BIOGRAPHY
We are longtime friends who have played together for over 30 years. One of us (Coconut Charlie) has been a professional musician for almost 20 years who decided to give up gigging for the joys of recording. The other (Charles Hugh Smith) just tries not to embarrass himself on guitar. Both of us write songs. CC's work tends to instrumental rock/jazz, CHS tends to write pop songs like "My Big Island Girl." "My Big Island Girl" was inspired by CHS's wife, who is, yes, a Big Island girl. We recorded the song as "live" as possible: rhythm guitar in two takes, bass and lead guitar (CC) in one take each, vocal in 3 takes (CHS) and background vocals in a couple takes. It is a fun song with an experiential subtext: that romance requires accepting the other's past, and living in the present, i.e. "the blue-sky now." The song references a beach known to Hilo, Hawaii natives, and the name we chose for the band (Polihua) reflects CHS's long history in Hawaii. The song was written as a contemporary entry in the venerable "hapa-haole" Hawaiian style: words in English, Hawaiian themes/references. CHS thinks CC's guitar solo is a mini-symphony of roughly 30 seconds. The song is short by the usual standards but we think it is "long enough," i.e. it captures everything we wanted to communicate in words and music. We had great fun recording it and we hope you enjoy it.
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