BRIT ROCK SURPRISE For their second album, Zun Zun Egui have produced a ‘British rock record’ like no other. David Vincent hears more. Since the release of their acclaimed self-titled debut, Katang, back in 2011, Zun Zun Egui have undergone a change of personnel, with bassist Adam Newton and second guitarist Stephen Kerrison now joining drummer Matt Jones and co-founders Kushal Gaya and keyboard player Yoshino Shigihara. Their arrival, reckons frontman Kushal, has had a profound effect on the group. “Absolutely, I feel it’s a totally different band in a way because humanly, and the place where we come from musically, are in tune,” declares the Mauritian guitarist/singer. “We have a similar attitude when it comes to what we like and dislike musically. Still, diverging opinions exist but we have a shared vision of what things should be. “Steve and I have spent a lot of time around small DIY gigs, putting them on or playing them – that builds a certain kind of camaraderie and understanding of each other. We can talk about Slayer, Slint, Owls, Bob Marley, James Brown and Supersilent in the same conversation. I don’t get bored hanging out with him because we have this common love for music researching and listening. I love him so much. “Adam is like a brother to me and whatever brotherly love contains, with the whole gamut of emotions involved in family affairs, is very much present in our relationship. He too is a massive lover of music, and he seems to really get off on 60s music and we can talk about that a lot. I had a dream about him where he was on top of a tree channelling the energies of George Harrison, RIP. 20
“To be honest with you, most of my relationships revolve around music and music worship, it’s a compulsion and a self-inflicted form of autism.” Released in January, Zun Zun Egui’s second album, Shackles’ Gift, is a leap forward for the band, pulling together a myriad of influences, from tropicalia, punk funk, Afrobeat and reggae, to no-wave, new wave, stoner rock, Ethio-jazz and psychedelia, with lead single, African Tree, sounding like a euphoric, pumped-up, fuzzedout Talking Heads. Looking at the difference between the two longplayers, Kush’ says: “Shackles’ Gift seems to be a more focused and less turmoil-fuelled piece of work. There was no real concept we were working from during the inception and creation of Katang. For Shackles’ we had a clear vision of what we wanted it to be, and I also think that vision could inform what we do on the next record to some extent. I feel that each album is a work in itself but also work in progress.
“To be honest with you, most of my relationships revolve around music and music worship, it’s a compulsion and a selfinflicted form of autism.”
“We are always learning and trying to push ourselves. I think I started in music with very meagre musical tools and assets, [it] took me a long time to learn things, I am a bit of a late bloomer you see...and so, really, making music is an exercise in bettering my own competence and artistic focus, and most of all getting better at communicating emotions through the craft of songwriting and sound manipulation research and development.”
A multicultural band with a rich, international, spread of influences, their label biography states proudly that Shackles’ Gift ‘… is a British rock record made by a British group.’ “Well I think John Doran from the Quietus said that, yes,” responds Kushal. “I guess I have lived here in the UK for 15 years, and the band has two UK born and bred people, one person from the Isle of Man, a Japanese [person], and me. Brum Notes Magazine