THERE are three commonalities when it comes to talking about one of Fiji’s newest musical bands — Kava Drive.
One they love grog (kava), thus the name of the band, two they are all related and thirdly they all love music.
“Funny story actually, ’cause of the number of times we usually meet around the infamous tanoa and the growing interest with the core of us starting a band and making good use of our talent, we went ahead and then we pulled in the remaining two members — Stee and Lawrence,” said rhythm guitarist and back-up vocalist Apisai Vuki.
Since their first gig at Traps Bar, the band has been covering a wide range of music including numbers bv the Bee Gees, Michael Buble, UB 40, Justin Bieber, John Mayer and couple of their original songs.
“The band was formed definitely through the close bond of family and friends.
“Grog was their in the love affair with music tagging along. So I first grabbed Chris and Stee about two years back and just told them ‘you know what we can do this guys’!
“So the three of us started off with a contract with Traps Bar. Thanks to that, it has been bookings with private functions and fundraisings and then we found ‘Hala’ through Chris’ acquaintances. I then realised we needed a lead guitarist and didn’t need to look far with Lawrence who worked with me.
“The rest was history,” said Bis, as he is commonly known.
The band usually practises in the weekends because it’s the only time that most of them, because of various reasons, are available.
Since forming the band two years ago while Bis and Hala were composing a song everyone would play a part in the rhythm of the beat.
“Like most musicians’ songs about life, it’s the practical things that affect us or our friends/family. Great songs come out of life’s experiences.
“Our music and our groove is centred around thanking and knowing the great man upstairs, God. We’re not all perfect people but we never resist in asking upstairs.
“Our music, though we’re always mixing it up, we love playing a tune to a certain song but singing a totally different song.”
However, getting everything together wouldn’t have been be possible without the help of very important family members and friends.
“Jerry Veremalua, who funded our gear supplies, thanks to family support. He and I sort of made a personal commitment to each other and I am indebted to his generosity and willingness to help us start with our gear that we all have, to date, in use.
“Support and thanks also to Anare Keni who, at the start, gave us the venue and resources to practise and being with us to our first gigs at Traps Bar.
“The famous Nemani and Talei who, now and then allow us to practise and record at their place in Rewa St and also reminding us that ‘live music should always be kept alive’.
“And how can we forget Dave Lavaki and his First Fighter Production team for doing recordings for us for auditions with potential contracts and of course for future albums,” Bis concluded.
