Dub Lounge International is headed by vocalist Naphtali Rashid. They will play a benefit concert Thursday, Sept. 18, in Hana and Saturday at Mulligans on the Blue in Wailea. Courtesy photo

Seattle’s longest running reggae band, Dub Lounge International, headed by vocalist Naphtali Rashid, will perform two shows on Maui in Wailea and Hana.

They play in Hana Thursday, Sept. 18, in a benefit for the Hana School student government, and at Mulligans on the Blue on Saturday with Maui’s Sticky Rice opening both shows.

Acclaimed for their memorable performances, “there’s a world that needs to hear and see us,” said Rashid. “We have music that is a message. People describe Dub Lounge as Miles Davis and Jerry Garcia going to Lee Scratch Perry’s house to party.”

Along with Rashid, the band features Brian “Stingshark” Ray and Jack Newman on lead guitars, Curtis Seals on keyboards, bassist Jacob Hanson and drummer David Carpenter.

“We are a band that plays reggae as an art form,” said Rashid. “The band members treat reggae as an art form — the way if they were playing jazz. There is nobody right now that sounds like us with true blistering lead guitar playing.”

Citing Genesis as one of his favorite bands, he explained that they are entertainers when they put on performances.

“When the solos come along, it could be 15 minutes,” said Rashid. “We’re known to do songs as long as Pink Floyd. We’re one of the few bands that connect every song. We start the first song and by the time we’re done with the 12th song, you didn’t get a chance to take a breath.”

Rashid has performed in Seattle and the Northwest for more than 40 years alongside many reggae legends including Clinton Fearon, Kabaka Pyramid and dub master Scientist.

He also played with Maui musician Earl Sundance Sheppard, who formed the band Sundance.

“I played in Seattle’s very first reggae band called Sundance,” Rashid recalled. “The originator of Sundance lives on your island. I was already involved with Jamaica, but I couldn’t get anybody to play reggae because they called it jungle music. So I went to see Earl Shepherd in the ’80s, and I joined Sundance.”

Rashid later performed with the band Boom Tali Posse, which was signed to the Hawaii-based label Cord International, and released an album with a Hawaii beach scene cover.

Some years later he was working at a Fred Meyer deli when Jamaican reggae star Winston Jarrett walked in. A reggae pioneer, Jarrett performed with Alton Ellis & The Flames in the mid-1960s, specializing in the rocksteady genre.

“This gentleman walks through the door with really long dreadlocks,” he recalled. “I automatically shout out, ‘Rastafari.’ We sat and talked. He was one of the background singers for one of the greatest vocalists before Bob Marley, Alton Ellis.”

Rashid began performing with Jarrett in various bands that eventually morphed into Dub Lounge International. “Winston was on Dub Lounge’s first album on the first cut called ‘Jamaica.’ He supervised us, gave us direction.”

After a few personnel changes, Rashid said, “we have myself, Stingshark, Jack Newman, Curtis Seals, Jake on bass, and now we got one of the most popular drummers in reggae, who played for at least 15 years with Clinton Fearon.”

As far as their songs, he said, “We have taken what they call in Jamaica ‘a dubplate.’ A dubplate is a rhythm that every Jamaican artist has used since the ’60s. Every reggae artist has used hundreds of those rhythms. We take the bass line or whatever and completely rearrange it, refashion it and make it sound totally original. We never repeat a song the same way.”

Looking forward to performing on Maui, he said, “We’ve been in Seattle so long, to get to your island, to us, is like going to heaven.”

Dub Lounge International performs in Hana on Thursday, Sept. 18, at a free event at 5 p.m. and at Mulligans on the Blue at 7 p.m. Saturday. Sticky Rice opens. Tickets are $20 in advance or $25 at the door.