There's Only "One Groove" To the TOP!

By HuiMusic

I have to admit that I’m not all that aware of the many cool Contemporary/Island Rhythms sounds like One Groove.  I’m more of a progressive music kind of guy, but I heard some the tracks from the new One Groove CD called Make Your Move and really dug it.  

Super cool tracks with tight musicianship and smooth vocals makes this one of the top CD’s currently on rotation in Hawaii.  Though all the band members are from Hawaii, the band was formed and resides in the Bay Area.  It was real cool to see that a band like One Groove could keep it real to the 808 vibe while checking out the Golden Gate Bridge .  

I took special notice of the “tightness” of the bands performance on their debut CD Make Your Move.  The musicianship of the guys are that of pro studio cats.  On top of that I can hear that there was meticulous detail to getting their sounds.  Man, I have to say that I took notice of the guitar sound and precise playing.  Bass and drums are impeccably tight as are the arrangements.  Locked in with strong vocal performances that have personality and songwriting, One Groove has seemed to have locked into an original groove as a local Contemporary group.  

Like I said earlier, One Groove formed in the Bay Area, all of the members are originally from Hawaii .  The members are:  Chris Lavatai (lead vocals), Keone Katian (lead vocals, ukulele), Chris Canubida (lead vocals), Kris Kanoho (guitar), Jose Dangtayan (guitar), Brent Nishikawa (drums) and Hini Galuteria (bass).  You can find out more about the guys at: www.onegroove.net  

Production and engineering of the CD reflects the perfection that the guys from One Groove were going for.  Thought the CD released a while back, it has been and will continue to be a top chart release for some time to come.  

The opening track called Heartache has been #1 in on a bunch of stations in Hawaii and is in the top 5 overall throughout the state.  I also took personal notice the tracks Big Ship and Object of my Affection of which I think all can be a total mainstream crossover.  

But not only to the Hawaii scene does One Groove attract.  I had brought the CD to a casual dinner with some Hollywood mucky-mucks and dropped it in the CD player.  Amongst the gang at the dinner was Academy Award winner Alexander Payne (2005 Academy Award for best screenplay as well as director of the hit movies Sideways and About Schmidt).   

All of a sudden I saw the mellow Hollywood dinner crew start to “bob-da-head” and really enjoyed the music.  Geeez just to think, if Hawaiian bands like One Groove could break into the mainstream what an impact Hawaiian Contemporary music can make on the world scene!  We can only hope, but with a full-court press (basketball term for pressure), you can never tell.  

Anyhow, as per the HuiMusic way, One Groove gave us an in-depth look at who, how and where their going in the traditional Q&A.  To check out One Grooves tracks, you can visit them on http://www.onegroove.net/discography.html  

• How long have you been together?  The current One Groove line up has been together for almost 6 years now.  Many of us go a lot farther back than One Groove though, playing in other bands, high school and college classmates, etc.
• Are you all the original members?  We’ve all played music in other groups around the Bay Area and Hawai’i before and there have been other members who have come and gone (like DeRoy Lavatai who wrote/sang “Diving In The Day” on our album and Cary Mashiba who currently plays bass with the island reggae group Three Plus).  The lineup has changed over the years but never because of any animosity – we still consider all of the braddahs that have played with us as part of the One Groove family.
• How did you come together as a band?  One Groove was started at Menlo College where 4 of the 7 members were attending school.  Jose and Kris Kanoho were playing with another group, Mo’opuna, at the time they joined One Groove.
• Did you come together in Hawaii ?  All seven of us were born and raised in Hawai’i and came to California for either school or work.  A few of the members attended Kamehameha Schools together but the rest of the band met and formed here in California .
• Who are the principal writers?  Four of us in the group did the majority of the writing for “Make Your Move” – Chris Lavatai, Keone Catian, Kris Kanoho and Jose Dangtayan
• When was Make Your Move released?  February 22^nd, 2005
• Who’s distributing the CD?  Aloha Music International (AMI) who have been phenomenal in making sure our CD is readily available and in stock!
• Did the band finance the CD?  We’re grateful to have had an executive producer on this project, Ko’olau Kawelo.  Not having to worry about the financial demands of recording allowed us to really concentrate on the creative aspects of the album – writing, arranging, etc.
• Where was it recorded?  Pre-production for the album was done at CrossedCulture Studio.  The album was recorded/mixed at Nice N’ Up Studio in San Francisco and Laughing Tiger in San Rafael .  Ken Lee out in Oakland mastered the album for us – Ken also did a lot of the Bob Marley digital re-masters.
• Who was the producer?  Kris Kanoho, Keone Catian and Chris Cortez (a good friend and member of the band Native Elements).
• How long did it take to final product on the shelf?  Nearly 2 years from start to finish!  Because we all work day jobs we had to make time after hours and weekends to record and mix.  We could probably have finished the album in a lot less time but we made a conscious decision to not cut corners – it was hard work, but in the end we wound up with a debut CD that we’re all really proud of.
• Are you getting any radio support in the Bay Area? The majority of our mainland radio support has come from college radio stations and listener sponsored stations across the country. One of our main goals that we have been in pursuit of, and still consider a work in progress, has been to “forward” island reggae music to the forefront of mainstream radio. 
• How is the radio support for One Groove in Hawai’i ?  Fantastic!  KCCN FM100 and Island 98.5 have our first single “Heartache” in heavy rotation.  The Maui stations (Q103, KPOA, 98.3), Big Island (KWXX) and Kauai (KSRF) stations as well as others have all been super gracious with us and bump our music regularly.  Also, braddah Vance out at 76.1 InterFM in Tokyo and braddah Pu’ukani from Pipeline2Paradise (webcast) have been big supporters of our album.
• What’s the demographic of your fan base? We’re very fortunate to have faithful One Groove fans, both young and old, throughout the 50^th state and the West Coast.  Because of the large Hawaii expatriate community in the Bay Area we’ve always had a “built-in” fanbase who come out to our shows regularly.  Over the past few years though, we’ve started to notice more and more non-Hawai’i people coming out to see us, which is great.  Many of them are hardcore Jamaican roots reggae fans, which always surprised us because that’s not necessarily the style of reggae we play.  The seven of us are more than just bandmates, we’re family, which translates in our music and our live shows – maybe that’s what attracts them.  Aloha is universal!
• How many times do you play live in a month?  We all work day jobs and some of us have families, so unfortunately we don’t get to play live as often as we’d like to.  Typically we’ll do 2 to 3 shows per month – sometimes more, sometimes less.
• Now that your CD is a top selling CD in Hawaii , do plan on having a few shows out here this year?  We’re playing July 29^th for the KCCN Birthday Bash XV at the Waikiki Shell…  we’re also looking to come home in September of this year and do a series of shows both in Honolulu and the outer islands.
• How does your summer tour look?  Where you going?  We’ll be doing a few mainland West Coast shows in early July with Fiji , Ho’onua, 3 Plus and then we’ll be back in Hawai’i in late July and again in September.
• Name some of the clubs you play in the Bay Area.  Avalon, Ruby Skye, Ashkenaz, The Hukilau, to name a few.
• What are your plans for the rest of this year?  Besides scheduling shows here on the West Coast and back in Hawai’i later this year, we’ll probably get out to Las Vegas in November and then hopefully start writing/pre-production for album #2.
• Who do you want to “Shout Out” to for their support?  All of the radio stations, program directors and DJs that have been so supportive of us and our album, our executive producer Ko’olau Kawelo.  Our label CommonGround Records and also Aaron Kimura, Maila Gibson and the rest of the AMI staff that have done such a maika’i job for us!  And of course the fans!