22 April 2013 - 0 Comments

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0W1AmaWpHq8

The Kaipara Jammers bandwagon rolls on with the release of the second single Loui from their debut album Offshore.

The new KJ’s single is driven by the same high-energy ska-influenced sound that has attracted a dedicated legion of fans among those who’ve seen them live, but getting at the soul of this song demands more from the listener than just a good old fashioned jump around.

Loui was born of a true story. Most of us find that it seems like it’s never the right time or place to express something we know a loved one needs to hear, but then that’s where creators like KJ’s wordsmith Aquus Minor are lucky. It all comes out on page and onstage.

There is a connection between the KJ’s and the sea that is referenced in their lyrics, and in their lifestyles. All the band’s members would rather wake up to the sound of surf than traffic, and Loui speaks of a close friend who wandered away from that cleansing spiritual nourishment and ‘mana reinforcement’ that keep the band going.

It’s a familiar tale, and one we can all relate to. A brother or sister gets that ‘big city dreaming’ look in their eye, and we can only watch as someone we love is pulled down into self-destruction, with no-one around to bring them back into the warmth of the aroha they left behind. And it’s normally pride that keeps our people on that wrong path, that road we just want to tell them they don’t have to walk.

Loui is one such lost sheep, who happily made it back to the fold, though not before drink, drugs and all the other trappings had chipped away a chunk of his innocence and enthusiasm for life. But Loui made it out alive, as lyricist Aquus alludes to: “So he moved to the coast. As close as he could be. If there ain’t no-one, he’ll always have the sea. It’s easy for him to find, it’s always right on time. Now he’s back in the wind, with a girl on either side.”

For singer/songwriter Shaun Darlison (yes, he’s aware that he sounds somewhat like the guy from Sublime), the incongruity between the KJ’s you see pumping up the general energy level on stage and the depth of the lyrics they pen is part of the soul of the band.

“Yeah that’s something we take real pride in. We want to communicate what the KJ’s are all about, like our view of life, in the lyrics we bring to our songs. We know that we can get a crowd into it, but we want people to take something from the songs when they’re just listening by themselves.”

Judges at a recent Battle of the Bands saw the soul that the KJ’s bring to the stage, and put them into the finals. Many more will come to know the simple but life-affirming message that these guys live and express through music.

The single Loui, is launched Today!

http://www.aaarecords.com/artists/kaipara-jammers

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