Balearic Breakfast | Episode 189 | Meeting Nathan Haines

Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy broadcast the 189th episode of Balearic Breakfast on her Mixcloud on August 20th 2024.

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About this episode. – Following the great weekend she spent at WOH, including her set at the Love dancing tent and a 2-hour radio show aired on WWFM on Wednesday, 16th 2024, Colleen had to prepare a new episode of our Beloved show. And despite a somewhat raspy voice, she presented a beautiful show, one with an "unveiling" soul... (more about this in the listening experience section of this post).

This episode also allowed the Balearic Breakfast familly to discover Nathan Haines' brand new album, Notes, thanks to a nice interview Colleen did with the New Zealand-born producer/vocalist/saxophonist/DJ who played at WOH a few days ago, closing the festival on the main stage (and who was already featured in the123th episode of the show).

"This morning’s Balearic Breakfast is now up on my Mixcloud at https://shorturl.at/6wonj 

I have no voice left and am beat after a 4 day dance marathon at We Out Here (thanks to all who joined us in our Love Dancin’ tent!). The first part of the show is an ambient / chillout mix guided by myself and the second half of the show features an exclusive mix from and interview with Nathan Haines who has a fabulous new album out called Notes (some of you may have seen him perform with Ron Trent’s WARM at We Out Here).

Thanks to all who joined me for the live stream – wonderful to see you as always. Please enjoy the archived show with music from @tar_blanche @anniversaryrecords Isle Of Jura ECM Records Gigi Masin Test Pressing Gondwana Records @alex__kassian @johnhaycockmusic @holger.czukay @claremont56 @the_mighty_zaf @philasherlegacy @kessoncoda @srirajahsoundsystem @ruby.ruby.music @kartelmusicgroup"

Listen back to the 189th episode of Balearic Breakfast:

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PLAYLIST

(2024) ESA – A Muto (Keys Mix)

(2022) Gigi Masin – Marilene (Somewhere in Texas)

(2024) John Haycock – Nyama

(1976) John Abercrombie & Ralph Towner – Parasol

(2024) Holger Czukay – Fragrance (Remix 2009)

(2024) Opal Sunn – Elastic - Phase II

(2021) Srirajah Sound System

(ft. Molam Inteng Keawbuala) – Si Phan Don Lover's Rock

(2024) Kessoncoda – Greyscale

(1980) Eberhard Weber's Colours – No Trees? He Said

(2023) Tar Blanche – Iguana

Nathan Haines Interview & Mix:

(2024) Nathan Haines (ft. Rachel Clarke) – Storm

Matt Klein (ft Nathan Haines) – Alley Waiter

(2020) The Mighty Zaf & Phil Asher – Isale Eko

(2024) Nathan Haines (ft Ruby Cesan) – Night Moves (Crackazat Remix)

(NOL) Matt Klein – In The Groove

(2024) Magic Words – Wabi Soba

(2012) Nathan Haines – Realisation

(1970) Johnny Harris – Stepping Stone

(NOL) Ria Hall – Morning Come

(2014) Nathan Haines – Zoot Allure

(2020) Nathan Haines – Northern Panels

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THE LISTENING EXPERIENCE

Did you ever watch Twilight Zone's colour episodes aired in the 80's? They're pretty rare and hard to find on DVD, but they've been issued. If you didn't see them already, today's episode openning track is a great reminder not to miss them. Esa's A muto takes you back to the 80s and to a strange yet somehow unfolding, unveiling, expanding place, a place of strangeness where anything can, and will, happen... Today's show is really about that "unfolding life", its strangeness and the cold fear you feel while it shows its dark and unexpected plans to your lost eyes... The second track, Gigi Masin's Marilene (Somewhere in Texas) keeps that calm but quite frightening feeling, that wandering is still there, looking at you while your lost eyes can't disguise that strange shape appearing, there, somewhere, in your life... It is Beautifully followed by John Haycock's Nyama, and perfectly showcases Colleen musical sensitivity as she's able here to present an incredible musical tension, crafting another mesmerising and totally wandering moment for us, winning the WOW effect of that episode as John Abercrombie & Ralph Towner's Parasol starts...

ESA – A Muto (Keys Mix). – The Keys Mix of A Muto by the Cameroonian outfit ESA. The original vocal version came out in 1986, but our friends over at Isle of Jura in Adelaide, Australia have just released a double 12-inch with extra versions from the original tapes, including the Keys Mix, along with a dubbed strumental, A cappella. – A Muto has been previously played during Balearic Breakfast in its original version and is from ESA's 1986 self-titled album, where Stephan Dayas Nguea and Martin Socko Moukoko are joined by talented musicians, the album being recorded at the Transat and also Robespierre studios. The album has been recently reissued. A Muto tells the story of a woman who abandons her husband, complaining of being alone as the keeper of the house.

Gigi Masin – Marilene (Somewhere in Texas). – From Gigi Massin's last album, Vahiné (ed. a Polynesian woman, especially one from Tahiti), which was dedicated to his late wife.

John Haycock – Nyama. – Manchester musician John Haycock is an accomplished kora player, having trained with Gambian griot and kora master Jali Nyong'o Kuyateh for 10 years. Nyama, not Naima, not the John Coltrane composition, is taken from his forthcoming two-track EP. And the flip is called Reasonance, an 19-minute excursion. The EP was inspired by a series of Reasonance events, and there are more forthcoming.

John Abercrombie & Ralph Towner – Parasol. – The late American jazz guitarist John Ambercrombie, along with classical guitarist and pianist Ralph Towner. Parasol is taken from the last cut on their LP Sargasso Sea, released on the amazing ACM label in 1976. – The "all about jazz" has a beautiful article which dives deep into John Abercrombie's career, click here.

The second part of the first hour of today's show starts with Holger Czukay's Fragrance (Remix 2009) which keepts the weirdness strongly alive despite its upfronting rhythm presentation. Keeping the tripping vibe alive, Colleen then plays the flying (or "galloping" I could also say, well you get the escape idea by now don't you ^^) number that Opal Sunn's Elastic - Phase II really is – and I'm sure I don't have to tell you about the pictural evolution we have here by now, I'm sure you already "saw" it!

Holger Czukay – Fragrance (Remix 2009). – Paul Mudd Murphy from Claremont 56 worked with the late CAN krautrock pioneer Holger Czukay, and released his work both during Czukay's lifetime and since his sad passing in 2017. There's a new double pack of Claremont 56 versions of Czukay's work availiable.

Opal Sunn – Elastic - Phase II. – From Alex Kassian and Hiroaki OBA, Elastic Phase II, is coming out on test pressing, following up Alex Kassian's immense E2-E4 cover, which had some great Mad Professor remixes. There are three phases of this tune, they're all spectacular. We heard the dubby one, Elastic Phase II, but there's also more ambient mix, and then a great dance mix.

The last four songs take us to another step of the strange journey, if we here feel a happier global feeling, take the time to listen to what happens in the background, there are layers there, layers of strangeness, evolving, never being the same, changing, unfolding, hiding, appearing behind the stronger beat... It is the case with Srirajah Sound System's Si Phan Don Lover's Rock but also with Kessoncoda's Greyscale which has an absolutely free and unexpected musical structure, and the same layered soundstage where everything melts and changes. These two tracks are all about losing ground while listening, you don"'t need alcohol here to be Taken Away and to even forget that you're listening to music. Forgetting that you're listening and even falling in a light sleep is also a way of listening, the lmusic totally taking control of your spirit, I love it so much when this happens to me...

Of course, Colleen's delicate touch expands our trip! And, as Eberhard Weber's Colours – No Trees? He Said starts, we feel freed but still expecting something to unfold here, there, in the near distance, a Balearic Trip indeed that ends with Tar Blanche's incredible Iguana...

Srirajah Sound System (ft. Molam Inteng Keawbuala) – Si Phan Don Lover's Rock. – Thailand's Srirajah Sound System have been in force since 2012, and they released two 7-inch singles in 2021.

Kessoncoda – Greyscale. – West London duo Kessoncoda are drummer Tom Sunney and keyboardist Fil Sowa stand firm between the acoustic tradition and electronica with an unique blend of melodic ostinato-laced piano and unwavering drums, here with Caoilfhionn Rose on vocals. They have a new album called Outer State on Gondwana records.

Eberhard Weber's Colours – No Trees? He Said. – Bassist Eberhard Weber with his group Colors was considered one of the most highly acclaimed touring bands back in 1980, bridging the jazz history of Charles Mingus saxophonist Charlie Mariano with contemporary synth sounds of Reiner Bruninghaus and the jazz rock flavor of drummer John Marshall, who also played with Soft Machine and Jack Bruce. No Trees, he said is taken from Eberhard Weber's Little Movements LP, also on ECM.

Tar Blanche – Iguana. – London musician, producer, and founder of indie pop outfit, Yumi Zouma. That was Tar Blanche with Iguana from his 2023 LP Granada School of Motion LP.

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NATHAN HAINES' INTERVIEW

[Colleen]

Nathan Haynes, welcome to Balearic Breakfast.

[Nathan Haines]

Hello, Colleen, it's wonderful to be here after hearing so many episodes.

[Colleen]

It's so wonderful to see you after seeing you in New Zealand earlier this year, because, of course, that's where you hail from. I mean, when I moved over here in 1999, you were living here in London, but you've been in New Zealand for the past few years.

[Nathan Haines]

That's true. Yeah, I'm doing this interview in London. It's great to be back in London, I have to say, after not really spending much time here in the last 10 years.

It's still the same. It's still got that incredible energy and level of excitement that you get in the big city.

[Colleen]

Yeah, absolutely. And you have a new album out called Notes, which came out earlier this month. And earlier this month, you were also playing at Jazz Café.

Can you tell us how that performance went?

[Nathan Haines]

Yeah, Jazz Café was amazing. We had Verna Francis, you just mentioned her, singing Earth is the Place. I did another album with Phil as well, called Squire for Hire, which came out a couple of years after Sound Travel. 

So both of those records, we played a lot of the big songs of those records, Right by Your Side, with Marcus Peake, Larry Cowell, as I said, and a load of other wonderful musicians. It was just a very emotional night. The only person who wasn't there was Phil, who passed away three years ago.

But I started Notes with Phil about five years ago. And out of that, we sort of decided to follow the blueprint of what we'd done previously on Sound Travels and Squire for Hire. And, you know, it's amazing, the reception and the love that we've got from the album coming out in August.

It's just a wonderful process, a very cathartic, I guess, process of what this album feels like to me. It's been a long time in the coming, it's 10 years between albums, so it's been a great month celebrating that release.

[Colleen]

Well, Notes is a very personal album. One of the reasons, you did start it with Phil Asher, who is a great friend and collaborator, and I think the music world, including myself, was stunned when he passed away, gosh, three and a half years ago now. Three and a half years ago, wasn't it?

[Nathan Haines]

January.

[Colleen]

And do you want to talk a little bit about this album in terms of what your... You know, as you said, it's been a long time since your last album, 10 years, as you mentioned. You've been putting out your own records since 1995.

I mean, you've been doing records for a long time. And what was your kind of remit for this album? As you said, you started it with Phil, but to me, it's an intensely personal album because a lot has happened in your life.

[Nathan Haines]

Well, if I go back to 10 years, which is when I delivered the last album, which was called Zootelur, and I worked with Mark Mack very closely from Fort Barrow on that one, on the beats, and a lot of other wonderful people. I guess, you know, I'd just moved back to New Zealand. My wife became pregnant in London, and then we decided to have the baby in New Zealand, and then, you know, once we had the parents around and everything, and then we looked to go back to London, we were like, oh, my God, I don't know if we can do this.

[Colleen]

It's also New Zealand's so beautiful, too, let's just say it.

[Nathan Haines]

Oh, yes, yes. And we decided to move back to London. And, you know, that was a big change for me.

And then becoming a dad, you know, I was 43 when our son Zoot was born, and I sort of spent the first year in shock, really, as a lot of our older parents, or indeed any parent would probably say. So, you know, sort of navigating that, and then I started doing demos, and then, you know, when Zoot was about two and three quarters, I was diagnosed with throat cancer, which is where my voice came from, from some of the listeners who might be saying, what's wrong with Nathan's voice? You know, and then I went through, you know, a year of very heavy operations and radiation therapy, and, you know, having to rebuild my life, really.

Obviously, I lost all my income overnight. But, you know, out of that journey, you know, when I was very ill in hospital, the person who was really there for me on a daily basis was Phil. You know, he was on the WhatsApp to me every day. I also should mention my wife Jamie. Of course, she was there on the ground in New Zealand, having to go through. I mean, you know, we had a lot of gigs, because I was diagnosed in the summertime.

So Jamie had to fulfill all the gigs we were doing as a duo, by herself, you know, and bless her. She was just my tower of strength, the whole thing. But, you know, Phil on the other side of the world, on the phone, was like, all right, Snaffs, how's it going?

And out of that sort of renewed friendship, I guess you could say, because we had worked together since Squire Fire in 2003. You know, we spoke, when I got better, we spoke about working together again. So I took a lot of these demos I'd been working on, and then sort of got Phil on board as a co-producer, and Phil gave me a folder of beats, and it was such an amazing thing to hear Phil's beats again, after such a long time.

And, you know, Phil's beats, they are just absolutely classic. And so, you know, that's how we did it, Colleen. We just, I guess, I used Phil's beats when he passed away, which was a huge revenge for all of us.

But, you know, before he died, Phil said, here's the beats, Nathan, I want you to produce, I want you to do what you do best, and you do your music, do your thing, the beats are yours, I'm here for you. And even when he wasn't here, I guess I just, I guess I just used the blueprint of what we did with those albums, and really looked back and thought, why were they so successful? What was the combination?

  What was the sound, you know? And I guess it was pretty hard doing it in his absence, but I got Frank Booker on board and Mark Metzen for Hero again. And yeah, that's the sound. That's the sound. Notes is the sound of that.

[Colleen]

Well, it sounds fantastic. I just want to ask you about one particular song before we break for some music. The song Notes, the title track, actually has you singing. You have a beautiful voice, by the way. I really love it. It's very emotive.

And I can tell, as you hear from a lot of people that have brushes with death or life-threatening diseases, that you almost have a renewed sense of life. It seems like you have a new perspective of life, that you had maybe an epiphany or a realization, and that's what really comes across in the song anyways. I just wanted to ask you about that.

[Nathan Haines]

Well, you know, for people who've shared a health situation like I've been through, and then to have your family around you and your friends around you, and then come out the other side, and then still being able to work, I mean, the only thing I've lost really is my full voice. And why that song Notes is so personal to me is I never thought I'd be able to sing it again. But I somehow summoned the strength, and then I got my wife and Jamie to produce the vocals because I'd literally done hundreds and hundreds of versions of it and rewrites, and I thought I'd never be able to do it.

But Jamie came on board in the production chair and said, try this. That sounds great. Maybe try it this way. Without her, I don't think I would have been able to do it. So to answer your question, Colleen, yeah, it's given me a new perspective and a new joy of life and just a real appreciation for being in this scene. I don't take any of this for granted, and I appreciate all of the contributions from people like yourself who are doing these shows.

You know, our scene is quite underground. We don't have the massive financial support, and I just want to thank everybody involved in making this record, and it's out there. It's really, really amazing at this time in my life to still be doing it, you know.

[Colleen]

Well, it's a wonderful album. Let's get back to the music, and when we come back, we'll talk about some of the other guests on the album. Nathan Haynes on Balearic Breakfast. 

[Colleen]

You've been listening to a special exclusive mix by Nathan Haynes for Balearic Breakfast, and he's here with me in the studio to talk about his new album Notes, his first one in 10 years, and he's been releasing solo albums since 1995.

[Colleen]

Hey, Nathan.

[Nathan Haines]

Hey, Colleen.

[Colleen]

Hi. Well, I just want to back up, actually, because you have a very interesting upbringing, and in fact, your brother and your father are both guests on Notes, and you started playing music with them very early on in your life. Can you tell us a little bit about your childhood musical history and your family's musical history as well?

[Nathan Haines]

Yes. Well, my father, Kevin Haynes, is a wonderful jazz bass player, based in New Zealand. Back then, growing up in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, he would back a lot of American musicians who'd be touring at the time, and I got to see him play with the wonderful saxophonist Lee Konitz, Nat Adderley, Cannonball Adderley's brother. I remember going to an Eartha Kitt concert, Benny Goldson. I mean, all these amazing, amazing, amazing musicians. So, of course, when I was a young kid, I was like, I want to do this, I want to do that, you know.

I got to meet all these amazing musicians, and so I grew up playing with him, and then there was a little ensemble my father had called "Second Generation", which was my dad and my brother and myself and some other musicians, and then I, you know, having this deep love for music, I left New Zealand in 1991 and moved to New York and was able to do some lessons with George Coleman, who, of course, the saxophonist with, he spoke Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, and also Joe Lovano. I also met the Groove Collective guys back then in the early 90s. I used to go down to the Giant Step Nights in Union Square.

[Colleen]

We were probably there at the same time, I'm sure, DJ Smash, and Natalie, and the crew.

[Nathan Haines]

Yeah, DJ Smash, yeah.

[Colleen]

The crew, yeah.

[Nathan Haines]

Yeah, so that was sort of my musical education, and of course, I remember Roy the Roach took me to see Louis Vega at the Sound Factory in 1993. Funnily enough...

[Colleen]

Sound Factory Bar, those Wednesday nights, underground, that first party. We were probably there, like, you know, at the same time, feet, you know, feet away from each other.

[Nathan Haines]

So, the funny thing is, when he took me to Louis, it was all sort of normal. I wasn't really into house music then, you know. And then, it wasn't until Roy the Roach came out to New Zealand in about 95. And he said, you know, I know you're into hip-hop and all this sort of thing. Have you ever tried jamming up a house music? And I said, no. He said, well, give it a go. So, we had a little go at home, and then he said, come and dance with me at this bar called The Box in Auckland. And I talk about epiphanies. I was jamming with him that night. And I was like, oh my God, this is amazing. So, after that night, he said, look, come out to London. So, he took me out to London and then took me, Clay, to Paul Trouble Anderson on a Wednesday night at The Loft. And then, Trouble was like, I love you, Nathan. Will you join me every Wednesday?

So, I spent three years at The Loft.

[Colleen]

What year were you there? What year did you start doing that? 95.

[Nathan Haines]

So, I was at The Loft from 95 to 98.

[Colleen]

I probably heard you then as well, because I came over. There's another time I came over to London, I think, in 95, 96 and went to Paul Trouble Anderson's night at The Loft in Camden. So, you were probably playing there too.

Okay.

[Nathan Haines]

So, talk about an education. Talk about an education. Oh, my God. And, you know, I mean, all of the Americans came through. And it was just, you know, there I was, you know, coming from a jazz background. And I was just being schooled night after night after night in the gospel of house music.

And, of course, after that, I met Phil in about 97. And then, you know, the first track we made together was called After Hours. And then in 1999, Chili Funk approached Phil about doing a solo record.

And he said, no, but I'll produce a 1980s record. You know, one of the very first songs we worked on with this was Is This The Place? And the other one was Believe, of which the first two singles from Is This The Place?

That's my musical history.

[Colleen]

Wow, that was meant to be.

[Nathan Haines]

It really was meant to be. You know, London is my musical home. It really is.

[Colleen]

It's a great music city. It's one of the greatest music cities of the world. a little bit later, I do want to talk to you about the New Zealand scene because I fell in love with it. But let's stick to your stuff right now first. You have some great guests on here. Some from London, like our friend Vanessa Freeman. She's fantastic. Can you tell us a little bit about the guest vocalists you have? And you also have a rapper from New Zealand on there as well.

[Nathan Haines]

Yeah, so there's a young vocalist. Funnily enough, two of the vocalists who I recorded with in New Zealand have both moved to London since. So there's Ruby Cezanne singing off Night Moves.

And Cracker Zack, who's one of my favourite UK producers, has just done an amazing remix of that track. And then there's also Arjuna Oakes, who's another amazing keyboardist and vocalist who joins us at the Jazz Cafe earlier in the month. He's on Give Thanks.

That also features Martin Clive Lowe's, my musical brother, now based in Japan but originally from New Zealand, with beats by Frank Booker. There's also Eyo, an amazing rapper on the track I did with Mihaela Martin-Yukon Keys and beats from Mark Mack. And also another amazingly talented young vocalist called Rachel Clark. And we do a version of Storm, which was one of my wife's favourite tracks. Of course, who did the original Jamie?

[Colleen]

Rare Silk.

[Nathan Haines]

Rare Silk. I know that might be a big call to do a cover, but I've always loved it and I think she did an amazing version. We did an amazing version.

[Colleen]

You both did. I love the fact that it's acoustic as well.

[Nathan Haines]

Yeah. It's totally acoustic with amazing percussion. I think I've, is that everybody else?

[Colleen]

And you have a tabla player as well.

[Nathan Haines]

Yeah.

[Colleen]

On notes.

[Nathan Haines]

So Manjeet Singh plays amazing tabla on notes. I love his tabla playing. Oh yeah.

Who's that?

[Colleen]

And you also have your father, Kevin, and your brother, Joel, and your son, Zoot.

[Nathan Haines]

Oh my God, yeah. Notes gives the last word in. Zoot gives the last word in on notes.

I mean, there's so many people I can't remember them all without referring to my notes. Yeah.

[Colleen]

Well, it's a real joy of celebration and, you know, it's so good to see you looking so well. It was lovely to meet up with you and your wife in New Zealand as well. Let's get back to some more music and then we'll speak a little bit more about the music scene in New Zealand, which I found very interesting.

And we're back with Nathan Haynes here on Balearic Breakfast. Now, Nathan, first I wanted to just chat a little bit about you. You've been over here in the UK during the New Zealand winter and the UK summer, which is obviously the way to do it.

And you've been over to... Tell us a little bit about where you've been. I see you went over to Ibiza to play for our friend Harry. Tell us about what you've been doing since you've been over in the Northern Hemisphere.

[Nathan Haines]

Yeah, so we had a month in France to Corsica, which was amazing. Our dear friend Jay Griff joined us in Corsica for a time, which was amazing. So I love his production and actually he's guesting on notes on the track Nightmoves.

Jay Griff is also a part of that sort of 90s, early 2000s New York scene. So that was great to spend some time with him like holiday time and we had actually planned to do more work together.

[Colleen]

He's a very busy boy as well.

[Nathan Haines]

Oh my God, yeah. We caught up with him in London at the BBE gig, which we'll talk about later. So yes, I did a really cool gig for Harry at the Warming Café and I joined the house band called "The Illusions".

[Colleen]

They're so good. They are so good. They are incredible.

[Nathan Haines]

So I can share a little bit of gossip here with you, Colleen, that Harry were in discussions about me producing their album. Because when I saw them I said to Harry, they're wonderful but I feel like they need something like a producer or a band leader and Harry was like, oh my God, well, would you be up for it? And I said, well, I'd be an honour. 

So we're talking about that and it'll be a wonderful opportunity for me to work with a live band and then put some of what I've learned over the last 30 years and make records and work with a live band. So that's where we're at at that point, yeah. And then arrived in London about two and a half weeks ago.

The first gig I did was at the wonderful BBE store. So I've known Pete for many years and have a huge respect for what Pete and the team at BBE have been doing. And then, you know, to hear that sound system, Colleen, I mean, you know, we had a bit of a chat, I remember, when you first got here about sound systems but, you know, I love the sound of that rig that's got at BBE. And, you know, we had an amazing night. We had loads of people drop through and we had Vanessa Freeman on board, you know, just vibing. And, you know, that was my first London gig in a long time. And to be back on London's store and just, people are so appreciative in London and not only that but they know so much of the music they're playing. And I'm sure it's the same for you, Colleen, you know, when you do a gig in the UK, it's like pretty much everyone knows every song. And if they don't know it, they're just fully there with vibes, you know, it's such a beautiful feeling.

And then we did the Jazz Café on the 7th. So we had, you know, Kevin Martrell, who's the singer in the streets, he's been on with me for several albums and tours. We had Tama White put up from New Zealand who opened the concert of the Karakia.

Do you know what a Karakia is?

[Colleen]

I do, but can you explain to the listeners?

[Nathan Haines]

So a Karakia is like a Māori greeting when you sort of explain to everybody your intention and Tama did this amazing, also in English but then when you did the Māori part, and I tell you, you know, you have 500 people in the Jazz Café, when Tama played at the stage and you did that, you could have heard a pin drop. And, you know, I know there was quite a lot of Kiwis and New Zealanders in the audience and it's very emotional when you hear the Māori korero, the Māori language spoken when you're away from home and it was very emotional and it was such an amazing way to start the proceedings. So Tama brought a huge amount of mana to the proceedings which is a word in Māori which means, I guess, respect and something you've heard over a long time and Tama brought that and then, you know, sort of proceeded to explain the mana that I've generated through my journey in life and music as well.

And, you know, as I mentioned before, we had all these original vocalists from the albums and band members from the albums, and I must give a shout out to my brother Mike Pato who was the MD, the musical director on the gig. You know, me and Mike have done several albums together. He was there through Sound Travels and Squire for Hire.

It was just, there was, you know, just there was this huge, huge feeling of just love and respect from the crowd and the love throughout the performance. You know, it was really, very, very special. And then at the end of the tour at We Out Here I'll be joining Ron Trent.

So I met Ron in New Zealand earlier in the year and he asked me to join his live band because he said to me, Earth Is The Place is one of his biggest songs and has said that he's been playing with me. So that's really cool to connect with Ron and, you know, huge respect for Ron and what he's done for the scene.

[Colleen]

This is all great. This is so fun. I'm so happy for you. This is, you know, a long time in the making. as you said, you know, mana is the word, I believe.

[Nathan Haines]

Yeah.

[Colleen]

You know, but the respect that you're garnering is well deserved and well earned. You know, I mean, you've been doing this your whole life and you've put in the hours and you have the talent and it's just wonderful to see things going so well. I just want to quickly talk about the New Zealand music scene because I was enthralled and you were talking about Tama earlier who I believe has an album out on BBE? Am I correct in saying...

[Nathan Haines]

I don't know, I don't think that's Tama.

[Colleen]

Okay. We'll have to edit that out.

[Nathan Haines]

He's been on several of my albums and he's done his own songs. But yeah, were you thinking about Freddie's?

[Colleen]

It's really, what I found in New Zealand, there's, first of all, the whole Maori culture, especially the singers, the Maori singers have a beautiful, there's a beautiful kind of soul, soulful tone to their voice. I was, you know, hearing a lot, I mean, Dallas, I've always heard that in his voice with Fat Freddie's drop, but I was listening to people like Troy Kingy whose voice is just absolutely gorgeous and there's a huge kind of reggae dub tradition as well in New Zealand and for an island, you know, that's so remote and far away from where we are here in the UK, it's just interesting to see what the music seems like there.

[Nathan Haines]

Well, you know, I'm sure you would have heard this Colleen, but Auckland is the biggest Polynesian city in the world. There are hundreds of thousands of people from Polynesia, Tonga, Samoa, and the surrounding diaspora of Polynesia. Of course, pre-reggae, you know, pre-Bob Marley blowing up in the late 70s, 80s, you know, a lot of modern Polynesian audience identified with black music, so there's always been this great tradition of black music and then reggae in New Zealand and, you know, music is a very strong part of the New Zealand culture and that, you know, the classics sort of sing along with the guitar.

  We all grew up with that, you know, when I was growing up in the 70s in New Zealand, you know, you learned sort of basic Maori at school. There was always a Maori teacher playing the guitar. You know, it really is a big part of the music down there.

[Colleen]

Well, I'm so happy for you, Nathan. This is a wonderful album. I've been listening to it a lot in the last few days especially and I'm really excited for you.

It's good to see you in the northern hemisphere and I hope to see you in the southern hemisphere again. Thank you so much, Nathan, and good luck with the album and for those listening, you can get Nathan Hayne's new album Notes on Bandcamp. It's a wonderful, wonderful record.