Describe your sound in 3 words
Epic, groovy, uplifting
Tell us a few things about your new song ” Quarter After Midnight” . What is the story behind it?
We had written the foundations of the song before we officially started the band. The Khaki Fever live band members had a massive input on this song, especially our beautiful keyboard player Joe Moore. When we started arranging the song, the dynamics, lyrics and energy were all already there. We then rearranged it slightly to turn it more from a band jam to a track. One of the key aspects of the track is its dynamics so creating vocal performances that compliment these changes in volume and energy while delivering our own character was key. One of the other aspects we experimented with was the horns at the end. We ended up choosing trumpets because they really cut through the mix.
Our current sound is characterized by a funky groove with digital elements. The bass was written to bring out that groove that the drums and percussion were already delivering. We wanted the track to lead on nicely from our first single “I Got This Feeling” and to do so we needed similar timbres and textures. So we spent a lot of time adjusting the synths in the choruses to compliment the track but also link back to our first release “I Got This Feeling”. Contingency is important to us with our plan for this EP.
What is the main topic of your lyrics?
The first three singles will form our first EP and we really just want to introduce people to Khaki Fever and let them know we’re up for a good time. The lyrics of all three singles are uplifting and feel good.. We have a lot of other songs with more meaning behind them, but for now we just want people to have some Fever fun!
The lyrics behind Quarter After Midnight in particular are about a cheeky night out full of flirting, fun and of course – the funk. The lyrics take you to a warm summer evening – those nights that are never planned but always bring a smile when you’re reminded of them.
What do you enjoy most? Writing music or performing your music live?
Being music producers and engineers as well, our home is in the studio writing and producing our tracks. We spend much more time in there than on stage. But there’s nothing like playing your music to a crowd of people who want to have a big night man. We’re always happy to oblige.
What would be your dream performance venue?
While our sound is mostly characterised by being quite epic and large, we would love to play a tiny desk concert. It’s so intimate and gives artists the opportunity to show so much personality as well as play a great gig! It feels so authentic.
When not writing music, how do you spend your time?
We like a good night out for sure. Halloween this year was a pretty big one – nothing quite like roaming the streets of Soho in a prisoner outfit, barely stringing sentences together. We managed to sneak into a private event and looked so out of place in these outfits, all eyes were on us – and that’s exactly how we like it.
What would you say is your biggest vice?
“Best not ask questions you don’t want to know the answer to, Mum”.
We asked our good friend and saxophonist this question and his answer was “We’re both fucking idiots” to which we wholeheartedly agree.
“Annoying but breathtakingly handsome” was the answer from Gio’s girlfriend (or something like that) and we can’t say we disagree.
In all seriousness though I think we put a lot of things on our plate and we often feel a little thinly stretched. As well as the writing, recording, mixing, producing, sourcing musicians, promo, running ads, submitting music to amazing blogs and playlists like yourselves, and all the other tasks behind Khaki Fever; we host a music podcast called Radio Fever (which can be found on Spotify Podcasts).
Thank you!
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