British reggae pioneers Steel Pulse join Jamaican legend Bunny Wailer and roots faves Midnite for The Kolohe Festival at Hawaiian Waters Adventure Park tonight and tomorrow.

Speaking by phone from a hotel room in California, where the band has been on tour, Steel Pulse keyboardist and vocalist Selwyn Brown talked about the band, his background and future plans.

Q. When you guys started out in the 1970s, one of the first things you did was tour around Europe with Bob Marley, right?

A. Yeah, we had an opportunity to open for Bob for five shows on his 1978 tour, which I believe was the same tour where he recorded the "Babylon by Bus" album. You see, we were on the same record label as him, on Island Records. We signed in 1977, recorded Handsworth Revolution, and Bob must have heard the album. ... It was a request from Bob himself, so we felt blessed to be involved, and it was a sort of a learning experience for us as well.

Q. As I understand it, Handsworth is a Birmingham ghetto where many immigrants from Jamaica and the West Indies settled.

A. Yes, you could say so, and from Asia as well. What happened is that our parents came over in the 1950s to England looking for work, because the English government after the second World War invited a lot of people from the Commonwealth countries to come and help build England back up, and our parents came among that migration ... but unfortunately, when we were growing up, we faced a lot of racism ... and a lot of problems within the cities as far as education, employment, health and such things.

Q. Growing up in Handsworth, and having Jamaican parents, did you find yourself speaking more Jamaican patois or British English?

A. Well, it's a combination of things. That's a good question, because there's also a very big identity crisis that we went through as youths growing up in England because ... when we're amongst our parents and our family members, we're talking patois, but when we're talking to the English people, to make them understand what we're saying, we're speaking English.

Q. So, with the police, for example, you don't wanna talk patois then?

A. Well, no, not unless you're angry (laughter). I mean, back in the '70s we went through a lot of things, but to be honest with you, the police nowadays in England have an unenviable job because they're dealing with the rioters and gun crimes and hard drugs that are being pushed into the area. ... But as far as me growing up as a black youth in the 1960s and '70s, unfortunately, the police force, just the same as it is in America, have got an element of racists within the force. And unfortunately, we came across these people all the time. Whether you're driving your car, and they stop you to ask you if it's your car, or if you're walking around at nighttime coming back from a club, "Where are you coming from?" "Where are you going to?" and all this kind of stuff.

Q. And you've got the taxi drivers in New York City, too, as you talk about in your song "Taxi Driver," which has been quite a hit out here on the radio in Hawai'i.

A. Oh, yeah? Well, we went through that as well, and it wasn't just in New York; it was in other places like London and Birmingham, too. In certain places, if you try to catch a cab, and they just drive right past you if you're a black person or you're a dreadlocks, so we chose that song on that album to address that situation. We actually took out a lawsuit as well, which is still pending against the New York Taxi and Limousine Commission. I really want to say we weren't going after the money so much as we wanted to highlight the situation. In that area, we've actually achieved what we wanted from that song because it's come to a lot of people's attention.

Q. Have you guys been working on any new music doing any recording lately?

A. Well, to tell you the truth, we are always writing. Even when we're on the road, we bring certain equipment with us that, if I get a vibe or (lead vocalist) David (Hinds) gets a vibe, we can record it.

Q. What do you think is at the heart of the Steel Pulse sound that makes it so unique?

A. Part of it is the amount of different music that we listen to. We try to absorb the influences that we like and put them into the music without the music sounding corny. I mean, we listen to blues to jazz to rock to garage to jungle to African music to world beat. Anything that sounds interesting, we listen to it, and some of it rubs off on our music.

Q. Is there anything you want to say to the people before we sign off, Selwyn?

A. Yeah, I just want to say thanks, as always, to all the Steel Pulse fans that support our music over the years. Thanks for buying our music, listening to it, downloading it, telling your friends about it, because that gives us inspiration and gives us something to work toward as well. So just thank you very much to all the fans.