Hailing from Christchurch New Zealand maitreya is an MC with a mood and a message to renew the faith of Hip Hop heads worldwide. His soulful melodies punctuated by tight, head nodding beats and rhymes made him the first ever hip hop artist to crowd-source US$50,000 to record his debut solo album Close To Home.
The album is a journey through sound into the tragedies and victories of an everyday hero who has taken his craft from Christchurch, New Zealand to stages in New York, Hong Kong, London and Amsterdam.
So dig out your De La Soul, cue up your Lupe Fiasco, slap on some Streets and they will all be in good company... you'll recognize the emotional honesty and depth, but like all great artists... maitreya does it his way.
Wed
Oct
21
What up!!
Here’s a new interview with www.museyon.com, a NY based website covering peoples obsessions with Arts, Music and Culture. Their tag line is “A Curated Guide To Your Obesessions”… nice! Check it out!!
Love & Light, maitreya
Wed
Oct
7
Kia Ora!
The BIG news this month is that I’ve just begun selling tickets for an 11 date EUROPEAN SUMMER TOUR in July 2010!
Doing a full European Tour has always been a dream and as you know, I’m always tryna think of new ways to live my dreams! So… I’m pre-selling the tickets online through SellaBand.com.. genius!! Just go to www.sellaband.com/maitreyatour where you will find all the dates and info about the tour as well as tickets!
It’s gonna be maitreya and The Babysitters Club and we will be supported by 11 of my favourite SellaBand bands! I will be announcing those support acts over the coming weeks so stay tuned… there’s also VIP Backstage Passes and Tour T-Shirts, for the true hardcore maitreya fans out there.
So, come and grab ya ticket and let’s rock Europe next summer! Click on the banner above to purchase tickets.
In other news…
Check this out… PUBLIC ENEMY have just signed up to raise US$250,000 to record their next album with funding from fans on SellaBand.com!!
And a quick info leak for my peoples out there… my third New Zealand single SIN CITY ft. AWA (Nesian Mystik) is set for release real soon!
Love & Light, maitreya
www.maitreya.co.nz
Tweet Me! www.twitter.com/maitreya_now
Wed
Sep
23
I just got back from the APRA Silver Scroll Awards held this year in my hometown of Christchurch! It was a wicked night with performances and appearances by some of our most talented artists, including Bic Runga, Scribe, Demarnia Lloyd, Dave Dobbyn, Ray Columbus and The Bats! Plus the Canterbury Lamb was incredible… props to the chef and the whole kitchen! Many thanks and much respect to Abbie, Petrina, Rita, the whole crew at APRA and Oscar Kightley who MC’d the night, you guys rock and put on yet another night to remember!
Congratulations to all the winners!
APRA Silver Scroll Award
James Milne & Luke Buda: ‘Apple Pie Bed’
New Zealand Music Hall Of Fame Induction
Hirini Melbourne & Richard Nunns
SOUNZ Contemporary Award: recognising creative excellence by a classical composer.
Ross Harris: ‘Symphony III’
APRA Maioha Award: celebrating contemporary Maori music.
Rewi Spraggon & Riki Bennett (Te Aratoi): ‘Tapapakanga’
Most Performed Work in New Zealand
Midnight Youth: ‘The Letter’
Most Performed Work Overseas
Neil Finn: ‘Don’t Dream It’s Over’
I was a nominee for the APRA Maioha Award for WHAKAKOTAHI RANGATAHI which I recorded with KILOTONE. Many congratulations go to Rewi, Riki, Kristal and Te Aratoi for winning with their beautiful waiata Tapapakanga!! Rewi and the crew have been writing and recording in Te Reo (Maori Language) with Maori instrumentation for many years, they are leaders in their field and deserved winners! CHCHur! Also wanna shout out Maisey Rika who was nominated for Repeat Offender, another incredibly talented artist you gotta check out.
Cheers to Jeff Fulton, his Chart crew and Fat Eddies for throwing the After Party! About 15 acts played and I got to rock CHur To The CHur and WAITAHA for my Christchurch peoples!! Shot..!
Take care and have a great September!!
Love & Light, maitreya
Sat
Aug
22
Kia Ora!
First leg of the King Kapisi Tour with Tha Feelstyle and Scalper was ill.. played shows right across new zealand, only places we didn’t get to were down the very south of the south island.. but we’re on our way! We’re headed to CHCH, DUN, QTWN & WAN early September. If you caught one of the shows, CHCHur for coming out and checking us out! Here’s the new dates…
Sep 09 Christchurch, Dux de Lux
Sep 10 Dunedin, Refuel Student Bar
Sep 11 Wanaka, The Mint Bar
Sep 12 Queenstown, Revolver
At the Khuja and Dux de Lux shows we unveiled The Babysitters Club, a new band consisting of Jason Kerrison, Tim Skedden and myself. We’ve been in Tha Lab (aka skiving off to the in-house studio at house parties) and putting down some real fresh tunes… so prepare yo’ self to be Babysat in the coming months!
In other news…
LOTALUV made it to the top 20 of the Silver Scrolls this year.. DOPE!
And WHAKAKOTAHI RANGATAHI has been nominated for the APRA Maioha Award for Maori Song Writing at this years Silver Scrolls! I recorded the song earlier this year with KILOTONE, it translates to YOUTH UNITE… You can check it out here…
www.maitreya.co.nz is coming soon!!!
PEACE!
Sat
Jun
13
WHAT UP!!
Just got back to NZ… deep in the production of this NEARFIELD album.
I’m gonna be on tour with King Kapisi throughout July. This is gonna be a wicked show!! Heaps of gigs all over New Zealand so hope to see you somewhere along the line… if your not in NZ, get a ticket over now!!
Here’s the dates:
Jul 03 Coliseum, Tauranga
Jul 10 Malba’s Bar, Palmerston North
Jul 11 Shooters Bar, Wellington
Jul 17 Sessions Bar, Gisborne
Jul 18 Khuja Lounge, AucklandJul 23 Christchurch Polytech (12-1pm, maitreya only)
Jul 23 Steel Worx, Methven
Jul 24 Dux de Lux, Christchurch
Jul 25 Orca Bar, Raglan
Aug 7 Mangawhai Tavern, Mangawhai
Aug 8 Opononi, Tavern Opononi
CHCHur, m
Mon
May
11
What up!!
Just wanted to check in and let ya know I’m on the road for a few weeks.. had a wicked gig last week in Camden, London at the Lockside Lounge, much love to all who came and to Dan the Govna and all the staff at Lockside!
Im in Lisbon, Portugal right now to produce the NEARFIELD album with Alexx, Sylvie, Misty Mayhem, Pedro the great, Dave Pemberton, Hugo and Paula.. its a wicked family of artists and we hope to create some magic over the coming week or two out here.
Then Im hitting New York.. if your in The City, hit me up, I’m there a week and then back to NZ to finish the Production on the Nearfield album and continue with the release of Close To Home. BEEN AROUND is the third single of the album out in NZ and has just hit #2 on the KIWI FM Charts! You can vote for it here.. let’s take it to Number One!
Have a great week!
Love & Light, m
Sun
Apr
5
Sellaband Believer Kompis has published the second issue of his 50K MUSIC MAG and I’m the cover story… check it out!
