It’s not often you find a top notch, stoner friendly garage band like Kid Lore in Miami’s less-than-ideal music scene. However, we here at Tropicult like to seek out the good stuff no matter how rare it may be.
Featuring brothers Adam Tahoun (guitar and vocals) and Daniel Tahoun (drums) along with bassist Jorge Mogna, these musicians stayed true to their path from the beginning. The Tahoun brothers even attended a Miami branch of the famous School of Rock, an organization that teaches kids how to play rock instruments and start bands.
The members of Kid Lore used all the resources they could find in a town like Miami, to make their band great. Now, they’ve come a long way to headlining at New York’s The Bowery Electric, Will Call Miami, Churchill’s Pub, and the Granary.
The rough and tumble sound Kid Lore has mastered is like sloppy punk rock spray paint in an abandoned blues joint. Each song is harsh and interesting, pointing to influences on polar ends of the dissonance/harmony spectrum. The lyrics are pure rock and roll, and guitars scream along perfectly with every driving beat.
The band first went public with the help of respected cassette-based record label, Cheap Miami – so it’s only fitting that the label will release their first EP, For Those Who Can’t Dance, on November 22 along with its digital release on iTunes, Spotify, and Bandcamp. For Those… is a bold first statement for the group who travelled to New York and recorded at the popular DIY studio Mama Coco’s Funky Kitchen.
As an introduction to the world this is a pretty ideal one: the quality is perfect for a band such as Kid Lore, the songs are well crafted, and the production of Oliver Ignatius creates a fine sonic polish.
FIRST LISTEN “AM I GONNA GET THE DOTS”
Tropicult spoke to Adam Tahoun about the band’s history, the recording of their first EP, and what comes next.
How did you start playing such rocking music in a town like Miami, known for dance and electronic?
I started playing guitar in the 9th grade to impress a girl in my class who liked Kings of Leon and it just kind of took off from there. My little brother Daniel plays drums in Kid Lore, and it’s easy to start a band when you share a house with the other member. We played in an after school program called School of Rock, which pairs up kids to start cover bands and eventually play a show at a bar or venue. It lasted about a year or so but it really instilled in us at a young age how great it is to be in a band.
On the topic of playing indie rock in Miami, I think it is harder to make it here than other cities. There’s a very mixed demographic and rock music in general takes a back seat to other genres like EDM, Rap, and Latin Music. Miami’s geographic location also makes it hard. It takes a whole day just to get out of this state so touring is tough unless you’re going to pay out of pocket or you have the finances. I do believe, however, that the scene is growing and that we have some really talented bands.
What inspired you to go up North and work at Mama Coco’s?
We wanted to leave Miami to record this EP so we could really focus on it and we were able to coincide with a gig at The Bowery Electric. The idea was to go to a different city like Nashville or New York and just dedicate the whole day to recording these songs. I also thought if we did it in another city where there was a limit on how much time we had to record we wouldn’t procrastinate.
My sister lives in Brooklyn, so we had a place to stay for free and Mama Coco’s came highly recommended by a local NY band we are friends with. I also think the experience brought the band even closer. It was the first time we travelled together plus we all had to cram in a tiny studio apartment in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. By the end of it we didn’t completely hate each other which is a great sign that this band has a chance of lasting.
What effect did recording in Mama Coco’s have on the new music, if any?
This was our first time recording in a professional studio so there were a lot of effects on the process. Our producer, Oliver Ignatius, was brilliant at coming up with cool harmonies which Jorge did sporadically in the EP. Mama Coco’s is a really warm place with vibrant colors, which was a nice contrast to the grungy aesthetic we have. I also think Oliver added a little bit of a psychedelic vibe to the songs that we would have never ventured to.
Who are some of your musical or artistic inspirations in general?
Arctic Monkeys are a big influence on our sound. I really like Alex Turner’s lyrics and how he can paint a story in his songs. Queens of the Stone Age is another band that we listen to a lot. I like how hard they hit with just a few power chords and distortion. That’s something we definitely tried to emulate with songs like Am I Gonna Get the Dots? or I Wanna Go (But Only If You Wanna Go).
How did your partnership with Cheap Miami Records come about?
Cheap Miami actually booked our first show before we even had a song out. Patrick Garcia (Co-founder of Cheap Miami) was a fan of our sound so when we finished this EP we sent it to him. He was really into the songs and agreed to put it out as a tape.
What are your plans for the future of Kid Lore?
Well, this EP is really the first serious thing we are putting out so it’s hard to say what the future has in store. We hope it is received well and that we can reach a wider audience outside of Miami. We’ve only played a handful of shows so we are definitely looking forward to playing more here.
We teamed up with the folks at Gummdrops to throw an awesome release party for the EP at Sidebar, November 28th. Right now both Daniel and I are still in school so we’re planning on going on a small tour this summer. We also want to put out more music ourselves until we can hopefully catch a label’s interest.
We have worked really hard to get to this point and it took a couple years to make it all happen, but it really does feel like the beginning…
UPCOMING EVENT
