STEVE TOFA

 "With a voice that's powerful and heaven-sent, Steve Tofa's original songs are intimate and personal, a blend of folk, rock and soul. Steve performs with a band of close friends and musical whanau." Steven Shaw (Audio Culture)

‘Koko Samoa ’; A traditional Samoan beverage, basically drinking chocolate in its purest form. It is made from cacao beans, which come from a tree called the cacao, or officially Theobroma Cacao on the islands. A blend of dark chocolatey goodness, with a sweet cocoa taste and gritty texture.

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”.

Samoan born New Zealander and singer/songwriter Steve Tofa is breaking into the New Zealand music scene with renewed vigour, the same that has already seen him performing in venues both nationally, and internationally including Australia, the South Pacific and the U.S.A.

The former frontman for Auckland underground indie Rock/Soul band, ‘The Mercenaries’ from the late 90’s to mid 2000’s, has worked providing both vocals and instrumentation to music for the likes of Don McGlashlan (The Mutton Birds), Soni Segala (Dei Hamo) and Paul Mathews (Stylus,I Am Giant) to name a few.

Steve was also the opening act on a nationwide tour, for Tim Finn (Split Enz/Crowded House) and the Dirty Creatures.

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.

Having recently released his debut album ‘The Barefooted Beast’, he has another album in the works with several standalone singles to complete; His next project ‘ Koko Stax ’ is due out at the end of the year.

To listen to Steve Tofa, head over to the Songbroker Search Engine or Spotify.

"With a voice that’s powerful and heaven-sent, Steve Tofa’s original songs are intimate and personal, a blend of folk, rock and soul. Steve performs with a band of close friends and musical whanau ." Steven Shaw - NZ Musician/Bassist

“Steve and his band were such a pleasure to listen to, the chemistry between them was unheard of. The guitarists were grooving and Steve was singing with his whole heart and soul” Helena Barnett - (Gig review) themousai.co.uk