Katchafire bassist Ara Adams-Tamatea refers to Revival 2.0—the remixed, remastered and partially rerecorded update of the Aotearoa New Zealand reggae band’s 2003 debut, Revival—as a “time capsule”. “To hear the recordings and the files, wow,” he tells Apple Music. “To remember where we were when we recorded it; we were experiencing it for the first time. And we were trying to navigate our way through that, because none of us were drawing on experience. Faking it till we make it.” That attitude, he remarks, brought its own special purity to the finished product. “It’s that hunger, that drive, that naivety that is exciting, because you don’t know what you don’t know,” he offers. Care was taken not to lose that spirit with the remixes. “You don’t want to sanitise the energy and rawness. There’s a fine line with how much modern technology you brush to the canvas.” The idea to remix and remaster the group’s debut was raised post-COVID, with a view to updating its sound to reflect modern listening habits. “Radio and car stereos and all these things that were so relevant 20 years ago aren’t so relevant now,” says Adams-Tamatea. “We just wanted to bring it forward to this time.” So began the process of tracking down the original masters, which they found except for two songs, “Giddy Up” and “Bounce”. Both were subsequently rerecorded for this project. Here, Adams-Tamatea takes Apple Music through Revival 2.0, track by track. “Reggae Revival (Revival 2.0)” “Twenty odd years ago, reggae music in New Zealand wasn’t as loved as it is today. New Zealand hip-hop was going crazy. You had the acoustic folk singer kind of styles with Bic Runga, Carly Binding, Brooke Fraser, Anika Moa. Then you had the rock side—Stellar, Tadpole, Zed. When we were growing up, we listened to a lot of Bob Marley, Steel Pulse, UB40, but there was no music reflecting that at the time. So ‘Reggae Revival’ was an ode to try to bring those flavours and that music into the time that we were in.” “Get Away (Revival 2.0)” “I was the only one [in the band] with a job back then. All the boys were on benefits. So I remember a lot of the boys had life issues going on [with] money and broken-down cars and food’s a bit tight. ‘Get Away’ is about trying to find a happy place in amongst the chaos of life. That was our way to escape at the time, writing music, playing music.” “Who You With (Revival 2.0)” “‘Who You With’ is about weed culture. One of the lyrics is ‘practising up at Armadillo’s’, which makes no sense to the listener. But we used to practise where Logan [Bell, guitar/vocals] and Jordan [Bell, drums] used to live, above a restaurant called Armadillo’s. There’s another lyric in there talking about Hood Street. And Hood Street is a street in Hamilton where the clubs and pubs are. So it was our everyday life song. These are the everyday things going on.” “Colour Me Life (Revival 2.0)” “That was written by [multi-instrumentalist] Jamey Ferguson. Jamey has such an awesome way with his lyrics. What does ‘Colour Me Life’ mean? I don’t know. I’m still scratching my head. But it’s such a cool, happy song. It’s a song full of life.” “Lose Your Power (Revival 2.0)” “Losing power was a problem that we were all facing on a monthly basis. It’s another life problem song, but I suppose it has a double meaning. Power in terms of what it means to have responsibilities and make choices. And then there’s the actual power bill.” “Collie Herb Man (Revival 2.0)” “It’s about a man who supplies medicinal stuff to many people, and how they’re always in demand. I’m not a weed smoker, but there’s something about music and relaxing and having a joint or having a beer or whatever your vice is. It’s one of life’s simple pleasures.” “Sensimillia (Revival 2.0)” “‘Sensimillia’ is about sinsemilla [laughs]. Logan has that common thread of using medicinal herb for whatever he’s got, which is probably a list too long to mention here. And he’s highly influenced by the likes of Steel Pulse, Bob Marley, Black Uhuru, Aswad and Black Slate.” “Done Did It (Revival 2.0)” “You know what it’s like when you point your finger at someone else who’s to blame? That’s what ‘Done Did It’ is about. I remember Logan saying he wanted a Black Seeds vibe in terms of the music. So that’s why it sounds more upbeat and more energetic, as opposed to the other songs on the album.” “Seriously (Revival 2.0)” “Logan was singing a song on guitar after rehearsal. We’d just finished packing everything down, and he starts playing this. I remember saying, ‘Man, this sounds almost like a nursery rhyme.’ We started unpacking all the instruments that we’d just packed, because no one wanted to not be involved with this new song. We all felt the magic. It’s a love song.” “Giddy Up (Revival 2.0)” “‘Giddy Up’ was Jamey’s way of telling his mother in this very poetic and artistic way that he’s in a reggae band. It was meant to be light-hearted and kind of like, ‘Hope you don’t mind.’ Because his mother is from the church and wasn’t a big reggae listener. Don’t ask me why [it’s called] ‘Giddy Up’. Once again, Jamey Ferguson’s cryptic lyrics.” “Bounce (Revival 2.0)” “It’s just a feel-good song. It’s a real reflection of us listening to a lot of UB40, a lot of Bob Marley and all those key bands and reggae influences. They all had songs that talked about weed, hardships. But then there were also good times, and this falls into the latter.” “Redemption Song (Revival 2.0)” “For years before we started writing original music, we were a Bob Marley tribute band. Bob is the single biggest influence on this band. And it’s such a poignant song. So it was just one of the ones that we used to love playing live.”