James and Mārama Stent have recorded We Are The Ones Unite (Against COVID 19) with all proceeds going to the RSA.
James and Mārama Stent have recorded We Are The Ones Unite (Against COVID 19) with all proceeds going to the RSA.
Recreating a song produced two years ago to raise funds for the Cancer Foundation, James and Mārama Stent have just released We Are The Ones Unite (Against COVID 19), this time raising money for the RSA.
Releasing We Are the Ones Unite two years ago with sKids out of school care programme and Kings, James and Mārama's mother Sonia South thought lockdown was a good time to raise some more funds with another song.
"We had a song that we had recorded a couple of years ago and my kids are quite musical so we decided we wanted to do a Covid-19 version of it," Sonia said.
James Stent at home recording.
"So we used the same chorus and backing track, James wrote the lyrics and we recorded it.
"We discussed it and we thought the RSA was a good charity to give to.
"With no poppy day this year, they will be out a couple millions dollars and the kids' grandfather was a veteran so we thought it was a good choice."
The family has a lot of military history with both Sonia and her husband having spent time in the army, and the kids all doing scouts which normally involves attending Anzac Day parades.
James and Mārama recorded the song in a home studio and did many takes until the timing was just right, with James then putting the vocal track together with the original backing track and chorus.
"I like singing because I like making other people happy and the easiest way for me to do that is singing," said James who is a year 10 Kāpiti College student.
"I was also bored in lockdown and I had nothing better to do.
"It's fun singing with my sister.
"She's always had a sweet voice but we could never do anything together because she was so young.
"Now she's 10 years old and its fun because we are able to collaborate on stuff together."
The project took around a week and a half, from writing the lyrics to mixing and producing the song and is already making its mark, currently sitting at number two on the iTunes children section and number 79 on the main charts.
"It was fun but it was a bit annoying, we had to keep recording and redoing it over and over again until it was right," said Mārama who goes to Waitohu School in Ōtaki.
"You had to get everything right and if you got one tiny thing wrong you had to do it all over again.
"I do have an appreciation of others recording, as I now know how hard it is.
"But it was really fun and I feel more confident now."
The song We Are The Ones Unite (Against COVID 19) was released on Thursday and is available to download and play now with all proceeds will go to the RSA.
To purchase on iTunes click here or to stream on Spotify visit here.
