Sashamon is ready to share his music with the world.
Again.
The Anahola resident, also known as Sasha Spiller-Reiff, took a break from the high-paced music life he was headed into nearly a decade ago with the release of his first album. With the worldwide popularity of his self-produced album, “Someday Maybe,” he continues to get more than 100,000 plays a week on Spotify.
“After I released my CD I had this music career that came out of nowhere, and I didn’t know how to be a band leader,” Sashamon said. “I needed to get my personal and family life together while still trying to write music.”
The self-taught musician put music on the back burner to spend time with loved ones after his mom was diagnosed with terminal illness. Taking time to raise a family and encouraging his 3-year-old son to play music has given him inspiration to get back on track with his unique sound.
“Where you’re from is important, but where you’re at is more important,” said Sashamon, originally from Molokai. “I’m inspired by environmental issues. I like music that is political, socially conscious with a voice and thought-invoking message music.”
Residing on Kauai since 2000, he continues to be involved in local grassroots movements, including the environmental nonprofit, “Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii.”
“They do these beach cleanups and turn them into social parties,” Sashamon said. “Instead of going to a party and trashing the place and getting trashed yourself, you go over there and clean up the trash and you feel good. It’s in daytime, and it’s family friendly. I want to try to get more into that and feel really blessed to work with them.”
Sasha has been supporting Sustainable Coastline’s efforts for several years. His next big upcoming show is scheduled for their Earth Day celebration on April 21 in Oahu for Hawaii’s largest shoreline cleanup effort.
“As an underground independent musician, how do you make ripples in the world?” Sashamon said. “Songwriting is so much more difficult than being a cover band.”
The past year, Sashamon and his Necta Band have been getting back on the road, performing in California and Maui, as well as at the Kauai Summer Festival, the Art Walk in Kauai, the 17th annual Home Grown Music Festival in Princeville and the Nawiliwili cleanup with Sustainable Coastline.
“We like to do those community things,” Sashamon said.
He has been putting in lots of work to get back into the swing of things by recording in Brazil and especially at his home studio, playing ukulele, guitar, bass, keyboard, vocals and drum sequencer. He has been involved in several new projects and plans to release his brand new track, called “What I Do,” in the next few weeks.
“I got a few new tunes I’m working on,” Sashamon said. “I want to be proud of them. I want my new recordings to sound as good as I can and to reflect 10 years of me maturing as a musician.”
Spreading that message of good vibes is something he wants to continue. His advice to young aspiring musicians is: “Be careful what you wish for, it’s hard work.”
“There’s so many opportunities out there,” he said. “If you love music, study it. Try to get good at it, learn as much as you can, come from an authentic place, study the greats, study what you love, try to break it down, find teachers.”
“People are so talented out there,” he said. “Call me up when you become famous. I like open for you.”
His new album is scheduled to be released later this year and promises to get people dancing.
“It’s awesome making people dance,” he added. “Anytime you can help people be happy and enrich people’s lives in anyway, that’s a real blessing.”
