Trinity Roots reform for NZ tour

TRIPLE TROUBLE: Trinity Roots are reforming after five years apart.

It's five years since Wellington band Trinity Roots split and turned their one waka into three.

Now Warren Maxwell (lead vocals/guitars/keyboards), Rio Hunuki-Hemopo (bass/vocals) and Riki Gooch (drums/vocals) are rejoining the bits and setting out to revive the spirit with a couple of live shows.

The trio met in 1998 when they came from the Far North (Maxwell is from Whangarei), the South (Gooch grew up in Dunedin) and the King Country (Hunuki-Hemopo is from Taumarunui) to study jazz in Wellington.

Being "the only bros" at school they were drawn to each other and soon Trinity Roots was born.

And with it a unique blend of soul, blues, jazz, reggae and roots enriched with heartfelt lyrics, incorporating a love for the land and their Maori heritage.

With only two albums the band set the stage for many other roots and reggae band in New Zealand and gave the protest against the controversial 2004 foreshore and seabed legislation a voice.

This week sees the release of Music is Choice, featuring audio from two shows at Wellington's town hall, one being the band's final 2005 concert.

A bonus CD contains Wellingtonian Sarah Hunter's documentary of the same name. It premiered at this year's International Film Festival and gave not only audiences the chance to re-connect with the band.

"When I saw it, I genuinely enjoyed the music for the first time," Maxwell said. Around the same time a yet to be named New Year's Eve festival contacted the band and asked if they would ever consider getting back together.

"That opened a few synapses and I called the guys and we all felt it would be great to get together and rekindle some of the old songs," he says.

The documentary follows the band from their beginnings to their split on the zenith of their popularity.

"There was something going on in the music scene in the late 90s, the whole roots and reggae thing was coming in out of a decade of rock and it was just luck, because we were around creating something really original in the roots reggae," Maxwell says.

The two albums True (2002) and Home, Land and Sea (2004) hit right into their listeners' hearts, creating a truly loyal fan base.

As a composer, Maxwell says, he would always set out to touch people with his music.

"I really put a heavy emphasis on writing something that was poignant and means something.

"And I guess my style of writing is from a deeply metaphorical angle, I used a lot of Maori philosophy, and Maori proverbs as well.

He remembers people coming up and saying 'Hey Warren, I hope you don't mind but my dad passed away last year and we used Little Things at his tangi and I hope that is OK."And when Trinity got bigger and bigger around the country, I felt like we were accomplishing that and it felt really satisfying," he says.

''That for me is far greater than album sales. It means that we touched people and that is one of the many roles music has to play in society," he says.

Trinity Roots' Home, Land and Sea is a love song to Aotearoa and has become something like an anthem against the seabed legislation. Maxwell hopes that his music has helped people to re-connect with the land and become political aware.

"I am kind of arrogantly optimistic, that it did and from individual feedback that I had from people saying, that the song touched them more than any speech from Helen Clark or John Key.

"That is something that music does, it seems to infiltrate your being much more than just somebody standing up and talking about an issue.

"What I really love about this song, is that it rekindles memories of a very happy childhood in New Zealand, having the ability to swim in the rivers being able to go and walk along the beach and all you have to do is think about all those memories and what would be if they were gone, if they wouldn't exist anymore," the artist explains.

Although the band had a great time together, making many friends along the way, Maxwell never regretted the decision to split.

"It was some kind of cosmic thing, part of the faiths," he says.

We split up for a good reason and it was basically after being in Trinity for five or six years, we all felt that we needed to explore other musical genres and Trinity was becoming some sort of machine.

"If you get to a certain level, there is a momentum that takes over. And you feel like you're not in control anymore and it is a bit unnerving," he says.

Maxwell went on to form Little Bushman, Gooch Eru Dangerspiel and Hunuki-Hemopo released solo work and cooperated with the likes of Fed Freddy's Drop and Breaks Co-Op.

"It just happened quite organically, so does this coming together after a five year break. We've done all these other things and now we just carry on.

If the reunion will be a one-off or will lead to further recordings is not decided yet.

"We're not sure, what we've discussed is just to see how this summer goes and what everybody's other commitments are, and we'll just have to see how it all feels after these few gigs and you never know.

"Watch this space," he says.

>via: http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/entertainment/4108690/Trinity-Roots-refo...