Kero Kero Bonito

BATTLE LINES

Words by Emma Sophia Valles

Photography by Mia Sakai

How was touring for you guys?

Gus: It was great! It was amazing how much traveling we’ve done off the back of Time ‘n’ Place. When we released that album I don’t think anyone could have expected how much momentum it would create to sustain traveling like that and seeing almost every city in America we hoped to see. It’s been quite an experience.

Hopefully all good though!

Gus: Oh, yeah, definitely! There was an unfortunate moment at the end of the tour in America where Sarah got a case of strep throat, so unfortunately for a few fans in Florida, we had to cancel some shows. I promised the Florida fans we are working on rescheduling those as I am doing this interview, actually.

I wanted to ask about visuals - how do they come about? Is someone in charge of creating new ideas or is it a group effort?

Gus: I feel like Sarah is definitely the point person for the visuals, but it’s a group effort at the same time. The beautiful thing is Sarah did an art degree—she’s an artist in her own right—so that’s made that side of KKB a lot easier. I think one of the reasons why KKB is a really visual and multimedia band is that Sarah sees the world from that perspective. I feel like I could just bunker in my room and play around with synths ad infinitum. Part of the magic for pop groups is having all those different perspectives.

Yeah, having that degree and knowledge must make it much easier.

Gus: Yeah! Sarah does a lot of Photoshop stuff as well as pure creative art madness. There’s a lot to it actually and I can’t imagine being in a band that didn’t have that element, especially in this day and age where you have to be relatively professional about your presentation the moment you begin.

Moving into the music, how have you been able to capture such a futuristic feeling in both of your records, and how do you plan to continue that?

Gus: Wow, that’s a really good question. I think a lot of independent artists want to be futuristic—if you’re told your art is progressive or refreshing, it’s a compliment. In the case of bravery (or maybe even stupidity), I’d say we’ve always done things the way we want to do them. Especially when we broke through, that was in spite of there not being a whole group of artists using the aesthetic choices we were. I think we were the first people to kind of step out and be crazy enough to make an indie-pop mixtape with general MIDI modules and Sarah rapping in two languages and Sarah wearing a graduation gown made by her mum on the front of an album. All these things were very personal to us and our own statement.

Yeah, I think that's something that sets KKB out from a lot of other indie-pop acts, and that's why I appreciate what you guys are creating.

Gus: Yeah, that’s really interesting. I don’t know if everybody needs to have an off-the-wall point of view. Not everyone is in the right situation to do that, but I think music would be a more wonderful place if people express themselves more honestly, more bravely, and with more variety. That’s what makes the best pop music stay around. When you think of the best records in pop history that have hung around, they often aren’t the ones that sounded exactly like everything else at the time. They’re either slightly fresh spins on things that were popular or these things that kickstarted copycat movements. It makes pop music and culture in general fun; everybody learns from each other, and it wouldn’t be the same if everyone was just copying each other exactly.

Photo: Mia Sakai

PURE CREATIVE ART MADNESS.

Now's a good time to talk about your newest release, Civilisation I. There's a lot of progressive synth elements, like those found in "The River". What made you decide to go in a new direction with that?

Gus: There are ideas that are a reaction to having done Time ‘n’ Place, in that it was a band record. That was the first time we had ever worked with a band and it was incredible and exciting. However, in doing that, our focus was put back on electronics. Electronic production is something that Jamie and I would count as one of our strengths. It’s something I care about deeply; I have a large collection of keyboards and all of that stuff stuff.

All three tracks on Civilisation I were composed 100% with hardware synths, which is weird because I never thought I’d be producing a record like that. I think it speaks to the, what is sometimes called the off-modern condition, which is when one considers nostalgia in history but thinks about it in terms of avenues that were never explored so that we might actually create a new modernism— kind of illusionary modernism with bits and pieces that are old and discarded. I think that’s a resonant idea for me right now, because if climate change was to destroy everything in the next year, hypothetically, we’d still be surrounded by all the detritus of our civilization. Anything that might survive wouldn’t be iPhones, it would be Ensoniq samplers and Casio keyboards that won’t break no matter how hard you hit them. Making the most imaginative, futuristic music using those tools feels like a bit of a fatalist gesture towards what we’re so worried about at the moment. It’s a bit of foreshadowing, you know.

Yeah, if something were to happen your music would live on through other things, not just the way it's streamed today.

Gus: Yeah, that’s interesting. We’ve reached this funny point in pop history and culture where we feel like the future may be less futuristic than the present. There’s always going to be room for development, but I remember being a kid and watching Beast Wars, the Transformers spin-off, and they would video-talk to each other and it just blew my mind. You could tell it was sci-fi because there’s no way that will ever happen. Yet, it’s the most basic tool now—it is totally insane.

There was a time when we understood technology, you know, it wasn’t that hard to understand. Sure, it took some engineers to come up with it, but it’s not really hard to understand a printing press or a clock. But if you opened up an iPhone, I don’t know how that works. We don’t understand the tools we use anymore, which is an interesting point for humanity to be at.

Circling back to your music, what album has been the most fun for you to create and has your creative process changed album to album?

Gus: Wow, great question. I think the most fun to make actually might have been Intro Bonito, our first mixtape. You know, there was no pressure on us at all, and the tracks, by design, were very concise and simple. It was more about capturing that energy and atmosphere and executing it properly. We had a lot of fun memories of that record. I remember, for example, we recorded three songs in one day, which is kind of unheard of now. There’s no way that would happen now. We wrote the lyrics and recorded for “Pocket Crocodile”, “Kero Kero Bonito”, and “Homework” all in one day in Sarah’s bedroom. Although I think the creative process for those later two records was more rewarding, but they were definitely harder. Time ‘n’ Place was hard, mainly because there was a deadline. That got mad, so stressful and insane, to a point where I was really aware that I couldn’t work on a record like that again because it would be so unhealthy.

In terms of the creative process, there are some things that carry over. We tend to imagine a framework for every project we do, and that framework might be inspiration from a certain strand of music or certain goals we have. But then, of course, all the techniques within that can be different. That’s how you make it interesting, that’s how you have a reason to make another record. For example, on Bonito Generation, it was very computer-based. Even though for both of those we had a sort of framework—artists and song structures we thought were interesting at the time—the actual process for making the records was very different. Time ‘n’ Place, practicing with a band, going into the studio to record with a band, going into the studio to record with other people, it was totally different stuff.

Have you guys felt the pressure increase as you've released more music?

Gus: You know what, I think it’s there if you want it to be there. I think pressure makes the creative process worse, although there are cases where I think it helps. We kind of cheated it a bit by calling our first release a mixtape, because it was really a debut album. So it never felt like we were making a “difficult” second album. By the time Time ‘n’ Place was being made, we’d already done it a couple of times. If there was pressure on us, I don’t think we would have made Civilisation I, because that is a pretty uncompromising set of music. There’s not a lot that gives to the audience as far as our past style.

It's good that you’ve had that freedom.

Gus: Definitely. It’s a balancing act—I don’t want to get too ahead of myself and sound arrogant— but I feel like some people benefit a lot from A&R and guidance. At the same time, I think the best records normally have someone involved who’s been set free. We’re also fortunate to be in this situation practically, you know. We’ve made weirdly prescient moves all through our career, Polyvinyl is extremely good about what we give them. They have a lot of faith in whatever we do. Outside of Polyvinyl, we have no commitments, so we just do what we want.

What does the future hold for KKB?

Gus: The first thing I’ll say is Civilisation I is named that for a reason, so I’ll leave that at that. There is also another record being worked on, all I’m gonna say about that is given what you know about the trajectory of KKB, don’t expect us to repeat ourselves.

Good, that's the best part about KKB. There’s always something new and that makes it more fun.

Gus: I think that does make it more fun.

How does that fun translate into the live shows?

Gus: We’ve kind of taken that as it’s come. It depends on the record. Time ‘n’ Place is a really cool record to transmit to a live setting. We’re very fortunate with James and Jenny that they’ve done a great job with that. Each new project presents a new live challenge. It presents a problem-solving activity, where we’re like “Ok, we’ve got this many fans and these tools, so how do we make it the best live experience it can be?” Keeping it fresh does help, and I can’t imagine what it would be like, on the road for 10 years in a rockstar KKB band playing “Flamingo” every night. I’m very curious to see how the next one pans out because in some ways it’s the most ambitious yet.