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Interview with
GORDO
from
KIMURA

(28th October 2021)

Interview by Dave Bruce

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How did the band come together?
The band was formed by myself, Gordo (drums) around ten or so years ago, Ian (Guitar) came into the mix around three months after the band was first put together. Of course over the years there have been a few line up changes as most bands have. Josh (vocals) came in around 5/6 years ago and Kyle (bass) has been with us for just over a year now.

Is there someone who is a “driving force”, or do you all make decisions together?
I guess Josh and I are the “control freaks” haha when it comes to admin and management; we take care of that aspect ourselves. But as a whole it’s a democracy, we all work together on the creative side and we like to be inclusive on any major decisions we make within the band, planning what our next move is, etc. There is no one person that says this is what we are doing, this is how the song goes or whatever and I think it works well for us.

How would you describe your sound?
Kimura has evolved over the years, I guess we were a bit more meat and potato metal early on but there has always been a huge groove aspect to the band. The stuff we wrote for Circle The Prey is much heavier, much darker and more technical then anything we’ve done before. It lends itself to all of our individual influences whether it be death, thrash, melodic, core, groove, etc. We think that has created a much more organic sound.

Why do you think people resonate with your music?
Because it’s real, we aren’t writing songs about dragons and wizards, as cool as that stuff is. Josh has really bared his soul with the lyrics on this release with true to life stories and situations that we all go through in life. Plus the music has some great hooks, stuff that gets people’s heads moving and toes tapping. 

Which artist’s music and/or performance, past or present, inspires you today?
For me personally Iron Maiden are a huge influence, not that it really comes across in Kimura, but they were the first band I ever got really into and they inspired me to want to pick up the sticks. As for a band that sound closer to what we do I would have to say Devildriver is another massive influence. For the other guys they dig bands like Soilwork, Slipknot, Machine Head, Lamb Of God, Black Sabbath and Motorhead

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Your new album ‘Circle The Prey’ has just been release/! Describe its origin and evolution.
We sat down about 12/18 months ago and asked ourselves, righto what’s next for Kimura and the consensus was its time to do an album! We had three EPs under our belt, it was time to get serious. Ian and I would catch up a couple times week and hash out structures for songs from the thousands of riffs he has, Ian really is an inhuman riff writing machine. Then we’d catch up with Josh and hone the song structures and Josh would add his vocals to them from his huge back catalogue of lyrics. We recorded the entire album in a pre-production format in Josh’s home studio so we could really analyze it as a whole. When we were happy with what we had we pulled the trigger and got together with Jay at Oracle Sound around April this year and laid down the album.

What does the album title ‘Circle The Prey’ represent?
It’s a lyric taken from the first single “Sharpen The Bones” which in itself is a story of retribution for unspeakable acts that were forced upon an innocent girl. From the band’s point of view the title represents how we feel about certain things, situations and people.
We are here, we’ve had enough and we are circling ready to strike.

The album has been dubbed your darkest, heaviest and most personal album to date. How so?
Musically there is a lot going on. Personally I’ve stepped my drumming right up, its faster and heavier than anything I’ve done before. Guitar wise tonally it’s heavier & darker and Ian is throwing in riffs and runs that would normally be done between two guitarists. Kyle has thrown in his own flair with the bass whether it’s sitting back grooving with me or keeping up the pace with Ian. Vocally Josh has really delivered with some amazing spits and flows that weave through the songs. Lyrically the stories he tells are real, from the heart and soul.

Any tours or events coming up soon? What are you looking forward to, and what can the fans expect?
Well that all depends on how we go here with opening up the borders. The plan is to get over east next to play a bunch of shows which we currently have the feelers out for. Plus we would love to get overseas to tour when all this Covid stuff calms down.

How has COVID affected you to date? What have you introduced to balance the losses from missed events?
We have been really lucky here in the West, there have only been a few short lockdowns, it hasn’t effected us too much. Show’s are on every weekend, you can go out for a beer or a meal. Life goes on.

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If you could perform with any music artist, Alive or Dead, who would you choose? And why?
For me, dream line up is Kimura supporting Devildriver and Lamb Of God because those bands kick arse!

Do you have any long-term aspirations as a music artist?
Well the big one for me would be play overseas or play the main stage of a big metal festival. But in all honesty I’d be happy if we were just the inspiration for someone to pick up an instrument. Playing music is cathartic, when you’re in the moment nothing else matters, all the bullshit that life can bring just washes away. 

What is the best thing about performing to a live audience?
Looking out into the crowd and seeing people digging it.
It makes me smile every single time!

What’s been the career highlight so far?
For me it was Slayfest earlier this year, it’s a day long mini metal festival we have here in Perth. This year it was held at a great venue in Fremantle with an outdoor stage, was a brilliant gig

Finally, a few questions for some quick answers –
FAVOURITE:
Album – Somewhere In Time – Iron Maiden
Artist – Vinnie Paul – Pantera
Movie – Empire Strikes Back
Place to visit – Thailand
Venue to play – Badlands
Food – Burgers or Tacos, or Taco Burgers
Drink – A nice cup of tea.
Person in History – Nikola Tesla because science is rad.
Tattoo – (If you don’t have one, what would you get?) Don’t have any tatts but I love full back pieces in an asian style with heaps of color.

Digital purchase & stream: HERE

Purchase CD: HERE

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Follow KIMURA
Website – Facebook – Twitter – Instagram

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AMNPLIFY – DB