Haere mai to our American bro'

Ben Harper and new band The Relentless7. Photo / Supplied

He's no newcomer, but Ben Harper is quite possibly the coolest man in rock. The American folk, roots and rock singer has just turned 40. Nowadays, his hair is cropped sensibly close to his head and the Maori tattoos he wears with pride appears pretty standard in Hollywood. Yet Harper simply oozes coolness.

He's at his beachside home in Southern California preparing to hit the road for the New Zealand leg of his tour with the granddaddies of grunge, Pearl Jam, and Kiwi Liam Finn, and although time is limited, Harper wants to shoot the breeze. "Where exactly in Auckland are you?" he queries. But we are talking Harper here, who is practically one of Aotearoa's own.

He wants to talk about his beloved "permanent home away from home" before we get to the nitty gritty of his latest album, White Lies For Dark Times, and the tour. I'd always assumed Harper's love affair with New Zealand was a bit of an urban myth. But he really does speak of it in a spiritual way. "It's something I think of every day. It's in me. It's far and beyond anywhere I've been in the world, as far as a culture. I'm honoured and I take it with great respect and humility," he says.

So much so, that while on a trip here in 2000 Harper covered his arms and back in traditional Maori tattoos. The work was carried out by expert Kiwi moko artist Gordon Hatfield.

Harper has encountered many who believe he shouldn't be carrying such a blatant mark of cultural identity when he's not Maori. He doesn't disagree: "Some people don't like it because I'm not born of the blood, and they're right. I'm a half-black, half-Jewish person from America; that's my bloodline. So the people who feel I shouldn't wear it aren't wrong.

"On the other hand, I feel that I tap into the soul of its meaning for me. I hold it at the highest sacred regard with every step."

The California-born musician has now carried the moko around the globe and can't wait to get back to New Zealand for what is being tipped as an unmissable gig this summer.

"Man, when I heard that line-up I was ear-to-ear," he beams. "I've seen Liam [Finn] and he's amazing. And I love Pearl Jam. I'm on the phone talking to the guys and everybody is in their best form."

It is timely that Harper signed up to support Pearl Jam on a world tour just as he had recruited a new band, The Relentless7, and cranked up the amp on his new album. Guitar-driven tracks like Up To You Now and Keep It Together, as well as the soaring anthemic Fly One Time, are made for large, open venues like Auckland's Mt Smart.

And, although the album has had mixed reviews, the singer's not fazed. "We've started going back to singles as individual songs, which is where popular music started, whether it was Fats Domino, Chuck Berry or Jerry Lee Lewis. It's an incredibly exciting time for me because I know things are going to be done differently and I know there's going to be change, and through change there's growth."

Harper predicts that five-track albums will be the way of the future. "Five songs for maybe five bucks. I think 12 songs is prohibitive with the new musical attention span and it's financially prohibitive."

It is not surprising that the singer, who is heavily involved in social activism, cares about what fans can afford. Sceptics would label him a liberal do-gooder who knows the right things to say, but take Harper at face value and you have an incredibly nice guy who seems to genuinely care about people.

He is after all - according to Kiwi singer Teremoana Rapley, who met Harper in 2000 - the same guy who visited an inmate at Auckland's Paremoremo Prison to thank him for making him a bone carving.

And, while being married to Hollywood actress Laura Dern only adds to Harper's celebrity factor, he swears he's a normal guy still humbled by the attention. "Trust me, I'm still from the school where I'm just glad to have a seat at the table."

* Ben Harper and the Relentless7 play Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland, with Pearl Jam and Liam Finn on Friday, November 27.