www.womadelaide.com.au Blue King Brown is a band for your hips, heart and head. The Australian collective melds a deeply percussive sense of rhythm with sweet melodicism and politically astute lyrics. You can hear the afro-beat, reggae slink and Latin influence but the band has created a distinctly original sound and they’ve hit the sweetspot. A refreshing modern take on roots music, uniquely Australian with an unquestionable international feel. In a little under two years of gigging, Blue King Brown have established themselves as a revered name in the Australian indie scene and have amassed a solid national following, as well as sparking international Interest. Having already toured in support of John Butler Trio, Michael Franti and Spearhead, Damian “Jr Gong” Marley and Cody ChestnuTT, they are fast becoming renowned as a brilliant and original live act. The marriage of percussion and melody reflects the shifting interests of Carlo Santone and Natalie Pa’apa’a, the two founding and songwriting members of the band. After years of playing and song writing on guitar, the two independently formed a love of percussion and rhythm. Jamming with residents and itinerants alike in their original base of Byron Bay, Natalie and Carlo then began to works as a percussion duo and also with ‘SKIN’ which became the beginnings of their journey towards Blue King Brown. This beats driven collaboration formed many connections within the strong Australian roots scene— invited to sit in as percussionists with The John Butler Trio at many of their shows, along with countless other guest performances with a number of local and international touring artists over the years. After moving to Melbourne in 2004 to concentrate on the new collective of Blue King Brown, they recruited a hip, city tinged band and discovered Salvador Persico, now the bands percussionist, whose Latin flavors were the perfect addition to the Blue King Brown sound. Success came quickly for the newly formed Blue King Brown—their first commercial single, ‘Water’, released on their debut self-titled EP, was quickly added to high rotation on JJJ. As well as earning them an APRA Songwriters Award for 2005. It was the first song that Natalie and Carlo had co written and set the benchmark for a lot of their new material. The debut, independently released LP, Stand-Up, (October 2006), sees the band simultaneously becoming more rhythmically and melodically complex. It reconfigures the template Blue King Brown has created in recordings and in numerous sweaty live performances, creating a studio document of many layers and textures, providing great representation of their current sound and future direction. “We’ve always been into the 70’s big band thing,” Carlo says. “We’re inspired by people like Fela Kuti and Santana—known for having sizeable bands who aren’t afraid to jam it out and improvise live. We’re always trying to create as big a sound as possible out of our five piece. We’re used to doing that, Natalie and I worked on the streets as a busking duo for so long and we learnt the art of making something big out of two people. In the recording process we can approach it differently. We got a lot of guests in on the record to really fill it out and expand on the band. Who knows, one day we’ll probably have a 20 piece band,” he speculates. Still evident are the band’s grassroots politics. Placing the potentially alienating Indigenous land rights message front-and-centre in their debut single ‘Water’ seems to have only won them more fans, the band sees no reason to hold back. But it’s never just platitudes. The band is ethically engaged in every aspect of their art: from their independent releases through to recycled CD packaging and Australian made non-sweatshop labour t-shirts. This grassroots (or Roots Level, as their label name has it) approach is also part of their touring ethos. They travel to as many places as they can, breaking new ground with each tour. The band has toured up and down the east coast consistently as both a headline act and in support slots. As an incendiary live band, they’re a favourite on the festival circuit. Notching up invitations to perform at The Falls, East Coast Blues & Roots Festival, Woodford Folk Festival, Great Escape, The Dreaming Festival and Southbound to name a few. Early 2006 also saw them invited to play festivals in Japan and Fiji. Their two tastes of overseas performance as a band have only deepened their desire to do it again soon. There could be no better choice as representatives of Australia’s creative and flourishing roots scene.

• published: 14 Jan 2015
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