“Humbled and honoured.” That is the sentiment expressed by Raging Fyah band following Tuesday’s announcement of their nomination for Best Reggae Album at next February’s Grammy for their project Everlasting.

Drummer Anthony “Tony Drumz” Watson could not contain his excitement when he spoke to Splash.

“We were all at our individual homes when the news came. First it was the calls, and we all just felt so moved and honoured to receive the nomination. Later in the day I met up with our singer and we just spoke about what a journey this has been from 2006 to the present and how humbled we are by this Grammy nomination,” he said.

Watson noted that the making of Everlasting, which was released in May, was a journey in itself. The process was aided by great alliances.

“It was an everlasting album like the name suggests, and a lot of time and energy was invested in bringing it to life. When we thought of making this album, we thought of which producer to work with and we decided on Lamar “Riff Raff” Brown. We all went to Edna Manley College together and we thought he could best guide us into maintaining that sound that has made Raging Fyah who we are — modern, while maintaining that authentic reggae sound. We also had the opportunity to work with the likes of a Dean Fraser, Nambo Robinson, Busy Signal, Jesse Royal and Hawaiian reggae act JBoog,” Watson explained.

Everlasting is distributed by VP Records and released on the Dub Rockers label.

“It was this label, which is based in California, which really helped us to promote the album, especially in the West Coast US market, and push our music on new platforms such as Spotify and Sirius XM Radio. We knew something was up with this project whenEverlasting debuted at number two on the Billboard Reggae Chart. This was really a shocker for us, but we welcomed it as we knew how much hard work had been put into the project,” he continued.

For Watson, Raging Fyah remains rooted in its mantra of roots, reality and culture, and that for him, is part of the attraction to the band.

Some members are currently en route to California where they will perform at the Emerald Cup this weekend. They hit the road again in January with American band Tribal Seed and Australia’s Natalli Rize until March. In May and August, Raging Fyah head to the United Kingdom to open for UB40 and The Wailers.

Other nominees for the Best Reggae Album Grammy are Sly and Robbie, Ziggy Marley, J Boog, SOJA, and Rebelution.