KONGOS
Band of Brothers
Kim Milbrandt

“Our music is better than it sounds.” Not only does this band have the incredible sound to back this claim up but they also have a great sense of humor stemmed from true humble musicianship. The band Kongos is comprised of four brothers, Dylan (lead vocals/guitar), Danny (guitar/locals), Jesse (drummer), and Johnny (keyboards/accordion), from London and South Africa. “We’ve been brought up with music and different cultures our whole life, we were surrounded by it, especially African culture,” Jesse says of his upbringing. Johnny and Jesse played in jazz fusion groups while attending ASU, but joined with their brothers to form the band.

The band’s self proclaimed pop/rock genre does not come close to defining the complexity within their music. “I think music is too associated with fashion, instead of people listening sometimes by themselves and seeing what they actually like, they listen to what they are told to. I think if people listen to music by themselves they will find a whole new world of music that they like.” Dylan says of defining music in close-minded terms. The band encourages people to really listen to their music because you never know what you might get turned on to as a result.

Growing up under the wing of their dad, singer/songwriter John Kongos, this band had the musical support of a man with two top 5 singles under his belt. With music in their blood, it only took a small push from dad to convince the guys to pick up their first instrument. “He definitely tried to push us. From age 3 or 4 we did music, but its just like with any kid…you’re parents say you have to go to school, our parents said you have to play piano,” says Johnny of how his parents pushed them to play music.

Having a home studio (and the ears of a seasoned musician) gave the band the luxury of experimentation and meticulous self reflection that produced the truly unique debut album “Kongos.” The sound is reminiscent of 70s folk music with Beatles-inspired pop melodies. What separates this band are the overtones of electronic mixes, accordion solos, and African-inspired beats that make this band stand out amongst your typical “rock band.”

The band prides themselves on their eclectic taste in music pulling from well-known artist such as the Beatles and Joni Mitchell to the more obscure (by American music standards) Tinariwen. The band admires that Tinariwen is a nomadic group that “literally gave up there AK47s for Stratocasters.” Selected tracks from Coldplay have influenced Dylan whereas Johnny is proud of his collection of Wu-Tang and Snoop Dogg albums. The musical influences range within the band is what creates much of the music’s complexity.

In the song “The Way” an accordion solo is featured that brings the song to a completely different level. “It kinda happened by mistake,” admits Danny about the introduction of an accordion in their music. Moving against the stigma created from playing the accordion, Johnny Kongos prefers to play it over the keys. ”When you’re trying to rock out on the piano you have to just sit there but with an accordion I can just be a punk.” The band admits that they like the shock from the audience by the appearance of the accordion, but feel it is a real feature to their live show.
“Justin Timberlake is bringing sexy back, well were bringing the accordion back.” Jesse confidently interjects.

The band is quickly gaining notoriety around the scene and was voted “Best Rock Band” by the Phoenix New Times. Locally they have played at the last exit, Nita’s hideaway, club red and downtown at the modified and the paper heart. The band has also played at LA’s famous music club, the Viper Room. The band plans to tour the west coast more and eventually move to Los Angeles where they are going to try and beat the “needle in the haystack” odds of reaching
success as a band.

“When you listen to music that you don’t understand what they are talking about you are listening to the music better in some ways, you’re not being fooled or have too much emphasis put on the associative things like lyrics that you’re being told are sad or happy or whatever, cause it might not be. A lot of the music we listen to we don’t know what it’s about and don’t want to….lyrically” Johnny Kongos

Kongos’ next big gig will be a live acoustic performance on the 98 KUPD Jonathan L show, December 22nd. The bands next live show will be December 27th at Sugar Daddy’s in Scottsdale.

Check out the Kongos Profile Here

- CSM

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