Blue King Brown has made some huge advances on the world music scene and will perform at the timeOUT concert at Cairns Showgrounds on Saturday, August 30

It wouldn’t be a top Aussie music festival without the hard-hitting roots and reggae sound of Melbourne’s Blue King Brown.

Many Australian festival bosses – including organisers of this year’s timeOUT concert at Cairns Showground – scramble for the signature of this high-octane 10-piece crew because of their unrivalled edgy groove.

But since their Big Day Out appearances and tour with The Cat Empire earlier this year, Natalie Pa’apa’a and her posse have been making big steps on the international stage as well.

They have extensively toured the US, Japan, New Zealand and Canada to help spread its social conscious messages through their funky, infectious vibe.

“It’s been great to get our music outside of Australia to a wider audience and see what their response is,” singer Natalie Pa’apa’a told timeOUT from her home in Melbourne.

“It’s great to hear a new perspective on your sound because we’ve only been hearing what people from our little community think of it.”

And they’ve scored prominent fans in the biz along the way including some of the biggest names in funk, roots and reggae like Michael Franti and The Cat Empire.

But their most notable fan was rock mega star Carlos Santana, who invited them on his tour of Australia and New Zealand earlier this year.

Santana has openly praised Blue King Brown, comparing them to other multi-dimensional outfits like Ozomatli and Tower of Power.

“He’s the real deal and he’s so caring with such a sacred spirit,” Natalie says of her experience touring with Santana.

“He was very supportive of us as a group and gave us some great advice. I got to go up and play guitar with him on stage so that was a real highlight of my life.

“Once we finished the tour, it was hard to get back to our normal life and there was a real come down period where we thought ‘can it get any better than that?’. ”

After that monumental high, they headed back to the studio to start recording the follow-up to their highly successful Stand Up album from 2006.

They went to the home of reggae in Kingston, Jamaica, New York and San Francisco, working with the likes of Sly and Robbie, Jah Mason, Rovleta Fraser and renowned engineer Bonzai – known for his work with Damian and Stephen Marley.

“It’s going to be different from the first album without straying too far from our roots and reggae vibe,” Natalie says.

“Lyrically, it represents what the band really believes in and to remember what we’ve achieved as a community over the past 10 years and what we expect to achieve in the next 10 years.

“We also want to acknowledge where we are at as a society now.”

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