Five Things with Fran Kora from Kora

Our parents and our cultural upbringing are the reason music is a huge part of who we are and what we do today. Dad is a talented musician who can play a number of instruments, so as kids growing up we always had bands rehearsing at our place. We had a family band called Zig Zag and from the age of about eight/nine I have been playing music in bars, rugby clubs, weddings and private functions. The best memory I have is playing in the RSAs [RSL clubs] as a kid. I remember hiding behind the speakers and my brother behind the drum kit cause we were too young.

2.Inspirations

I’ll listen to everything! I’m a big fan of D’Angelo, Grace Jones, Fela Kuti, Michael Jackson, Matt Corby… the list goes on forever really. It’s impossible to have a favourite. The music that inspires me the most is honest music that is good for the soul. There is plenty of great music in the world, just not enough of it on the charts.

3.Your Band

To cut a long story short, we started in Wellington. There are four Kora brothers, hence the name Kora, and our brother from another mother Dan completes the ‘Voltron’ of the band that is Kora [laughs]. We have had the same lineup for the past three years now with our talented friends Richie Allan and Joe Brownless from the Heavy Metal Ninjas. Two of the original members/brothers now have solo careers. Laughton has a band Kinetic and Brad has a band called L.A.B. They both kick ass!

4.The Music You Make

We have a big, heavy groove with high energy when it comes to live shows, our own unique eclectic style when recording, and we’ve done it all ourselves as we have always been an independent band. We’ve never boxed ourselves into a genre as such, so it’s interesting how people have labelled our sound over the years. From electronic, reggae, rock, funk, soul, to “What the hell do you call that sound?” [laughs].

5.Music, Right Here, Right Now

It’s no secret that the biggest obstacle musos face today is that the ‘music industry’ in terms of sales of albums no longer exists. The internet and apps such as Spotify/Pandora make it almost impossible for an artist to make a career from sales of albums. Albums are just advertising for your live shows and publishing nowadays. The need for a record label fades by the day. I admit, I’ve been to Sydney so many times and unfortunately I haven’t had many opportunities (if any) to watch other acts while in Sydney as I’m always there for our own performances. But I can say that I have never had a dull moment in Sydney.