Chovu. Interview with Preston and Bundi

Interview by Jay Parker

This is Jay here reporting from Bogota , Colombia...Today i’ll be talking to vocalist Preston and guitarst Bundi, from the Kenyan Black/Death Metal sensations CHOVU... The band released an Ep called what sorcery is this ???? A dark, doomy trip through Kenyan folklore and magick...

1) Tell us about Chovu...when and where was the band formed? Who is in the current line up?

Hey Jason. Chovu started in the year 2019 as Rot Paper Jesus, basically doing bedroom demos here and there, until we started a project with obsydian media and the name changed to Chovu, native Swahi li meaning ‘kitu kibaya’ something bad and we took nativity as a theme and Black Metal as the genre, our members are: Brian Bundi on guitars, Trieste Franco on rhythm guitars, Charles Frank Komora on bass, Barbra Simaloi on drums and Preston Samanda on Vocals.

2) Tell us about your ep, what kind of sorcery... when and where was it recorded? What was the inspiration for the ep...

Our ep is a five song compilation involving a popular folklore in Akamba tribe of Kenya, it’s basically following the tale of a maiden who in the original story is believed to haunt people in the road at night, we took the twist added Abit of fiction to it and threw in some rituals and kamba native language just for fun in songs like kithitu walk, plus Swahili and English in all.

3) Tell us about your other material... are you recording at the moment?

So regarding new material yes we have demos and singles at hand we are trying to create a new album, the native theme still holds spoiler alert we plan on using different tribes in one album, basically an evolved sound is to be expected. Plenty more where that came from picture an epic tale of vices and darkness with melodies from a mortician’s playlist, plus more tribal package than our previous works.

4) I love the darkness in your sound, very original and refreshngly heavy... who were your influences growing up?

Our influences vary from black metal, death metal to other subgenres like doom and symphonic. Personally I am deep in thrash metal roots preferably blackened thrash and a twist of gothic doom and death metal, currently death grunge, our drummer she kinda is in too deep into black metal, guitarist is into stoner metal and post punk, bassist death metal, funeral doom and shoewave, rhythm guitarist, psychedelic, progressive and post punk, the mantle bands are, darkthrone, skinflint, moonspell, saturnus, myrkur, toxic Holocaust, uberserker, nervosa, mydyingbride, and more.

5) Tell us about the metal scene in Kenya... recommend some bands for our readers...

The scene here is explosive but underground, everyone knows everyone plus we have shows once in a while plus collaborations ,bands range from grunge to dark ends of metal, most of the bands doing an original sound for metalcore we have bands like, Irony destroyed and Last years tragedy... for grunge, we have petrika and dead skin remedy involving Chovu members partly, for grindcore and a little twist of electronic, top dogs Duma, who are currently on their European tour, for darker elements of metal comes Chovu, seeds of datura, in oath, lust of a dying breed, and more.

6) Do you have anything to add for our readers?

Give kenyan metal a chance and watch hordes dark and supreme March from the underground.

I am Saibore Bundi. The lead guitarist

• Who writes the songs? Tell us about your song writing process...

First, Zorth The rhythm guitarist and I create the riff. We jam out and structure the song, while Komora and Preston work on the lyrics and make sure they fit in the structures. Then in case any of us is needed to add to the lyrics, we do it while Komora adds the bass parts. Writing a Chovu song takes about an hour if the riff was created before, or two to three hours if the riff has to be created at the moment. However some songs may a take a couple of months, where we have all the ideas but need a certain inspiration or boost to finally write them into a composition.

• What inspires the songs and the lyrics?

Anytime we meet as a band away from our instruments we take this time to discuss various topics we have come across. Any interesting events in our personal lives in the recent days. Our greatest and most unique influence is our different cultures. So we exchange our different cultural practices and use them to tell stories. Preston skill lies in taking these practices and mixing languages to tell brutal tales that resonate with the cultures involved. Sometimes we just plug our instruments and work around one member’s progression, we just wing it and then work on what we have at the end of the session.

• What tunings do you use and what equipment?

So far I have been using a Deviser brand guitar with a Floyd Rose bridge, which I really enjoy creating a slightly off tune feel with, especially in interludes for that eerie offsetting sound. And an Ultra Distortion Behringer pedal. Zorth uses either a Jackson or a Fender both of which are available to us through an acquaintance. But for full set jams we are forced to rely on instruments at various commercial rehearsal spaces around town. We have used a half step down tuning for all recordings and performances so far. It started as a way of keeping our strings from breaking constantly, but then we grew into the sound and if we were to change, we would only go lower to a whole step down.

• What inspired you to become a metal musician?

Sometimes I thing being a metalhead is a response to various personality traits. Because many people are exposed to metal but very few are drawn by it. Those that are barely ever come back from metal. It is like a way of life.. Haha. I had been playing guitar for a while doing mostly classic rock covers since I thought metal was impossible for my level of playing at the time. This changed when I really got into black metal; specifically Darkthrone and decided I had to learn the song Transylvanian Hunger. I discovered metal is not necessarily about technicality but the feel. You can write a metal song with 5 notes, the right gear and the right mood. And ever since Chovu has been an expression of our various states of mind at different times.

Massive thanks Preston and Bundi :) Jay