(Jesse Chong and Skanks front Ganjacat at the Point Break Festival on the Virginia Beach Oceanfront. Photo courtesy of Jesse Chong.)
By Jeff Maisey
Virginia Beach-based pop/reggae group Ganjacat has once again been tapped to perform at the highly successful Point Break Music Festival, a two-day event held June 20-21 at 8th Street on the Oceanfront beach.
Ganjacat is primarily a recording studio side project of Jesse Chong whose main live performance effort for the past 20 years has been the Jesse Chong Band, an eclectic roots rock band popular with jam band fans as well as lovers of reggae.
As Ganjacat, Chong has recorded and released on Spotify numerous singles since the pandemic ended. These include “High Street,” “Sirens,” “Firefly,” and “Mirrors.” The group’s debut song, “Through the Ceiling,” has received 156,255 plays since it was released in 2022. “Got That Love,” also released that year, has been heard 567,624 times.
Chong said he’s always had of side of his create spirit that digs pop music. That has grown since having children and being exposed to today’s pop sounds.
“It’s definitely more pop than reggae,” Chong said.
The Ganjacat material has been a more personal form of expression for Jesse Chong, most noticeable on the song “Mirrors,” a track with accompanying artwork depicting a woman adorn in Day of the Dead style makeup and attire.
“It’s about addiction,” Chong said after a deep breath and pause, “which has been a reoccurring theme with the Ganjacat material. My sister died in 2020 from opioids, and I think writing about addiction is the way of processing it for me.”
Chong said much has changed in the local music industry since the pandemic ended.
“It’s gotten a lot harder for venues and bands with people no going out anymore,” he said, adding, “The consumption of music is completely different. It’s just a different world.”
One shinning hope in the music festival realm has been the Point Break Festival, now in its third year.
Most of the performers are in a sub-genre of music weaving elements of funk, psychedelic rock, punk rock, reggae and hip hop. Key national acts playing this style are headliner Sublime, Slightly Stoopid, and Rebelution.
Asked to participate by festival organizers was motivating enough for Jesse Chong to transition Ganjacat from a studio project to an on stage act.
“It was incredible as our first live performance,” said Chong. Drone photographs of the two prior festivals show thousands of concertgoers massed on the beach. Many attendees traveled to Virginia Beach for the festival, and the exposure Ganjacat received has Chong thinking of more opportunities.
“We want to get out there and tour,” he shared. “There’s been so much demand from people writing from all over the country asking us to come out to where they are.”
Point Break Music Festival
June 21- MAIN STAGE
12:30 PM – Joint Operation
1:30 PM – Brandon and Ted
2:40 PM – The Hip Abduction
3:50 PM – Less Than Jake
5:15 PM – Elovators
7 PM – Slightly Stoopid
9:15 PM – Sublime
June 21 – SECOND STAGE
1 PM – Ganjacat
2:05 PM – Makua Rothman
3:20 PM – Artikal Sound System
4:30 PM – Landon McNamara
6:15 PM – Denm
8:15 PM – Common Kings
June 22 – MAIN STAGE
12:30 PM – Sons of Paradise
1:30 PM – Mihali
2:40 PM – KES
3:50 PM – The Movement
5:15 PM – Pepper
7 PM – Dirty Heads
9:15 PM – Rebelution
June 22 – SECOND STAGE
1 PM – Lost Soul Society
2:05 PM – Beachfly
3:30 PM – Lila Ike
4:30 PM – Tropidelic
6:15 PM – K Bong & Johnny Cosmic
8:15 PM – Rome