Spreading Mālama around the world: Paula Fuga shines as Hawaii’s star vocalist
Photo courtesy of Universal Music Group.
Dailyreggae.com interviewed Paula Fuga to discuss her incredible new album Rain On Sunday, her collaboration with Jack Johnson and Brushfire Records, and her journey as a musician representing Hawaii around the world.
Your new album “Rain On Sunday” was tracked live with everyone playing together in a room, why was it important for you to record this way, what was the experience like, and how do you think it affected the feeling of the songs on this record?
Well, I decided to record that way, because I’m old school, and I’m roots. It’s just got to be real for me. I feel like because I’m a live performer, I feed off of that energy. That synchronicity when you’re jamming with your musicians. Performing live to me is the best.
In my past experiences, recording and having all the parts separately and then laying down the vocals takes a lot more time. The vibe is not there for me. I like the organic feeling, looking into the musicians’ eyes when we’re recording, giving those visual cues with my face (laughs). Because I only work with musicians that I love, I feel like the whole thing feeds this collective energy. It’s magic and you cannot replicate that when you’re isolated by yourself listening to people.
With my band, we get into the studio, rehearse the song a bit, give it a few takes, and keep the ones that we like. Maybe three full takes and pick apart those. If there needs to be an overdub for a solo, then we’ll do that. The basic foundation of the songs is tracked with a live band, and I love my band members. Being all together with all this love that we have for each other shines through in the music, and I hope people can hear and feel that.
Yeah, we definitely can! The level of expertise all your musicians have. You can feel the energy in the room come through the speakers. We love the breakout hit off your new record “If Ever” which features Jack Johnson and Ben Harper. Now I know this song has a special meaning behind it. Can you describe the inspiration and the creation process behind the track?
Yeah, well I was done with my album pretty much by the time Jack got to hear it. He’d heard rough tracks from years ago, but I never sent him any mixes. By the time Jack found out I was done, he asked to hear some mixes. He loved it. He shared it with his business partner, Emmett Malloy, and asked him about signing me to Brushfire.
I have a long history of jamming with Jack and they supported my last EP that came out even though it wasn’t officially on Brushfire Records. When he asked to sign me, the next step was ok, how do we fit Jack into the mix.
What happened was I went over to his house one day for a writing session and we played each other songs that we were working on. The one that stood out and resonate the most was this one, If Ever. He had the melody and the chords for years he said and he hadn’t had a chance to finish the song. He sang me the chorus and told me it was about his father who passed away. I was with Jack during that time of his life. His father was a huge fan of mine. Jack always tells a story that his father said I’m his favorite singer, and said hey you better sing with that girl because she makes you sound good (laughs). I felt for Jack when he went through that. I was in his life during that time of mourning his father.
Between that time and the time I got together with Jack to figure out a song, my father passed away in 2019. I told Jack wow before when he was going through the loss of his father, I couldn’t really relate because my father was still on earth. When he passed away it was a relatable feeling and emotion that I could easily tap into. I shared with him the stories of my dad as I was growing.
My parents split when I was young, so I wasn’t raised my whole life with him. He was sort of a phone call. He was living in a different place. I shared those experiences with Jack, and he shared some of the experiences with his father with me, and the song sort of wrote itself. Thinking how it would impact people considering all the loss we’ve collectively experienced in the last 18 months. Thinking of that and putting real intention into the song knowing that it would no doubt heal some people, affect, or touch them. And bring out some emotions that maybe they need help processing.
Our condolences and I think you’ve helped a lot of people. Music is a healing endeavor. Another song that we love is “Hokule’a Star of Gladness”. Can you tell us a little bit about that track and Uncle George Boogie Kalama?
Yes! Hokule’a Star of Gladness was written by Uncle George Boogie Kalama. He was a crew member of the original voyage back in 1976. Hokule’a is actual the name of a star. Hoku means star. Le’a means joy or happiness.
He was on this voyage in a canoe that was built for the purpose of regaining cultural knowledge that had been lost. They only used the natural elements: the sun, the moon, the stars, the clouds, the wind, and the current. While he was on that voyage, he wrote this song. They were stuck in the doldrums for a few days or maybe even a week. The doldrum is this area within a certain distance of the equator, where there is no wind or current and everything is still. It’s where the northern hemisphere and the southern hemisphere converge. It’s this crazy convergence zone in the middle of the ocean.They entered the doldrums and then got stuck. It’s not a paddling canoe. It’s this huge double-holed canoe. It’s so heavy. He wrote this beautiful song and it’s become a classic Hawaiian song here in Hawaii.
I became friends with his son in about the last ten years of Uncle Boogie’s life and got to know the family very well. He was a very fun man. He loved a good time. He always threw the hugest, fun parties for his birthday every year. On a different island, always something where people are camping for the whole week. He was the kind of person that brought people together. He loved people. Uncle George Boogie Kalama was a very special man. I’m so grateful that I got to record his song on the album. Thank you for loving it and asking about it.
Yeah, it sounds like he was a Star of Gladness in his own right! So, on this album, you worked with the amazing Mike Love to produce the album. We had the chance to talk to him for his own artist profile previously and are big fans of both his energy and the level of expertise he brings to all the music he touches. What was it like working with him on “Rain on Sunday” and what do you think he brought to the sound and vibe of this record?
Mike Love is my musical soulmate. He’s my brother from another mother! We grew up becoming professional musicians together. Before we knew each other, we weren’t really gigging. He had a band called Dubkonscious and we met at this jam session that occurred weekly for about eight years. When I met him, he was the friendliest guy, and he was so sweet and kind.
He knew I was recording my first album and said hey if you ever need a guitarist let me know and I’ll come and jam, you know. I said ok! I went and talked to my producer and my business partner at the time and said my friend is down to jam. We should bring him in. They said ok bring him in. We played. It sounded good and then the producer and my partner were like oh my God this guy’s amazing! I was like really? That’s cool. Because at this point in the beginning I couldn’t fully gauge musicianship yet. This was before he started jamming solo and having his solo career. He invited me to be a part of his band and I did. We played with that band, Dubkonscious, for about eight years and he taught me so much. He taught me how to work hard, how to practice, and rehearse. We would rehearse all the time.
Mike Love has taught me so much about music and the music industry. How to set up my own gear. All the basic things that maybe people take for granted. Bring all your things – your mic, DI. The simple things in the beginning of my career that I didn’t know about. Because of Mike and his influence, I grew up that way. I have a standard for the caliber of musicians that I will only play with, because of that influence that Mike had. You cannot go from jamming with Mike Love to jamming with Joe Schmo.
Currently, in my band, I don’t have a guitarist when Mike is not around. I don’t want to hire a guitarist and then be like Mike is available for this one, so you have to sit this out. That would be a horrible feeling for me. I’ve tried. I’ve looked high and low and have tried out other guitarists and I just can’t. I’m so spoiled with Mike Love. I’ll fill those spots with other musicians and other instruments but won’t fill in guitar (laughs). He knows that and loves it.
Hopefully, in the future, we’ll plan a joint tour together because a lot of my musicians here are also his musicians that he uses when he comes to Hawaii. Hopefully, we can get together and plan a big tour, where we co-headline and weave in and out of each other’s music because we’ve been playing music together since 2004. 17 years!
Please do that tour! We would love to see it. That would be so cool! Part of your music’s mission is to spread the values of Hawaiian culture. For those unfamiliar, how would you describe some of these values?
The main Hawaiian value that I try to emulate in my life is Mālama. The literal translation for that word means to nurture, to cherish and to protect. One day when I was trying to create a poster back in the day, I was doodling and drawing and thought I’m going to write love in all the different words like Aloha means love. I put Aloha and thought to myself, gosh this word feels played out already. It’s overused. It’s commercialized. It feels like it lost its true value. The true essence and meaning of Aloha. As I was having this thought process, I remembered the word Mālama.
At that moment, I realized that Mālama is the action of aloha. If you truly love someone, you’ll nurture them, you’ll cherish them, you’ll protect them. And that is the way I measure love. Love is action. Love is a verb. The verb is all these things that encompass the one word: Mālama. For me, that’s the thing I’d like to promote the most. The value of Mālama. That Hawaiian value of taking care of each other; nurturing each other; protecting each other. It’s truly what Aloha means. The meaning of Aloha is the word Mālama. For me, that’s the ultimate value and I try to do that with my band. I take good care of them. I make sure they’re provided for, and make sure they are well and fed. Any one of my musicians will tell you that I Mālama hard (laughs). You can Mālama yourself, your family, your people, your 'Āina (land), the place that you’re at.
In traveling too, I have a high standard. Once I was on a tour with this guy, who was a guitarist for my friend’s band. He lived in Vegas for a long time but was from Hawaii. We were at a gas station and then he discarded his rubbish in a planter. I went outside and said hey pick up your rubbish and throw it in the trash can. He looked at me like who the hell are you? I said I’m not joking pick up the trash and put it in the trash can. I said we’re from Hawaii, everywhere we go. I don’t care this is not our 'Āina, wherever we go we represent our culture and the place that we come from. I don’t want anyone to look at us and say, look at those Hawaiians just throwing their trash in any kind of place. He threw his trash in the trash can and I told him let that be a lesson to you. I treat wherever I’m at like how I treat my own home. We should all be that way. We should all Mālama Āina the land no matter if it’s ours or someone else's. If it’s someone else’s, it’s even more of a reason to take care of it because if doesn’t belong to you.
I love it! Much respect. You studied the ukulele under master instructor Roy Sakuma, what do you think sets the ukulele apart from other instruments and how would you describe its relationship with your life and music?
The ukulele is a tool for me, so that I can sing and put music behind my voice. I’m not a ukulele virtuoso. I took ukulele lessons in high school when I was a junior and senior. I’m not a soloist. I don’t really have a close and intimate relationship with the instrument itself, but I love being able to open my heart up and tap into those feelings as I sing. If you keep practicing, you’ll get good at it.
My songs come to me without a ukulele. Then I have to figure out what chords to play. The words and the melody come together. The inspiration can be any reason at all.
Once I was driving around and my friend was telling me about being bummed about money. I believe that whatever you talk about comes true. Words are like wishes that you cast upon the world. You know what I mean. It becomes fruitful when you speak life into these words. I try not to speak negatively about anything. I try not to vocalize any worries because I don’t want them to come true. My grandmother taught me this when I was a little kid. She would say be careful what you wish for, it might come true. You don’t wish ill will upon people or lie.
For me, the words and singing are what I love about music. My friend was complaining to me about money and I was like oh no. Immediately these words, I call it my money mantra, popped into my head. I’m eventually going to turn into a blues song. (Paula sings: Money comes to me whenever I need it. Yeah, money I always got lots around. Money, flows through me like a river, yeah. And when you got a lot of money, you’ve got a lot of friends around. So when you’ve got a lot of money, you’ve got a lot of friends around.) Daily Reggae team claps!
When I write a song, that’s how it comes. I’ll write it down. I’ll build the song with the lyrics. Sometimes I’ll have a hard time and I’ll take it to one of my musician friends who I think has a good grip on the style of music. This one I’ll probably take to my keyboardist first because I want it to be real funky and bluesy and that’s more his vibe.
After I build it out a bit, I’ll take it to Mike and he works his magic. The way his mind works is so unlimited. He’ll be like oh, you should do this, or do that. And the crazy thing is after I wrote that, Mike started covering that song Money from Pink Floyd and the song I wrote is similar musically to that song. It’s cool, because one day when I have that song and we have a huge tour, we’ll probably do my money song and then boom transition into that song with Mike singing.
Now you’re getting us very excited! You have to let us know when this tour happens!
It will! It will happen!
