Manitoba Live Music Event

About

The brothers KONGOS -- multi-cultural, multi-faceted, multi-instrumentalists -- craft a unique and irresistible sound spawned from shared DNA, diverse influences and spot-on melodic and lyrical sensibilities. On "Lunatic," their 12-song Epic Records debut, the band's talent shines on "Come With Me Now"; the title an impossible-to-resist aural summons, the rock-alt crossover tune kicking off with the accordion, jumping into foot-stomping, staccato rhythms, slide guitar, and soaring epic soundscapes reminiscent of U2. "I'm Only Joking," whose lyrics hint at the album's title, hits the mark with decisive tribal rhythms and Pink Floyd-esque mysterious modern rock. Thanks to an earlier self-release of "Lunatic," KONGOS are already stars overseas, playing their numerous hits off "Lunatic" for crowds of up to 65,000 at South African festivals and touring the Republic with Linkin Park, and the UK and Europe with AWOLNATION and Dispatch. With a Feb-March North American tour with Airborne Toxic Event and alternative and rock radio hot on "Come With Me Now" and "I'm Only Joking," (not to mention "Come With Me Now" in promos for NFL, NBA and ESPN), 2014 is quickly shaping up as the year the U.S. catches KONGOS fever. 

While live is where KONGOS' uplifting, universal musicality reaches the masses, the studio is indeed a second home for the brothers -- as kids, at their father's home studio in London, Elton John's or Cat Stevens' group was often the house band, while the elder Kongos worked with Mutt Lange to program Def Leppard's drums for "Pyromania." The total lifelong musical immersion makes "Lunatic" -- and KONGOS -- a rare breed of band. Fluent in numerous styles and eras, still, at the end of the day, a rock band. "We're making rock and pop music and our more obscure influences may only come out when we are attacking an extended solo," they explain. "But we definitely relate to bigger bands like Daft Punk, Coldplay and Queens of the Stone Age." 

The band also agreed that they were happy with "Lunatic" being a diverse record: "We each have different styles and personalities, so we embrace that. We have a KONGOS sound which is not exactly assigned, but we have an essence, a picture in our mind of what it will sound like." The press concur, praising the band's "classic rock elements, African rhythms and Balkan beats" and their "incontestable youthful talent...[and] emotional outpourings." The bottom line? KONGOS "want to write music that we like listening to." Fortunately, with tastes as diverse as theirs, that's a winning proposition for fans of all ages and predilections.