06 April 2024 - 0 Comments

With a nod to Māori New Zealand novelist Keri Hulme’s Booker Prize-winning The Bone People; Sydney, Australia’s Bonepeople was a mid-to-late 1990's project, inspired by world music, rhythm and grooves, triphop, electronica, politics, and peace. Spearheaded by dual songwriters and seasoned bassists Vanessa Lucas and Adrian Workman, the project at its height evolved into a 7-piece live band, before calling it quits in late 1998.

Their new 3-song EP, Deception, Love, and Hope, presents reimagined versions of key songs from that period; beautifully produced, reworked and remastered for 2024.

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Adrian Workman hails from the iwi (Māori tribe) named Ngāti Kahungunu. He is known for his work as bassist, cofounder and lead songwriter with New Zealand early 1980's post-punk outfit Vietnam, and later as a member of Sydney-based indie guitar popsters The Bhagavad Guitars, and melodic alt. rock band The Verys. Of the Bonepeople project and its namesake, Adrian says:

“My relationship with Keri Hulme’s novel is still characterised by an overwhelming sense of disenfranchised grief. As one of the last generations that preceded the Māori Renaissance of the 1980s, during my formative years I missed out on the benefits of the significant change that occurred later. I continue to feel uncertain of my actual ‘home’, and I always find connection in the company of people that share the same manawa (heart, breath, feeling). For me, those people were the musicians and support crew involved with Bonepeople: Australians of First Nations, Pasifika, Greek, Māori, Portuguese-Sri Lankan, and other origins.”

Vanessa Lucas has roots in Sydney’s vibrant Greek community. During the 1990's she played violin with indie pop/rock band Tall Tales & True, and bass, violin and backing vocals with the prominent indigenous Australian group Mixed Relations. She has also recorded with First Nations artist Kev Carmody, and Māori artist Jen Cloher, among others. On cultural identity and its relevance to Bonepeople, Vanessa says:

“While I grew up in a Greek-Australian family, with Bonepeople my approach was more strongly influenced by global values. From working with First Nations artists in Australia, and touring and playing with other indigenous artists from around the world, the common values that resonated with me were honouring elders, valuing Mother Nature, respect, self-belief, love and hope. For both Adrian and myself, the project was also a response to how we saw indigenous artists being marginalised and undervalued in the Australian music industry, and our desire to create a working environment for artists in which diverse peoples could be honoured and flourish.”

A full album from Bonepeople was recorded through 1995-1997, but never released. In 2000, Vanessa and Adrian revisited three of the album tracks, with a view to reimagining the songs from their original conception. Collaborating with Vanessa’s brother, electronic dance musician and engineer Leon Lucas of Pitchblak Studios, they deconstructed and rebuilt the songs, using samples from the album cuts and adding new sounds, textures and beats.

Guest vocalists, Jen Cloher of Ngāpuhi and Ngāti Kahu and professional soul singer Sheena Crouch, added a fresh dimension to the music; along with backing vocals from legendary Māori singer Mark Williams, of Show No Mercy and Dragon fame. The recordings also feature the guitar talents of Leroy Cummins (Christine Anu, Mixed Relations) from the people of Kuku Yalanji, and Samoan-New Zealander Matt Su’a. Drummer Andrew Byrne (The Moffs, The Clouds) also played on the original album sessions. More recently, the songs were remastered for 2024 by Don Bartley.

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