Members of reggae-roots band Tomorrow People say they're grateful to still have the support of fans almost a year after parting ways with former member, Marcus Abraham.
Abraham left the band in April 2018 following a domestic violence accusation from his former partner.
Since then, current member Kenape Saupese tells Te Kāea, “it’s been a bit of a journey”.
“We’ve been doing this music business for about close to 10 years so we’ve had a lot of changes and a whole lot of stuff behind the scenes that people kind of know about," he says.
“But we’re still out here. We’re still promoting and still doing our stuff on stage and so grateful that the fans are still out here supporting us.”
Vocalist Hamokiterangi Dell says parting ways with Abraham brought the band closer together.
“In a way, it brings us closer as well because we have to work harder together to make it all work. It’s definitely hard but something we’ve been able to work through.”
Kua To Te Ra by Tomorrow People. A translation of their song No Good released in 2018.
New album
Saupese and Dell says they spent the last 12 months touring and are planning to release a new album this year.
“I can tell you it’s going to be awesome and very different from anything we’ve ever done before," says Dell.
“We’re all going to sing whatever we feel like so it might not necessarily be reggae. It might be something with R&B or depending on what we want to do this time round.”
Tomorrow People is a seven-piece band based that formed in 2010, consisting of musicians of many ethnicities.
The band are proud to embrace each other’s cultures, which include Māori and Samoan heritage.
“We appreciate each other and where we come from, so when we combine all our languages in one song it shows everyone we can all work together.”
Their latest EP "BBQ" Reggae was released in January 2018 and debuted at number one in Aotearoa.
Tomorrow People released their tri-lingual song at One Love 2018.
One Love
The band performed at One Love in the weekend; one of their favourite events to be a part of.
"Especially because all of our peers and everybody from our reggae scene are all here so it’s really important to be here,” Saupese says.
Dell says, “One Love is my favourite show to do of the year, so super amped and happy to see everyone.”
She says the band doesn’t have an official release date for their new album but “definitely sometime this year”.