Italy's leading reggae band, Mellow Mood embrace a variety of classic Jamaican sounds while performing with a passion and sincerity that made them stars in Europe and respected by reggae fans around the world. Formed in 2005, the band is fronted by twin brothers Jacopo and Lorenzo Garzia, and made its debut with 2009's Move!, a solid exercise in roots reggae that spawned the online hit "Dance Inna Babylon." While still steeped in classic sounds, Mellow Mood began incorporating elements of dub and dancehall into albums like 2012's Well Well Well and 2014's Twinz as their international reputation grew. With 2018's Large, the group renewed its mastery of classic reggae sounds without sapping its fire or commitment. Mellow Mood were formed in 2005 by twin brothers Jacopo Garzia and Lorenzo Garzia, two reggae fans from the Northern Italian city of Pordenone. The Garzia brothers, who handled vocals and guitars, were still in high school when they first formed Mellow Mood, as were most of their bandmates -- Giulio Frausin on bass and vocals, Federico Mazzolo on drums, Romeo Enrico Bernardini on keyboards, Stefano Salmaso on sax, and Roberto Dazzan on trumpet. The group was discovered in 2009 by Paolo Bandini, a producer who helped Mellow Mood refine their sound and was behind the controls for their first album, 2009's Move! While the album was not released by an established label, it made a splash among European reggae fans, and the video for one track from the album, "Dance Inna Babylon," received more than 49 million online plays. Mellow Mood's passionate live performances boosted their reputation, and they were named Best Italian Band at the Rototom Sunsplash Festival, a Spanish reggae festival regarded as one of the most popular in Europe. Romeo Enrico Bernardini parted ways with the band in 2011, with Filippo Buresta stepping in as the group's keyboard player. La Tempesta International, one of Italy's leading independent labels, signed Mellow Mood and released their second album, 2012's Well Well Well, which was followed by an international tour that took them to 12 different countries. By the end of that year, sax player Stefano Salmaso left the group, and Roberto Dazzan followed in 2013, with the band opting not to work with a permanent horn section from that point on. In 2014, Mellow Mood dropped their third album, Twinz, which featured guest appearances from several other European reggae artists, including Forelock, KG Man, Richie Campbell, and Sr. Wilson. Only a year later, the band was back with the album 2 the World, recorded in part in Jamaica with guest shots from Hempress Sativa, Tanya Stephens, Jah9, and the Gideon & Selah. Mellow Mood were also digging deeper into their dub influences, and launched the label La Tempesta Dub to release their experiments in the remix form. Federico Mazzolo left the group in 2015, and Antonio Cicci took over behind the drum kit. Touring dominated Mellow Mood's schedule for the next two years, as they played extensively in Europe and North America, as well as appearing at a number of major festivals, including Sierra Nevada World Music Festival in the United States, Reggae Sun Ska in France, and Siempre Vivo Reggae Festival in Chile. In 2018, Mellow Mood returned from the recording studio with a new album, Large, which found them returning to a more traditional sound. ~ Mark Deming