Nesian Mystik interview, 2003

Feeding The Frenzy
by Stephen Jewell, NZ Musician, Vol. 10, No. 6, December 2002/January 2003

It's Monday lunchtime in the busiest week of Nesian Mystik's young lives and the group's Awanui Reeder, Donald McNulty and David Atai (rappers Junior Rikiau and Feleti Strickson-Pua are absent) still haven't had any breakfast.

Later that evening the central Auckland-based five piece would be opening the week-long World Series, the first act up in the hip hop showcase. The following night they were on the guest list for the APRA Silver Scroll Awards, the second Nesian Mystik single It's On among the finalists for the Song Of The Year title, while Friday saw the release of their debut long player, 'Polysaturated.' 

Finally, Nesian Mystik officially launched the new album at the Grey Lynn Park Festival on Saturday, which also saw the band gracing the cover of the NZ Herald's Weekend TimeOut. And if all that wasn't enough, the following week Nesian Mystik released their third single, For The People and supported US pop star Pink on a tour of the country's main centres, culminating with an appearance at the Rumba Festival, fittingly held in their own backyard at Western Springs Stadium.

But for now Reeder, McNulty and Atai are sitting in the dining area of their Bounce Records label owner, Dean Godward's Ponsonby house, munching on buttered toast as they tell me how hectic the last few weeks have been. Not only have Nesian Mystik had to finish recording and begin promoting 'PolySaturated', but several members, including Reeder, are also tertiary students and only finished sitting their exams the week.

"I'm doing business at AUT so I'll be able to apply what I learn to Nesian Mystik," says lead vocalist Reeder, who claims that he has had little trouble balancing music with studying. "It's time management at the end of the day. You just have to make sure that you get your priorities straight and make sure that you stick to them."

In a year of unprecedented exposure and success for Kiwi music, Nesian Mystik were the first unsigned act to create a major industry and media stir, after their debut single, launched in November 2001, lasted eight weeks in the Top 50. So were they surprised by the success of that single Nesian Style and the follow up It's On, both of which have achieved gold sales status, the only New Zealand singles to reach that elusive mark this year apart from Katchafire's Giddy Up?

"We're all just grateful about how it's gone," says Reeder. "We didn't expect either of our singles to do as well as they did. We just wrote them to get them out and the speed of what has happened since then has been really staggering. But because we're all young (18-19 years old), we don't really know the music industry yet and it's all been a bit of a learning curve."

Nesian Mystik have previously described Nesian Style as "Us talking about what our style is about, how we do things every day", while It's On is a party track which "... is about how we deliver our style of music."

How then would they describe the various styles of 'PolySaturated's' songs?

"We definitely wanted to be more diverse with songs so people can't class us as one style," says Atai. "They can listen to one song and say that's R&B but then the next song is hip hop and the one after that is something else entirely."

"We aren't purposely going out to make every song diverse," adds Reeder. "It just came out that way because we've all got different influences. David has got his guitar so he likes lots of guitary stuff. We like to use a specific genre but try and tip it so we can take it to the next level."

'PolySaturated' certainly begins on an ambitious note with the four minute-long Introduction, a humorous sketch featuring Nesian Mystik and their friend Oscar Knightly (currently on TV's The Panel), a spoken word format they return to later in the album on Interlude (Lua-Radio shout outs).

"We wanted an introduction that dealt with issues but wasn't too serious," explains Reeder. "We didn't want to make it too depressing because we could have gone really staunch on these issues. We thought it was really sad how whenever our kids watch programmes like Crimewatch, you're conditioned to think that 9 out of 10 (suspects) will be Maori or Pacific Islanders. We didn't want everybody always thinking that. We wanted to raise awareness and deal with issues that are quite common, especially within our people, but add a twist to it, put a positive spin on it."

Nesian Mystik's third single For The People, essentially all about going out on Friday night and enjoying yourself, certainly boasts a lighter edge. "That's one way to look at it," admits Reeder. "But you can take it how you want. Every one of our songs has a specific meaning but the meanings are different for everybody. For The People is a good time song that people like to boogie to or get down to, so that's why it's for them."

Atai contributes guitar but all five take the mic at times and 'PolySaturated' also features vocal contributions from Che Fu, DLT and Dubious Bros' Tyna Keenan, who sings on Soul Retreat.

"Originally it was aimed at Dallas (from Fat Freddy's Drop) but he didn't get back," notes Reeder. "We wanted to put a slow jam on the album that wasn't a typical love slow jam so I took it from the angle that this is something anybody can chill to, wherever you are. The scene I saw it in is like what we do, we get a guitar and we can jam anywhere and that's how our people have been doing it forever. They find the bros and they just jam. We got Tyna in because he's the man and he's got a distinct voice so there's a contrast between my little lungs and his baritone sounding voice."

Che Fu, meanwhile, stamps his distinctive vocal mark upon Operation F.O.B (Fresh Off the Boat).

"In the beginning, we had the title but didn't really have a concept," reveals rapper David McNulty. "Then we knew what we wanted to write about but not how to go about it so we went and saw Che. We asked him about it and everything flowed from there."

"It's like back in the day before the rates and the rent went up, before everyone started moving into Ponsonby and Grey Lynn, there were a lot of Polynesians living in the area," continues Reeder. "In the song, we talk about how we always used to be here and even though people have now moved south, west, wherever, some of us are still here. We try and represent central Auckland a little bit more because there's definitely different styles within Auckland and south Auckland stuff is especially well known."

Fittingly, the title of Nesian Mystik's album, 'PolySaturated' is a variation of a phrase coined in Che Fu's song Share The Information. "He says 'polyunsaturated'," notes McNulty. "We say 'PolySaturated' because we're phat! It's in my verse on Operation F.O.B. We're also saturated in the album and we're Polynesian so 'PolySaturated.'"

Share The Information was an inspiration for Atai's favourite track on the album, the reggae-flavoured Unity. "I like not only the music, singing and rapping but the cause behind the song," explains Atai. "And you should be able to understand what we're singing about just by the title."

"The song's directed towards all the artists within the New Zealand music industry and is about how we can use each other to get to the top," continues Reeder. "Just like they're doing with the World Series. We're really looking forward to it. It's especially hard amongst hip hop. We've watched it over the years from the point of view of being spectators in the crowd. Che Fu has done the hard yards to get to where he is and now he's helping us by sharing the information, just like the song goes. 

"That's like a point of unity, which is really good, especially with what Dawn Raid are doing. Not only are they helping artists but they're teaching them the (computer) programmes, which is sharing the information. Reggae is a genre of music everybody can listen to. Whenever we play Unity, everybody, old and young, they're skanking. It's like a perfect mix."

Reeder acknowledges that fellow inner-west residents Che Fu and DLT have had a profound effect on Nesian Mystik and that they are helping them learn the ropes of the music industry.

"They're our heroes," declares Reeder. "The people who laid the path for us to follow. They're like our mentors, our uncles. People who help us out when we need help. It's like our people are nice because we're naturally nice. If someone takes our money, we usually go 'Okay, whatever makes you happy'. That's the thing that Che is trying to break in us, because he went through all that and he's trying to make sure we don't do the same. He's the man! He's like a prophet of music.

"DLT has also given us some good advice because he's done this forever. But everybody within the music industry has been really good. Perhaps because it's so small they look out for us because we're young. We're like nephews to them in a way and they have to make sure we're okay because otherwise our mothers will go and slap them!"

DLT created the music for the epic, mostly spoken closing track, Lost Visionz.

"That was all DLT's doing," confirms Reeder. "We basically gave him the vocals and said 'Brother, go for it' because he's one of the staunchest fellows we know. He was there at the time the Gluepot was around and there was a lot of racism, especially between Maori and Samoans, which you don't see nowadays. We gave it to him and he took it to One Love Studios, which Brother Zeb from The Krates runs. Kevvy Kev engineered it and it was beautiful by the time we got it back, with the heartbeat at the beginning, starting smooth and then it changes."

Lost Visionz is based around monologues by Nesian Mystik and relatives such as Feleti's father Rev. Mua Strickson-Pua (himself hugely respected in the music industry for his emotive prayer-giving at numerous festivals and music events), and Donald's mother Martha McNulty, who both provide painful recollections about how they were treated when they first moved to this country.

"That song hit close to home for many of us because our families have all been through that," says Reeder. "We've been brought up to always remember but today's youth sometimes forget or they aren't informed about it. It's just time and experience, like with Donald, he's being honest, and a lot of kids can relate to that. In many ways, all of us can relate to that. For Feleti, for example, God is a big part of the way he lives his life so he's got to watch that. For me, my dad was in the Springbok tour protests, pushing over cars when that happened.

While Junior talks about how (western) religion and (Polynesian) spirituality clashed when the missionaries first came over. It's a very powerful track. The first time DLT heard it, he cried and my family can't really listen to it without getting shivery. That's why we have the Interlude because it links to Lost Visionz, which is the introduction to the next album."

And by the time they record 'Polysaturated's' successor, Nesian Mystik may even have updated their primitive recording equipment, an ancient PlayStation, which they record their songs on before passing them on to label manager Dean Godward for post-production.

"We have the tracks pretty much ready before we come to the studio," explains McNulty. "We do it with Music 2000 on a PlayStation, which is one of the first models to ever come out. It's not very flash so don't try stealing it because you won't know how to turn it on! You have to turn it on at a certain angle otherwise it just won't work."

Most of Nesian Mystik's music is composed by Atai, a trained guitarist who specialises in modern, Spanish, jazz and classical styles. "I was brought up on rock'n'roll like Elvis Presley and Bill Haley," recalls Atai, who also cites Carlos Santana, Antonio Banderos and Linkin Park amongst his influences. "I switched over to hip hop when Kris Kross came out and from there I've been into alternative music, everything really."

According to Atai, his favourite part of being in Nesian Mystik is performing live, something that he and his bandmates will surely be doing more of over the forthcoming summer as the band are set to embark upon an as yet unconfirmed nationwide tour. "Playing live's the best bit for me personally," he says. "I'd rather perform on stage than be in the studio or handle business."

"That's how we all started," concludes Reeder. "We started playing the Smokefree Rockquest and Grey Lynn Park Festivals. That's where you get judged, the crowd know if you're faking. That's why we decided to use the Grey Lynn Park Festival as our album release party, because that's where we're from."

And with that, Reeder, McNulty and Atai depart, popping up the road to a nearby bakery to buy something to eat before heading into the city for their World Series soundcheck at the St James. "Get a meat pie in ya!" Godward shouts as the trio walk up the street. A Ponsonby Pie no doubt.