MD: When and how did the band form? How did you come up with the name?

KunK: Well, me (James) and Wayne are brothers so we met at a very early age. We started putting some songs online in about 2003 under the name KunK, which i'm pretty sure came out after a few drinks. I don't think there was too much thought behind it, it was just short, easy to remember and kinda sounded like a sound effect, which we thought was alright at the time. Hannah joined us back in 2005 after we stole her from another band and then Ritch joined in 2008. We've been  through quite a few band members!

MD: You've got a pretty raw punky sound going on. How would you describe it?

KunK: This should be such an easy question to answer, but it never is. We tend to just describe ourselves as an Alternative Rock band as that covers quite a wide range. There are elements of pop, rock, and a real punk attitude, all thrown in there.

MD: Who are your influences?

KunK: Shellac, mclusky, The Fall, Pixies, Sonic Youth, Nirvana, Future of the Left, Queens of the Stone Age, Foo Fighters, Shooting at Unarmed Men.

MD: On your myspace Hannah is down as Bass/Vocals/Decisions and Wayne as
Vocals/Guitar/Rage is everyone else in the band really placid and indecisive? Who makes the cups of tea?

KunK: I'm thinking we should probably change that now actually, haha. Hannah tends to be a bit more decisive than the rest of us at practice, although I think we're pretty good at making group decisions on bigger things. Wayne has been known for his rage, particularly when driving to and from gigs, but to be fair he's calmed down quite a bit recently. We're all quite laid back and lovely really. As for cups of tea, we have this little thing going where whoever is last to practice makes the tea. It's the law.


 

MD: What do you think of The Hot City Sounds Festival. Are you looking forward to headlining the 'Fight Night'?

KunK: I think it's fantastic that Norwich has got something like Hot City Sounds to show everyone that we've got music worth listening to, especially this year, the line-up is so diverse and we're really proud to be a part of it. There's sometimes a tendency for people to get behind one particular band, or genre, but Norwich has a really diverse music scene and it's great that everyone is being represented this year.

As for our 'Fight Night' gig, we're really excited about it. We've played at the Marquee a number of times and it's got a great atmosphere, also Paul (soundman/booker at the marquee) is really supportive of the local scene and always does his best to make each night there really cool. It's a fantastic line-up too, all of the other guys playing are good friends of ours, so it's going to be great.

MD: You're touring quite a bit at the moment. Anything coming up you're particularly looking forward to?

KunK: We're actually planning on cutting down on the amount of gigs we play for a little while now. We've had a really busy year with gigs so far. We've got some studio time booked in July at Leeders Farm, and we're really looking forward to going there and recording three or four new songs. The plan is to release a single from those sessions around November time and then start gigging heavily again around that time to promote it. We're really excited about the new songs and the ones we've played live so far have had a great reaction, so we can't wait to get them out.

MD: What gets your goat more than anything in the music world and how would you set about righting it?

KunK: This incredibly boring trend of Indie music that's still going around at the moment. The seemingly endless amount of bands that are all about style with little or no substance, it irritates me no end that so many bands seem to be so utterly passionless in what they do. I also hate the fact that almost the entire industry is full of people scared to be different and support anything that isn't the "in" thing. I'd like to set about righting it by starting my own record label, radio station, magazine and television station to promote anything I liked, whether it was cool or not. Not that that would right it. It'd make me feel a lot better though. Anyone got a couple of million quid to spare?