One of my highlights of the first ever Together The People Festival was getting to see Kudu Blue perform. It had been a name that had been mentioned to me a surprising amount of times, yet I hadn’t been able to catch them live. Having seen them a few of times since, including a fantastic set supporting Hiatus Kaiyote, Brightonsfinest have wanted to find out more about their eclectic mix of modulating electronics and impressive soulful instrumentation. After their recent show at Patterns, I met up with the five-piece ahead of their début at The Great Escape for an interview which was full of laughter.

Where do you all come from?
[Creeda] We are all pretty much from Brighton, apart from Clem.

[Clementine] I’m from Birmingham.

How did you all originally meet?
[Creeda] It was fate really. Tom and I were baby friends.

[Tom] Owen and I literally go way back to Year 1 in Primary School. We then started making music together when we were 13/14.

[Dale] I met Creeda through one of my best mates from Primary school – and we hit it off. We played in a band together with Owen before Kudu.

[Clementine] I met them all along the way and we’ve become best buddies.

What kind of music were you brought up on?
[Creeda] My bother listened to a lot of Hip-Hop. My parents, a lot of rock.

[Clementine] For me it was a lot of Motown, soul and jazz from my parents. My dad was also a reggae DJ. When I was growing up, I was listening to a lot of garage.

[Tom] My dad grew me up on The Beatles big time. A lot of Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin – typical dad rock.

[Dale] I grew up listening to Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Radiohead and a lot of alternative rock. Also to stuff like Tracy Chapman.

What was the first album you ever owned?
[Clementine] New Found Glory – Sticks And Stones. I don’t have the album anymore, but I do listen to it occasionally.

[Creeda] My first tape was Ace Of Base, it had ‘Life Is A Flower’ on it.

Everyone hilariously starts to sing “All that she wants / Is another baby” (taken from ‘All That She Wants’ by Ace Of Base).

[Tom] I think mine was the Sum 41 album with ‘Fat Lip’ on All Killer, No Filler.

[Dale] Mine was Steps. Then it was the Smurfs doing different renditions of different pop songs. All played on a ladybug tape recorder with the sponge headphones.

When did you all start playing as Kudu Blue?
[Clementine] It was about a year-and-a-half ago.

[Creeda] In fact our first gig was a year ago, two weeks ago.

[Dale] That was supporting Bipolar Sunshine at The Haunt. We had just put ‘Bones’ out and ended up getting that gig, we didn’t expect it.

[Creeda] Owen’s keyboard stand collapsed onto Dales foot midway through the gig.

Can you remember your first jam?
[Clementine] Yes, it was terrible!

[Creeda] It really was awful.

[Dale] We had all been doing different things before, so going in this new direction took a bit of getting used to.

What is the story behind the name?
[Creeda] To be honest, there is no real meaning behind it.

[Tom] We needed to change our name, as there was already a local company with the name Early Bird (Promotions). We went about finding a new name and ended up with Kudu Blue – it took a while but it just came out and stuck.

[Clementine] We have had a few funny interpretations of it – like Kudoobal (spelt phonetically) said by an Aussie bloke at one of our gigs.

How would you briefly describe your music?
[Clementine] It’s an eclectic mix of all our passions.

What are you influences?
[Tom] I love playing reggae, that comes out in my bass playing – real dub sounds. Also Latin and World music are big influences.

[Clementine] Michael Jackson, he is the one for me.

[Dale] Jonny Greenwoods (Radiohead) guitar playing, I would love to be as good as him. I’m not but I do try. I don’t quite know how to put my guitar through a transistor radio, yet.

[Creeda] I feel like I am a product of Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers) and Questlove (The Roots).

What drives you to write music?
[Clementine] Love man, ha ha.

[Tom] I would not know what to do if I didn’t write music!

[Creeda] It sounds cringey but it is my life.

[Dale] I think if we didn’t write music we would be miserable.

Are you thinking about your next release?
[Creeda] Hopefully in June. We are currently working on tracks, doing takes and working on the production, then we will be sending it off to be mastered in a month’s time. Nothing is set in stone but it will definitely be sometime in 2016.

What has been a musical eye-opener?
[Tom] It was the first time I heard J Dilla. Someone played me ‘Think Twice’ and I had never heard anything like it, the rhythms and the way the song changed. It wasn’t self-indulgent, it was just great. It really opened up that whole branch of music to me.

[Dale] Nirvana when I was 12 years old and a very angry teen. Hearing something where every word they sang was with such pure passion. Also the first time I listened to Kid A by Radiohead. Hearing how intelligent and forward-thinking it was totally summed up what many mainstream cultures didn’t know was going on.

[Clementine] I have always been so absorbed by all music that it is really hard to choose one specific moment.

[Creeda] Watching Radiohead play In Rainbows was a phenomenal experience.

If you could put together a supergroup, who would be in it?
Family Man Barrett (Bob Marley & The Wailers) on bass, Mark Colenburg (Robert Glasper Experiment) on drums, Johnny Greenwood (Radiohead) not only as a guitarist but as an innovator in music, with Michael Jackson on vocals, and their name is Daayyymmm!

What would be your perfect line-up for a concert you are putting on and where would it be?
Bob Marley headlining to calm everyone down after Michael Jackson kicked things off in emphatic style. They would have to play Stonehenge.

If you could work with any artist, who would it be and what would they bring to Kudu Blue?
[Creeda] It would be incredible to work with James Brown, but I think we would all get sacked.

[Dale] Aphex Twin or Flying Lotus would be interesting.

[Clementine] I would love to work with Boom Clap Bachelors.

What are your future plans?
[Clementine] To make good music that we are all proud of.

[Creeda] We are playing Secret Garden Party, The Great Escape and Noz Stock festivals.

Facebook: facebook.com/KuduBlueUK
Twitter: twitter.com/KuduBlue