Formed from an inescapable desire to ditch the monotony of life and get back to the creative process, Kingling emerged from a group of San Francisco dreamers in 2015. Their music presents a colorful pop rock journey by combining glistening, crunchy and dissonant guitars, powerful female vocals, deep, punching bass and driving drums that shift without a moments notice from unabashed rage and anger to quiet, soulful introspection. A journey containing stories and abstractions that delve into death, destruction, and corruption, Kingling‘s music demands your full attention and asks you examine and question where you are both alone and as part of a whole.
In this interview spotlight, we speak with Kingling about influences, being an indie muso in the digital age, the new project and more.
Q&A along with links and a stream of their video below.
Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)
Bay Area represent! We create “ADD” and “TropiGoth” music. “ADD” because instead of trying to be super cohesive we mix a ton of different genres together. We also call our music “TropiGoth” because at the surface its driving and happy but then the lyrics are about death, destruction, addiction and greed.
What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to stay the course?
We’ve all played music since we were wide eyed youngins with sparkles in our eyes. Now that sparkle is gone but we’re still playing music cause it makes us happy.
Who or what are your biggest influences when it comes to your creativity?
Definitely all genres but probably Alt 90’s because its what we grew up listening to the most.
How is your new release different than previous ones? Did you set out to accomplish anything specific?
This is our first release ever!! We didn’t really think about it and instead just made music. Now we’re just trying to figure it out as we go which has been really fun.
Do you face any challenges as an indie musician in a digital age? On the flip side, how has technology helped you (if it has)?
Having to be slaves to social media sucks but at the same time its the best way to promote when you’re completely DIY.
How do you feel about streaming services? Any romantic attachments to the physical formats: vinyl, 8-track, cassettes, CDs?
Being able to only sell physical formats (which we don’t have so download/stream us:) would be amazing but these days it’s all about that stream so adapt or be killed.
Where can we follow you online and hear more music?
We’re @kinglingband Check us out on all major social media and streaming services and like/heart/follow/stream/happy face/sad face/thought bubble/buy our music and download us!!!
- http://kingling.bandcamp.com/releases
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTmHmafvT3g
- https://www.facebook.com/kinglingband
- https://twitter.com/kinglingband
- https://soundcloud.com/kinglingband
Anything else before we sign off?
Check out our hella awesome DIY music video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTmHmafvT3g
From our debut single “Island” off of our just released debut EP out now!! http://kingling.bandcamp.com/releases
