Blue King Brown kickin' it forLegs 11

Thu 27th Sep, 2007 in Features

Carlo Santone is Italian/Australian, fiercely political and a staunch believer in Aboriginal rights. He’s also an extremely talented guitarist. Now imagine eight other people who are pretty much varied incarnations of Carlo, and you have yourself the mighty juggernaut that is Blue King Brown – reggae/dub/rock ambassadors to the world.

Founded by Carlo and his long-term girlfriend/front woman Natalie Pa’apa’a, BKB have literally oozed their way into the pores of the Australian consciousness. As I speak to Carlo, he is preparing for an East Coast tour with another bunch of fire-starters, Michael Franti and Spearhead. “It should be great” Carlo enthuses “Franti has always got something interesting to say.” Having now made one the biggest understatements of the year, Carlo tops it off by mentioning his deep affinity with possibly the most famous rock-politik outfits, ever.

“Nat and I were just in San Francisco and we saw *Rage Against The Machine*…” he begins. I cut him off, at once insanely jealous but also eager to hear about how THE band of my teenage years sounded after the Audioslave era. “OK, so imagine a room with like thousands of people all jumping together,” he grins “It was absolutely mental.” Given that Rage tickets go on sale today [Thursday] for Sydney, does Carlo think it’s worth shelling out 100 clams for the band? “Ah, well they were the band of my youth. I saw them play Big Day Out the year after Nirvana came out (1993 for all you playing at home) and I’ve been in love with them ever since.”

Clearly the political wordplay and fiery vocals of one Zach de La Rocha have influenced Blue King Brown, as Nat lays waste to all those who refuse to accept native title, Aboriginal rights and general injustice. She’s a fiery little lady, and obviously the perfect match for an equally charged up Carlo “We’ve been together for years!” Nothing like a bit of love to fuel the passion of this band.

In fact, the band is becoming a bit like a Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts club. “We’ve got a drummer, a percussionist, some horns, a few vocalists, me and Natalie,” explains Carlo. I ask him if he’s ever heard of the Polyphonic Spree. When he replies in the negative, I tell him all about the 25 robe-clad Jesus freaks, and he laughs uproariously. “No we just like having lots of people in our band. We initially were a 7-piece but it’s just a great jam vibe having so many of your close friends on stage with you.”

Besides, the band is playing pretty huge stages now, their most recent coup being a spot on stage at the Legs 11. “And Missy Higgins is bringing the Sydney Youth Orchestra, apparently,” Carlo says “So we won’t be that big comparatively. So how do people react to a nine-piece, politically-infused rock-reggae band? “I think people’s tastes are a lot broader these days than they were a few years back,” says Carlo. “They are more open to a diverse range of genres, which is good because we incorporate lots of different ones into our music.”

As a political band, it’s only fair that Carlo tell me some of his views on the upcoming election and the state of Australia in general. “Ideally, I’d love the Greens to win, but if they don’t, I don’t mind, as long as it’s NOT Liberal.”

He sees Howard as “unsafe” (a view which this author supports wholeheartedly), not only to the Australian way of life but indeed to the Aboriginal communities up North. “This indigenous intervention [whereby the Howard government brought in the cavalry – cops, army and doctors – to attempt to fix an Aboriginal health problem that they “ignored for years” is ridiculous and it really shows that Australia is ready for change.” Inspirational words from an inspirational character in an exceptionally inspirational band. Blue King Brown – give them your vote in the upcoming election!

You can see Blue King Brown at the Upcoming Legs 11 concert at Sydney’s Domain on Friday October 26.