Since Kid Koala and Bullfrog were mentioned, I thought someone out there might be interested in this interview that I did with him at the Coachella Festival last summer. I never got to use it and I was kind of stoned when I was talking to him. But, enjoy with gusto.
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Kid Koala: It’s kind of cooling off a bit. It was unnecessarily hot earlier.
D: It’s the desert.
Koala: I thought they were kidding until I saw the tumbleweeds.
D: How’s your band doing right now?
K: Bullfrog was in Montreal. We were working on a little EP that we’re going to put out. I’ve been doing that and finishing my solo record for Ninjatune. I’ve been locked in the studio since January pretty much. It’s good to get outside.
D: How did the band come about?
K: I’ve been doing the band for eight years now. We used to play every week in Montreal in local bars and stuff and used to get things going that way. We’ve always meant to record stuff, but since we just play live all the time we never got many opportunities to. This time we hooked up a little four track studio in the guitar player’s basement. We’ve been doing stuff there.
D: I had someone tell me that you do comics too.
K: Yeah. I’ve got this comic book. I’ve got the mock up of it. I’m still working on it and I’ve got to finish it in the next two weeks. It’s going to be like this (shows me mock up) you know? There’s not many words so it’s good for people who can’t read. It’s also good for people in other countries who can’t read English. It’s kind of like Mr. Bean style. It’s about this multinational corporation that’s going to develop this new cereal called Disco Flakes... yeah... and everything that ensues from that. There’s a little romantic story involved. I won’t give away the ending. I’ll save it for later. It’s fun. The Ninja record... I’m going to have a ball. When it’s done, it’s been a long time coming, you know what I mean? So, I’m just going to party. We’re going to call the tour "Record Release Party(s), Plural" or something. We’re going to have loot bags and stuff at the show. That’ll be cool. We’re going to have that. Yeah... this record, when it comes out, we’re just going to get crazy wild! You know what
I mean? There’s going to be a video game on the record too. A friend of mine is developing that. She’s actually from L.A. actually. She’s going to be doing this sort of record shooting game or something.
D: Shoot music industry people or just records?
K: No, you shoot actual records. No, I don’t have that kind of darkness or hostility.
D: For the Ninjatune album, have you been drawing in concepts that you feel people can identify as a Kid Koala style?
K: It pretty much just shows where my head is at. The parameters for the record were, "Put me in a room with a couple of turntables and a multi-track and a bunch of records and we’ll see what happens." The thing is, I’m always inspired by the records I have. You know it always starts there. It doesn’t start from me. It’s me interpreting something or it’s hearing something and saying, "Aww! I really wanna flip that."
D: You were on your last tour for a while. You were incorporating some stuff that definitely made the crowd respond.
K: When I go and DJ, it’s not so much about just me. It’s about all of us being in a room together. The crowd has everything to do with the night being a success for me. It’s a party. I do my little thing to help facilitate it. DJ Food did their little thing and we all worked together. If people get into it and groove on it, that’s great. I think I have a little bit of a work ethic though. I personally don’t think I’m dope enough to be like, "Okay, you just sit there and I’m going to fucking do shit and you’re going to clap and you can leave." You know what I mean? I’m not on that level at all. To me it’s like, we’re here, let’s try to facilitate the partying.
D: Nowadays I see DJs who are all about playing the new and innovative cuts or they try playing the just stuff that’s like the original breaks; kind of like that’s what they want the people to know about.
K: Breaking records to people or maybe introducing them to other stuff. I don’t really have that kind of high end agenda really. If it make you feel good, you should do it. One of my huge influences is Maceo Parker. When he gets on stage... boy, you know he’s just going to stomp on you. And they all wear suits on stage like they’re going to work. They’re going to work and they’re going to work this until everybody on the floor is on it. You know what I mean? I think eventually I want to be able to get a show to that level or stretch my attention span long enough so that I can actually rock. Because that dude goes on for like four and half hours, top to bottom... just funking it out the whole time, until everybody drops their inhibition... goes up. Even the people who don’t think they can dance start moving a bit. That’s great when people come together to do that.
D: Shows where you have a huge diversity in the crowd; are you hoping that people who, for instance, just know dance music, come away with more understanding of the creativity of the music that you play?
K: Mmm...(laughs).
D: Sorry. I’m always asking question s like that in interviews.
K: Yeah, you’re giving me a lot more cerebral credit than I’m worth (laughs). I think when you play out to a different kind of crowd; if you can reach them, its great. Sometimes you see that light come on. "I get it!" I’m not about just alienating people or flying over their heads, or how avante-garde this is or something. Shows like this are great because a lot of people come, not expecting to see things. All of a sudden, they get to hear stuff. If they’re moved by something that happens here, they might get into it themselves and start buying the records and doing the research. They night start making their own music or something like that. That’s how it starts. It’s great that way. Look at that fish!
D: There’s some huge carp around here. Who are some of the people in the Ninjatune camp... you did that collaboration with Money Mark... or elsewhere that you see and think that you’d really like to work with?
K: When I heard Mark’s first record, Mark’s Keyboard Repair, that really moved me. It was so simple in places, but just so perfect. That was wicked. Coldcut’s stuff, I’ve been into them since the beginning, ’88. You know, the What’s That Noise album, Beats and Pieces, all those things where they’re pulling elements from everywhere and making it fit. There’s like some sort of theme that works it all together. All of that is just huge inspirations on me. I was really lucky to have an opportunity to work with everybody that I have. At these shows you get to meet a lot of my heroes and stuff. I’ve seen Medeski, Martin and Wood earlier. That was crazy. Cut Chemist is here.
D: Going back to the video game on your CD; what is it behind all the Ninjatune people putting extra stuff on the CDs?
K: I don’t know if I was just following some Ninjatune quota. To me it was like, "You know what? You have the ability to do this." There’s room on the CD to put something on. I have some friends who program games and stuff and I was like, "Ahh, we should do some like dirtstyle, pong-level stuff." Stuff people could play while they were on the phone. No crazy hyper-3D, TombRaider stuff. Just some real old skool stuff that should just be fun. It harks back to the days when I used to buy old comic book records. "Record! And Free Stickers!" Something like that (laughs). It’s like, more sales points? Naah, I was just adding neat things. That’s why I’m going to have loot bags on the tour. I think some people should get loot bags. I just found these (Shows me plastic bubble from a gumball machine with a little ninja inside it). These are cool.
D: Yeah, Ninjatune has done board games and stuff. They’re the label that always wants to be fun.
K: Always. Well you know, we’re just a bunch of goofs. Might as well. This record I’m about to release is hardly a serious record. Games, comic books, whatever. If you bought it thinking it was going to be all intellectual, then I’m sorry. You’ve been gravely mislead (laughs).
D: When’s the album coming out?
K: It’s coming out in February. I think we’re going to start touring in March. That tour is going to be ill. I’m going to bring the band, Bullfrog. If you want to look out fo rthat stuff, it’s a bit different from what I do just in my studio. You might trip on it. I definitely think you should check it out. We’re going to have CDs and 7 inches available at Aquarius records in San Francisco. I’ll have web site up. It’s pretty low-tech. You can link there. I think that’s the only thing it does. You can find it at www.kidkoala.com or off of www.ninjatune.com. A friend of mine bought that for me. He was like, "You should buy this, because someone else is going to be it and sell it you." And I’m like "What? What are you talking about?" So he bought it for me for my birthday.
D: That happens.
K: Does it? Does it really? That’s crazy man! Some bandits. Internet bandits. Wow, I’m like completely clueless. I’m pretty lo-fi when it comes to the World Wide Web.
D: I don’t own a computer, but I work for an Internet company.
K: Is that right? Well that’s cool man. Well there you go. Well here I am on Ninjatune, run by Coldcut, the very serious multimedia guys with crazy advancements. Can you recommend one?
D: You could get a G4.
K: Do I really need a G4? That sounds like a Lamborghini or something.
D: Get an Atari ST with a MIDI in on it.
K: I remember Atari. That’s a good brand. Okay. Can you play Nightdriver and Missile Command?
D: I had Gauntlet.
K: No way? Did it look like Gauntlet?
D: Yeah.
K: Wizard is about to die.
D: Elf needs food.
K: Koala needs food.
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