Lost Tribe Aotearoa, is a family-oriented band from the surfing town of Raglan, which has been making music since 2017.
Now it has released a new EP called Lost & Found, which includes a new waiata, Strange Things.
Ben Aves, Tux Severne and Jesse Biddle are the band members of Lost Tribe Aotearoa and are also first cousins.
Severne says it was all about building journeys: "Strange Things was written between the really hard times during Covid-19 and it was all about reflecting on my life and I got to grow up in France and travel around a fair bit and the journeys and the stories we make within our life growing up, and I hate to put my own whakaaro (thoughts), my own meaning to a lot of our waiata (songs) and names but that was my angle that I was going on."
The title of the EP, Lost & Found came from their band name, Lost Tribe Aotearoa, and trying to find their way through the music industry.
“It's also trying to connect with whānau who feel a bit lost and are looking for their place in Te Ao Māori or Te Ao. Well, this is your tribe, we are your tribe. Welcome to everyone,” Biddle says.
Family-orientated
Aves says the feedback from their Māori audience has always been positive.
“Sometimes we do play gigs to whānau, and they want us to play Bob Marley, instead of our own stuff, but we don't want to. We don't want to wreck his sound. So, we usually play our own songs, but overall they are really supportive of our kaupapa really,” he says.
The family-orientated band members say there are a lot of positives from all being related and staying true to who they are as a band.
“That's one thing I love about being in the spotlight, along with our cousins. We play a lot of music that we like. I think that's shared out between all eight members. We all get a piece of the pie and then add our two cents in, and that's what creates our sound, our unique sound,” Severne says.
Aves says that in the foreseeable future, they intend to tour, with another album release in the mix and a new single in Te Reo Māori.
