INTERVIEW: Kindagood Are Here To Bring Back Summer
Kindagood. Photo by Tom Williamson.
Sydney trio Kindagood have just released their debut single, Hotline, and it is an absolute STATEMENT. The funk-laden track features vocals from Sydney’s RISSA, who’s one of the most talented vocalists in Australia. If you’re a fan of J Dilla’s production, I reckon you’ll like Hotline.
Kindagood are set to showcase more killer Australian vocalists on their future releases, with their instrumental soul/jazz fusion as the backing for the vox. I spoke to Freyja from the band about the debut track, as well as their plans for 2021. The band have only been playing together for a short while, but their sound is already spot-on, and I can’t wait to see how things unfold from here.
Ben Madden: Firstly, can you introduce yourselves and your music?
Kindagood: We are Kindagood; a three-piece line-up based in Sydney, Australia. We play instrumental hip hop, soul, R&B and future pop and are deeply inspired by artists such as; We are KING, Dilla, Erykah Badu, Emily King and BADBADNOTGOOD.
Our approach is to bring Freyja’s productions and beats to life by adding live instrumentation and featuring some of our favourite Aussie vocalists & rappers.
Congratulations on Hotline! It sees you working with RISSA, who’s a killer vocalist. How did you decide she was the perfect fit for the track?
Thanks Ben! It feels so nice to release it into the world and let it do its thing. Freyja had been working on beats with Rissa during the 2020 lockdown, and then they performed together as a part of Rissa's project at the Factory Theatre in November (supporting local heroes Horrorshow).
It was evident to all of us that Rissa is a goddess who understands the craft of storytelling, while also developing structure, layers and interest in her songwriting. She has a gorgeous tone and a solid rhythmic approach. We got lucky that she agreed to be featured on our first single as she immediately captures the soul/jazz crossover we are aiming to showcase in our music.
Talk me through the formation of Kindagood – when was the moment you three decided to form a band together?
Cat (drums) and Freyja (keys, production) began playing together in 2018 with Touch Sensitive for his Endless Weekend tour. After hitting it off both musically and personally, Cat was soon laying down drums on some of Freyja's production in early 2020. Two became three when Lucy (bass) moved home from NYC a few months later.
Lucy and Freyja are actually old-time collaborators hailing from the Illawarra south coast. After years of playing jazz together in and out of high school, they both moved to Boston MA to attend Berklee College of Music. When the three of us got together it instantly felt like we had been a band for years.
Introducing yourselves to the world with Hotline is definitely a statement, and I’m a big fan of the video that accompanies the track. Can you tell me about the making of that video?
It was important that the sun-soaked dreamy element of Hotline was captured visually, and we knew Tim Kent (Stackhat) would execute that perfectly. Tim is a videographer and music producer who also lives along the Illawarra south coast and describes his style as 'Bogan Baz Luhrmann meets westy Wes Anderson', ... we couldn't agree more!
He likes to improvise and take risks while shooting and it was his idea to film underneath the Sea cliff bridge. What's not featured in the video are the hours of transporting gear up and down the cliff and into the national park. We all suffered from heat stroke and sunburn and Timmy actually chundered on his way back up the cliff whilst attempting the most hell on earth one-man trip you've ever seen.
Individually, you’ve worked with artists like Charli XCX, Urthboy, Stella Donnelly and more – I wanted to ask what you’ve learnt from those artists, and how you’ve translated that into your music?
As session musicians, we've all learned a lot from working with artists of this calibre. It's important to look the part while performing in front of thousands of people and your ability to emanate confidence to help hype up the crowd will take you far. Executing the music is obviously the most important thing, but to do that effortlessly whilst maintaining a vibe and swagger takes time, patience and dedication.
Hotline takes aim at “hook-up culture” in today’s society. What is it about this culture that you don’t like – and do you think that the pandemic will change society’s relationship with technology?
Hookup and dating culture feels like it has become a twisted social experiment run by old men in white lab coats. Hotline is mostly a play on words about Drake's Hotline Bling, but hookup culture absolutely needs to be made fun of, as often as possible.
As far as technology goes - the pandemic has only reinforced our dependence on it. Hotline doesn't so much take aim at these issues, as much as they are very serious issues, but we are just trying to make a little point about it, that's all …You know, a little send-up.
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Finally, what are the next few steps for the band, both personally and music-wise?
We of course have some more tracks in the pipeline and we have plans to press our EP to vinyl. Secretly we’re hoping Gilles Peterson gets a sniff of our work because he can create a lot of popularity - but I respect his taste in music and I think if he plays your music then you know you’re making some gold. He's a bit of a hero, isn't he?!
Since things are looking promising with venues expanding to full capacity, we hope to do some support and headline shows later in the year. Fingers crossed the festival gods are smiling down on us and will bless our travels!
You can follow Kindagood on Instagram here.