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Slide-King Josh Rawiri – A Giant Waiting To Happen
By Luke Kennedy | 02 September 2011 |
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The first thing, which strikes you about musician Josh Rawiri is his physical presence. At 6’8” and 108 kg’s he is not a small human. His uncle and father both played rugby for the under 18 All-Blacks and at a glance it’s not difficult to imagine Josh tearing into a ruck or scrum. “ People always said I should be into footy but I learnt pretty early on that you can’t strum a guitar with stubbed fingers, so I stuck with music and surfing instead.” Josh’s imposing stature belies a sensitive, artistic soul. His music combines rapturous, slide-guitar riffs with versatile vocals, to produce everything from girthy power ballads to drifting melodies. Josh’s style is distinctive, but if you’re looking for other performers to associate him with, you could think in terms of a gutsy hybrid of Ben Harper and Ash Grunwald. The rootsy mix of folk and rock recently featured on the soundtrack to the Tracks DVD, Prime Zero, and Josh, who lives in Coastal Victoria, readily admits that surfing is an important part of his creative process. “ I find it clears my mind to a point where I can channel my inspirational thoughts.” Although Josh claims that folk-rock is still at the core of his sound, he’s eager to talk about the other styles he has embraced with his latest album. “ I have Declan Kelly on drums, a wrapper from L.A. on certain tracks and then strings from the Sydney Symphony orchestra on others.” Invariably, on the eclectic album, each track has the feel of a newly unwrapped surprise. The album, “Molecular Teleportation” [also the name of the title track] reflects Josh’s esoteric goals for the release. “It’s about being able to transport the sound into a vibrational code that would reach everyone.”
Although at ease discussing his music on an abstract level, Josh wants no part of the naval-gazing snobbery that sometimes affects artists linked to the Indie scene. He chuckles when I mention one of his press photos, which features him riding a horse along a beach, looking every bit like someone auditioning for a bush-ranger role in a movie. “ The Indie scene’s really hard to crack and everyone’s really cool, almost too cool. We thought we’d try and get a bit of air-play on the country radio stations and hope that a bit of it flows over into the other genres.” As he gears up for his next tour, which starts in late September, Josh is still having fun. “ I just had a microphone attached to the old P.A. system on my bus.” Josh jams a couple of riffs and at the other end of the phone I hear the music reverberate through a tour vehicle that just turned magic bus. Josh is lucky enough to have his partner, Marina handling the paperwork and PR, which includes scheduling for his upcoming tour and the marketing the new album. This frees him up to concentrate on the tunes and still play dad to his two kids Ravi [3] and Saskia [2]. For now, both parents are focused on Josh’s music. “ All the money always goes back into my music. I guess that’s the way it will have to be until I achieve a certain level of notoriety and lots of people start coming to my concerts. I don’t mind because the lifestyle is such a good thing – being able to cruise around and play your music, meet different people all the time and getting inspired by different places, you go to. So long as you’ve got enough money to be getting by and supporting your family, that’s the main thing I think.” One senses Josh Rawiri is on the cusp of something much bigger, but for now the one time chef is just happy to be making a living from the guitar he slings over his shoulder and a voice, which has that rare quality of making you feel like you’re hearing something profound. Check below for tour dates. Josh’s album, Mollecular Teleportation will be available from the 7th October. See below for his upcoming tour dates.
JOSH RAWIRI Live Waves and Music-Josh Rawiri from Marcus England on Vimeo. Note: Visiting Tracksmag.com for the first time? Why not become a friend on Facebook or follow us on Twitter so we can hang out more often? |
The best shoot so far!
From this small, and beautiful town of Portland, we're surrounded by incredible talent! Great write up, can't wait for all to come.