Cecil “Skelly” Spence and Lascelle “Wiss” Bulgin, better known as the two halves of roots-reggae vocal group Israel Vibration, are survivors in the truest sense of the word — musical and otherwise.

Their hardscrabble story began in Kingston, Jamaica’s Mona Rehabilitation Clinic, where Spence, Bulgin and fellow Israel Vibration founder Albert “Apple Gabriel” Craig met while being treated for polio. The three eventually found strength in the Rastafarian religion and reggae’s spiritual grooves, reuniting as teenagers to busk in Kingston’s streets.

By the 1980s, the trio, now successes in Jamaica, relocated to New York City to launch solo careers. The gambit failed, and by 1988 the group was back together. A string of albums for U.S.-based reggae label RAS Records solidified the group’s reputation in the ’90s, but by 1997 Craig had left to take another stab at a solo career.

Spence and Bulgin soldiered on. They’ve continued to record regularly and tour with backing band Roots Radics, and in March released their first studio set in five years, the typically uplifting and heartfelt “Play it Real.”

The title is apt: This duo is still out there, “playing it real” on their West Coast tour behind the album. Catch these reggae originals at The Domino Room on Saturday.

Israel Vibration and Roots Radics; 8 p.m. Saturday; $25 plus fees in advance, $30 at the door; Domino Room, 51 NW Greenwood Ave., Bend; www.randompresents.com or www.bendticket.com. —Brian McElhiney