//Interview\\ Kin: "Our connection is stronger than ever"

From an alien exploring Brighton in their latest music video to almost being called Factory Settings,Kin have had a busy career so far and it seems they are only getting started.

With a new ep recorded and a new season of the band's Tune in with Kin podcast on the horizon,I spoke with guitarist Adam,about the filming of The Runaways music video,the Princess Bride and whats next for the band.

I feel it’s important to ask after the whirlwind of a year we’ve had, how are you doing? What have you been doing to keep busy outside of music recently?

I’m very well thank you, currently isolating after returning from a filming trip in Italy. The UK government recently changed the rules so you have to isolate until you get a negative PCR result. All in favour of the rule change (even though it’s come a little late), but cabin fever does begin to set in! Thankfully I’ve had time to write music and prepare a cover of Last Christmas for our final gig of the year at The Amersham Arms on December 16th.

You all come from different creative backgrounds as individuals, what kind of impact would you say that has on your music/the way you go about making it?

It has an impact on different aspects of the work for sure. For example, Grace is a performance maker and she just finished a Masters at Goldsmiths University in London. She’s so good with multimedia work and that impacts our music videos - we’d love to bring elements of that into our live show one day too.

The Runaways is your fourth single, what would you say has changed since your first release?

Firstly, the fact that people know who we are now is an awesome feeling and their excitement for our new music is a great motivator to make the best work possible! I think the other change for us as a band is that we are more self-assured in the studio and we feel more confident experimenting, which is encouraged by our brilliant producer Josh Tyrrell. I think The Runaways and our next single (which will be announced shortly) are sort of gateway songs to our debut EP, which we’ve just finished recording in London with Josh. The four tracks we wrote for the EP were all written in the past year, and I think you can really hear our development as a band.

Have you learnt anything from the process of creating The Runaways? (Production skills,songwriting,better connection as a band etc)

I believe our songwriting is constantly improving, I love the first three singles we released and the immediacy of them, but the new work is a progression and the next stage in our journey as a band. Our connection is stronger than ever, and we love being in the studio together. I’ve heard some bands can find it a little boring but we really enjoy it.

You’ve played shows both in America and in the UK, what differences or similarities would you say there are? (Could be related to the music scene, show structure etc)

I’ve noticed that each place you visit has its own musical identity. It’s great to see how diverse music is around the world. Bands create their own scenes without label interference and organically formed communities of musicians supporting each other are one of the best part of the music industry. It’s easy to exist in a musical bubble which is why we try and gig outside of London whenever possible and why we’re keen to tour globally. We have fans all over the world and we’d like to meet them one day, because without them, KIN wouldn’t be releasing music.

The music video for The Runaways is inspired by 80s Hollywood, if you could be in any film from any decade what film would you choose and why?

Ooooh great question! I’ll stick with the 80s and say The Princess Bride. Also, I’d recommend following Cary Elwes (Westley) on Twitter. He’s brilliant - I’d like to befriend him!

What can you tell us about the tracks you are recording with Josh Tyrell (known for working with Lana del rey,mark ronson etc)? or is it all very hush hush until release time?

Earlier this year we worked a bit with Josh on The Runaways, and our next single, which are both standalone tracks, but we’ve also just finished recording our debut EP with him. Four new songs that have only been heard by the band, our manager, and Josh so far - I’m so excited for people to hear them! All fairly hush hush for now but a new single will be announced soon and the first track off the EP should be out in the spring.

What’s are your favourite memories of recording your new single/filming the music video for it?

The music video was such a blast to shoot. Grace, Josie (the lead actress), Yan (the alien) and I had a daytrip to Brighton to film the majority of the video (the laundrette scene was shot in London). Josie is one of my best friends and we’ve known each other for over 10 years, and Yan is my wonderful cousin. It was honestly so much fun! We had a rough idea of the shots we wanted but we also did a lot of improvised scenes wherever we could get away with filming. Plus fish and chips by the sea is always a winner! Yan is also an awesome tattoo artist based in London, check out his amazing work on Instagram @_art.of.gold

What are the origins of your band name?

We had a list of names, some of them were truly awful (examples include Factory Settings, Thistles, Draft Work) and KIN was the first name we all liked. We were also really into the definition of the word, with its links to ideas of family, it just feels super appropriate for our band. Plus, it’s three letters and there’s three of us in the band, it just worked for us.

What do you do to wind down after a show or recording session?

Drinking and eating all the food! Pizza ranks highly in this situation.

Who has been your favourite person to be in conversation with, as part of ‘Tune in with KIN?’

This is tough because honestly all the guests have been so interesting and inspiring. I’ve absolutely loved doing it and we’ll being announcing more dates very shortly, some awesome artists coming up. It’s impossible to pick just one but a conversation that stuck with me was the chat I had with Justy. She’s so incredibly smart and articulate. Justy deserves the biggest platform possible. You can watch all the past interview on our Instagram page: @kinbandofficial

tune in with Kin series 2 continues on the 9th of feb on the bands instagram.

You can watch the band's music video for 'The Runaways' below via youtube