Five Things with Koi Child

My parents listened to everything from Simply Red to Biggie Smalls and my grandfather still stands on tables singing Beatles and Elvis classics. Music’s always been a massive part of my life, but almost always just as a listener. I’d sing or rap along to anything I could without realising it was practice for something that might one day become my own.

2.Inspirations

Tom Kenny: Everyone in the band has pretty diverse tastes, but D’Angelo would have to be up there – Voodoo is, like, the Bible of groove; there’s so much to appreciate about the way every single little thing is placed and played on that album. An entire world of stank. Hiatus Kaiyote are another band favourite (we got to support them a couple weeks ago!); Choose Your Weapon is so livid and colourful. MF Doom, Flying Lotus, Dimlite, Slum Village, The Roots… and of course Tame Impala/Kev [Parker] has been inspiring in so many ways.

3.Your Crew

SCP: With seven people in a ‘hip hop nu jazz’ band I think it changes a lot and we all bring something new to the table with each new project. Sometimes it’s raw and punchy, other times it’s smooth and kissy. The one-hour set is a journey we’re looking forward to sharing with a good crowd. I think it’s gonna be a great party.

4.The Music You MakeAnd Play

SCP: If you listen to the two singles we’ve released so far, ‘Slow One’ and ‘Black Panda’, then take those and sorta imagine a range between the two extremes – that’s what you can expect at our shows. Some compare us to Badbadnotgood, with a rapper.

5.Music, Right Here,Right Now

TK: The sense of community in the music scene is great! There’s so much hanging out and cross-pollination, and more than enough extremely talented people just doin’ their thing. There’s some incredible local acts like Mei Saraswati, Mathas, Leon Osborn, Mudlark, Nick Allbrook, and Hideous Sun Demon (who share our drummer Blake).