Sons of Zion are about to head off on their World Tour after the release of their new album Vantage Point this Friday. It's the first album they've produced in the last five years with their latest single Drift Away becoming a true hit.
Lead singer Rio Panapa says, “We still can't believe it. We can't believe how quickly it's streamed that many times.
'Drift Away' on their new Vantage Point album, has been streamed online over 1.3 million times.
“We were just having a few drinks together last Friday, sort of reflecting on the success of the song and on the success of the band that we're experiencing at the moment.”
The song was composed by their bass guitarist Matt Sadgrove in just 30 minutes and is currently top 40 on the NZ singles chart. It's the bands fastest growing single to date.
Bass guitarist Matt Sadgrove says, “It was like one of those songs you can kind of jam to a guitar. I mean it's a really basic song. It's really simple and I think that's why people dig it. There's a movie Inception of Leonardo DiCaprio, that's the kind of imagery I used. There's a beach scene there where he lost his missus. I wrote it more of a sad song but with the up-vibes.”
Their upcoming song Vantage Point this Friday also features a string quartet.
Lead singer Samuel Eriwata says, “I just felt strings that is what's missing in the song. We had this idea. We had Ross, his wife and his sisters all got together and lucky they were all available to record it was awesome.”
Plus, the group is also looking at producing a Māori language single.
“Now, that we're in a position - not so much care what's happening out there and how people perceive us, we're more in a position to do those sorts of things and say, "hey this is us, we're Māori and we're proud to be Māori", Mr Panapa said.
Their upcoming world tour begins in June.