Moe's Alley Presents: Israel Vibration & Roots Radics

Name: Moe's Alley Presents: Israel Vibration & Roots Radics
Start: 2026-06-19T21:00:00-07:00
Location: Moe's Alley, Santa Cruz

Schedule

Fri, 19 Jun, 2026 at 09:00 pm

UTC-07:00

Location

Moe's Alley, Santa Cruz | Santa Cruz, CA

Moe's Alley presents the return of Jamaican reggae legends Israel Vibration & Roots Radics!
Friday, June 19, 2026
Doors; 8pm / Show: 9pm
$40 in advance / $45 day of the show
21+
* No Refunds | All sales are final
* Avoid scammers! Only purchase tickets from moesalley.com or ticketweb.com
* Tickets requested by email will be delivered 3 days prior to the event
* Will Call tickets will be available at the door on the day of the event
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ISRAEL VIBRATION
A living lesson in fortitude, the vocal trio of Cecil "Skeley" Spence, Albert "Apple Gabriel" Craig, and Lascelle "Wiss" Bulgin overcame adversity, illness, and poverty to become one of the finest roots groups in Jamaica's history. All three had been afflicted by polio and first became acquainted, albeit briefly, at Kingston's Mona Rehabilitation Clinic.
The three teens had individually all previously converted to rastafarianism, now their shared faith and childhood experiences helped forge a strong friendship. They spent the next six years singing around Kingston for their suppers and by 1975, Israel Vibration was a vocal force to be reckoned with. The group's exquisite dread sound and militant cultural themes made an instant impression and the trio now found themselves on-stage opening for the likes of Bob Marley and Dennis Brown.
The trio's deeply devotional songs, cultural themes, inspirational lyrics, and original take on the roots style had struck a chord with reggae fans around the world. They relocated to New York City, perhaps believing that the large immigrant community could sustain them, or that America was now ready to embrace roots. But a few occasional live appearances aside, the group swiftly disappeared from view. All three attempted solo careers, but only Bulgin made it on to record; his Mr. Sunshine album paired him with the Freedom Fighters Band.
In 1987, the trio decided it was stronger together than apart, re-formed, and approached the RAS label. Although labelhead Doctor Dread had shown no interest in their solo efforts, he was enthusiastic about a reunion and quickly signed them to RAS. Strength of My Life appeared the following year, and aided by the Roots Radics, it found Israel Vibration as vibrant as ever.
In 1997, Apple Gabriel left the group to pursue a solo career, releasing the album Another Moses in 1999. Skelly and Wiss continue to record albums and tour the world as Israel Vibration, backed by longtime associates Roots Radics.In December 2014 they were reportedly recording a new album set for release in early 2015. The new album, entitled "Play It Real" was released on 31 March 2015 via Utopia. On March 23rd, 2020, Albert "Apple Gabriel" co-founder and former member of the group died due to 'compilation sickness', earlier reports indicated that Albert was not well for quite some time, this was supposedly due to some of the polio infections left in his body. On a Facebook post on March 7, 2020, he had indicated that he had suffered a stroke. He died on March 23, 2020. On August 26th, 2022, Cecil "Skelly" Spence died of lung cancer.