Photo credit: Lara Woolfson / hi-res

Cuttings art by Jaime Zuverza / hi-res

Green & Copper art by Matt Doughty / hi-res

Brothers Marc and John Beaudette / hi-res

photo credit: Campbell Parish / hi-res

John Beaudette - bass, guitar, melodica
Marc Beaudette - drums, percussion
Zack Brines - organ, piano, clavinet, rhodes
Kellee Webb - vocals, percussion
Sean Acker - guitar
Andy Bergman - sax, flute
Brian Paulding - trombone

CONTACT

All inquiries - contact@flyingvipers.com

Social links:

Streaming links:

Music ADD Records

MusicADD.com

FLYING VIPERS

Flying Vipers create murky dubwise reggae on a Tascam 8-track in their Waltham basement bunker. Live, they are a 7-piece unit with soulful vocals, blazing horns, bubbling keys and heavy drum & bass. Their love of Jamaican and UK 70’s roots and dub is their north star, but eclectic crates of records and a couple decades worth of DIY punk shows bleed through on tape and on stage.

The core quartet of twin brothers Marc & John Beaudette on drum & bass (Destroy Babylon, The Macrotones), Zack Brines on keys (Pressure Cooker, 10 Ft Ganja Plant, Kings of Nuthin'), and Kellee Webb on vocals (DB, Tiger Witch) have 20+ years in the New England scene, sharing the stage with legendary reggae acts from around the world, including Burning Spear, Lee "Scratch" Perry, Steel Pulse, the Skatalites, and Hollie Cook, among many others.

-- -- --

In 2015, their first recording session commenced with Jay Champany (10 Ft. Ganja Plant) at the controls, producing the instrumental EP, The Green Tape, released on the band's own imprint, Music ADD. Entirely tracked and mixed on a Tascam 488 cassette portastudio, they followed that up the next year with The Copper Tape, more dubwise instrumentals but with some guest vocals from Champany (two extended mixes later released digitally as Discomixes).

2017 saw the band release a vinyl 45 on Jump Up Records, "Highest Region." featuring Jamaican legend Johnny Clarke, as well as a Cassette Store Day exclusive EP, The Shadow Tape on Music ADD.

The band embraced their punk roots by covering all of Black Flag's first EP in heavy dub style (2019's Nervous Breakdub) on the 40th anniversary of the original release.

In February 2020, the Vipers may have been begrudgingly prophetic when they released the single "Two Twenties Clash", as shortly after the world turned upside down dealing with the Covid-19 crisis. While in quarantine, they released a couple reworked dubs as Pandemic Versions.

Flying Vipers released their first full length album, Cuttings, in July 2020 on Jump Up Records. Featuring 12 instrumental tracks, Flea Market Funk called it "one of the top reggae records of the year."

A year later the Vipers released their second vinyl 45 featuring two heavy dub remixes by Craig "Dub Fader" Welsch (10 Ft. Ganja Plant), working with London's Happy People Records. In 2022, the band pressed their second LP, Green & Copper, via Jump Up, which collected their first two cassette EPs onto one record.

In the fall of 2024, the band released "Show Me" on 7" vinyl, their debut for Easy Star Records and their first tune to feature Kellee Webb on lead vocals. The single received airplay from the likes of David Rodigan on his BBC program along with wider international distribution. The band will release their third LP on Easy Star Records in April 2025, a culmination of all the band's strengths on an album sure to make waves in the reggae scene - watch this sound!

<a href="https://flyingvipers.bandcamp.com/album/show-me-show-tell">Show Me / Show & Tell by Flying Vipers</a>

Live clip - Vipers cover Mighty Diamonds' "I Need a Roof" 8/3/22

PRESS

- 2024 Boston Music Awards "Reggae Artist of the Year" nominee

"...having been recorded on cassette really is a testament to great engineering. All of the classic sounds of dub are here... [they've] studied their craft and their predecessors and put every ounce of themselves into this project. This record is outstanding, and I think you will agree."
-Rootfire interview (March '22)

"...a record that we have been keeping on heavy, heavy rotation... one of the top reggae records of the year."
-DJ Prestige, Flea Market Funk (Nov. '20)

"If there was ever an appropriate year for deep, dark explorations into the heart of dub reggae it would be 2020. The Flying Vipers keep things perfectly concise and grounded with their analog-driven approach.."
-Noah Schaffer, The Arts Fuse (Dec. '20)

"Darting, shaking, vibrating sounds scramble the mind off repetitive, tip-toeing basslines, organ/piano, and rock steady horn blasts... Close your eyelids and sway; this absorbing, echoey juju is like a smokeless contact high!"
-Jack Rabid, Big Takeover Magazine (Issue #87, Nov. '20)

"Cuttings will leave a permanent mark on you and undoubtedly take a special place in your record collection."
-Thoughts Words Action (Nov. '20)

"Flying Vipers have one of the coolest names in reggae. Of course, having a great name makes no guarantee that the music will follow suit. In this case, it does. Drop the crystal on their new vinyl, Cuttings, and instantly be transported to a cramped, concrete bunker in Kingston, Jamaica."
-Rootfire interview (Oct. '20)

Reggae Podclash video review w/ Roger Rivas & Man-Like-Devin (Oct. '20)

"...indebted to the Jamaican engineers of the 70s who pioneered the heady sounds of dub... would make you believe this was a lost relic from the dawn of the genre."
-New Commute (Oct. '20)

""...the band have wonderfully recreated the golden era of 70s dub recalling classic names such as keith hudson, lee scratch perry, king tubby... large warm basslines, solid drums (with a nice amount of echoed spacial dub effects throughout)... highly recommended."
-ireallylovemusic (Oct. '20)

"Boston’s Flying Vipers have produced a dub long-player made with feeling, and with a respectful and healthy nod of appreciation to the form’s originators such as Scratch, King Tubby and Augustus Pablo. The use of space echo, stark soundscapes and authentic instrumentation, all pulled together using the desk as an instrument itself, marks it out from other digitally produced modern releases."
-We Are Cult (Sept. '20)

"Cuttings, of course, refers not only to the leaves that have been harvested from cannabis plants, but these musical fruits of the band's labors in the studio--and they have one bounteous crop here... If you haven't been paying attention to this band, Cuttings is a brilliant introduction to the mighty Flying Vipers; and if you have, you're going to love this album."
-Stephen Shafer, Duff Guide (July '20)

"With their relaxed-confident rhythms and cool embellishments of sparkling keys, they can cool down the body and mind."
-The Deli Magazine (Jun. '20)

"...grimey and bouncy dub cuts that would sound at home coming out of King Tubby’s very own speakers."
*Selected for 2018 Most Anticipated Albums*
-The Pier Magazine (Jan. '18)

"Flying Vipers' Copper Tape is most likely the best new dub release you'll hear all year."
-Stephen Shafer, Duff Guide (Apr. '17)

"Forget that 2017 just started and time travel to King Tubby and Augustus Pablo’s music era with this heavy dub."
-ReggaeGooves.com (Jan. '17)

"Instrumental dub in the definitive Lee 'Scratch' Perry style... Green Tape feels impeccable, so full of pot's contact high sensations, that you could get stoned."
-Jack Rabid, Big Takeover Magazine (Issue #77, Oct. '15)

"Destroy Babylon Returns Incognito and in Control of the Dub as The Flying Vipers"
Review + Interview - BostonSka.net (Oct. '15)

"The Flying Vipers' Green Tape contains six fantastic tracks of tangibly warm, vibrant, and crisp dub instrumentals with great melodies--earworms, really-- that will move your body and elevate your mood."
-Stephen Shafer, Duff Guide to Ska (Sept. '15)

"...beautiful sax takes "Coffee Kush" to higher heights, while the mesmerizing "Tape Hiss" has great appeal due to the gentle sound of the melodica... it's obvious that it has been made with love and care."
-Reggae Vibes (Sept. '15)