Cornerstone Roots: The Future Is Now
In the first week of the New Year, Takaka truly cemented the notion that little towns can really rock in style. I knew what to expect from Cornerstone Roots, having experienced the “message-orientated, bass-driven, soul-induced” Kiwi-flavoured roots and reggae before (www.myspace.com/thecornerstoneroots), and I was not disappointed.
Until now my social forays into Takaka’s nightlife have not included the Telegraph Hotel, but as I wandered in I was surprised by the amount of space and relaxed atmosphere in the pub. The gear was all set up and looked like it promised to crank the sound, the bar fully stocked with lovely ladies to pour the drinks, and people began steadily trickling in. My initial reaction was “the dance floor is not big enough!” But by the time it really got down to it a couple of hundred people made the entire room the dance floor.
The opening group of musicians boasted familiar faces in a mash-up of talented souls so tight it seemed they had been playing together for years. My legs found the reggae bop hard to resist and away they went, moving me around as the room began to really fill with receptive bodies. A short set left me wanting but the headliners were yet to come.
Originally a three-piece formed in Raglan back in 2001, an evolving Cornerstone Roots took to the instruments with deft hands and strong grooves with lead singer/songwriter/guitarist Brian Ruawai, bassist Naomi Tuao, Lei on keyboard, Connor on back-up singing and the beat driver Waka on drums. Once they upped the tempo the Telegraph was hopping—all factions of Takaka’s social diversity represented in one heaving mass, and I was impressed to see what I assumed to be a few regulars down the back soaking up the reggae-roots invasion. I could not stand still, ending up a spent and overheating groove rider as the group carried the contents of our retro-charmed pub to ear-ringing, knee-aching appreciation.
I had had grand intentions of taking piles of newspaper-worthy photos of music in action, screeds of quotable quips from the band that I would have niftily engaged in revealing repartee, noted down with the pen in my pocket. However I lost my pen and the camera batteries died after five (failed) shots, but I cannot deny my experience. It was hot (too hot for me), loud but fantastic sounds mixing old favourites with new material and buzzing with almost tangible positive energy. Everyone seemed to be smiling.
I did chat to a couple of the guys afterwards and was chuffed by their friendly natures—it must be tiring playing town after town then being hounded by enthusiastic fans/writers once they take a break. But something tells me that it is all part of what fuels them on—meeting New Zealand face-to-face when the music stops and getting to wake up in places like this, albeit on such brief visits. How fortunate are we?
For more info and to listen to the music, visit <www.myspace.com/thecornerstoneroots> and <www.cornerstoneroots.motherland.co.nz>.
Hannah Campbell
