Aloha Got Soul founder Roger Bong preserves the sounds of Hawaii
Roger Bong remembers growing up and visiting his grandmother’s apartment in Seattle during the holidays. She had a record cabinet with a player inside, and it automatically dropped records on. “My grandma used to put on Harry Belafonte and maybe a Chipmunks record,” he said. “As kids, we’d just dance around the living room, listening to that.”
Now, Bong is dropping his own records and dancing in a different room. He’s the founder of a blog, a record label, and a record store in Honolulu, HI—all named Aloha Got Soul. The three are united by a common mission: To share Hawaii’s music with the world.
On Aloha Got Soul’s origins, from an idea to a blog to a record label
Aloha Got Soul was borne out of curiosity and a bit of homesickness, Bong said. The founder studied journalism at the University of Oregon, where he had a professor who encouraged their students to start a blog about something niche. After graduating, Bong stayed in Portland, OR, but missed Hawaii, and kept his professor’s advice in mind.
He started researching records from Hawaii from the 70s and 80s, records he had no idea about when he was growing up on the islands. From there, he started his blog and began sharing the records he discovered from that time period. He added his own point of view on the music, but kept the “documentary-archival approach, mainly because I had noticed that the internet was lacking in information on these musicians.”
Soon, the blog gained traction, with more international readers than local ones.
“I think that that happened largely because of the strong community behind record collecting and record culture,” Bong said. “People who dig for records on vinyl are ever-curious and always looking to go deeper or learn something they weren’t aware of.”
Once Bong moved back to Hawaii in 2011, he dug through local record shops and thrift stores for the albums he’d blogged about. But there were many vinyl records he couldn’t easily find, and readers were reaching out to him about how they could buy a copy of the albums too.
In 2013, Bong interviewed Mike Lundy, a guitarist and singer from Oahu whose debut LP was released in 1979. He got his original copy from his good friend Oliver Seguin, who now works at the record store. When the piece was published, readers asked where they could buy the album and it dawned on Bong to work with Lundy to reissue “The Rhythm of Life.” It was the first record Aloha Got Soul released on its label.
“It just made sense ever since then to put that approach first and foremost, of making music available, especially on vinyl format,” Bong said.
When an artist’s record from 30 years ago sells online on eBay for hundreds of dollars, the artist doesn’t see that money at all, he said. At the same time, younger record collectors from around the world are eager to get their hands on the same albums and are paying money to whomever found the albums at a thrift store.
“I thought, why not connect the dots and make everyone happy? Make this music available again and see to it that the artist gets paid whatever royalties are coming their way,” the founder said. “That’s a big inspiration for why I started the label, to make sure people had access and that everyone was taken care of.”
The reissue criteria
With Aloha Got Soul’s mission in mind, Bong and his team are selective with which albums the label will reissue. “The baseline for any of the releases that we do is that we love their music,” Bong said. “I say that from the perspective of a listener, a DJ, a record collector, a radio host, even a beat maker, to be honest.”
Other important factors include whether the team feels the album deserves to be heard by a wider audience and if the album represents the islands in an authentic or diverse way.
“Speaking Brown,” the 1980 debut album by Brother Noland, a Hawaiian artist who has made a huge impact on the islands’ music scene, is another album that checks these boxes. Besides its original vinyl pressing from the 1980s, the album has been unavailable on music platforms, so people nowadays may not ever hear it. Aloha Got Soul proudly reissued “Speaking Brown” this year.
“Hawaii is so geographically removed from so much of the world. We’re located in the middle of the ocean, so for a lot of people, Hawaii is just a dream,” Bong said. “For us as a record label, even though we’re very niche, we have this chance to present music from this place in an authentic, real way.”
Beyond the reissues
Besides reissues of albums from the 70s and 80s, Aloha Got Soul has been hard at work creating compilation albums that feature new music coming out of Hawaii. A project Bong’s team has been working on is “Mix Plate,” aptly named after one of Hawaii’s most famous dishes, and it’ll include songs that were digitally released by artists from the islands. Bong hopes the label can make “Mix Plate” an annual series with new music that represents Hawaii, here and now.
“This compilation will hopefully provide a glimpse in time, say 30 or 40 years from now,” he said. “Someone will pick up this compilation mix and they’ll be transported back to Hawaii in 2024.”
Opening a brick-and-mortar record shop
(L to R) Oliver Seguin (shop manager, DJ), Max High (shop manager, DJ), Roger Bong, Bradley Izumi-Hee (2024 summer intern), Miss Lulu (shop clerk, inventory specialist, DJ), Riley Haruki-Murakami (2023 summer intern), Nate Webster (cataloging volunteer)
Bong had been running the Aloha Got Soul record label from his apartment since 2015 and in 2020, he’d graduated to a small storage unit. Soon, he wanted a separate work space and found the perfect spot for a hybrid office-record shop in 2021. Its design was inspired by the record stores he’d seen in Japan, New York, and LA.
“When this opportunity came up to move into this space, we realized we could totally provide something to our community,” Bong said. “Something that’s inspired by all of the things that we've seen.”
Suitably named Aloha Got Soul, the shop isn’t just a place to buy new and old records. It also regularly hosts events, including DJ workshops and a monthly DJ series called Records Should Be Played. The series features local and visiting vinyl DJs, connecting people from different pockets of Oahu’s music community. On occasion, you’ll find Bong spinning records at the shop—he’s also a DJ on the side and sees DJing as his main source of creative expression. “It allows me to step outside of work and responsibilities, and have fun.”
“It’s really humbling and we feel so much gratitude to see all of these people who love music, who may exist in slightly different scenes, coming together. Even then, the connections that are formed from those interactions are really inspiring too.” He hopes the record store will be the first or last place you visit when you come to the islands.
“With the shop, it’s beyond any of us. It’s trying to provide ways for people to find records that they love, but also enjoy these community events and make memories that they might not otherwise make.”
The legacy of Aloha Got Soul
What was once an online publication has become so much more, so much bigger than anything tangible. With every reissue and compilation album, Aloha Got Soul has preserved the sounds of Hawaii that could have faded into obscurity.
“The biggest encouragement and inspiration comes from their being so many fans and listeners who are telling us how much they appreciate what we’re doing by reissuing music on vinyl and making it available again,” Bong said.
The reissues are time capsules of a Hawaii different from today’s. And Aloha Got Soul’s compilation albums and the current records it’s selling in the shop are snapshots of a Hawaii that’s different from the future’s. The cycle will continue—Bong is just happy to play a part in it.
“A big part of what we’re doing and why we’re doing it is to put out a physical record into the universe for the potential chance to change someone’s life, at some point in time, somewhere.”
Every legacy has to start from somewhere. For Bong, he’d heard some records from a certain time and place and thought he should start a blog. Aloha Got Soul has grown to become so much more. “No one knew it was going to happen,” he said. “Not even me.”
Here are Roger Bong’s 12 songs.
The lyrics perfectly encapsulate what it’s like to be from Hawaii, but you’re torn between staying here or leaving to live elsewhere. Most of us encounter this feeling at some point in our lives.
Gumby is a good friend of mine and one of the humblest, most honest people I know. This song is a departure from his usual reggae explorations into freestyle music, and it’s a teaser for a forthcoming freestyle LP he’s been talking about for years.
I love the production on this track. Lionel Boy grew up in the town neighboring my hometown and we have mutual friends in the skate community. He lives in LA and likes to make music in the early morning hours.
One of the most promising upcoming acts from Hawaii at the moment! I recently ran into the drummer, Stephen Radkov, and he mentioned they’re planning to release a new EP by the end of the year. Can’t wait.
The pop-reggae sound is ubiquitous in Hawaii. Pana is probably the best producer working in this field right now. This song is pure gratitude and nostalgic for me; it reminds me how blessed we are to live in Hawaii.
An homage to Mackey Feary, the singer whose song “A Million Stars” inspired me to start Aloha Got Soul. I’ve collaborated with YSIG over the years, and for this release, I asked my dear friend Joelene to sing. The band recorded their parts in Tokyo and we recorded Joelene’s vocals in the back of my shop.
Seprock constantly surprises me with remixes and rough drafts he sends us. A while back I’d been shopping around for someone to remix “Kona Winds,” but was having a hard time finding anyone. Then one day, Seprock sends me this gem.
A familiar track for selectors and crate diggers—this song pops up in DJ sets and playlists all over the world. It represents the 1970s era that initially inspired Aloha Got Soul.
Probably my favorite Hawaiian records, this album has such a pure, innocent and loving sound. The entire album was recorded live in one or two takes (on this song you can hear a chair creaking from time to time). The engineer, Rick Keefer, had heard the duo playing at a restaurant and encouraged them to visit his studio to cut a record.
One of my proudest achievements as a “producer.” Usually I’m doing reissues of already recorded music, but when I heard Maryanne performing with her band one evening, I just knew we needed to record a live album together. The results were nothing short of magic!
There’s a proliferation of new music and talent from Hawaii these days. Royce is at the forefront of this movement. His sound is fresh and innovative. Young artists look up to him and regard him as one of the best in the scene.
This is the song that started it all for me. I had heard it and loved it in high school (early 2000’s), but it wasn’t until the song found me again post-college (2010) that it inspired me to start Aloha Got Soul.
Listen to Roger Bong’s curated 12 Songs playlist below.