Discover the sounds behind Kontours! For this edition of Off The Shelf, Kiera (bass), Matty (drums), and Ollie (guitar/vocals) pull back the records and hand-pick some of their favourite tracks, the ones that have been on their mind, influencing their sound and shaping who they are as a band.
Kiera selects…
Alabama Shakes – Gimme All Your Love
Big fat heavy guitar sound and massive vocals.
Anderson Paak – Come Down
Groovy bassline and rap vocals mixed in.
Al Green – Tired of Being Alone
A classic with a smooth Sunday morning vibes bassline.
Bob Marley & The Wailers – One Drop
The first reggae bassline I ever learned, opened up to mixing that sound into our songs.
Matty chooses…
White Stripes – Black Math
Heavy, chaotic drums that complement the guitar riff.
The Hives – Bogus Operandi
A pre-gig song to get the adrenaline going! Again, heavy and to the point.
Queens of the Stone Age – First it Giveth
This song goes straight into huge drums that sustain through the whole song and act as the pillar of such a great track.
Ollie shares…
Bill Withers – Use Me
A relentless groove and swag that makes it impossible to stay still. I love how in parts of the song, instruments drop out and come back in effortlessly. Great songwriting.
Eels – Tremendous Dynamite
Simple, raw, heavy. One of the first frontmen I was ever obsessed with. He has a ferocious growl, and it opened my eyes when I was first finding my voice, where I thought, “I could do something like this”.
The Beatles – Helter Skeltor
I was brought up on the Beatles, but this was the one song out of their catalogue that spoke to me as a child. I thought, ‘wow, what is this?’. A great example of a band just thrashing it out. Heavy, gritty, McCartney’s vocal rasp when he shouts “YEAH YEAH YEAH” makes the hairs on my neck stand up.
Heavy, bluesy riffs with a relentless groove, Coventry trio Kontours have been featured in NME’s Radar Section and have chalked up support slots with bands such as Cage The Elephant, The Enemy and The Subways.
See them live when Kontours support DYGL at The Victoria on Friday, 26th June.
Find them online @kontoursband
