Kalapana’s Appeal Continues to Spread on the Mainland

Kalapana is a four-man band from Honolulu and, not surprisingly, its core following on the mainland long has consisted of transplanted Hawaiians. Lately, though, the group’s appeal has been spreading among Californians with no connection to the islands.

These days, according to bassist Kenji Sano, only 30% of the group’s audience in San Diego and Orange counties is Asian/Pacific. The rest are blond surfers or other haoles (Caucasians).

Ken Phebus, who books acts for the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano, where Kalapana plays two shows tonight, says that “to anyone with a surfboard, the act is known. The surfing community is a real closed community, but the word (on Kalapana) is running rampant.”

That itself is surprising, given that the group’s songs are not specifically about surfing or even the beach. Instead, the group tries to reflect the tropical influence of island life with a blend of pop, rock and jazz.

The original quartet--Macky Feary, Malani Biyeu, D.J. Pratt and Kirk Thompson--was formed late in 1973 by manager Ed Guy. The members, all of whom are part Hawaiian, had been playing in separate bands. Hawaiian radio jumped on nearly every track from the band’s debut album in 1975 and “Kalapana II” the following year.

But the potent lineup began to dissolve when singer Feary, the group’s teen heartthrob, left for a career of his own. Before long, guitarist Biyeu and keyboard player Thompson also were gone.

Lead guitarist Pratt replaced them and began to lead the group more toward hard rock. In 1984, though, Feary--whose own albums had been increasingly unsuccessful--reunited with Biyeu and Thompson, and Pratt joined them 6 months later. Sano, from Los Angeles, replaced Thompson in mid-1985. The group, which has played Hawaii, Japan and the West Coast ever since, plans to release its 15th-anniversary album and a “best of” compilation next year.

Why wasn’t it able to find success on the mainland during its original heyday in the ‘70s? “We had bad management,” answers Biyeu, saying that former manager Guy had turned down a deal with CBS Records because he wanted to maintain control over the group by releasing its records through his own small Abattoir label.

“He turned down $3 million!” Biyeu says. Beyond that, “a small label like Abattoir couldn’t support a touring group on the East Coast” or even get the group’s records distributed on the mainland. Guy, now based in Los Angeles, refused comment. Kalapana now manages itself.

The group has yet to make a serious dent in the general American pop market. But it is not alone. Since 1971, of all the acts based in Hawaii, only Glenn Medeiros (“Nothing’s Gonna Change My Love for You”) has been able to crack the national Hot 100 singles chart. Few ever snag a deal with a major record company. Why is that?

“I don’t think it has anything to do with (a lack of) talent,” says Wayne Harada, entertainment editor of the Honolulu Advertiser. But record company people on the mainland “have the image that you have to be a kind of Don Ho/”Tiny Bubbles”/rock-a-hula. I think the music business likes to pigeonhole acts, and I think what Kalapana does is very hard to label.

“It’s not Hawaiian. They’re an act from Hawaii, but their music is not Hawaiian music because it’s more universal in what they have to offer.”

Ironically, people’s stereotyped view of Hawaii well may be one reason for Kalapana’s success in California. “For anybody that lives in Southern California,” says Phebus, “Hawaii’s like the dream, just as Southern California is the dream to someone from Wisconsin. Anything connected with Hawaii has a real romantic kind of connotation.”

Kalapana and Juke Logan & Bill Lynch play tonight at 8 and 10:30 p.m. at the Coach House, 33157 Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano. Tickets: $15. Information: (714) 496-8930.