Planet Tonga interviews Jan van der Beek, lead vocals for the band Natural Roots. The band is based in Utah and members have Samoan and Tongan heritage.
I would never leave you-
PT:Please give us a little background on the band and its members. NR:I decided to start my own band after playing with the popular local band DaVerse for nearly 2 years. My friends Esi Lautaimi and Samo Aiono wanted to be part of an original band also so we got our old drummer Yami Vakapuna and bass player Fred Taholo, two of my sisters Arlene Lindsey and Pauline Mili and formed the band NATURAL ROOTS. I write all the lyrics and together with Esi compose most of the music. The band has changed a lot over the past 2 years but we have a solid lineup now that includes me, Jan “Mailevai” van der Beek(lead vocals), Esi Lautaimi(bass), Samo Aiono(keyboards), Leka Tuiaki(keyboards), Ray Ray Tu’atonga(drums), Mike Bishop(guitar/saxaphone), Taima and Mele Tafua(vocals). Everyone in the band provides input to the music we play. Most of us have no formal music training, we just do what comes natural to us.
PT:What type of music do you play and what made you decide on that particular genre of music? NR:We play reggae music because its the music we love, and the purest music on earth. I knew this from when I was very young and first heard Bob Marley in 1980. PT:Do you have an album out? NR:We have an album out titled ORIGINAL released in 2005 from SPI entertainment.
PT:Can you talk a little about the making of the album? NR:We made the album in 12 days with maybe 24 hours of actual studio time. SPI wanted to release the CD at the Fiji concert July 2005 so we had to hurry. Its not perfect but in retrospect and considering the circumstances we feel we put out a good CD.
PT:Any special details behind the songs and lyrics? NR:We made the Kava song last in the 11th hour. I was literally writing lyrics and singing using playback at the same time. We needed a hit for all the Kava boys out there. PT:What did you learned during the whole album making process? NR:We learned that we would do things different the next time. Definitely take more time to make the songs better and add more songs.
PT:Have you won any awards or special recognitions? NR:No. Endorsement from our fans is reward enough. When we hear complete strangers bumping our songs in their cars we are happy.
PT:What was the most memorable gig you’ve done so far? NR:Opening for Fiji July 2005 was an honor. It was the first time we got to play in front of thousands instead of hundreds. But the best show we did was probably August 24th, 2006 at the Huka Lounge in Murray. The new members of the band really came together that night. PT:Who are your role models or artists you admire? NR:Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer are artists we admire as well as many others. But our parents are our role models in life.
PT:Who or what has been influential or inspirational for your music? NR:Life has provided all the influences we need for our music. We are all very family oriented so our families are our inspirations. They encourage us to use our talents and follow our hearts.
PT:What do you think are the most common road blocks that most polynesian bands run into? NR:Commitment, leadership and egos. This is probably true with most bands. I think polynesian bands no matter how good they are probably have a harder time finding the right connections in the music business. We also put trust in people too easily because its our nature. We don’t take ourselves seriously enough and often times fail to realize our potential. We also are not patient and disciplined enought to set goals and seriously try to reach those goals.
PT:What advice would you give someone (or a group) wanting to get into the music business? NR:Do it because you love the music and follow your heart. PT:What are the future plans for Natural Roots? NR:To continue playing reggae the way we like it and see where it takes us. PT:List your contact information if you want it made public. NR:http://www.myspace.com/naturalrootsreggae is the best place to find us and listen to our songs if you don’t have them already. PT:Any special recognitions and/or thanks to anyone out there? NR:We like to thank Terick and Tracy Ita from DaVerse who really helped break me, Esi and Samo into this band stuff. We also like to thank to Yami Vakapuna, Fred Taholo, Arlene Lindsey, Pauline Mili, Bronte James and the boys from Afro Omega who have all contributed to Natural Roots over the last 2 years. Of course we like to thank our great families who put up with all our practices, escpecially Kava and Susette Afu who let us invade their basement for band practice.
PT:Tell us an embarrasing moment during one of your gigs? NR:Drinking too much Kava and forgetting the words to my song. Of course that won’t happen again (I mean the forgetting the words part)ha!ha!
Special thanks to Jan “Mailevai” van der Beek for doing this interview with PT. Wish you the best in the future! Respect!
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Ben Tameifuna