Feel The Paua

"Without a doubt, we consider ourselves family now,” Jay confirms when probed about his feelings towards Paua, the New Zealand-cum-Brisbane reggae group he fronts. “We're around each other so much and there's so many of us, it's another arm of our own family. What can I say? We're a pretty tight crew.”

And it's that personal cohesion – that trust – which comes through in the music of the band. With the songwriting roots of reggae relatively concrete, it's these critical elements that help Paua stand out from their peers. The octet are just about to release the single Time Heals, the first taste off their as-yet untitled second release that's pencilled in for early-2013. Jay opens up about the lyrical content of the track. “To me, the song is just about hope, really – Time Heals, y'know. Basically, everyone goes through their bad trots in life, but time heals and things get better. That's the moral of the story, really. There's always hope. As bad as things look, like, you may not be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but there's always hope. Don't give up.”

A simple message – words to live by. Listening to Jay speak there is no question that the man is genuine, much like the music that's created around his verses. “At the end of the day, it's reggae. But it's our form of reggae – we call it 'Paua reggae',” he states. “But it's just from the heart, man. I've always said that there's not too much thought put into our sound, we just get in there and jam it out, then whatever comes out comes out; it's very organic. But in saying that, the songwriting has probably matured a little since the last [record]. Actually, I don't even know if matured is the right word. We've just opened up since the last [record], just to experiences and what's happened through the past couple of years. But like I said, we don't think about it too much, we just make music. It's real,” he concludes with a chuckle.

This year has been a big one for Paua, with the band's continual sound development leading to some solid supports that Jay admits the crew are incredibly proud of, most notably former touchstones now peers Katchafire, the iconic Hamilton, NZ collective. Jay admits, though, that the band still have the best experience saved until last. “We're going back to New Zealand for the Exodus Festival,” he excitedly informs. “It's this huge party that's happening over there and we're the only act coming in from overseas for that so we're really looking forward to it. We're just honoured to be a part of it. It's the biggest… With reggae part of the staple of being from New Zealand, for us to be invited from over here is a massive buzz for us.”

And all this wouldn't be possible without Jay's musical brothers and sister sharing in the vision that he had for the group. The music was already inside the man; it was simply a matter of building a solid structure on the early foundations set by the original four band members. “From early on I knew I wanted to have particular instruments, like I wanted keys, horns – I've always had it in my mind what I wanted to get to,” Jay says. “So for me it was just a natural progression, and then finding the right people, not only that fit into our sound but that fit in as people too… now we've got that. We've been really lucky that we found the right musicians with the right personality. Now it's just Paua reggae, man.”