Matisyahu is still mastering the fine art of balancing the lifestyle requirements of his strict Hasidic faith with the temptations of a reggae and dancehall phenomenon.

Following tradition, he doesn't perform, do interviews or much of anything else on the Jewish Sabbath — sundown Friday through sundown Saturday. He prays several times a day and keeps his menu kosher. And he long ago gave up the recreational drug use that marked his teen years spent pursuing a hip-hop career when not following jam band Phish as a loyal Phish-head.

The one thing he still kind of misses about Matisyahu: The Early Years?

"Stage diving," he said by phone from his Brooklyn home on a recent Friday afternoon, a few hours from Sabbath. "When we were recording 'Live at Stubb's,' I was doing that, like, all the time. I've kind of stopped."

Talmudic law restricts contact with the opposite sex, a possible side-effect of frequent stage diving. So what's a people-loving dude like Matisyahu have to do to connect with the fans?

"Before a show, I'll stake out my path — where I'm gonna climb (and) on what speakers — (to find) how I'm gonna get up on to the balcony to go dance with fans. I still try to look for creative ways to get into the mix."

If the image of a tall, lanky, light-skinned, upstate New York-raised dancehall star rockin' the mike in full Hasidic gear (black coat, broad-brimmed hat, full beard) seems as foreign to you as that same star moving a half-million-plus copies of a reggae disc recorded in a Texas barbecue joint (2005's "Stubb's"), you really don't know Matisyahu. Stop by Band Camp V on Sunday at the Waikiki Shell, however, and you will.

The fave of jam-band lovers, mod-rock radio kids, rabbis and more open-minded reggae fans headlines the annual band fest that also boasts Yellowcard, Plain White T's and Madina Lake.

MATTHEW MILLER BEFORE

The former Matthew Miller of White Plains, N.Y., was likely the only soul in the Western Hemisphere not surprised when "Stubb's" — a document of his relentlessly energetic stage show featuring songs from his 2004 debut disc "Shake Off the Dust ... Arise" — spent nine weeks at the top of Billboard magazine's reggae album chart early last year.

"This has always been my dream. And I was always someone that had a lot of belief," said Matisyahu, 27. "When you feel you're meant to do something in this world, you get a certain confidence that comes with it. I've always felt from the time I was a little kid that music was what I was meant to do with my life."

Raised in a secular Jewish household whose traditional religious tenets he never quite related to, Matisyahu instead found the roots reggae of Bob Marley more in common with his faith.

"I started hearing all of the quotes and thinking about spirituality and God ... thinking about where that fit in with being Jewish and how (they) are connected," said Matisyahu. Starting at age 14 with the music of Marley, he soon picked up on the Rastafarian lyricism of Steel Pulse and Israel Vibration and the early dancehall of Damian Marley, Sizzlah, Capleton and Buju Banton — "all the kinds of stuff that I felt had some kind of depth to it. I loved the vibe. I loved the music."

True spirituality for Matisyahu, however, was still years away. He dropped out of high school to follow Phish on the road and by 18 was trying to launch a nascent hip-hop career, singing and beatboxing in coffeehouses as MC Truth.

"When I wasn't religious and (was) just trying to make it in some way as a musician ... I felt I was just lost in this pool of chaos (of) how was this ever gonna happen," Matisyahu said of life before his entry, in his early 20s, into the Lubavitch Hasidic sect of Judaism. Introduced to Matisyahu by a rabbi friend, the strict lifestyle appealed to him.

"As I started becoming religious, I realized that there were a lot of aspects in my life that weren't so pure and were causing a lot of negativity in my world," he said. "Once I (closed) off those parts of myself, got my heart clean ... got my head straightened out, got focused and got right with God, so to speak, I felt that was the only thing holding me back from connecting with my destiny."

That, and fusing his new faith and musical aspirations with his still-potent love of reggae. On stage, the novelty of a Hasidic Jew reggae artist spitting flow about his love of God was immediately trumped by Matisyahu's very real talent and charisma.

Buzz about Matisyahu's live show and critical praise heaped on his "Shake Off the Dust" debut led to a slot at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in 2005. An invitation from Phish frontman Trey Anastasio to join him in front of his 50,000 main-stage fans proved a breakthrough, encouraging 10,000 to pack Matisyahu's side-stage show the next day.

Picked up by Epic Records months after its indie debut gained serious word-of-mouth sales — and airplay on influential rock radio stations for its energetic track "King Without a Crown" — "Stubb's" became an unlikely hit and slow-burn reggae classic.

MATISYAHU TODAY

You won't find many Hasidic Jews at Manhattan clubs checking out the latest buzz bands. But you might find Matisyahu keeping up with the competition.

"I feel that it's important for me as a musician to be up on the scene a little bit and see what's going on, because I love music," he said. "But I consider it part of my job ... something that I have to do in order to be successful in what I'm really trying to do."

And what is Matisyahu trying to do after the Grammy-nominated, reggae-album-chart-topping success of last year's "Live at Stubbs" follow-up "Youth"? Perhaps work on a slight reinvention.

Due next spring, Matisyahu's fourth disc, he said, will be more theme-driven, based on the mystical stories of 18th-century Hasidic leader Rebbe Nachman.

"I'm really trying to figure out how not to fall into just writing songs about God or freedom or spiritual freedom or any of those themes that I've written about before," said Matisyahu. "(Nachman's) stories were bedtime stories (and) were very psychedelic, with a lot of depth and a lot of layered meaning behind them."

Though still in the process of writing the new songs, Matisyahu was eager to add fresh material and ideas to his repertoire.

"One thing I'm hoping for is (that) no matter where the fan or listener is ... whether they're smoking pot with their friends and just getting off on it, or whether they're on some real (and) authentic kind of path and have been for years — (that) there's going to be so many layers to these lyrics (for) everyone (to) gain from.

"When I'm making music, that's the main purpose. I'm hoping that people will turn on that music and get inspiration."

THE REST OF BAND CAMP V