Kora
especially about songwriting and having a stronger lyrical content. The cool thing about the first album is that it was unusual and musically pushed a few boundaries, but the songs aren’t songs. This second album, we’re looking for songs or tracks that’ll be timeless. Like all great songs. The first album was really riff-based and this one is more formulated. You will be travelling to the US in June for the Sierra Nevada world music festival. How did this invite come about? Shit man, I don’t know. I just know that our manager (Michelle) does a lot of good work. I know that there’s cool people over in the States doing good work, too. Sorry, I just yell abuse in the mic.
First up, how is the recording of the sophomore album going? The second album is going okay, just a bit longer than the first. We’ve been recording it all over the country. Some in Whakatane in Brad (Kora, drums) and Stu’s (Kora, guitar) shed, [as well as] my house in Orewa and in Dan’s (McGruer, bass/keys) room in Auckland. We’ve tried studio’ but nothing too gangsta has come out of those recordings as yet. Kora is known for its genre mixing. Can we expect the same with the new recordings? I’ve never thought of us as a genre mixing band. I think we’re just heavy and play a bit harder than other bands. Like, if we’re playing a groove or a skank, we tend to
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Brothers Kora With an EP released in 2004, and a debut self-titled album in 2007, it could be said that New Zealand band Kora don’t rush their recordings. Kevin Bull speaks to Laughton Kora, one of four brothers in the five-piece band, about recording, mixing and moving to Australia. play them harder and tighter. Then people have this impression that we’ve put metal over the top of it. That’s just our style of playing. We’ve been getting into production and engineering a lot more than the last album. There’s a more polished sound going into this one. Do you feel that this genre mixing has
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Kora have been regular visitors to Australia. Has there ever been any talk about relocating? Not as a band, but a couple of us have thought about it. That’s the good thing about the Net. We don’t live anywhere near each other in NZ either so I guess it doesn’t matter where you are in the world. But for me, other than NZ, it would be Coolie.
been a hindrance or benefit for the band? I’d say a benefit. It’s definitely allowed us to have a unique sound, but it’s still not genre mixing to me. Creative exploration would be a better term for us, or bored easily.
You are playing the Gum Ball festival in April. Is this a special trip to Australia for just this festival or will you be playing extra dates while in Australia? No, just the Gum Ball but we’re hoping to do some exciting things over in Australia when the new album comes out.
Is there a different mindset when approaching a second album? We learnt a lot from the first album,
Kora will be performing at the Gum Ball festival at Belford in the Hunter Valley, April 29-30.
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reverb magazine issue #057 — April 2011 31