“We just started doing jam nights and parties. We’d get a group of musicians together and jam for an hour or so with no particular plan… And that evolved into Kontiki.” – Mike Chater, bass & vocals
From the outset, Kontiki’s creative approach has been fluid. Initially a trio of Mike, his bother, Guy, on drums and John Franklin on guitar, they honed their collective skills through collaboration and experimentation. The line-up gradually expanded and with it so did their sound.
Mike: “We always wanted to have at least one horn, just to fill it out. Then we eventually got Laurie [Jones] involved, the percussionist. He used to play with K.O.G and the Zongo Brigade. Then we got Harry [Fowler] on sax, who also plays with K.O.G.”
The Kontiki sound dances across genres, flirting with propulsive psychedelic funk grooves and firecracker brass, while pulsing beneath is an infectious canter of African rhythms and skittering jazz-rock.
It’s an almighty storm, at times evoking memories of Sun Ra or Pharoah Sanders, albeit with the emphasis firmly fixed on collective outcome over individual efforts.
John: “Everything that gets written has come out of the rehearsal room. There’s been no real ownership of arrangements. It’s more like a communally-owned sound and whatever ingredients people have brought in, that’s informed what’s been created. No one ever comes to a session saying ‘I want to write a highlife song.’ We just go through our phone recordings from the jams… It’s very much based on improvisation. There’s not a band leader. It’s a completely horizontal structure in terms of how we go about writing and maybe that means that all of our musical sensibilities pour in.”
A couple of band members play in other projects, most notably the aforementioned K.O.G and Tetes de Pois, who are both set to play the Chai Wallahs stage at this year’s Green Man Festival. While there are overlaps, the Kontiki sound stands apart in terms of its freeform ethos and jazz-bled fundamentals.
Mike: “I guess we’re rockier as well. That comes from our backgrounds, John and I. We were listening to a lot of rock music, as well as other stuff. We didn’t come from the jazz route. We came to jazz and Afrobeat later. I wouldn’t say we’re a rock band either, but we have that energy.”
John: “I think we’re more open to getting rockier now though. The scene that felt most appropriate for us was the club-dance-afro-funk scene. We thought ‘Oh we can’t be a rock band’. But I feel we can now push the envelope a bit. We’re more confident in ourselves, in allowing those sensibilities to come out.”
Kontiki’s identity has taken shape through improv. Their uniquely bombastic, effervescent performances have earned them a growing and glowing reputation as a live band. But capturing that vibrant essence in the studio has led to certain challenges. In 2019, they released a six-track EP, Zucchini Weather, full of ambition and spiralling, hypnotic delights. But it was last year’s debut album, the exotically titled Mangrove Big Head, that far better encapsulated the true Kontiki experience.
John: “It’s hard, given the background we’ve had of being an improv band, to then organise that into arranged songs. Live, there’s a lot of energy. In the studio, to replicate that, is a challenge. The interplay you get when you play live, it means we’re pushing things forward. We’re on the push rather than the pull. That’s difficult when you’re in a studio, in terms of multi-tracking and things. It’s a journey of discovery, how we replicate it in the studio. But I think the latest release is a decent replication.”
Quickfire Questions
Sunrise or sunset?
Mike: Sunset.
John: Sunrise.
First song or last song?
John: Live, it would be last.
Mike: Yeah. And the album, first.
Animals or plants?
Mike: Plants.
Can or Sun Ra?
Mike: Sun Ra
Pub or club?
Both: Pub
Realism or idealism?
Mike: Pragmatic idealism.
And finally, what’s your idea of heaven on earth?
John: “Spontaneity, the freedom for spontaneity. The ability for stuff to just happen, without it being formalised.”
Mike: “A world where music is actually valued. We all know music is really important to us, as human beings. And art, more generally. But in terms of the economics of it, the support for artists, it’s getting harder and harder. You know, you’ve got to have some money behind you, or some kind of independence.”
Discover Kontiki
Listen to more music by Kontiki on their bandcamp page and follow the band on Instagram for news of gigs and future releases.
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Words: Stephen Desmond
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