Six Pack: Captain Dreamboat

“When you have momentum and good intentions to create something amazing – things just grow,” Fanaika offers. “Captain D­­reamboat derives from a nickname I was given about a year before I started the project, and I got a tattoo of the name as a way to manifest a musical dream. A sophisticated soul band was something I've always wanted to be a part of. And here we are. I've been writing songs for the past 15 years and there are some I've kept and used and some that are still lurking, unfinished but promising. This is about revisiting good ideas that weren't right at the time, but might be the right time now.”

Fanaika started out singing in church, and says that the journey has been all about scratching that creative itch. “I'm from Tonga, which usually means that church is the centre point of your community and very much a meeting place,” she continues. “I loved singing hymns in four-part harmonies at church. It was the only thing I enjoyed about church. When I moved out of home and stopped going, I needed a way to continue getting the elation I felt when I was singing there. I started teaching myself guitar at an early age, so it was natural for me to learn songs I liked and also to try and write songs in the shadows of my idols. This was always a hobby. I never expected that singing would ever be as much a part of my life as it is now. I had a lot of friends around me that were always encouraging me to do something with it – and now I have a creative itch to write. Performing them has been a by-product of that itch.”