Amish Outlaws

The Amish Outlaws
The Amish Outlaws Live at Musicfest Cafe
Background information
Origin Lancaster, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Genres
  • Pop
  • Rock
  • Country
  • Reggae
  • R&B
  • Hip-Hop
  • Dance
  • Rap
Years active 2002-present
Website amishoutlaws.com
Members
  • Amos Def
  • Big Daddy Abel
  • Eazy Ezekiel
  • Wyclef Jonathan
  • Hezekiah X
  • Jakob the Pipe Player

The Amish Outlaws are an American cover band from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The band was formed in 2002 and is composed of three ex-Amish and three "honorary Amish" musicians.

Career

The Amish Outlaws began in 2002.[1] Three of the founding members, Ezekiel, Amos Def, and Hezekiah X moved to New York City after leaving the Amish community. They originally began playing in a band for fun and eventually decided to become The Amish Outlaws to make a living from it.[2] Three of the six members[3] are from the Pennsylvania Dutch Amish community in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, specifically from the Old Order Amish.[4] The band wanted to play popular culture rock music that was not typical of their traditional Amish upbringing. The band plays renditions of songs by contemporary composers and talk about their rumspringa experience as ex-members of the Amish community. They primarily tour the East Coast of the United States.[1][5] (Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia.)

They have performed in Las Vegas.[6] at Bally’s Casino. As of 2013, the band has not performed internationally.[7] The band performs at the annual concert series Musikfest.[8] held in Bethlehem, PA.

Artistry

The band members are known for their movement style where they, in the words of writer Simon J. Bronner, "frenetically jump and gyrate on stage in Amish garb."[5] Band member Ezekiel has stated that they use the clothing as a gimmick, but not in a disrespectful manner.[6] Growing up, the band members did not have much exposure to music outside the Amish community. They sang to Ausbund and heard bits and pieces of music from cars passing through their community.[9] The band performs songs across several genres including pop, rock, rhythm and blues, reggae, dance, country, and heavy metal.[10] The band is constantly changing and updating their musical set list, which can be found on the band website.

Members

Current

Brother Amos Def plays the keyboard, guitar, banjo, and vocals.[3] He was raised Amish.

Brother Big Daddy Abel is a lead on vocals.[3] He was not raised Amish.[6] He is from New Jersey and he joined the band in 2007. After college, he worked as a school teacher for several years and then as a chemist for several years after that. He also worked as an actor in television on shows such as the HBO series Oz,[7] where he portrayed a biker inmate for several seasons. He was also in multiple episodes of Law & Order, Guiding Light, As the World Turns and such movies as School of Rock, Men in Black II, Spider-Man 2, The Guru (2002 film), Across the Universe (film). Big Daddy Abel also composes original music, which can be heard at ReverbNation.com and iTunes. “BDA” is also the author of “Open Your Mind, Open This Book: Open Mic”, which can be found at Amazon.com (All profits from book sales are donated to research to help find a cure for breast cancer.)

Brother Eazy Ezekiel plays the bass and vocals.[3][11] He is one of the founders of the band. He was raised in the Amish community until the age of 16.[12] During his rumspringa, Ezekiel moved to New York and earned his GED. He attended Pace University. On hearing the albums, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band[6] and The Wall, Ezekiel reported that "hearing those two albums for the first time really got me into music." He stated that he still goes back to visit his family at home in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where is his not shunned because he has not been baptized yet.[8] Some of his brothers have been to a performance of the band, but the rest of his family has not.[6]

Brother Wyclef Jonathan is a guitarist and vocalist.[3] He was not raised Amish.

Brother Hezekiah X is a lead on vocals.[3] He grew up near Reading, Pennsylvania.[10] He has one brother and one sister. He has stated that some of his family have left the Amish community.[6] The Atlantic City Weekly reported that Hezekiah "had been fantasizing about performing music since he was young, took that big chance leaving family, friends and a way of life behind and he couldn't be happier about it."[10]

Brother Jakob the Pipe Player is a drummer.[3] He was not raised Amish.[6] Jakob joined the band after meeting the members through a mutual friend.[7]

Past

Brother Ishmael L Cool J was a guitarist for the band.[6]

Criticism

Authors Donald Kraybill, Karen Johnson-Weiner, and Steven Nolt wrote in their book, The Amish, that some youth members of the community rebel and participate in "activities that are offensive to their birthright culture." They cite The Amish Outlaws as an example.[1]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Kraybill, Donald B.; Johnson-Weiner, Karen M.; Nolt, Steven M. (2013). The Amish. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 9781421409146. OCLC 810329297.
  2. ↑ Grites, Rebecca (2011-01-06). "Band of the Week: Amish Outlaws take Borgata's Gypsy Bar by storm". At The Shore. Retrieved 2018-06-21.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Amish Outlaws to let loose at Mount Airy Casino Resort". Pocono Record. 2017-12-28. Retrieved 2018-06-21.
  4. ↑ Riconda, Michael (2012-12-06). "Hudson Water Club Hosts Hurricane Sandy Benefit Concert Featuring the Amish Outlaws Cover Band". Rockland Times. Retrieved 2018-06-21.
  5. 1 2 Bronner, Simon J.; Brown, Joshua R. (2017). Pennsylvania Germans: An Interpretive Encyclopedia. 63. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 9781421421391. OCLC 967939124.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 LaRocca, Lauren (2010-08-06). "The Amish Outlaws". The Frederick News-Post. Retrieved 2018-06-21.
  7. 1 2 3 Sekoni, Yemi (2013). "They're Amish and They're Outlaws: Part II". Trade Secrets. 1 (9). Retrieved 2018-06-21.
  8. 1 2 Nerly, Daryl (2014-07-31). "Cover band Amish Outlaws turns heads". The Morning Call. Retrieved 2018-06-21.
  9. ↑ Phelan, Kevin (2014-06-23). "Amish Outlaws to perform in Yonkers". Lohud. Retrieved 2018-06-21.
  10. 1 2 3 Loughlin, Sean (2016-01-06). "Amish Outlaws: Rebels with a cause". Atlantic City Weekly. Retrieved 2018-06-21.
  11. ↑ Sekoni, Yemi (2013-12-03). "They're Amish and They're Outlaws". Trade Secrets. Retrieved 2018-06-21.
  12. ↑ Phelan, Kevin (2014-06-25). "Amish Outlaws band on eternal Rumspringa". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2018-06-21.
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