Episode this artist appeared in
Brief History
Blue King Brown were formed by Nattali Rize (lead vocals, lead guitar, co songwriter) and Carlo Santone (bass guitar, co songwriter) in Byron Bay in 2003 as an urban roots ensemble. As multi instrumentalists, they'd performed as percussionists on the streets for years, including with percussion group Skin featuring Greg Sheehan.
To complete the line up of Blue King Brown, the duo moved to Melbourne and recruited Julian Goyma (drums), Latin percussionist Salvador Persico, Sam Cope (keyboards), Cesar Rodrigues (lead guitar) with Javier Fredes regularly performing as a second percussionist. Rize recalled their sound, "When it was me and Carlo it was just drums, very rhythmic, very percussive and that's what we love. We really brought a lot of that into Blue King Brown, which is why we feature two percussionists on the front line." The ensemble's line up has varied from a five-piece to an eleven-piece, and now features The Black Sistaz from West Papua on Backing Vocals.
The beats driven collaboration formed connections in the Australian roots scene guesting on percussion for the John Butler Trio. They have also supported performances with a number of local and international touring artists, including the Cat Empire. Peter Dawson of Diaspora Worldwide felt the group were "a funky 5-piece roots-reggae outfit which has quickly established itself on the National touring circuit. Under Nattali and Carlo's strong direction the band has developed a strong fan base around the country."