Lost Tribe discovered in New Zealand

RIZE UP: Rhythm guitarist/singer Tux Severne of steadily rising six-piece Lost Tribe Aotearoa pumps up the crowd. You might recognise Severne as the star of the latest drink driving ad on TV. Picture supplied

The story of Lost Tribe Aotearoa’s rise from jamming in a shed for decades to meeting Ed Sheeran at Roundhead Studios to performing at Smash Palace, is the stuff movies are made of.

Born in a shed in Taupo, Lost Tribe Aotearoa officially formed only about eight months ago. Since then the band’s deep skanking reggae base splashed with ska, metal, rock and blues has made waves in the New Zealand music scene.

This is their story.

“We’re a family band,” says lead guitarist/singer Ben Aves.

“Three of the singers are first cousins. Myself and one of the other singers have played together in a shed for 20 years. Then we thought ‘man, let’s do something with this’.”

They called themselves Lost Tribe Aotearoa (LTA) and a week later landed a gig in Raglan where they freestyled, improvised, onstage.

LTA’s drummer was a former member of top reggae band Cornerstone Roots. Musicians from Cornerstone were in the audience for the Raglan show. Nek minit, LTA was invited to perform with Cornerstone Roots on Boxing Day.

“Two to three weeks out from the gig, we thought ‘s**t, we have to write some music,’” says Aves.

“So we wrote some music. Another cousin was there at the time so we invited him in to sing. He made up a song on the spot. That was a game changer. We told him ‘you’re in the band, bro’.”

It got serious from there and the band began to seek out venues to perform at, says Aves.

After the Boxing Day show Cornerstone Roots took on the role of mentor.

“They said ‘Start recording. Don’t f*** around. Go to the best. Get to Roundhead Studios.”

While there to record four songs, LTA had a brush with international stardom when they met Ed Sheeran. But it was Mai FM’s Big Break competition that got the band radio exposure. LTA entered their first release into Mai FM’s competition — and won. No mean feat given the radio station’s preferred genre is hip-hop and RnB.

“We get constant radio play with them,” says Aves.

“They remixed one of ours songs with a rapper. That will be released in a couple of weeks.”

LTA has since lined up a show through a mate in Hastings.

The mate had a better idea.

“He said ‘faah, you should play in Gisborne first’.”

So the band, joined by Cornerstone Roots keyboard player Nicholas Stevens, will now play at Smash Palace on Friday.

Then they take Hastings.

Lost Tribe Aotearoa - Rize Up Tour with BMC, Smash Palace, Friday, 8pm. Tickets $15 presale from eventfinda.