“Māori, in particular [those who are] overseas and wanting to come home, but obviously the stability and higher income in Australia keeps them there.
“The same thing with the Warriors - the boys spent two years [in Australia] digging in there to keep the NRL going, so we wanted to pay homage. So the song has a big push for supporting the Wahs,” Johnson says.
Hemopo says the album was about making songs for future generations.
Music for tamariki’s tamariki
“For me, it was about making music for my tamariki’s tamariki.”
Play it Loud, the first track on the new album, details a story most musicians or groups in New Zealand can relate to.
“The inspiration came from a lack of funding. For us, we’ve tried and tried to get funding, and it was one of the hardest things,” Johnson says.
“It was ironic because we shot the video clip. The twist was around us not getting funding, and just before we released the album and the track, we got funding. So we manipulated the video clip to acknowledge that.
“It’s nice to be acknowledged for all the hard mahi that we’ve been putting in over the years.”
Their summer schedule is already busy enough, with eight bookings to get their music, especially the new album, out to the masses.
