International vibes to East Coast

East Coast Vibes - Annie Crummer

East Coast Vibes might be all about showing off the Gisborne lifestyle and keeping it local but they have been getting a lot of international attention.

“We get contacted quite a bit throughout the year from bands who want to come to the festival,” says festival founder Rob Coe-Tipene.

“Not just reggae roots bands, but everything, from Scottish bands to rock bands. Gizzy has these vibes about being a surfy beach town, and they want to come experience that.”

The international interest has led to an impressive line-up for the annual festival, including British legends Black Slate, Californian crew Big Mountain, the godfather of Pacific reggae Fiji, and Brisbane band Paua.

New Zealand names Tomorrow People, Sons of Zion, Chad Chambers and Sammy J are also booked to play.

“It’s the first time we have had four internationals on the bill,” says Coe-Tipene. “It has definitely become an iconic event for the region.”

Despite the international line-up, Coe-Tipene says the festival was always intended to promote Gisborne.

“The plan has always been for the festival to have a real local feel to it — we’ve been really stoked with the local support.”

This year the festival is promoting a number of Gisborne bands, including debut appearances for One Point Five Men and Rob Ruha.

Sibling duo One Point Five Men just performed at Rhythm and Vines, while Ruha is getting ready to tour through South America, including performing at WOMAD (World of Music, Arts and Dance) in Chile.

“One Point Five Men have been doing some cool stuff and so has Rob,” says Coe-Tipene.

“He’s just won heaps of awards, he’s about to tour through South America and last year he headlined his own double release tour.”

Coe-Tipene says East Coast Vibes usually pulls about 3000 reggae roots fans from both Gisborne and beyond, and they’re expecting the same this year.

“Out-of-towners usually have some kind of Gizzy connection, whether they lived here or heard about it through a Gizzy friend,”

As Coe-Tipene and festival revellers celebrate the fifth anniversary of the homegrown gig, they’re looking to the future.

“We’ll be able to look at getting more international bands when we grow it to two stages or two days or whatever — we’re always thinking about that,” he says.

Coe-Tipene’s best memory over the past five years was having Jamaican reggae band The Wailers come to play.

“That was probably the most memorable (festival event) because they were Bob Marley’s original backing band. They own the Bob Marley exhibition, so we had it launched at Tairawhiti Museum when they came.”

Despite all the talk of names, Coe-Tipene says it is the vibes that make the festival what it is.

“It’s a unique vibe that you get from being here in Gizzy, on the coast. It’s really friendly, it’s chilled, it feels like everyone knows each other. You look around and you see everyone catching up.”

In collaboration with One Love Festival in Tauranga and Pato Entertainment, Coe-Tipene hopes to be celebrating the good vibes on the East Coast well into the future.