Blue King Brown

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Blue King Brown
Background information
Origin	Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Genre(s)	Roots
Years active	2004–present
Label(s)	Roots Level Records MGM Distribution
Website	http://www.bluekingbrown.com
Members
Natalie Pa'apa'a Carlos Santone Salvador Persico Sam Cope Peter Wilkins Ngaire Haley Cramer Jess Harlen

Blue King Brown are an active Melbourne-based, Australian blues/roots band. The have released a self-titled EP (2005) and an full length album Stand Up (2006).

1 Biography
2 Members
3 Discography
- 3.1 Albums/EPs
- 3.2 Singles
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early Days

The two founding and songwriting members of the band, Carlo Santone and Natalie Pa’apa’a commenced playing and song writing on guitar, jamming with residents and itinerants alike in their original base of Byron Bay. They originally performed as a percussion duo and also with Skin, which became the beginnings of Blue King Brown.

This beats driven collaboration formed many connections within the strong Australian roots scene and were invited to sit in as percussionists with The John Butler Trio at many of their shows, along with countless other guest performances with a number of local and international touring artists over the years.

After moving to Melbourne in 2004 to concentrate on the new collective of Blue King Brown, they recruited a hip, city tinged band and discovered Salvador Persico, now the bands percussionist, whose Latin flavors were the perfect addition to the Blue King Brown sound. Sam Cope is the bands keyboardist and Peter Wilkins is on the drum kit. Recent backing vocalists added to the crew, Hailey Cramer, Ngaiire and Jess Harlen.

[edit] Self-titled EP & Stand-Up

Success came quickly for the newly formed Blue King Brown, their debut single, "Water", released on their debut self-titled EP, was quickly added to high rotation on Triple J. As well as earning them an APRA Songwriters Award for 2005 and an AIR Chart award in 2006^[1].

Blue King Brown's debut, independently released LP, Stand-Up, (October 2006), sees the band simultaneously becoming more rhythmically and melodically complex. It reconfigures the template Blue King Brown has created in recordings and in numerous sweaty live performances, creating a studio document of many layers and textures, providing great representation of their current sound and future direction. The album was nominated for 2006's J Award ^[2]and their song "Come And Check Your Head" was #100 on the Triple J's Hottest 100 for 2006^[3], as voted by the listening public.

“We’ve always been into the 70’s big band thing,” Carlo says. “We’re inspired by people like Fela Kuti and Santana—known for having sizeable bands who aren’t afraid to jam it out and improvise live. We’re always trying to create as big a sound as possible out of our crew. We’re used to doing that, Natalie and I were street performers for many years, working as a percussion duo, so we learnt the art of making something big out of two people. In the recording process we can approach it differently. We got a lot of guests in on the record to really fill it out and expand on the band. Who knows, one day we’ll probably have a much bigger band.”

Still evident are the band’s grassroots politics. Placing their messages front-and-centre seems to have only won them more fans, the band sees no reason to hold back. The band is ethically engaged in every aspect of their art: from their independent releases through to recycled CD packaging and support of number of human rights organisations

[edit] Touring

This grassroots (or Roots Level, as their label name has it) approach is also part of their touring ethos. They travel to as many places as they can, breaking new ground with each tour. The band has toured up and down the east coast consistently as both a headline act and in support slots. Blue King Brown have performed at The Falls, East Coast Blues & Roots Music Festival, Womadelaide, Woodford Folk Festival, The Great Escape, The Dreaming Festival and Southbound to name a few. Early 2006 also saw them invited to play festivals in Japan and Fiji.

In their short time on the touring circuit, Blue King Brown have established themselves on the Australian indie scene and have amassed a solid national following, as well as sparking international interest, having toured in support of John Butler Trio, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Damian “Jr Gong” Marley, The Cat Empire and Cody Chestnutt.