After bringing their unique blues and reggae sound to the east coast earlier this year, legendary New Zealand trio Trinity Roots are returning to headline the Queenscliff Music Festival in November.
“We’re kind of a mixture of Aotearoa love sound I suppose, psychedelic rock kick – we like to take the audience on a bit of a sonic journey and get some important messages across with the lyrics,” shares drummer and vocalist Ben Lemi.
As a group, Trinity Roots formed in 2001 and have toured across New Zealand numerous times. Bringing their music to Australia then, is somewhat of an “experiment”.
“That was our first real tour we did over there this year, so we didn’t exactly know what to expect. We had a few friends in the industry and the Australian Music Industry saying that maybe our sound would sit well with the surfie community, the people on the coast,” shares Lemi.
“It seems like the audiences [were] really tapping into our wave length at the time – it was really good to pick up on those types of energies. Melbourne was also really great, and was a bit more of a city vibe. I guess there are a few parallels between Melbourne and my hometown here in Wellington, in terms of quite a good music scene and quite a strong art scene. So that was really, really good to play Melbourne as well.”
After joining the band just over two years ago, Lemi initially had reservations about joining the established group. This quickly passed, and the trio released the album Citizen earlier this year.
“It was a turning point for my life as a musician. I was slightly nervous about the idea of it, but as we sort of started rehearsing, singing and working on material, I realised what the benefits of joining a really established entity like Trinity is,” says the drummer.
“We like to sing about values and society and just appreciating things other than material objects, material aspirations. So talking true relationships and not being so locked into the Internet. You know, developing personal relationships with people on a physical level, that sort of thing.”
This message transcends their recordings and also encompasses their live shows. “We like to take our time with a lot of the jams that we play. Some of the songs have typical arrangement in terms of verse, chorus, things happening. Also, we do like to stretch those forms out, kind of let the sonic aspects and the more musical aspects in on that journey.”
In a nutshell, Trinity Roots is a band that cannot be put in a niche, and that is definitive of their music. “It’s sort of a linear journey I suppose – we like to transport people.”
Joining other Kiwi acts like Thomas Oliver, Estére and Hollie Smith, (Lemi adds in, “She’s got a really great soul voice, and her band’s great to check out”) you can catch Trinity Roots at the Queenscliff Music Festival from November 27-29. Tickets are available at qmf.net.au.
Written by Jessica Morris
When & Where: Queenscliff Music Festival – November 27-29