Following on from the wild success of their track “New Cold War”, indie collective Khartoum are bursting back onto the scene with their lockdown anthem “Vultures”. Ahead of the release of their forthcoming EP, the band have drawn on the angst of the past year in their latest song in a bid to reject the perils that come with being negatively labelled by society. Indie sensibilities clash with crashing symbols and rock’s influence on the band’s work shines through as alternative vocals call listeners to shed their worries and “dance away those demons.” And, with the group citing the likes of Wolf Alice and The Rolling Stones as their muses, it is clear that they are situating themselves amongst indie-rock royalty with their latest track.

“Cam was at the helm for the production and the bare bones of the song were formed in a cabin at the end of a garden in Devon during the first lockdown in 2020,” explains the band when speaking on the song’s production. “We wanted to make the most of time away from the struggle of the daily grind so he had a pretty rigorous routine of “stay in the cabin, don’t leave the cabin until something happens that makes your spine tingle”, then share it with the rest of the band and start bringing all their parts together. It was mixed by Eduardo De La Paz who really brought it to life, having his outside perspective on it was pretty useful.”

Accompanying the track is a dizzying self-directed music video depicting a counselling session. Featuring cameos from Jaime Winstone and Drag Race’s Cherry Valentine, the video offers a message of persevering in the face of adversity, all the while highlighting the band’s quirky creativity. And, with the group boasting legends such as Mick Jagger as a fan, it is clear that their upcoming EP drop on August 20th will be a display of indie-rock perfection, like all of their offerings that have come before.

Head below to check out our interview with Khartoum…

Hey guys! How has this year been for you so far?


Hello Wonderland. Having lost friends to Covid it’s been terrible but we’ve also managed to reset, write and stay productive. There’s a lot to look forward to beyond the gloom. 



With last year being so difficult, do you think it affected your creativity?


We’d like to think it’s pushed us to be more creative in our art but also the process of getting things done. We’ve tried to rise to the occasion by focusing on our songwriting and production. We recorded a lot of this EP ourselves between our respective homes and our rehearsal room in the break between the lockdowns, sending parts to one another and hoping on facetime.



You formed way back in 2017, how do you think your sound has evolved over the years?


It started very much as an acoustic thing with Cam and Oscar, we were really exploring the vocal side of things – harmonies, layering and kind of looking for a true direction. Before long Scarlett and Jake arrived to complete the rhythm section (and the band) and the sound evolved through our shared influences whilst still hanging onto things like harmonies which is still something we carry through into the live show. It’s cool pulling inspiration from heroes like Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young whilst surrounding ourselves with eclectic sounds from bands we admire like Wolf Alice, Sunflower Bean, Primal Scream etc.


How did you meet? What sparked the interest?


Cam and Oscar struck up a friendship over a love of music at school, we found Scarlett at a rave in a field and Jake and Cam met at university studying music. We all started going down to the same kind of gigs together and that kind of bled into making music. Once we started playing together it was obvious that we were all on the same page and it continued from there.

You released your single “New Cold War” last year which had an incredible reaction, how did this make you feel?
That song was quite personal from a political standpoint from the four of us, so to see people connect with it was great and kind of affirming. Because of Covid we haven’t been able to play it live since it made its way in the world, but we’ve got some shows lined up in July so we’re looking forward to giving it a run out!

You’re now back with your new track “Vultures” take us through the production process?
Cam was at the helm for the production and the bare bones of the song were formed in a cabin at the end of a garden in Devon during the first lockdown in 2020. We wanted to make the most of time away from the struggle of the daily grind so he had a pretty rigorous routine of ‘Stay in the cabin, don’t leave the cabin until something happens that makes your spine tingle’, then share it with the rest of the band and start bringing all their parts together. It was mixed by Eduardo De La Paz who really brought it to life, having his outside perspective on it was pretty useful.



The video is stunning as well! What was it like filming and why did you decide to go with that theme?


Thanks babes. We thought the imagery of swooping vultures would lend itself to a group therapy. Those wildlife pics of 12 vultures surrounding a carcass helped inspire us on the camera set up and the way the video unfolds. Filming was pretty nuts, we produced, wrote and directed the whole thing ourselves with the help of our legendary DOP Richard Bell. We had an amazing cast, Joséphine Jones helped style us and the amazing Pam Hogg lent us some clothes. It was pretty challenging pulling it all together but fortunately, everyone was really into the idea and we like to think the end result reflects that. 



And how did you manage to get Jaime Winstone and Cherry Valentine to participate?


Jaime is a pal of Scarlett’s and has always been really supportive of the band. She has DJ’d at nights Khartoum have curated at Everyman Screen On the Green before and we also share a deep love for King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. We went to see them at Alexandra Palace together and it was epic. We became obsessed with Ru Paul’s Drag Race during lockdown and were particular enamoured with Cherry, so slid into her DMs and the rest is history.

The song urges people to break out and be themselves, what do you want people to take away from your music?
We want people to have a blast. Our favourite shows are always the ones which are the least predictable, shows that always feel like they could fall apart at any moment. That embracing of chaos is something Oscar learnt from his friend (musical legend) Hal Willner and translated to the band. Hal devastatingly died last year from Covid. We’ve written a song about him.

Who inspires you?


Hal has been a big inspiration, hearing about how he learned to work with and get the best out of the artists he worked with like Lou Reed. Oscar has been working on a documentary about him, interviewing the likes of Nick Cave and Courtney Love and it’s just incredible to hear how much of an influence Hal was on culture. 



If you could collaborate with anyone who would it be and why?


Someone like Giorgio Moroder or Daft Punk would be epic, the convergence of dance production and rock’n’roll is very cool like QOTSA did with Mark Ronson. Josh Homme. Josh, if by some miracle you are reading this, you are a marked man (in a good way).
We’ve got a lot of mates doing their own thing too, like Cousn who are a DJ duo from Bristol. At some point I’m sure we’ll all hook up and have some fun, but for now, we’re just focused on getting our music out there.


You’ve announced your debut EP as well, what can we expect?
Music to help you forget the clusterfuck of this year and to remember those times before everything went down. When we could hold each other in a hot club. It’ll take you back to Glastonbury. Also, expect banging artwork from Nick Delap, we are organising a gallery show with him later in the year where we will have his work printed huge on walls, we’ll play and there’ll be DJs. Come.