Image credit: Zupanov
During the lead-up to the release of their fifth studio album, coming spring 2024, Indie Rock band Koala Voice has shared a new single, ‘The Bigger The City’. Signed with the Nika label, the song is a welcoming introduction to the band’s music. An award-winning group, this outfit boasts a Golden Flute Award for Album of The Year 2021 as well as a HEMI Music Award. With this in mind, enjoy our interview with the international-touring band who talked gigs, favourite Strokes album, and soul as a song-writing ingredient. More below:
Stream / Download: Koala Voice – ‘The Bigger The City’
Your latest track is about the things that make us feel small. Let’s switch it up. What makes you feel larger than life?
The love and trust we have for each other and what we do. And when that comes to show at a live performance or in the studio, when we are well prepared and the ideas and improvisations are flowing through our bodies, minds, and instruments, and it all comes together with our energy and the crowd’s energy. It’s a larger-than-life feeling.
That is probably also the description of our dream live show; when we, the people, feel something.
To those not familiar with you, how would you describe your sound?
Slovenian Industrial Minimal Disco Indie-pop.
Which three albums have influenced you the most creatively?
- The Strokes – Is This It
- Gorillaz – Demon Days
- The Pixies – Doolittle
Tell us about the key pieces of equipment that you use to define your sound?
Our guitarist, Domen Don Holc, has his own signature Sever Flying V and Sever S2 electric guitars. And we’ve been using our Fender amps since forever.
Is there any “non-musical” ingredient that is essential to crafting your sound?
Soul, love, trust, companionship.
Studio work and music creation, or performing and interacting with a live audience, which do you prefer?
Both, the connection and gentle and sometimes raw energy from live concerts is addicting. But on the other hand, controlled studio environments, where you can craft something out of nothing, are magical.
What has been your most memorable performance so far?
We opened the stage for The Pixies when they were playing in Križanke, Ljubljana, Slovenia in 2019. Some club gigs in KC Dunaj in Slovakia, or Molotow bar in Muenchen were pretty cool as well. We just recorded a live concert performance from Gora Rocka 2023 (Mountain of Rock festival, which is actually on top of a mountain), and we think it was a memorable concert as well.
And which performance would you prefer to forget?
A café concert in Warsaw, Poland. We had a really good concert a week before that, and it was day 5 of our first Polish tour, first time in Warsaw. No one came. We still played an hour set, really letting our soul there. So probably not really to forget, but there were quite a lot of heavy feelings there after the show.
Any new or emerging artists on your radar?
Hmm, in Slovenia the scene is thriving with new acts at the moment. There are bands like MRFY, KOKOSY, Masayah, and many more. We did just recently find out about a band called Wet Leg that we really like. But they probably have been playing for longer that we know about.
If you could collaborate with, or perform alongside any artist, who would it be? And why?
We would love to open for The Strokes or Radiohead, or Red Hot Chili Peppers. And to work in the studio with Damon Albarn from Blur and Gorillaz. And there are many other people and groups who we like and are happy to talk music with.
If you weren’t a musician what would you be?
Probably a painter or writer. Two of us for are also very successful in our fields as engineers and industry designers.
Tell us about any upcoming shows or releases you have in the pipeline.
We just released our first single from our upcoming album, and we have quite a busy summer concert season although for now mostly in Slovenia and the Balkans. We are playing Ale v Pale festival and some other club and festival gigs, and somewhere around autumn, we are returning to the studio to continue our writing session. You can check out our gigs on our Koala voice Instagram or our web page Koalavoice.com.
Follow Koala Voice:
Website – Facebook – Twitter – Soundcloud – Youtube – Instagram – Spotify
