KUNG. Sounds like the aural emission from a neurosteamhammer. From HELL.
Metallic, weighty full of a concussive, unhinged energy… something running at full velocity right the way through the Devils Finger ep on Eatbrain – also featuring Aeph, no less. And it turns out the title is more gastronomic than diabolic.
But… ‘Kung’?
I have to immediately ask: what was the exact moment you thought of ‘KUNG’ as an artist name?
Well, I’ve always been very into martial arts. I used to draw a lot when I was child, so when day I drew a kind of dummy in a martial gesture, suddenly the word ‘Kungfuker’ came to me once and stuck, badly. By that time I was making music already so I thought it was good name… Then I created a myspace page and just received too many friend requests from porn actors and shit so I had to change it!
I chose ‘Kung’ as I like short and easy names, and so it remains.
You’ve worked with the mighty Aeph here, can you tell us what it was like to work together, do you go back?
Simone and me have been sharing our studio and computer for more than a year now. I feel lucky for being able to spend time and space with such a talented guy, we both see D&B in similar ways, I’d say there’s few differences but I think that’s what we like from each other.
… and can you talk us through ‘Wozthys’, on which you both worked?
‘Wozthys’ came out really easy and quickly. Having everything in the same computer helped a lot. We wanted to do something crazy but technical, the mixdown took way more time as we tried to sound really aggressive. We like to complicate things: I think we had around 10 versions!
You mention the studio so what is a studio tip which you find useful, large or small?
The most useful tip I’ve learned is how important is to match your tone in all the elements, maybe sounds obvious but that helped me a lot to give a “real sense” to the tunes!
‘Devil’s Finger’ lingered with me as a concept. I was reminded of Rosemary’s Baby! A scene where Rosemary is poked by it…
To be honest I haven’t thought about that! The real reason I chose that name was because I really love spicy food and when I moved to London – especially in East London – I was completely amazed.
One day I went to a one of those food festivals and there was the “spiciest pepper in the world”. It was called The Devil’s Finger. I thought was a cool name, but then I found out there’s some other peppers spicier than that ha ha.
So you moved from where to London?
I’m from Granada, a small city from the south of Spain. The scene there’s not bad actually: there’s some people that really like D&B and some brave promoters who sort out parties. I’ve seen some big names in my city, which influenced me a lot!
D&B is a minority, but in Spain it’s even more. But that’s changing.
We’ve mentioned porn, poking, devils and spice plus the cover would make Rob Zombie smile… I feel you are potentially controversial, do you wish to be?
Am I!?
How did the title tune evolve?
Let’s be honest you are not always inspired; sometimes you have a sound or two that leads you to the vibe of the tune and that what’s happened here.
For this one I used few pads and textures I have done with a couple of granular synths… I’ve been doing this for a while now so I’ve got a lot of sounds, drums and reeces mainly which are made by me. This song came out in about two days: one to write all the melodies, chords and stuff and another one making the arrangement.
As usual the mixdown took me longer because this was the first tune I made in our current studio.
About your inspiration let’s go further… what inspires you?
Asian art is awesome, I really dig anime and manga. I studied graphic design for three years in Spain, so yes draw and design is something I really like to do.
I do like to go time to time around to see some urban art exhibitions and when you’re in a city like London this is very easy.
Streetwear! I like to wear great sneakers and be up to date about what’s the new trend ha ha.
What’s next for the KUNG, what is happening soon for you?
On November 10 I’ll release a colab with L33 on a French label called Vandal and I’m playing on November 15 in Poland.
I’ve got about six tunes nearly ready, so you’ll hear some Kung soon again.