Mele Making Backstories and Raw Clips

New Apokolani storytelling songs birthed. Here is some of the backstory. So much aloha goes out to many— Lock, Elliot, Greg, Chris Chorney, Michaeloha, Ricardo, Jileen, and ‘āina Kohala.

Above. September 1, 2018. Keoki, Greg “bassman” Maker, and Elliot Maker start warming up while Lock experiments with different sound recording configurations. Yvonne captures moments and does all the whatevas.

Above. The process. “Oh So Many Doors” as it morphs and births from a private pule rhythm meditation on Logic by Yvonne to a song. It incubated silently on a laptop for several years when Keoki stumbled upon it and said, “you should share this, I can play that bassline for you.” And so he slacked his guitar and the rest is a collective history. This is the first moments working on it with Greg and Elliot while Keoki plays rhythm slack guitar.

Above. Yayyy! Lock sets up the individual monitoring and gets to know the equipment at hand.

Above. Next steps of session recording setup for first-take of “Oh So Many Doors”. Lock finesses new sound configuration, searching for the right mics and levels.

Above. More, loosen-up, warm-up, on a fun song, “Bartalk On A Napkin”, still yet, not recorded. A mele sparked by a talkstory with Keokiʻs cousin and how she was gifted the money to open a bar in Nanakuli. Of course, Keoki puts his own quirky twists and Yvonne chimes in. Lock still finding the best mics for each person. Studio Kumau offers a wide range of options in addition to ours.

Above. Day Two has a whole new groove happening for real. Long intense hours creating cohesive sounds and rhythms. The magic of jazz and blues is happening and weʻre almost there. Recording “In A Moment Like This”.

Above. Ma‘ona maika‘i. We took a bounty-of-the-land lunch break and Yvonne is documenting as sheʻs done most of her life, trying to capture a variety of moods in the spirit story as we try to shift back to the music. Having fun before another take “In A Moment Like This”, searching for that chickenskin wave that everyone rides together.

Above. We can all feel when after plenty takes—THIS IS THE ONE! Nothing like it. The take “In A Moment Like This”. The exclamations at the end say it all. And ready to move to the next song.

Above. Day Three. Recording “Star Gazing” — a connected hui that has become one. Living together, eating together, being together. A special time with Kumau.

Above. Day Three at the end of recording. Time to take a deep breath, shift and re-group. But before the scramble of re-organizing, packing and planes to catch–donʻt forget photos. Missing Jilleen and Ricardo who are off-ranch—mahalo nui again. And, mahalo Shawn for a wonderful bass.

Followup Snippets At Our Home Kinda Studio

One & Two Years Later After Plenty Stuffs

Back at the Analog Rock Studio

in the historic Blaisdell Hotel located in the heart of Honolulu’s Chinatown

Next Steps coming soon In A New Post.

Part two. Lock Mixing, Engineering in his studio and Editing with Keoki and Yvonne.
Chinatown was old stomping grounds as small kids when still a “Territory”…such rich memories.
Plenty, plenty music And then the late 60s and 70s explosion.
The awesome mele aunties on their upright basses, pianos, strings and honey voices.
Homecooked ono-kine food for the kind and generous customers.
And then a couple doors down the Glades, and further; Territorial Tavern and bugaBuga, Tremaine, and on and on.
Downtown, still a vortex of grassroots, untamed, Energized trailblazing Creatives.
Each cycle ampliyfing the next.

Above. November 2019 at Analog Rock Studio–Lock & Chris Chorneyʻs in Chinatown. Yvonne has imagined a cello on this song for years. This was the moment, late at night, after Chorney and two others finished a couple hours of experimental improv. Glad Keoki and I were in Honolulu for dear Pua and “Cowboyʻs” wedding. The wonders of longtime friends must have energized healing and some surprizing studio time for vocal tracks, cello and Barn Session editing with Lock.