Wellington hip-hop crew Raw Collective hits the stage at Paisley

Wellington's 10 piece hip-hop crew Raw Collective is coming our way.

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Raw Collective vocalist Pauly Lowe.

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The band together in Wellington.

by Brenda Vowden

brenda.vowden@nzme.co.nz

Wellington's much loved, 10 piece, hip-hop crew, Raw Collective, is back with their long-awaited and most recent studio album The Good Things LP and will be hitting the road for their national album tour. Raw Collective will be playing at Paisley Stage this Friday night, showcasing the band's "electric live performance and exceptional musicianship", say critics. I caught up with Hawke's Bay based vocalist, guitarist and sometimes songwriter Pauly Lowe ahead of the tour.

How/when/where did Raw Collective come about?

Me and Rory (emcee producer) met by chance working a night shift at Midnight Espresso in 2014 after I'd just moved to Wellington to pursue my music career. We hit it off straight away and organised to meet up the following day to create music together. Firstly it was just myself and Rory writing and recording most parts and getting in the odd session musician to fill in the gaps. We made an EP and released it with not much of a plan of what we were doing, then a friend of ours asked if we could assemble a live band to play our new songs at Newtown festival. We called upon friends we both had in the music scene and put together a band. This was the early formation of Raw Collective. The gig was a success and we still have several members from that initial gig with us now. It was after that we decided that we needed a big band to replicate the sound we had created.

Tell me a bit about Raw Collective's evolution since?

Raw Collective has been through many line-up changes as we've evolved through the years, but a few core members have stood the test of time. Myself, Rory, Blain on bass, and Ben on trumpet have been with us from the very start. Raw Collective is a bit like a revolving door of amazing Wellington musicians. Each album has seen drummers, different Emcees and many guest appearances, even collaborating with Canadian producer Ghostnaut. We're also forever learning and tweaking things from album to album, forever morphing our sound.

Is Raw Collective your 'day job'?

It was at one point but now I have gone into landscaping and am currently teaching carpentry at EIT.

What brought you back to the Bay?

I'm now back in Hawke's Bay after seven years in Wellington. I decided to move home to be closer to family and it happened to be just before the first wave of Covid hit.

How often does the band get together?

When I was in Wellington half of the band used to live together in an amazing flat with a studio in the basement. That meant we could rehearse and create almost every day. Living in Hawke's Bay has definitely created new challenges. I get down when I can for rehearsals and writing sessions but mostly we rely on the internet for sharing ideas and recording. As for rehearsals, we've been doing this for so long, if everyone does their homework we can just meet up for the show and smash it!

What are some of the challenges and positives of collaborating with 10 band members?

Where do I start ... It hasn't been an easy road with such a big band and we were warned by friends that it wouldn't be easy. Nevertheless we couldn't see any other way of replicating the sound we had created. And it's been worth it. When the 10 of us are on stage and pumping it's a surreal feeling and the crowd can feel it too.

How are these challenges best met?

By hard work, patience and very good people skills, haha ...

How would you best describe the Raw Collective sound?

A fusion between 10 obsessed music lovers from almost every genre you could imagine.

How has that sound changed over the years?

I feel that we've all matured as people and musicians which has reflected in our sound. Our early stuff was a lot more selfish and cluttered. As we've evolved there's more definition, purpose and clarity in our music.

Tell me a bit about the new The Good Things LP — how did this come about?

This album is the pinnacle of Raw Collective, to date. After years of lineup changes and figuring out our sound and direction, The Good Things LP is exactly where we want to be and how we want to sound.

Why will the new album and tour be the 'right sounds for summer'?

It's fun, fresh, innovative, yet familiar.

Why is it important for Raw Collective to be touring again?

Because we love what we do, we believe in our music and at the heart of it all we are a family of friends bound by this crazy machine called Raw Collective.

■ Raw Collective, Friday, February 26, Paisley Stage, tickets at Undertheradar.co.nz.