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Dog the Bounty Hunter's show features songs from local artists

Print Story Published: 12/28/2011 9:41 pm Share Updated: 12/28/2011 10:32 pm
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Reality TV show "Dog the Bounty Hunter" is set to debut its 8th season next week.

Shot partly in Hawaii, producers will also feature songs performed by local musicians.

Olena Heu sat down with a local artist with a very familiar name who's been working on the show's score.

One of the world's most notorious bounty hunters is back. Duane "Dog" Chapman returns to the small screen for season 8 of his reality TV show January 4th.

Thirty-one year-old Kamuela Kahoano has been hard at work putting together the score for the series.

"It's a ton of work but I love it and I am able to do it exclusively at this point in my life," said Kamuela Kahoano, musician and composer.

The Iolani High and University of Hawaii graduate comes from a musically gifted family. His father is well known entertainer and local personality Kimo Kahoano. Brother, Ikaika, had a stint in the national spotlight cast on the show Making the Band and as one of the original members of boy band O-Town.

"He went out and he was the first of the Kahoano's to break the Hawaii barrier," said Kamuela Kahoano."So I've been for years just working on my craft."

The youngest of three boys Kamuela plays guitar, ukulele, bass and so many other instruments he can't name them all.

"I studied ethnomusicology at U.H. as well as all the symphony instruments so I can do it, if I can hear it," said Kamuela Kahoana.

The Na Hoku Hanohano award winner says the national exposure and opportunity to work with the Chapman's is a vehicle toward increasing his and Hawaiian music's popularity abroad.

"I am counting my blessings on that one cause that's what you call opportunity knocking," Kamuela Kahoana.

Hundreds of other local artists are also being considered for additional segments on the show.

Kamuela's score and instrumental compositions will also be recorded on his new cd due out next week. - Star Advertiser

...Kamuela Kahoano, whose "Stream Dreams" album won in the Rock Album, acknowledged the other finalists in the category, several who play dramatically different styles of "rock" music, and commented that "'Rock' is such a vague category" — a comment that should spur local recording artists who play any of the myriad sub-genres currently lumped in the existing category to make themselves known, get involved with HARA, and work for additional categories.

Kahoano also thanked his father, veteran entertainer, radio personality and recording artist Kimo Kahoano, saying that in pursuing his musical career, ""I have huge shoes to fill."... - Honolulu Star Advertiser - John Berger

Photos by: Cindy Ellen Russell - Star Advertiser

HONOLULU—Kamuela Kahoano is a gig machine. With well over 20 performances around Oahu with his band Analog and solo gigs at Rumfire and Hula Grill (among others) in February alone, Kahoano could call himself one of the hardest working musicians in Hawaii. But he’s far too focused on his goals to think about such incidental superlatives. One could reasonably expect a tightly wound, frenetic energy from someone who spends their professional life under lights in front of roomfuls of strangers, but Kahoano is reflective, soft spoken, and perfectly clear about what he is working toward.

Born to a musical family, Kamuela began playing the ukulele at age six, moving on to the guitar at age fourteen. His father is iconic local entertainer Kimo Kahoano, and Kamuela is the youngest of three brothers. His brother Ikaika gained national recognition on the reality boy-band show Making the Band. Kamueala and Ikaika have also performed and recorded as indie folk outfit Green Light Go.

“I started writing my own music at about eighteen,” Kamuela says over lunch in downtown Honolulu.

And while he is equally adept at performing Hawaiian classics on guitar or ukulele with an accomplished falsetto voice, he remains focused primarily on his own writing.

Kamuela attended the Frank Brown International Songwriters Convention in Pensacola, Florida in November, a pivotal point in his career, as he recalls. “It was an awesome experience to enjoy that exposure to other accomplished songwriters,” Kamuela says.

He’s currently developing and performing alternative folk material, but knows his musical path is longer and wider. “I’m excited to write big pop songs,” Kamuela explains, “but I’ve got to finish this folk thing that I’ve been working on.”

Although Kamuela’s professional career began in 2007, but his musical path spans his whole life. He recalls fondly one of his most memorable moments as a kid: “Me and my brothers were singing at Ala Moana Center Stage with our dad,” he smiles. “I think it was ‘Call Me Al.’” He laughs.

Kamuela understands that being a professional musical and, more importantly, professional artist involves more than booking gigs and showing up. He works each day at his writing, his promotion, and his awareness of what other Hawaii artists are doing. When he’s not actually performing, Kamuela often ventures out to expose himself to the work of other musicians. “It helps keep me inspired,” he explains.

Citing other musicians like David Asing and Jake Shimabukuro as influences, Kamuela says he will always remain grounded in Hawaiian music. But his vision for his music goes far beyond Hawaii’s shores. With plans to attend the South By Southwest Music Festival in Austin and another in Australia, and with the intention of working and recording in Los Angeles, he knows what’s ahead of him as a working artist. “I just have to buckle down and do it,” Kamuela says, as though the statement has become a mantra for him.

When pressed for his biggest thrill as a musician, Kamuela remembers a night while touring Japan.

“I got up to do a solo set in front of about 2,000 people,” he says. “I ended up getting a standing ovation.” He nods at the recollection. “That was pretty cool,” he says quietly.

With strong talent, a focused drive, and a bright future ahead of him, Kamuela Kahoano seems poised to, as they say, write his own ticket. And it will most likely have a song on it.

To find out more about Kamuela Kahoano’s music and dates, visit www.kamuelamusic.com - The Hawaii Independent

Back in medieval times, when you introduced yourself to someone, it wasn't just your name. Introductions were not just about who you were, but who you were in context: "I am Aragorn, son of Arathorn" or my personal favorite, "I am Gimli, son of Gloin." If my friend Kamuela had to introduce himself in the middle ages, or just say, Middle Earth, he'd be "Kamuela, son of Kimo."

Sadly, even if he were to say such a thing, it still doesn't give you much information on who he is, where he came from, and where he's going. You'd have to add that he is a Kahoano, and as a Kahoano, music was always around growing up. His father, Kimo Kahoano, together with Paul Natto, wrote the iconic pau hana song Aloha Friday in 1982, and later, he and his brother Ikaika (formerly of Making the Band on MTV, 2000) were, musically, virtually inseparable.

He's been trying to fill those awfully big shoes dad left him. But he's doing it on his own terms.

Recently, he released his first solo CD, Stream Dreams, an eclectic self-produced DIY masterpiece. And while it may seem that he's aimlessly sending out feelers in every direction to find that One Big Thing, Kamuela includes a little bit of everything because he's really just that good. Anyone close to the man knows he's one of the hardest working local entertainers — he gigs nearly all week for a wide variety of audiences — and when he's not performing, he's in the studio recording or putting the finishing touches on a song.

The third track on Stream Dreams, Loli 'ana, literally means transition in Hawaiian, but it could also mean something that is in a constant state of transcendence. And that's also true of Kamuela, who is never quite finished with anything he does, because he's always evolving. Frankly, we're excited to see what he does next.

To hear more of Kamuela's music, visit him at:
www.kamuelamusic.com - Department of Public Works : Evil Genius

Social Lite
3 minutes
CHRISTA WITTMIER
MAR 17, 2010 |

IMAGE: KAMUELA KAHOANO

So I’ve been seeing musician Kamuela Kahoano all over town recently. I decided to internet-stalk him to find out more about him:

supercw: hey. do you have like 3 minutes to talk?

kamuelamusic: sure what’s up

supercw: well, first of all thank you for sending the songs…wow, i like your contemporary music

kamuelamusic: they’re all different, thanks

supercw: so the album isn’t like all one genre?

kamuelamusic: we had a plan for all across the board potential. whoever bit, that’s where we were gonna go, but we have other plans now and better songs on the way

supercw: whoever like audiences or recording execs?

kamuelamusic: particularly radioplay audiences that would get the attention of the recording execs and create a following. in theory

supercw: so you’re going for it now huh. what is your background? you grew up here right?

kamuelamusic: yeah. Kapahulu

supercw: what got you in to playing music?

kamuelamusic: me personally? an ukulele provided by Gramma at 6 yrs old, but it goes much deeper than that.

supercw: you’re, like, ridiculously good at ukelele. sorry i don’t think i spelled that right. so did you have formal training or did you just tinker around and teach yourself?

kamuelamusic: reedikulus, c’mon everyone knows that. I have no formal training…but I wouldn’t say that’s an advantage. But it did give me the freedom to expand on my own color.

supercw: if you had to describe your music to someone like me, what would you say? like, your color

kamuelamusic: well mine is much different from Analogic’s, but my time will come…I’ll say for now that it’s like Damien Rice meets Coldplay…it’s made for the cause of music therapy

kamuelamusic: I’m more concerned with Analogic’s sound, which I would say sounds like Rage, mixed with 311, U2, and Shinedown, but my band would hate me for saying that. they don’t want to be “labeled” but they don’t know that identifying singles out the real fans and keeps haters in their hating ground. I’m no music therapist, but I heart smiles, young and old, so my hard times become everyone’s strength music. I could be wrong tho.

supercw: I am hearing all kinds of good feedback about you from your gig at Rum Fire. When do you play there again?

kamuelamusic: well, Fridays normally

supercw: so you have Analogic and your solo stuff. and Analogic is the one having the cd release at cw’s or kamuela?

kamuelamusic: it’s for Analogic. mine will be a couple months after

supercw: so people who go to the one at cw’s on the 3rd can expect more of the reggae/311/rage sort of sounds?

kamuelamusic: yes…our drummer and guitarist wrote Shark in the Water and Stuck out and Let The Love Flow. I wrote Chemistry and I Got Issues. Although Brent Paul, our bassist is a great songwriter too.

We have a second EP planned, but not until I finish my CD.

supercw: so is CW’s pretty fun then? i been meaning to get over there. they have a cool name.

kamuelamusic: I would say see for yourself…

supercw: ok - Honolulu Weekly

Aug 13, 2010 - 01:02 PM | by Jamie Winpenny
HONOLULU—It would be easy to characterize singer-songwriter Kamuela Kahoano as a musical chameleon, but it would also be inaccurate. His ability to assume and express a pastiche of genres with melody, harmony and texture are not a disguise. And he’s hungry for the opportunity. With his full length, independently released CD Stream Dreams and a packed performance schedule of steady Rumfire and Moana Surfrider and special engagement gigs, his are not attempts at misdirection.

Tucking into a slice of pizza in Downtown (and between gigs), Kahoano’s comportment smacks of talent and desire. Speaking of his new record, he says, “I wanted this thing to be the most crossover thing you can find.” His colloquial superlative notwithstanding, Stream Dreams visits a variety of musical landscapes, often blending milieu that make for unlikely but, ultimately, fulfilling combinations.

To make Stream Dreams, Kahoano immersed himself in the songwriting process. That’s hard to do when you are your own financier and producer. “I don’t know,” he says. “It just comes out.”

Comfortable with the demands of time and energy such an endeavor makes, Kahoano is just embarking on a planned four-album journey.

Speaking breezily about his experiences performing in Colorado and at South By Southwest in Austin, he has been clearly inspired by the caliber of the performers, and of the audiences, he encountered during his travels. “I don’t know. Why not?,” he chuckles, recalling some of the idiosynchratic instrumental combinations he encountered on the streets of Austin.

Kahoano’s commitment to the craft, indeed, to the art, of penning original music comes to the fore as he describes the “modes” of songwriting that he has identified and continues to develop. These modes range from a go-with-it, see-what-happens approach to locking yourself in a room until it’s done mission.

He’s also aware of the need to collaborate with others similarly obsessed with the pursuit of writing and producing original material. Chris Athens, who has worked with Coldplay and P. Diddy, mastered the record. Kahoano brought in Johnny Helm for some vocals on the track “Life Goes On.”

“Actually,” Kahoano confides, “I wrote it for him to sing.”

There are songs on Stream Dreams that were crafted specifically for local and national markets. Kahoano is confident that “She’s Grumpy (it’s my fault),” a song that combines Do-Wop, Jawaiian, and So-Cal cheekiness, has what he calls “national legs.” The instrumental songs on the record, like “Loliana,” reflect a similar, internalized homage to multiple influences.

Kahoano is a performer that seems to approach songwriting from both sides of the song. He has the exacting scrutiny of an artist and technician who agonizes over each measure and note, as well as the simple gratitude of a listener who loves it from the first time they hear a song that rings true. - The Hawaii Independent

'Stream Dreams'

Kamuela Kahoano
(Green Light Go/ Kahoano Productions)

Kamuela Kahoano has been active for the past decade as a writer, recording artist and record producer, first with "Fruit from the Tree," an album recorded with his brothers, then with groups Green Light Go and Analog/ Analogic,and most recently as a solo studio artist. He displays his range and versatility with this collection of 11 songs. Some were first heard on previous projects, but they are still fresh, imaginative and promising.

He speaks for millions with "Grumpy (She's Grumpy It's My Fault)." The title tells the story. The lyrics, and the female singers backing him, develop the premise in witty, engaging style. Other tracks show his command of local-style Jawaiian rock, his feel for folkish Cat Stevens-ish pop, and his talent as a solo guitarist. He steps forward as a mature balladeer as he addresses the universal experience of surviving the death of a loved one with "Life Goes On."

There's no question that Kahoano has the potential to connect with several distinctly different audiences, here and nationally. "Stream Dreams" is available at www.kamuelamusic.com.

- Honolulu Star Advertiser