With a song in his heart

Sam Kapu III brings generations of Hawaiian music to the visitors in Waikiki

Sam Kapu III Title: Professional musician Job: Performs evenings with a musical trio at the four Sheraton hotels in Waikiki

Sam Kapu III plays Hawaiian music Mondays through Saturdays for guests at the Sheraton hotels in Waikiki, as well as for members of the Waialae Country Club on Sunday. His repertoire comprises mostly Hawaiian songs, but every once in a while he slips in a rock song, in homage to his roots as a singer for the local heavy metal group Hyena. "What a band," he said last week. "We didn't' make any money, but we had so much fun. We did Metallica and Van Halen. Ah, ... loved it." In the Hawaiian genre, Kapu has issued two CDs -- "Sam Kapu III" and "Lineage" (a tribute to his musical parents and grandparents). Kapu, 39, is also active as a worship leader at Harvest Chapel in Kaimuki. He is a graduate of St. Louis School and also briefly attended Chapman University in Orange, Calif. He is married to the former Jaime Naeole, with whom he has two sons and a daughter. Currently living in Foster Village, they soon will be moving to the house in which he was born, in Kapahulu.

Question: How long have you been a professional musician?

Answer: Oh man, about 20 years. Right out of high school. I graduated from St. Louis High School, and then went away to college for a little bit, and then when I got back, I went into entertainment with the Al Harrington Show. That was kind of like my college. (Laughter) I learned a lot from him. Six years, I believe, I was a singer and a dancer. And eventually he gave me my own spot in the show, where I would come out and do a couple of numbers on my own with the orchestra. It was pretty cool. I learned about the business side and the performing side from him.

Q: You play mostly Hawaiian music, right?

A: Well, you know, as far as the venues I do, that's what we need to do most of the time. But at heart I'm a rock 'n' roll guy, and I slip that in every night. I go from Gabby to the Eagles, and the crowd goes "What the heck?"

Q: Does anybody ever request "Free Bird"?

A: Almost every night. And, oddly enough, I don't do "Free Bird."

Q: Is there a particular genre of Hawaiian music that you play the most?

A: You know, as far as the trio that I put together, we tend to go more contemporary. I like the traditional stuff, but I like to do the newer stuff, the Keali'i Reichel stuff, but our strength is more the C&K/Kalapana-sounding music, because we like doing the three-part harmonies.

Q: So you all sing?

A: Yeah, we all sing.

Q: Who are the guys playing along with you?

A: It actually depends on what gig you come to, but my main trio I play with, at the Sheraton Waikiki, Moana and Royal Hawaiian hotels, I have a percussionist and singer, Adney Atabay; and then the bass player and actually a good singer, too, is Jim Christian. I met these guys when I first started at the Al Harrington show; they were part of Al's band. But later, when I started my own band, I grabbed them and took them with me.

Q: When did you start playing at the Sheraton hotels?

A: At those three, a little over a year and a half ago.

Q: Who is your actual employer?

A: Jan Brenner handles Koa Entertainment, which books those three, and then I've been at the (Sheraton) Princess Kaiulani, and except for the three years I lived on the mainland, I've been there since 1992.

Q: Do the hotels pay you directly?

A: I go through Kika Inc. for the Princess Kaiulani only, which is weird, because they're all Sheratons, but I have to go through two different people. But it's OK. I guess it's kind of unique that I ended up working at every single Sheraton in Waikiki. (Laughter) For me it's perfect.

Q: What about benefits?

A: No, we don't get any of that. I just made 39 on Oct. 17, and I'm only just figuring this stuff out after 20 years as a full-time musician. But as a family, thank God for my wife. She has a job that covers us.

Q: Besides hotels, what kinds of events do you play at?

A: On Sunday nights, I do a solo for dinner at the Waialae Country Club.

Q: Oh, how nice.

A: Yeah, that's a good gig. I like it.

Q: What days do you work and what are your hours?

A: Let's start from Monday.

Monday we're at the Sheraton Waikiki, poolside, from 6 o'clock to 8:30. We have a couple of hula dancers that come up during the night periodically and do a few numbers.

Then, my only night off is Tuesday.

Then Wednesday, we're at the Sheraton Moana Surfrider, and we perform under the banyan tree there, outside, from 5:30 to 8:30. And what happens on Wednesday night, too, at 7 o'clock, there's a ceremony called "Promise Me Again;" it's a renewing of vows, for people that are already married, and we have somewhere's between 15 to 40 couples that participate every week -- it's pretty crazy.

Q: Are those all tourists?

A: It's mostly all tourists. I think maybe one couple has been local the whole time we've been doing it. And the guests love it, because the hotel gives them leis and certificates, and we do the "Hawaiian Wedding Song" for them. It's a good memory for them.

Then Thursdays, we do the Royal Hawaiian, from 4:15 to 7:15, and then Friday and Saturday I have my show at the Princess Kaiulani, 6:15 to 9:30.

Q: Those seem like pretty mellow hours.

A: Yep. It's actually really good with three kids. I get to come home relatively early. It works out so nice for me.

Q: What songs get requested the most by your audiences?

A: Well, you know, more in the hotel venues, they always request Elvis Presley, especially the tunes he did in the movies he did here, like "Blue Hawaii." And the other big one is Bruddah Iz.

Q: Like what from him?

A: Like "Over the Rainbow." It seems like everyone knows that song.

Q: What kind of people are your audiences, mostly?

A: Well, of course we get our share of Japanese tourists, but also a lot of people from the mainland. I notice more this year than past years, which is good.

Q: What about local people?

A: You know, my Princess Kaiulani show, on Fridays and Saturdays, a lot of local people come out for that.

Q: How many songs do you know?

A: Oh, gee, I can't even tell. I can do about three or four sets without repeating a song. It's weird. Sometimes I'll get a request for a song I haven't done in years, and it kind of just rolls off your tongue. (Laughter)

Q: How do you remember the words to all the songs?

A: I think it's just repetition, because I'm in a situation where I play six nights a week, and I play a lot of those songs every night.

Q: What do you do if you mess up the words?

A: You just keep going.

Q: Do you play leads on your guitar, or are you mostly just a rhythm guitarist?

A: I do little leads. I play mostly acoustic. Very simple and tasty stuff, nothing too fancy.

Q: Do you ever play any of your own songs at the hotels?

A: I do, actually. A couple of things that I wrote we have in our sets.

Q: Do you have any other career plans right now besides working as a musician?

A: You know, I'm heavily into the ministry right now. I volunteer a lot of my time for our church, Harvest Chapel.

Q: Where is that?

A: It's right on Waialae (Avenue), right at the top.

Q: So that keeps you busy?

A: That keeps me a lot busy, and I'd like to do that more, maybe even on a full-time basis. And I've been writing a lot of contemporary Christian music that I'd like to get out on CD as well.

Q: Do you ever play ukulele?

A: I played a ukulele on the gig once, but I don't really have an ukulele that I can plug in. But I really should play one at the performance.

Q: Does the hotel provide the sound system?

A: Yeah, they do, which is a good thing and sometimes a bad thing. (Laughter) But it's real convenient for us. We just plug in and go.

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