreamers: Season 3” compilation, which directly benefits WFP, the world’s largest humanitarian agency for hunger relief.

“A Step for Mankind” features Wailers lead vocalist Koolant Brown, with guest Duane Stephenson.

Since Marley’s passing, the Wailers have been led by one of his most trusted lieutenants, Aston “Family Man” Barrett, who continues to call the shots for the 10-piece reggae outfit.

Currently on its “Revolution Tour,” the Wailers will perform a set consisting mostly of their more socially conscious material, including “Get Up, Stand Up.”

The Pack AD

When, where: Friday at 8 p.m. at The Red Room, 521 W. Sprague Ave.

Cost: $5

Scorchin’ garage-blues-rock duo The Pack AD is known for red-hot live performances that leave sweat dripping from the ceiling.

When drummer Maya Miller and guitarist/singer Becky Black are in the house, the whole block knows.

The Canadian indie-rock duo spent the last year deconstructing itself in the form of the fourth studio album, “Unpersons.”

The 2011 record was produced by Jim Diamond, (The Paul Collins Beat, The Dirtbombs, The White Stripes) and features stripped down, raw grooves that cut bone-deep.

Theory of a Deadman

When, Where: Saturday 8 p.m. at The Knitting Factory Concert House, 919 W. Sprague Ave.

Tickets: $21-$23, through www.ticketfly.com

Another Canadian rock band touring on the strength of its fourth studio release, Theory of a Deadman scored high chart ratings regardless of the critical beatdown of the record.

Despite Allmusic, Rolling Stone, and CNN all giving 2011’s “The Truth Is…” a one-out-of-five star rating, the album peaked at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Rock Albums, Alternative Albums, and Hard Rock Albums charts, and broke the top 10 on Billboards Top 200, Digital Albums, Tastemaker Albums, and Canadian Albums Chart.

Critics hated, but the fans were sated.

Roach Gigz

When, where: Saturday at 8 p.m. at The A Club, 416 W. Sprague Ave.

Tickets: $10, through www.aclubspokane.com

Up-and-coming hardcore rapper Roach Gigz has a storied past dating back to his conception during the Nicaraguan Revolution.

His father, a supporter of the Sandinista National Liberation Front, stayed in Nicaragua while he and his mother relocated to San Francisco, where Gigz grew up to be a white rapper with a Latino background in a predominantly black environmen.

After the success of a couple of mixtapes praised on MTV, high profile spins on commercial radio, and the construction of a one-room recording studio built from scratch, Gigz is collecting props for his latest project, “B*tch, I’m A Player,” fashioned in the tradition of Bay Area hip-hop pioneers E-40, Del the Funky Homosapien, and Too $hort.

With its mix of raunchy lyrics, party beats and doses of humor throughout, Gigz shows he has come a long way since his war-torn childhood.