Made up of current members of Bad Noise Monster and Organs, Kolobok have been burrowing away for the last few years and have now released their debut single, a double A side “Ringo / Gorilla” which has earned them praise from Therapy? front man Andy Cairns.
So I figured that the time was right to get the lowdown on them.
Please introduce yourselves and what you do in the band?
Eddy: Alo Christopher! I am Eddy, I am responsible for guitar, words and the shouting of words in Kolobok
Ian: Ian, bass, shouting.
Matt: Hi, I’m Matt. I play drums.
What was the inspiration for forming Kolobok?
Eddy: Kolobok happened because Ian sold me a Hey Colossus LP at a record fair, we got chatting about music….and in that coy flirtatious way musicians do when meeting each other for the first time, mentioned we both played instruments. Ian told me his Organs bandmate Matt and he were interested in forming a new outfit, and bands like Part Chimp were mentioned, so I was pretty much sold immediately.
Ian: Ian, bass, shouting. I told Matt about Eddy, Matt said we should go for it so that was it. Eddy thought I’d never contact him! I mean what are the odds you meet somebody who plays guitar, wants to play music in/around Belfast and listens to Hey Colossus and Part Chimp? Not many. I personally had no plans to go back to playing in a more regimented group after experimenting the past few years in Organs, but this seemed worth giving a go
Eddy: Yes, that is correct about me assuming he wouldn’t contact me!! I got home the day I met Ian and told my wife it was too good to be true, so I didn’t contact Ian because I assumed there was a catch, like maybe he was a murderer or something. Which turned out to be not the case. He hardly ever murders people. Ian got my email from a mutual friend in the end and reached out! We soon organised a practice and it pretty much clicked immediately; I think songs started coming together within the first couple of hours!
Ian: I gave up murdering. There’s less money in it than playing in a DIY band
Matt: Me and Ian had played in bands before. We had tried to do a few things, bass and drums, ideas about maybe a synth player. Finding a guitar player seemed like a pipe dream. Organs then became a thing, and we kind of put the more regimented rock combo idea to bed. Fast forward a few years, Ian then mentioned he sold a Hey Colossus album to a guy who played guitar and was mad into Part Chimp. I think my response to Ian was, ‘you got his details yeah? When are we having a jam?’ It was a done deal at that point for me.
You’ve played some immense shows around the country with the likes of Fierce Shock, Muted Tweed and Exhalers. How do you think Kolobok compliment these acts as well as offer something different?
Ian: I’m not sure if complimenting the acts we play with is right. I mean, all the bands we play with we have a few things in common with. We may know them, we’re all enthusiastic about playing, there’s a healthy degree of volume involved, and there’s definitely at least a nod (if not up to the neck in) to grassroots/DIY culture in there. Personally the kind of bills I like are varied, and if they have old friends or fresh faces with similar ethics then even better. I’d get bored watching five hardcore bands that all sound the same so I have to assume that whoever we are playing to also likes a bit of variety. If I had my way gigs would start at lunchtime, finish at teatime, and run the gauntlet of various genres with distro and zine stalls and film projections as well. Gigs need to be events again, the kind of things that people want to come out and get involved with. I am old and somewhat jaded with years playing in the same dull rooms over and over.
Eddy: Yeah I agree with that, it’s more about having a genuinely interesting and fun event more than worrying about genre or similarities. And also just playing with good people – any gig is infinitely more fun and less hassle if the bands you play with are decent folk with shared values. For example, recent gig with Fierce Shook – absolutely sound lads and playing a really exciting, interesting strain of punk. They’ve all played together since they were kids and it really shows, just such a tight and coherent sound to them. I absolutely love seeing a band like that who manage in 30 minutes to show me a window into an entire world they’ve created. And to relate that a little to the second part of your question about what we might offer – who knows! I think all that any band worth their salt does is just to make the music that comes to them when they’re together. And then you put it into the world and see if anyone else likes the parts of it you like. Again, it’s about forging your own little world and inviting people to look into it for a while. I will say that we definitely seem to share between the three of us a mutual love of really fucking loud riffs, to create a real sense of physicality in the music. Personally I think a lot of that comes from the mentality of being a three piece – as the only guitar I try to use volume and dynamics as a tool as much as possible! That’s definitely my favourite aspect of playing live – seeing people react a big fat chord delivered with layers of fuzz and bass and drum power behind it. I’ll stop waffling now!
You’ve just released your debut single double A side “Ringo / Gorilla” which has received praise from Andy Cairns. Tell us about the tracks as well as the recording process.
Matt: As a big Therapy? fan I’m kinda stoked that he digs it. 90s Therapy? Was a huge influence on me personally both as a gateway to other bands and artists and in approach to playing. That was totally unexpected! We’re just doing our thing, and if people like it, that’s a bonus. If people who have given me some form of joy in their art for 30+ years also dig it then that’s a Brucie bonus. It’s kind of completing the circle in a wee way. But yeah, we recorded several songs with Niall Doran at Start Together in Belfast and in his own space in Blackstaff Mill over the past 10 months or so. They will all see the light of day soon. We’ve been tinkering and trying to make sure they all sound as great as they can. All done live for the old NRG with wee bits here and there to make them super shiny. We thought it was time to get something out there for the kids, so we went for two songs which kind of represent the various sides of the band. Ringo, I think was one of if not the first song we got together when we started. It’s been through various iterations. It’s a banger. Gorilla, a song with no words but if there were it would.be about a Gorilla. It’s a banger. All Bangers. No Downers.
Will this be in the form of an album, EP, more singles?
Ian: Most likely an 8-track release with a track held over for future use on a split/comp/floppy disc. 8 track as in 8 songs, not 8 track cartridges. Though we can’t rule that out in the future, it’s a neglected format.
The first time I saw you live I wrote that “the songs have much more of a garage feel as well as a bluesier approach to the rhythms in places. Upon first listen, it seems that the main difference is that the job of the rhythm section…is to hold down a solid terrain for Eddy to go off in tangents, whether it be garage, noise or space rock” whereas a recent gig saw a much tighter, concise and direct approach. Is this a conscious decision?
Ian: I think at that first gig we played Spacemog, which really was the rhythm section holding things down while the guitar was exploring effects etc, likewise Itchy consciously has a very tight rhythm section for Eddy to bounce off. Mind you we were still finding our feet with the sound, now it is a mix of the direct concise approach and the looser format, depending on what ideas we come up with! I’m sure Eddy can talk about this more in depth than me! Matt is a machine so sometimes we just follow him.
Eddy: I’d agree with Ian, it’s a balance. On the whole I think our songs lean towards the riffy and punchy: for me, certainly, I get a kick out of the simplicity of a chunky riff on repeat. There’s a basic neanderthal joy to that: it sure do make my brain go nice and tingly when we’re all hammering away at a big and stupid loud bit together. But i also love the looser jams, the chance to have a bit of a wank (to use a technical musical term), as well as the danger of not knowing what’s going to happen at a certain point in a song. I think we always leave ourselves space for a few such moments of peril in our sets. That could be some of Matt and Ian’s Organs improvisational pedigree coming through, it could be my love of guitarists like J Mascis, or it could be my basic laziness of not wanting to actually write and learn a proper fucking guitar solo! If anything I think the difference you noticed from debut to most recent gig was a combination of us being more confident and tighter as a band, alongside a practical decision to drop our two most improv-heavy (and slowest) songs from the set. Sometimes you do just tailor your set to the room, and having played at McHugh’s Watchtower before, we felt a more intense, focused half-hour would be best in what is a cosy (often sweaty) room!
Matt: First gig vs later gigs. We’re tighter and more in each other’s pockets now than that first gig. Plus, the songs have evolved, and we are probably more confident in playing them now than then. But yes, we are more focused now. We have also culled some fat off the first iteration of the songs, and in doing so, they get reframed and moulded to the point of being able to be delivered with extreme force and precision.
Eddy: MAXIMUM POWER.
Ian: SO MUCH PRECISE
You have other projects (Man’s Hands, Organs, Bad Noise Monster). What do you get out of Kolobak that you may not necessarily get with your other bands?
Matt: Man’s Hands is/was a more experimental textual thing. Found sound, drones, melodies in between the noise, all that kind of stuff. It’s noise adjacent and would probably sit well on a bill with Kolobok, but it’s a different thing. There were pretty much no drums in Man’s Hands. Kolobok, on the other hand is drums, bass, guitar, shouting. 3 desperate Souls sweating and channelling the volume through our instruments. It’s more immediate and in your face. There’s also a structure to the Kolobok material. We try to write songs, so, there’s a structure and framework to work within. Once you have that in place, that in my mind allows you to put more free abandon into the performance. Not that we’re phoning it in, but we know where the songs go so we can cut loose a bit, sweat, swing guitars etc and not be too worried about losing our way. The action is the juice, really in that instance. Organs is very different as its all improvised and for me there’s a different discipline there in terms of actively listening to 6+ people in the group and where they are going and how I fit in every time Organs play. In that case, the concentration is the juice.
Do you have any goals that you would like to achieve with Kolobok that you didn’t with other bands?
Ian: Have fun, don’t sweat the small stuff, pick and choose our gigs, and balance the music with our lives outside the band
Matt: What he said.
Eddy: Agree
