Nesian Mystik: Feeding The Frenzy
Author: Stephen Jewell
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"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 Chris Cross 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.
