Artist Profile - Steve Tofa
It’s Samoa Language Week this week and what a fitting time to showcase the work of Songbroker artist Steve Tofa.
Tofa was the former frontman for Auckland indie Rock/Soul band, ‘The Mercenaries’ from the late 90’s to mid 2000’s, plus - he has provided both vocals and instrumentation to music for Don McGlashlan (The Mutton Birds), Soni Segala (Dei Hamo) and Paul Mathews (Stylus,I Am Giant) to name a few.
Steve describes his music as ‘Koko Soul’, after being told by some of his peers that his voice resembles the smoothness of ‘chocolate’; “If there is not enough sugar, it can taste very bitter. If you add too much then you’re asking for heartburn”.
Apart from rock, classical and soul influences, his love for t.v and film scores saw him apply these composition skills in 2001 for a local crime drama series. He has since found himself doing similar work on a few new projects as of late.
He released his debut album The Barefooted Beast in 2019 and received a Top 20 - New Zealand Apra-AMCOS Silver Scroll Award nomination in 2020, for his genre defying track ‘Bone That Needs Pickin.’ He has recently released his latest stomping, rhythmic and soulful EP entitled The Hireling Demos.
Last year as part of Songbroker’s Project Sunrise initiative, Tofa wrote the beautiful track ‘Welcome the Sun’ and he has gone on to record a Te Reo and Samoan version of the track - his first song ever in his native tongue.
Listen to ‘Afio Mai Le La’ (Welcome the Sun):
