INTERVIEW: ELEPHANT KIND

Credit: Press

It’s not often in life we are faced with the opportunity to move halfway across the world and just see what happens, but that’s exactly what happened to Elephant Kind. After growing a loyal fanbase in Jakarta, Indonesia, the band stumbled on the unique opportunity to bring their music to a new continent. The trio, (formed of frontman Bam, bassist Kevin and drummer Bayu) are now living in the UK and are on tour, playing shows in London and Manchester. We managed to catch them for a chat about adjusting to London life and their new Superblue EP.

NE: So, you recently relocated from Indonesia to the UK, what made you decide to take that leap?

Bam: So yeah, we’re halfway across the world and we never knew there would be an opportunity to move to a new place. I think it was mainly due to the pandemic, we didn’t have any shows, so we started playing online shows. We recorded a live show for an Indonesian company called Mola, they really loved it and asked if we wanted to work with them.

We’d been a band 8 years by then and didn’t really want to be signed by a record label, we were used to doing it independently, we’d built a fanbase back in Jakarta and played big shows all over Indonesia. Then we got the opportunity to play a show in London in late 2021 to a few hundred people who didn’t know our songs but really seemed to enjoy it. So, the label said we should stay here for a bit and see what happens. We thought maybe this is it, this is the opportunity to reach out to a new market.

Bayu: I think because we’d been together so long it just felt like the right time.

NE: Was being an independent band important to you at the time?

Bam: Yeah, definitely because when you work with people you lose some control, you can’t just do what you want any more because there are more people involved.

Kevin: But then it’s also nice to know that there are people who believe in our work, and there are more people to give ideas. It’s much more than just financial support, it’s nice to be signed by a record label who share our vision.

NE: What have you enjoyed the most about your time in London then – the lovely weather?

Bam: I actually really like the weather, my preconception of London before I moved here was that people are always out in their trench coats. When it was warm a few months ago and you could see people out in tank tops I hated it.

Kevin: Yeah, we didn’t expect the summer to be that hot, but it was warmer than Jakarta here.

NE: your track ‘Rockstar’ was your first release since 2019, can you tell us a bit more about the track?

Bam: We wrote the song about two years ago, and we’ve always wanted to do stuff like this, a mid-tempo song. It’s the first record that I feel like all three of us are really happy with it. We wrote it around the time of the pandemic and the rise of Tiktok. There was a TikTok trend “I quit my job and moved to Bali” and I thought that was interesting. A lot of people seem to think that if they move to another place that will be the solution to their problems. I’ve moved from one place to another growing up and I feel like not about what’s around you, it’s about what’s inside you, and your perspective will only change if you start with yourself.

NE: So, does this mean we’ll be seeing new music from you?

Bam: Yep so, we had a new EP out in April Superblue which includes ‘Rockstar’. I think the 2^nd single ‘Love As’ is the first song that Bayu and Kevin ever wrote without me.

Kevin: Yeah, we started off by jamming it out and then recorded it to take to the studio.

Bayu: This is the first time we have been and recorded all together too. We got an Air B&B for a week in Jakarta and started to record and demo some stuff there because of the pandemic.

Bam: Yeah, it was strange because we were used to seeing each other every weekend, then went to not seeing each other for months. So, we thought the best way to do it, would be to go off and isolate ourselves and write some songs, and we ended up with a whole album.

NE: Who are your musical influences for the new tracks?

Bam: I listen to a lot of rap music and hip-hop, I think the beats on the new tracks are inspired by a trap beat. I was listening to a lot of Future at the time.

Kevin: I know I was listening to a lot of instrumental funk too.

NE: What do you have planned for the rest of 2023?

Bam: Well, we’ve just released our EP Superblue and we’re hoping to do some more shows. We’re playing 33 Oldham Street in Manchester and London’s The Lexington, which will be exciting. We’re working on our album for next year too. We’re still just so excited for what’s to come because we’re freshly signed to a label and living in a new place.

For tour dates and updates head to :ELEPHANT KIND | HOME (elephantkindmusic.com)