They say ‘slow and steady’ wins the race, and in the competitive world of music, it’s a wise analogy to live by.
Sons Of Zion (SOZ) frontman, Rio Panapa, thinks ‘slow and steady’ is the key to staying on top of your craft, taking on the music industry one cruisey beat at a time.
Founded in 2007, the Kiwi-reggae septet have quickly grown to become one of New Zealand’s most-popular reggae bands of their time. With their self-titled debut album launching them in 2009, the boys haven’t looked back, with their hit, second album, ‘Universal Love’, landing at #3 on the New Zealand music charts.
Of course hand-in-hand with fame and success comes hard work, and Rio is the first to admit it takes a solid foundation to keep you grounded in such a fickle industry. “The upside of being a musician is all the cool things you get to see and do and all the really cool people you get to meet,” Rio says.
“The downside is obviously being away from the whanau (family in Maori) and it’s so easy to float off into la la land, but thankfully our band is really family orientated, so that keeps us grounded and real.
After signing with Sony Music NZ last May, SOZ – aka Rio, Dylan Stewart, Harlem McKenzie, Dylan Elise and Matthew Sadgrove – have become regulars on the New Zealand summer-festival circuit, appearing alongside fellow Kiwis: Katchafire, Kora and House Of Shem, as well as international artists like Mary J. Blige, Jimmy Cliff and Maxi Priest. “After we dropped ‘Good Love’ and ‘Tell Her’ in 2012, it wasn’t long until we were approached by Sony and since signing with them it’s taken things to the next level and given us a lot more exposure and greater ability to network,” Rio says.
“We’re going to Hawaii in February next year and then again in July for the MayJah RayJah Music Festival, so there’s a bit of anticipation there. We’ve also entered the Japanese market and went over in June of this year and will go again for the Ocean Peoples Festival next year.”
“I’m really looking forward to seeing Dave Dobbyn, he’s a Kiwi legend.”
With a 15-day national tour starting on Boxing Day, things will hardly be functioning at half-pace for SOZ. And if that wasn’t enough, they’re also working on their next album, set for release in late 2015. “At the moment we’ve just started writing what will be our third album and are hoping to release that next September.
“For the last album we were a bit pushed for time, so we called on the help of some fellow artists to help us write some of the songs and it was great to get them in as it gave another perspective on how the whole process is done and made you think of things you might not have thought of before.
“We had Sammy J and Pieter T on the last album and for this upcoming album we have Tiki Taane working with us because we really want to step up this next album and step up our sound, so we knew we had to go to someone who could help us do that. Having Tiki there to guide us is really cool.”
SOZ will appear alongside Tiki Taane again at the Natural NZ Music Festival where Tiki acts both as the official ambassador for the festival as well as touring as the sound engineer for Shapeshifter. “I can’t wait for Natural, I think it’s going to be awesome to have all the New Zealand artists going over to Australia and to give Kiwis over there a little piece of home,” Rio says.
“I’m really looking forward to seeing Dave Dobbyn, he’s a Kiwi legend and with all the festivals we go to, they’re pretty ‘party party’ and he’s not usually on the line-up, so it will be a really different vibe.”
Sons Of Zion play the Natural NZ Music Festival, which takes place at Red Hill Auditorium, Perth on 22nd November and at Brisbane’s Riverstage on 29th November.
