How Unity the Band found a reggae home in Wisconsin 22 years ago and has been spreading the love ever since

Growing up in the Fiji Islands, Pita “Kai” Kotobalavu could never have guessed how in love he would fall with Wisconsin.

And vice versa.

For 22 years now his roots reggae group Unity the Band has called the state home, drawing big crowds from Sister Bay to Green Bay to Menasha — and points well beyond — with music that sounds like summertime feels. The band packs as many as 120 shows into the six months of Wisconsin’s fleeting outdoor music season, its busiest time of the year. Listeners of all ages turn out to soak up a shared summer experience that’s part cultural, part concert and, without fail, wholly uplifting.

For all the good vibes lead singer Kotobalavu and his bandmates radiate from the stage, audiences bounce just as many right back at them.

“People in Wisconsin have big hearts. I’ve never seen a state like this,” said Kotobalavu, who moved here in 1999 to be closer to his children after a relationship ended. “I’ve traveled throughout the Midwest and throughout the U.S., but Wisconsin, when they love you, they invite you into their family. You become their family. It becomes a community. They support you rain, sun, heat, cold, winter.”

During the two years of the pandemic, the warm embrace of chilling out at a Unity show took on added significance. People craved the feeling of liberation that comes with reggae music and the unwavering message of love at the heart of every Unity performance.

“The most important thing in the world is love. People love to love,” Kotobalavu said. “That’s including food, music, anything you do, relationships. It’s always been love, so our music has always been based around that.”

When Unity the Band won the top honor of Artist of the Year at the 40th Wisconsin Area Music Industry Awards last fall, it was what Kotobalavu calls “the cream of the crop” for a group that already has a stack of more than a dozen WAMI trophies from wins in the world music/reggae category through the years.

They're hardly the first or only reggae band in the state but ...

“There’s reggae bands and there’s good reggae bands,” Kotobalavu said. “There’s a big difference between people who want to play reggae music and people who just pretend to be playing it.”

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Kotobalavu, who was born in Suva, the capital of the Fiji Islands, is a self-taught musician. He grew up with the native music of the islands, singing and harmonizing as a clan and learning a traditional cultural dance called the meke that included beating on hollow logs with bamboo sticks cut at varying sizes to make different sounds.

He was 10 when he heard Bob Marley and the Wailers’ “Soul Rebel” album. He quickly recognized the similarity in the beat to native music, and the reggae musician seed was planted.

When he formed Unity in 2000, it wasn’t easy to find local musicians who could play reggae — world music with snippets of rock, blues, funk, rockabilly, country and bluegrass.

“That’s why it’s unique in its own way, because it has a little bit of all of that put together in one cup. Stir it around and now you have something very different,” he said.

He started by finding players who could do rock and blues and then fused it with his reggae vocals. That “fusion reggae” is similar to the style of Marley, UB40 and other well-known reggae stars, Kotobalavu said.

The group’s lineup solidified with time. Drummer Kelvin Ayres and bassist Timothy Perkins have each been with the band for roughly 15 years. Younger players rotate in and out. The current lineup features Tommy Vincent on keys and Parker Collar and Kenny Ayres on guitar.

Playing gigs across town to across the country

One other challenge in those early years was to find venues willing to take a chance on an act that looked and sounded different from the cover bands that were mainstays at many bars and festivals. Kotobalavu went from place to place in person to inquire about bookings. The reception wasn’t always as he had hoped, but he never let it deter him.

“People would say, ‘We don’t have your kind at our bar.’ That has been told to me before,” he said. “Then I try to cross a barrier. I don’t think negative. I think it’s part of a learning experience, so I talk to them and I tell them I’m an island boy, brought up on a farm, and I understand and I respect what they feel.

“After you have a few sit-downs and talk, the next thing you know the door is open. When you show love, you have to educate at the same time. In this day and age, and in this state, people know what love is, and if you can show them a part of you that’s just like them and where you’re from and explain to them exactly what your intentions are ... they’ll open the doors for you anytime, anywhere.”

Unity played primarily within a 25-mile radius of the members’ home base of Green Bay and the Fox Valley in those early years. Over time, the schedule swelled to four or five nights a week with gigs across the Midwest and occasionally as far away as California, Colorado, Louisiana, Texas and Hawaii.

They’re the designated house band at Lil Jamaica’s beer garden on Broadway in Green Bay, where they perform monthly in the cozy, tropical setting.

“They don’t really come to play. It’s like they come home,” said Derron Wilson, who opened the lounge with Janel Johnson in 2020 after Kotobalavu encouraged him to start his own food truck for his authentic Jamaican cuisine. “They’re more like friends of the family here.”

When Unity played The Rustic in Dallas during a Packers-Cowboys game weekend, 5,000 people in green and gold showed up.

“I’ve never seen anything that crazy,” Kotobalavu said. “You name it, we’ve done it all.”

The fan base is anchored by more than a few smiling faces the band has been seeing for the better of two decades. Sometimes there’s three generations from the same family enjoying Unity originals and covers from Marley, UB40, The Police and The Beatles. If there’s something they want to hear, fans aren’t shy about asking for it. They know most every song Unity plays.

“It’s the greatest feeling when you walk onstage and people know you,” Kotobalavu said. “They know your name. They know what you’re about.”

Slowing down the pace next year; a new album

There will be changes next year when the band steps back from its hectic schedule to focus on just select, bigger gigs. All that touring, with the late-night driving, grabbing a quick meal and up early the next morning to get to the next show, is taking a toll on their bodies, Kotobalavu said.

“The time comes when you get a little older in life. Things get a little harder,” he said. “In order for us to survive for the next five or 10 years or maybe 20 years, we have to slow down the pace.”

That decision brings with it the difficult task of telling some of the smaller venues the band has been playing for the last 15 or 20 years that it will no longer be able to come back. Kotobalavu is certain those places will still be 100% behind Unity, but it is going to hurt to have to tell them.

“They’re not just bar owners or restaurant owners or venue owners. They're family. I know their kids. I know their parents. I know their grandparents. I know their hobbies. They know the size of my clothes,” he said. “It’s the hardest thing that we’ll have to do.”

For those who will miss the frequency of Unity gigs, Kotobalavu, as he’s known to do, finds the positive.

“If there’s any live bands out there, any live musicians, we ask our fans and our friends to support them all, because we all are one same family.”

The slowdown will allow Kotobalavu, who is also the band’s manager and booking agent, to focus more on being the singer. There are plans to do a new album next year. It would be Unity’s seventh and a follow-up to 2017’s more modern and pop-leaning “Sunset 7.”

Once the summer and fall calendar begins to empty out in mid-October, he’s hoping to get back to his native Fiji. With COVID-19, it has been three years since he’s been home to see his dad and family. As much as he loves Wisconsin (Door County in fall is his favorite; adjusting to winter is still a work in progress), the slow pace, untouched beauty and crystal clear waters of Fiji always beckon.

“Paradise,” he said.

But Unity the Band fans need not worry. Despite numerous offers over the years for the band to relocate elsewhere, perhaps to a place where the island vibes don’t succumb to below-zero wind chills, Kotobalavu has no such plans.

“Wisconsin knows that they have a reggae band that is their own. We belong to Wisconsin,” he said. “I’m a foreigner here in America, and I’m from the Fiji Islands, and I call myself a Wisconsinite. I love this state. This band is not going anywhere. We’re staying right here.”

Chill out and catch a show

Unity the Band has the following gigs nearby:

• Noon-4 p.m. Aug. 7: Outside at Smashed on the Rocks Saloon, 70 Church St., Algoma

• 7-9 p.m. Aug. 10: Martin Park, 207 S. Third Ave., Sturgeon Bay

•3-7 p.m. Aug. 14: GameDay Sports Bar, N225 Stoney Brook Road, Appleton

• 6-10 p.m. Aug. 19: Outside in the beer garden at Lil Jamaica, 1332 S. Broadway, Green Bay

To see a full list of upcoming dates, visit unitytheband.com/shows.

Contact Kendra Meinert at 920-431-8347 or kmeinert@greenbay.gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @KendraMeinert.