INTERVIEW: Common Kings are ready to celebrate with a new album, new tour
Photo: Common Kings’ new album is called Celebration. Photo courtesy of the band / Provided by Press Junkie PR with permission.
Common Kings, the increasingly popular reggae band that has found crossover success, recently released their new album of original material, and the title of the recording perfectly sums up their feeling right now: Celebration. The band consists of four college friends who first met at a backyard barbecue. There’s Samoan-born Hawaiian lead singer Sasualei “Junyer King” Maliga, Hawaii-raised Samoan guitarist Taumata “Mata” Grey, Fiji-born bassist Ivan “Uncle Lui” Kirimaua and L.A.-born Tongan drummer Jerome “Big Rome” Taito, according to press notes. Together, they have crafted an impressive career in a short amount of time, earning a Grammy nomination for 2017’s Lost in Paradise.
The creative juices were flowing so much for this new recording effort that fans can expect not just one album, but two. When the guys got together during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, they recorded more than 100 songs, 24 of which will be spread across two albums. “It started day one of COVID,” Junyer King said in a recent phone interview. “That’s when we started this whole album.”
Mata further explained that when the world shut down, and the Common Kings were sidelined from their aggressive touring schedule, they decided to text each other see if getting together for a recording session would be possible. Without the burden of touring, they had a lot more time to focus on making a new album.
“When everyone got locked up, the whole world changed,” Mata said. “We usually tour seven to nine months out of the year, and then just everything stopped. All right, cool. After a week went by, we all kind of texted each other. ‘Are you cool?’ ‘Yeah, are you cool?’ ‘Let’s go to work.’ So we just basically locked ourselves up in our studio for about 18-20 months.”
Mata said they collaborated with a bevy of musicians, singer-songwriters and producers over those 18-plus months. The result of their efforts: 120 songs. From there, they chose the top 24, and a new album from Island Empire/Mensch House Records is now in the hands of the Common Kings’ many fans — with the second one on the horizon.
“Celebration would be the first half, side A of the album, that we’re going to be introducing to the world that we’re really, really excited with,” Mata said. “This is probably our proudest body of work that we’ve done ever because we put so much time in, and we had the time to do it. So we were just there utilizing the time that we had because we were all stuck and locked up through COVID.”
For those who haven’t checked in with the Common Kings since their last release, Lost in Paradise, there have been many changes with the sound of the band. Junyer King said that the tunes have sonically evolved since 2017, still entrenched in those island reggae sounds, but also growing funkier and more danceable. These changes can be heard on “Do My Thing,” “Celebration (One Shot)” and “Hideaway.”
“We definitely have evolved since Lost in Paradise sonically, and just the little details of the songs have definitely evolved,” Junyer King said. “We’re super, super stoked for everyone to hear it.”
Mata added: “You can tell the growth. You know, 2017 was when we released Lost in Paradise, and we’re releasing this six years later. And you can totally tell the growth of how much we’ve matured as a band, as songwriters. We were full hands on. You can tell how our tools have been sharpened, our skill sets. On Lost in Paradise, we had other engineers and mixers and producers that were mostly doing everything for us, but this time, we were hands on. We were alongside the producers and the mixers and the engineers and the songwriters writing the songs, mixing the songs, engineering the songs, producing the songs the whole way, so we would see ourselves as overall executive producers. And that’s why this one means so much more as well.”
As mentioned, this creative explosion happened because the pandemic stopped the Common Kings from touring, freeing up their time, but now they can reverse that trend. The band is heading out on an expansive tour to bring their older beloved tunes and the new songs to fans who have been waiting patiently. Gigs begin again Friday, Sept. 1 at Majestic Ventura Theater in Ventura, California, followed by two months of dates across the United States.
“Because we just didn’t have much else to do — other then to create content, still stay relevant in this industry and just make music — it was easier for us to just bang out records, no matter if it was just a melody, a hook, a quick two-track recording,” Mata said “You took things for granted that you never realized that you did, but not anymore. I would say this was a more fun process because it really helped us get in tune with ourselves as artists and grow as husbands, fathers, rock stars, and just kind of balancing everything. We love the process, and it really helped us learn who we are as a band, as a band of brothers.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Common Kings’ new album is called Celebration. Click here for more information.
