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NEWS
EXTRAS
EXTRAS
After the cannibal gore-fest
The Green Inferno
, Eli Roth is set to tackle a very
different sort on man-eater in
Meg
.
AARADHNA IS
KEEPING COOL
The Kiwi singer's new album
Brown Girl
is all about truth and soul.
T
ruth & Soul is not only the name of
Aaradhna’s new label, but also pretty
much serves as a statement of intent
when it comes to her new album.
The ‘soul’ speaks for itself – like her award-
winning
Treble & Reverb
(2012), her latest
Brown Girl
offers a stylish, modern take
on classic R&B and funk – while the lyrical
content of the record is very much drawn
from her own life and experiences. The title
track is a case in point, dealing in part with the
racism she encountered growing up as a child
of Indian and Polynesian heritage.
“Yeah, it was hard, because I never felt
totally accepted by either side,” she tells
STACK
. “The Samoans called me Indian
names, the Indians called me Samoan
names; it was difficult. But that’s
who I am. I love both my cultures
and I’m a Kiwi – this is my home.”
However Aaradhna also points
out that her song
Brown Girl
is
not just about racism; it also
presses the message that the
singer shouldn't be defined
by the colour of her skin.
“I’m many things: I’m
a girl, I’m a sister, a
daughter, I have brothers,
I love my family and
friends, all my listeners, I
like horror movies… like,
there is so much more,”
she explains.
One thing that has
never been in doubt is her
love of singing – she is in
fine soulful form throughout
the album – and thanks
to her new label, the highly respected Truth
& Soul, her musical backing also has the
important ring of authenticity.
Recorded live in Brooklyn and Los Angeles,
label boss Jeff Dynamite served as band
leader and put together a core group of
accomplished soul instrumentalists, including
Truth & Soul co-founder Leon Michaels on
bass and drummer Homer Steinweiss, who
has worked with the likes of Amy Winehouse
and Sharon Jones.
“I chose to record everything live for the
feel of the music,” Aaradhna says. “Live music
is like hearing music the way its supposed
to be. With live [recordings] you can
literally hear each instrument singing its
own song, and that gives it a special,
raw and natural vibe that I like. We
used a mixture of both old and
new studios in New York and Los
Angeles, but all the equipment
and instruments were old vintage
gear. For example, we did all
the vocals through a Fairchild
660 compressor – that’s the
same one used at Abbey
Road by The Beatles. The
guys sourced drums
from 1920s New
Orleans and Nashville,
stuff like that – they
definitely love their
vintage instruments!”
John Ferguson
Brown Girl
by
Aaradhna
is out now.
WHEN IN R0ME...
T
he grandson of fabled director John
Huston and nephew of Angelica
Huston, he grew up in reverence of
WilliamWyler’s original epic.
“I sort of gaped a little and was like,
‘really?’ But I read it and was so surprised
with the re-imagining of this beautiful story,
a story I now believe can be told and told
again for different audiences,” Huston tells
STACK
with the weary air of a man already
tired of defending his choice.
“Whenever someone asks me, ‘Why
would you remake something like
Ben-Hur
?’
I point out that this is actually the fourth
time it’s been remade. There’s always room
for a modern audience where a lot of people
haven’t seen its predecessor, and we have a
lot more at our fingertips, technology-wise.
I loved the Wyler version, and I would be
the first person to say, ‘Oh, don’t do that,’ if
I felt in any way it wasn’t going to hold up.
But now I feel we’ve created something
incredibly special.“
With his chiseled jaw, piercing blue
eyes and mop of black hair, Huston even
resembles a bygone matinee idol. But
he believes modern audiences will also
respond to this age-old story of redemption.
“The ability to forgive and say sorry is
beautiful,” he says. “Saying sorry works
every time with my girlfriend!”
Gill Pringle
Ben-Hur
is due in cinemas on August 25.
When first approached to play Ben-
Hur, Brit actor Jack Huston balked at
re-enacting Hollywood’s holy cow.