Photo caption Hawaii’s new super group Seven Suns is about to release a new album and will perform Nov. 8 at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center. Courtesy photo

“We don’t want to be stars, we want to be suns,” says drummer Shawn Kekoa Pimental of Hawaii’s new super group Seven Suns. “We believe that everybody can be a sun and help other people to grow.”

With a mission to spread love, unity and peace through music, they previously released a handful of singles and are about to release their debut album, “Many Feathers,” and perform Nov. 8 at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center.

With Justin Kawika Young on lead vocals, the seven-member ensemble also includes Jason Tupuola-Aiono, Phil Crown, Ethan Capone, Paul Nelson and Pi’i Miguel.

Acclaimed for working with a spectrum of artists, their combined credits include performing with Jake Shimabukuro, Keali’i Reichel, Paula Fuga, Brother Noland, Kimié Miner, Fiji, Rebel Souljahz, Katchafire, Nuff Sedd, Anuhea and country star Brett Young.

“Many Feathers” features 10 original songs including the singles “Stranger,” “Faded,” “Run It Back” and the title track.

“We are really excited about it,” says Pimental. “We’re at this point in our life that we’re very intentional about our time, who we spend it with, the kind of music we want to make and the kind of message we want to put out.”

With hints of island reggae, pop and country, the album should appeal to a broad audience. “We’re pretty simple, but still very deep and intentional, and I think that’s what’s important,” he continues. “There are nuggets of jazz and R&B things in there, but it’s got to be palatable. Our approach to reggae, we wanted to go this kind of pop reggae route that appeals. It doesn’t just sound like island reggae. We are branching out to other types of music, and we wanted to get our foot in the door and appeal to our people here.”

Irresistible tracks like “Many Feathers,” which espouses unity and perseverance, reflect influences of inspirational reggae, while their latest single, “Be Still Here,” is more of a country inflected ballad.

“Justin’s writing lends itself to that,” he says. “Country music is very much like Hawaiian music. They say three chords and the truth, right?”

As a respected multi-Hōkū winning and Grammy nominated musician, engineer and producer, Pimental has collaborated with many artists including Jake Shimabukuro, Keali’i Reichel, Kalani Pe’a and Napua Greig.

Friends with Justin Young for over 30 years, “from when he started his solo thing and was still in high school, my old band, Pacific Blue used to back him up,” he recalls. “I played on a bunch of his records, and we used to do duos a lot through the years. Then he ended up moving to L.A. He’s honed his craft over these years, and his writing has just become so exquisite and so thought-provoking and very intentional.”

Among Pimental’s musical collaborations, he formed the group Kulāiwi with Na Leo’s Lehua Kalima and Kawika Kahiapo, plus hula dancer Pono Fernandez. In 2022 their album, “Native Lands,” won Hōkū Awards for Group of the Year, Album of the Year, Hawaiian Music Album of the Year and Hawaiian Engineering.

“I missed (the awards ceremony) because I was in Japan with Napua (Greig),” he says. “I actually didn’t think we were going to win anything. Lehua lives in Vegas now, so I convinced Lehua to come home. I was sitting in my dressing room at Napua’s show watching on my phone eating my egg sandwich. And we started getting all these awards, and I was like, what the heck? It was just an amazing thing.”

With a mission to “serve as a link in the chain of aloha ‘āina transmission,” the Kulāiwi musicians just returned from an educational residency in Chicago.

“We went to three schools a day, from pre-K all the way to high school, and taught them all about culture and language, and we wrote some songs for them,” he explains. “We taught about 3,500 kids all about malama kai, aloha ʻāina, kū kia’i mauna, taking care of our resources. They loved it.”

Excited about performing with Seven Suns, Pimental recalls how the idea to form the group arose when he was playing with Paula Fuga. “Paul Nelson and Ethan Capone, the three of us back up Paula Fuga, and we play with different reggae bands. I was thinking, ‘How can we empower ourselves to make our own choices and make our own journey?’ I said, ‘We can create a band and we choose our lead singer.’ Justin came home and he was like, ‘What have you guys been working on?’ And I said, ‘We’re kind of looking for a lead singer,’ and he goes, ‘What about me?’ He’s like, ‘I would drop everything to do this with you because we’ve been wanting to do a project together for years.’ We started having Zoom meetings so everyone could meet virtually.”

Originally, when some of the Suns began talking about forming a band, they were going to call themselves “The Backup.”

“We’re all backup guys, right? For everybody else. Justin’s backed up Colbie Caillat and Brett Young, and we’ve backed up everybody from Kalapana to Fiji to Jake Shimabukuro. So we’re going to call it, ‘The Backup.’ That’s not powerful enough, so we started throwing around names and we came up with Seven Suns. Suns because we feel like we’ve built our careers on shining our light on everyone else and helping them to grow. Now it’s time for us to shine our light on each other and help each other to grow.”

Seven Suns will perform at the MACC’s Castle Theater at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 8. There is a dance floor. Tickets are $25 and $35 for reserved seats, and $45 for exclusive access to the dance floor with no seat and standing only (plus applicable fees). Prices will increase the day of the show.