Natalie Pa’apa’a is like one of those cool girls in high school who doesn’t care what anybody thinks of her – just what you’d expect from a modern reggae goddess. The vivacious singer and guitarist for Melbourne urban roots band BLUE KING BROWN, Natalie excitedly chats to me about the concept behind their new album, Worldwize Part 1: North & South.
“As a concept, we thought it would be really cool to be able to release a double disc, North & South, and a part two which would be East & West,” she says. “Basically the philosophy behind acknowledging all four directions is inspired by Native American philosophy. Many Native American nations consider all four directions to be sacred and acknowledge how important it is to recognise people from all four directions irrelevant of race, colour, creed or religion.”
Equality is something Blue King Brown have always felt strongly about, with the band taking an activist position on issues like fair trading, sex trafficking and indigenous affairs. The band members’ opinions on these issues are reflected in their music, with songs like Women’s Revolution and Our Word is Our Weapon calling for unity and change, and the Worldwize spirit is evident in their collaborations with a number of Jamaican artists including Queen Ifrica and Jah Mason, as well as Elliott Martin from the US and Voodoo Dred out of Haiti.
Natalie and bassist Carlos Santone first decided to start the band when they were playing drums on the streets of Byron Bay and being inspired by characters like John Butler, Michael Franti and Ozomatli. “We always had in the back of our minds a vision to form a band, so basically we moved to Melbourne and we hunted players that we thought were good!” Natalie says. “Our really strong percussive background is the foundation of Blue King Brown,” she adds. “Our sense of being street performers is... where we got our ethic, our performance practice – you have to be good with crowds and audiences if you’re going to play on the streets.”
The creation of their 2006 debut album, Stand Up, gained them a nomination for a J Award and a spot in triple j’s Hottest 100, as well as a tour of Australia and New Zealand supporting Santana, which Natalie describes as one of the best experiences of her career. “I want to be like Carlos Santana,” she laughs.
So why did it take them two years to create North & South? “We realised that it was going to take longer to get what we wanted from the songs, and we needed to spend time finding out how to create the sounds that we were hearing in our minds and trying to make them come to fruition. And we love it! We’re stoked! We’ve already begun working on Part Two: East & West.”
Blue King Brown support the John Butler Trio at The Royal Theatre on Wednesday September 15. Tix are $70 + bf. Doors open 8pm. Worldwize Part 1: North & South is out now through Lion House Records.
