“This is one of my favourite events to perform at,” Pa’apa’a says of the expo. “We’ve actually done the Australasian World Music Expo one time before and it’s got so much heart and soul. There is a lot of really good music there which you don’t get a chance to hear every day on just radio or whatever. It’s a really great weekend to be in Melbourne because we’ve got literally legendary reggae stars coming, which is so rare. It’s great exposure for Melbourne bands as well but I am personally looking forward to seeing The Congos live because I’m a big fan of their new and old stuff. Carlo [Santone, bass] is going to be taking part in some of the panels as well – he’s our manager too so he’s got a lot of insight. It’s going to be a really memorable gig, even though it’s not usually as huge and crazy as South By Southwest or anything like that, which is probably one of the biggest things we’ve done in our career.”
Performing at the world-famous music extravaganza in Austin, Texas earlier in the year, South By Southwest also proved to be a golden opportunity for the band after walking away with a US record deal. Or make that two – having played Canadian Music Week in Toronto around the same period, Blue King Brown got a signing with a second international label recently too. What could all this mean for the band? Well, hopefully even more overseas jaunts in the near future, according to Pa’apa’a.
“Even just this year, looking back on it, it’s been so wild! It’s been very heavy in terms of an international touring schedule, as well as nationally. We started off in Australia in January which was the Big Day Out and the summer festivals. Then we were off to Europe and the USA and Canada in early February and March. The industry events, like South By Southwest and Canadian Music Week really were highlights because we gained a lot from that as a band. We also did some French industry events, then we came back to do an Australian national tour for Worldwize Part 1, which was great fun, then we headed back to Canada and Europe – and that was basically the first half of the year. The next thing you know it’s already September and you’re in the studio writing and focusing on your next album. You know, they say that it’s like a cycle, and it really is.”
Maybe so, but it’s not a ‘cycle’ the band are about to take for granted or complain about anytime soon. If anything, Pa’apa’a claims they’re only just getting started, describing this stage of the band’s career as “just the beginning.” Excitement is certainly in the air as the singer reveals Blue King Brown are currently spending time in the studio putting together bits and pieces for the next instalment of Worldwize.
“We’ve got a new single out there [Never Fade Away], which is actually a remix of a track we did but it’s got a fresh new take on the song,” Pa’apa’a explains. “I think we were in London at the time and we were just hanging out with our US management. We had a great show over at the Cargo Bar and we were just throwing around some ideas and saying that we always wanted to do something more with the track Never Fade Away. We thought the song had great potential for being a remix track, whether it be dub or dance or whatever style. So the idea of dubstep came up and we sent the song over to a dude from the States called Wick-It The Instigator and he was really into it! We were so happy with what he sent back to us, it’s definitely stuff that we probably never would have come up with ourselves. I love that part of collaborating with other people – where you send a track off and then you get a nice surprise back! You just never know what you’re going to get, and yeah, you get a bit nervous thinking, ‘will we like it, will it be worth it’, and pretty much every time it’s definitely worth it.”
As far as the new album is concerned, Pa’apa’a says fans shouldn’t worry too much – Blue King Brown are not jumping onto the dubstep band wagon. While the Never Fade Away remix single has been a fun little experiment, the upcoming record is still very much world beats at its core – the way both the band and their fans like it.
“Well, I think we’re still definitely inspired by the same things that we have been on the last two albums,” Pa’apa’a says. “I guess perhaps with the last album we were all about world beats, and that’s still very much our thing, that’s where we’re at even now, but I think collaborations always open your eyes to other directions, too. It’s funny because every now and then I’ll get someone come up to me and go, ‘why don’t you write a love song for once?’ and you know, I would sit down and try to do it – but then I get to the second verse and I’m deep down in talking about some kind of revolution! I guess it’s just because there has been so much going on in the world to date, especially with earlier in the year, they’re the sort of things that inspire me and that make it into the lyrics.”
And at the end of the day, the message always seems to be the same for Blue King Brown, as Pa’apa’a points out – we’re all in this together.
“In some ways it’s a broad theme, but I guess it’s always the underlying thread to pretty much all of our songs. We have to remember that we are all human beings and we are all connected to each other as long as we live on this Earth. We are connected to one another and we are connected to the planet itself. We all have an individual and a collective responsibility to make the world we live in a better place. Now, that may mean getting involved in the democratic processes, it could mean stuff like getting your friends and camping out, it could means just saying enough is enough to capitalism. It could also mean saying no to products that use ingredients which you’re not too sure about, or which are genetically-modified like corn or caged eggs and inorganic meat. Basically, we just want people to become more aware and to be more conscious of the world we live in.”
As Pa’apa’a adds, it’s exactly that aspect of being a touring band which appeals to the singer the most – having the opportunity to communicate a socially-conscious message with mass audiences across all corners of the globe. It’s a rare privilege, Pa’apa’a agrees, and it’s one which the band has that the chance to take to the most unlikely of places at times…
“I have my own opinion on things, that’s for sure, but we never try to drum our beliefs into other people’s heads – we just want to put our opinions out there and whether they agree or not, it’s up to them. But we want them to see the other side of the coin, for sure. We’ve played in so many different countries and parts of the world, but there is one place that still really stands out for me. It’s this great small indigenous community in the very northern tip of Norway, in the Arctic Circle. They brought us to their little festival which was only about 2,000 people but it’s very much indigenous and it’s owned and run by the community and they treated us so kindly! We were so weary from the road and our long journey just to get there, and it seriously was the furthest from Melbourne we could have ever possibly played! It was perpetual daylight all the time and we’d hardly even had any sleep prior to that, so we were a bit delirious but it really was one of those experiences I will remember forever. The landscape was amazing, it’s one of the most isolated places in the world but also one of the most beautiful.”
Nevertheless, having landed record deals in America and Canada, Pa’apa’a says the band is keen to head back to the two countries at some point next year.
“I had such a good time in America – it’s definitely because of the experience we had at South By Southwest. It’s an amazing event! If anyone in the world likes music, they have to at some stage in their life go to South By Southwest because it’s literally the biggest and craziest party that you’ve ever been to! It’s an unbelievable feast of art and music and film as well now, there are hotel room parties everywhere you go, and it’s one of those bizarre experiences where you’ll get anyone from Kanye West to The Bangles playing on the same night. You can literally rock up and there is music happening all at once across like 200 venues. There’s nothing like it.”
