Introducing the Brighton based band.
Selling out their debut London headline with their entirely self written, recorded and produced soundscape, Kudu Blue are quickly becoming a big deal.
Their latest single, “Sugar Lemz”, incorporates an eclectic mix of influences which aid its timeless yet contemporary sound. Reflecting upon the creative process, Kudu Blue explain, “It’s intentionally something a bit different from the other music we have put out. We wanted to make a chilled track that you could put on in the living room at 5am after a heavy night.”
Innately intelligent lyricism, combined with electronically tinged instrumentals and intricate production flourishes, is establishing this band as one to watch. And having just announced their next headline show at London’s Camden Assembly along with an appearance at The Great Escape Festival in May; their reputation for being equally as profound live as they are in the studio is getting us immeasurably excited!
Flawlessly blending numerous genres, it is obvious that the band members musically different upbringings are inherently complimentary. We sat down with the Brighton based quartet to find out more.
How did you all meet?
We met in Brighton. Tom, (Bass), Owen (Synths & Samples) and Creeda (Drums) are all from Brighton, and have been playing in bands in and around Brighton since they were little’uns. Clem (Vocals) comes from Birmingham and we were just sort of brought together through our love of good tunes!
Do you guys have similar musical tastes?
Similar, yes definitely, but each of us has their own taste to a certain degree. It helps having a versatile range of influences to call on when it comes to writing as you get flavours of loads of different genres. For example, Clem grew up listening to Garage, R&B and Soul, whereas Creeda is from a hip hop background. Tom from a more Latin/Jazz Background and Owen is into Trip hop and Electronica. It all kinda melds together in our production and writing, and we hope that’s evident from an outside perspective.
When and how did you guys decide to become Kudu Blue?
Well Tom and Owen were making beats just the two of them for a few years, sort of bedroom hip hop type stuff. Both Creeda and Clem had been playing in and out of bands with the two of them for a while. The natural progression was to get these songs that we’d been producing in to a live setup so we all got together and got to work and haven’t stopped since.
Where does the band name come from?
It actually came from a recurring dream that Owen has, kinda trippy actually. In it he is being chased by a huge blue antelope, the size of a house. When we were talking about band names, Owen instantly said “Blue Antelope” but it didn’t really have a ring to it. So we twisted it around a bit, using a “kudu”, which is a member of the antelope family of the genus Tragelaphus, and Kudu Blue just kinda stuck.
How would you describe your music?
It’s a bit hard for us to describe! Its a real blend of genres and changes with time as we keep finding new stuff about ourselves and each other.
“I think we all agree that if we could just do one thing for our lives, it would be playing live all the time.”
You’ve just released your new single “Sugar Lemz”. Can you tell us a bit about the creative process behind it? What’s the inspiration behind this track?
“Sugar Lemz” was something we mainly wrote in the studio. With each song we write, our production process changes. Some songs we write straight up in the rehearsal room, all live, and others come from a long night at a computer experimenting with ideas. This was one of those and came from some chords that Tom wrote and a vocal hook of Clem’s. We just sat with the track on a 4 bar loop for about an hour jamming out till we had something we thought was cool. We really tried to make the production as intricate and layered as possible, spending a lot of time tweaking and getting it right. The inspiration for this track comes from 90’s Soul and R&B with an electronic spin. It’s somewhere within that realm we think!
What do you all individually bring to the song writing process?
Clem brings the instantly catchy hooks, lyrics and the crazy vocal range. She’s also become much more instrumental in the production of the songs, keeping us on our toes creatively and thinking outside the box. Tom really brings a lot of the meat to the writing and production process, making sure everything sounds fat and groovy. Creeda brings a lot of energy and intricacy to the rhythm of the track, very quickly adapting to song ideas and writing driving beats. Owen brings glitchy percussion, ambient soundscapes and nostalgic pads into the process, we like to call him “Lord Spaceship Controller Crouch”.
You’ve recently announced a headline show at London’s Camden Assembly! What’s your favourite thing about playing live?
There’s a lot of things we love about playing live. I think we all agree that if we could just do one thing for our lives, it would be playing live all the time. Feeding off the energy of the crowd and watching people groove to our music is the best feeling.
What else have you got lined up for this year?
We’re writing a lot of new music. Hopefully we’ll have a few releases this year. We’re also playing at the Great Escape Festival and a few more things that will be announced soon. Oh, and hopefully world domination.
Like this? Buy the Spring ’17 Issue here.