New year and a new list of Headline Acts, kicking off with Kotonic from… well, read on and you’ll find out! They have a new single, “Alive”, coming shortly which we’ll be telling you more about once we’re allowed to. Get in touch via the contact form if your band or one you know would like to feature as a Headline Act.
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
Based in Wiltshire, our hometown show would be in Swindon, specifically The Vic in Old Town, we absolutely love that venue.
How did you meet?
Lloyd (Drummer) and I (Adam, singer & guitarist) met whilst both competing at one of the world’s strangest but brilliant sports, Horseboarding – I won’t explain it, but it’s definitely worth a Google!
I was offered a gig as a solo artist at a local beer festival. With tickets selling quickly, I wanted to put on a good show, so put out a status on my socials stating I was looking for a drummer. Up popped Lloyd saying he could play, a fact that never came up in conversation before!
After that first gig, we got “the bug” and it wasn’t long until we were in the studio writing songs.
We released our first single, “Held Down”, as a bit of a carrot on a stick for any bassists out there. This is when Ed came into the mix, we posted about looking for a bass player got a load of responses back with Ed coming into play with us first. It was love at first sight/sound for all three of us. Though I’m pretty sure I met Ed before this when we were teenagers but neither of us can remember this fully.
How long have you been playing as a band?
We’ve been together as a 3-piece since the end of 2019.
Before you get sick of being asked… where does the band name come from?
Lloyd. It came from Lloyd’s brain one day at a band practice. I didn’t want to dig further into his mind, so we agreed to stop it there.
What are your influences?
When we started playing shows people would liken our sound to Billy Talent, this wasn’t a conscious stance on our part, but we can definitely say we take influence! Other influences include Manic Street Preachers, Green Day, Foo Fighters, Make do and Mend, Dinosaur Pile Up and Incubus, to name a few.
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
A 3-piece band that brings the sound and energy of a 5-piece. We have the scope within our set of songs to go from high octane mad shouty punk rock to softer anthems with a lyrical focus and powerful chorus’. We also have two singers; this opens a world of possibility which we love playing around with.
If you like what we do, consider joining us on Patreon for as little as £1 per month!
Do you have any particular lyrical themes?
I tend to steer towards the political side of things and what governments are doing wrong. It’s safe to say I’ve not been short of things to write about recently. Though I don’t make it too obvious in every song, meaning they are certainly open to interpretation to the listener.
What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?
Live shows for us are the opportunity to have fun with a room full of people, not so much about “ooh, look at us up here on stage” but a joint experience. We grade our shows on how we play (obviously), but more importantly what the room was getting out of it. One of our best shows was when I had to tune my guitar mid-song (it got really bad mid song after I knocked it) and Ed was able to keep the crowd singing with a call and response. That’s why we do it, moments and shows like these – best feeling in the world.
Unlike Frank Turner I haven’t been counting our gigs (annoyingly) but it’s somewhere between 50-100, with lots of dates already in the diary for 2023.
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
We mashed up “Bootylicious” by Destiny’s Child and “Song 2” from Blur into one epic mess, which surprisingly went down really well.
During our first show we were gifted a toy unicorn, we guess because of the reference to our first music video, though to this day have no idea who gave us such a great gift… though as you can see from our latest single’s artwork – it’s a theme we’re sticking to.
What kit do you use / guitars do you play / etc.?
Adam: Gretch Electromatic and Squire Strat with Fender Strat innards
Ed: Bruce Thomas profile Bass
Lloyd: SJC Kit, Tama Snare
What, if anything, are you plugging/promoting at the moment?
Our latest single “Alive” is out on the 25th Jan along with its music video.
What are your plans for the next 6 months or so?
We’re touring the UK in February (and a little bit of March) and are lucky enough to support the Italian band Deaf Autumn on their UK tour in May. When we catch our breath we’ll be heading back into the studio to record.
If you were second on a three-band bill, which band would you love to be supporting and which band would you choose to open for you? A chance to plug someone you’ve toured with, or a mate’s band we’ve not heard of before!
I think we’d go down really well supporting Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls. I’ve been to lots of their shows and loved watching their support act, Pet Needs, in the last tour take to the stage. We bring a similar energy and I feel a Frank Turner audience is really open to new bands. We’d definitely have our friends, Here Come the Crows on the bill with us!
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If you want to check out more new music, then fire up our Headline Act playlists on Spotify and YouTube!
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[…] were our Headline Act a couple of weeks back, and have followed up our little chat with a video for the song “Alive”. The song is a […]