Koala Voice took time to answer our questions about their music and how they make it. Let’s see what they have to say!
First off, What’s up with your name? Is there a story behind it?
There is.. Firstly, we didn’t know we will have to stick with the name that we choose in 2010. But long story short, it comes from a book. A collection of short stories by Thomas Gunzig, The smallest Zoo in the world. In one of the stories there is a koala bear in a hotel room, making weird noises. It’s very cynical. At the time we thought that it was funny.
Tell us about your musical past, would you tell us about your early years?
We been playing music together since 2010. Tilen and Domen started the band in our hometown of Kisovec, Slovenia, and cleaned an old library, where they made our band practice room. We were hanging out there for two years, learning our instruments, and mostly just talking and spending time. After that, we had our first gig in a local bar in 2013, and the gigs started afterwards
We won a lot of highschool competitions when we were teenagers, we played clubs and festivals in Slovenia. Later we also started performing in theaters and alternative musical plays. We recorded our first album Kangaroo’s a neighbour in 2015. And started playing smaller tour and festivals abroad aswell.
How would you describe your sound?
It’s a hard question, describing ourselves that way. But if we may, we would say Vintage. We mostly use the same amps we modified with our playing during the years. Some people call us Disco, some call us Indie, some call us Indie pop, or punk. Some don’t call us at all. But we like melodies, on top of lyrics, that kind of describe life around us. Happy vibes, also when the surroundings aren’t always happy.
Which artists have the biggest influence on your sound?
When we started, a major influence were The Strokes, or The Pixies, Radiohead, Moweknoledgment and such.. But then individually we listend to a lot of blues(BB King, John Lee Hooker,..), electro(Kraftwerk), Krautrock(Neu!), and Hip Hop(NWA, Wutang Clan, etc.). And a lot more.. There is a playlist that we made, last month, for deezer, there are some newer artists, we have been listening to. Like Wet Leg, and some Slovenian artists as well.
What’s the last song you listened to?
The last song we listened to was Lets go crazy, by Prince and the Revolution (Domen just brought it to the tour van)
What’s your source for hearing new music?
We use apple music, deezer, spotify, and also obscure youtube searches, digging for older music. In the Slovenian music scene there is still a lot of mouth to mouth musical recommendations. And some radiostations like Val 202 or Radio Student have some good suggestions as well sometimes
Who is your dream producer?
From the top of our heads, Rick Rubin, Brian Eno, Linda Perry, Pharrel
If you could collaborate with anyone, who would it be?
We would love to open for the Strokes, or work with Radiohead, or Snoop Dog. There are a lot of people whose work we like, and we are open to collaborations.
What led you to music, and what motivates you to keep making it?
I think it is just something inside, that drives us. We would probably be playing or singing even if nobody would know us, or hear us. We ale have musical or creative stories from our childhood, our guitarists parents were both musicians, we all played instruments or did arts as children, even tho we are coming from a more industrial part of Slovenia.
Tell us about the songwriting process. How does it all come together?
Sometimes it’s a riff that starts it all. Sometimes it’s a verse, a thought. Sometimes we work on a concept from the beginning. What we are thinking about, what is happening around. Then we play with ideas. Sometimes it is just fun, sometimes heavy thinking.
How do you connect with your audience? What is the easiest way for them to connect with you?
We mostly connect on concerts. People tell us, that they feel our energy on stage, and it makes it easier for them to let loose in the dancefloor. Sometimes we also get nice letters, or dms, or emails, about our studio songs, or poems that we publish. The easiest was to be in touch with us for now, is over our instagram, our Koala Voice Fb page, our booking email, and sometimes even through Nika records channel.
The Bigger The city: https://youtu.be/1CcpjtVYT1k
Tu je vse tako lepo: https://youtu.be/yXbEAtLytl8
Spaghettification Live, Plata Slovenian Album of the year 2021: https://youtu.be/NJWme3AZ9Sw
Silly Plant, Live from Ment 2022: https://youtu.be/03zS17_vWCs
Official page: https://koalavoice.com/en/
Instagram: https://instagram.com/koala_voice
FB: https://www.facebook.com/VoiceKoala
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1yUllH0WuckeITJR0DlWZA?si=7yKzJj-5Sh6yGSE1cjtnig
What’s next for you?
We are playing shows in Slovenia, gigging clubs and festival during the summer. We are also preparing, practicing and writing material for our new album, looking for studio options and ideas allong the way..
Anything else you’d like to add or let us know about?
Be kind one to another, strong but gentle. And have a nice day.
Love & Peace
Koala Voice
Thanks..
