The Inquisition: 076.Kokomo

1. How did you came up with the name of the band? 

Our name was taken from the novel „Torture The Artist“ by Joey Goebel. So it has nothing to do with the Beach Boys song of the same name. If you want to find out more about the name, you will have to pick up the book ;) 

2. Do you have a standard procedure of creating a song? Do you just jam around or is there a main riff and the track is build up on it? 

It depends. Sometimes it is Rene who brings an idea to the rehearsal and we work something around it. Often we start the rehearsal with a jam and if something good comes up, we will work with it. We are lucky that our rehearsal room is also our studio, so we can record ideas, listen to them at home and work on it again. After sometime in the writing process we have a „library“ and can work with it e.g. combine two or three ideas into a song. 

3. What are your influences and what kind of music do you hear when you are at home? 

Everybody likes different music for different moods at home. Maybe the next questions can answer this one here too. 

4. Which is the one album you can't live without? 

Rene: Whirr – Sway

Benni: Deftones – White Pony 

Tobi: The Smashing Pumpkins – Siamese Dream 

Ansgar: Pg.Lost – In Never Out 

Oliver: Keith Jarrett – The Köln Concert 

5. What's the first record you've ever bought? 

Ansgar: First CD was a Cypress Hill single 

Oliver: Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication 

Rene: Blink182 – Cheshire Cat 

Tobi: Nirvana - Bleach 

Benni: Metallica – Black Album 

6. Name a band that you would like to share the stage or tour with?

Benni: Turbostaat 

Oliver: Blood Brothers or At The Drive-In 

Rene: Circle Takes The Square 

Ansgar: Chelsea Wolfe 

Tobi: Deftones 

7. Did the internet and specially the blogs helped to spread your music around the world? Name a place (country) that you were surprised to know your music has reached to? 

Without the internet Kokomo wouldn't be playing concerts. Our first tour was book via myspace and it was back then a good way to spread your music. Today you have so many opportunities to make your music public e.g. bandcamp, iTunes, Spotify or Soundcloud. And of course you can find any album as a leak somewhere. We are very grateful for every review or mentioning we get because it gives some support and without this support we would not have been able to play some many countries in which people seem to be familiar with our music. If we have to point out one surprising moment it would be the first show we played in Romania where people were singing along although we don't have lyrics. 

8. Do you support the idea of bandcamp where fans can decide the price or services like Spotify? 

We put our music as “name-your-price” on bandcamp so people can decide if they want to spent some money on the digital music, but we think that within our genre people are also still interested in a physical copy if they like the music. 

9. Where do you see yourselves in 5 years? 

No Idea ;) We are by now a band for 8 years so 5 years is a huge amount of time to set some plans ahead. 

10. Is the artwork of an album important nowadays in the digital era?

For sure it is! You can also read question 12 as answer to it.We think that people still love a valuable artwork and appreciate the thought the artist put into it. But you also have to make something worth buying because you have to get peopleto get interested in a CD or LP that is more interesting than a MP3 file. A good artwork is a way to set yourself apart from other artists and we spend a lot of time and thought on our designs to make something special and appealing.

11. What is your favourite album cover? 

Ansgar: Brand New – Daisy

Tobi: The Smashing Pumpkins – Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness

Oliver: Sigur Ros - ( )

Benni: Converge – Jane Doe

Rene: Celeste – Morte(s) Nee(s)

12. It seems that a lot of people are turning on vinyl again. Why do you think that is and which is your preferable media format? 

During the last album production for Monochrome Noise Love we got to know that there is a urge for vinyl releases right now, because the pressing plant are booked and it takes a couple of months until you get your release on vinyl. Except our first album Matterhorn Bob And The Black Fair, every release has been on CD and vinyl or only vinyl. Again we think that in our genre people like to hold a release in there hands and a LP is a great medium which gives a lot of space for design and specials e.g. the format, different vinyl colours or the size. For the S/T LP preorder we did some handprinted sleeve and this time every preorder will get a special sealing. But we also release on CD everyone who likes your music can get a physical copy and we try to design it as appealing as possible with rough cardboard digipaks for example . 

13. What's the most vivid story or moment as a band? 

Over the years there have too many stories or moments to pick out just one. It reaches from our fee/merch-money that was used to buy drink by our merch guy without our notice to a 36 hour drive home from Istanbul to Duisburg or broke down vans in Romania or broke down pedal boards at dunk!festival or sold out shows in Leipzig... There have been really a lot great moments with this band so far, but the most important thing that you spent the time with your best friends.

Kokomo's amazing new album "Monochrome Noise Love" comes out today!

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