MIDAS Band Profile

What have Kobi been up to in the past year?

In the past year Kobi have been busy building on our fan base by doing showcase gigs all over the North of Scotland, we've supported acts such as The Grim Northern Social, MASS, The Vaults and RAAR and have done performances for Channel 4's Ideasfactory and AUBL.net.

How do you feel you have developed as a band in that time in terms of your sound and approach to promoting yourselves?

When Kobi first came together the band was more of a straight indie rock band but different members taste in music began to shine through as we got to know each other.

Which adds to the diversity of our music, many people have said that is what makes our performances interesting and fresh.
We have learned a lot about promoting ourselves from the support we recieved early on from established promoters and musicians within the North of Scotland and it helps us to learn how to use the media and internet to promote ourselves.

You seem to gig heavily in the Highlands - any plans to look further afield to try and build a fanbase outwith the area?

We have began to expand further into other parts of Scotland, already this year we played at sold out Lemon Tree in support of one of Aberdeen's biggest bands Girl Said No. We have had some interests from promoters and venues in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Dundee and will be returning to Aberdeen in the
next few months.

How do you feel about the Highland music scene - do you feel at a disadvantage being so far from the "industry"?

The Highlands music scene seems to us to be in better condition than it has in years with so many quality bands appearing
and not just playing covers but working on their own music.
Also with websites such as www.hubl.co.uk there seems to be a place online for music fans and musicians to come together
and find out about the bands in the area and when are gigs are etc.

Have you made any recordings to date, if so when, where how many tracks, did you release it in any way?

We spent the last few days recording some new material, which we plan on putting out officially within the next few months.
We've given you 5 copies of a 3 track promo CD which was taken from these sessions and made up for the MIDAS site to give away, its pretty much an exclusive. We should have an official CD that will be available at gigs and from various outlets out within the next few weeks.

Movin on, you seem to be very proactive in terms of promoting yourselves, have you got any tips for other bands on how to get your name and music recognised.

Best advice I can offer is to make sure your gigs are well advertised, get in contact with the local press, make posters and flyers up. Also when you are building your name chase gigs, dont sit at home and expect venues and promoters to contact you first they wont!

Sites like MIDAS and HUBL are also good for finding out more about venues and promoters within the highlands.

You have been involved in the promotion of a number of gigs (pavillion, HUBL) how easy and effective is it to do this and what advice would you give bands who are new to this.

The events we have been involved in and are still involved in promoting where done because we believe in the cause behind it, it was our idea to do the first HUBL event to help raise funds for the site and then the idea spurned into using the money to put together a sampler CD for the HUBL CD that will help promote the talent we have here in the highlands all over Scotland and hopefully some more of the UK as well.

The Pavilion was in its day "the" venue in the Highlands and after speaking with members Management Group behind the current restoration of the pavilion we where willing to do a event to help raise the funds needed as once open again the Pavilion could easily be The Lemon Tree of the highlands.

As far as promoting gigs they are not always easy and can be stressful but it is another worth while way of gaining exposure, our advice to any bands looking to get gigs is to get out there and do it, even if you set up a gig in a small pub and make up some flyers and advertise it can help get you gigging experience and get your name around your local area.

In terms of your sound, who are your inspirations and how have ther affected you music?

Our sound is a concoction of rock`n`roll, jazz and funk mixed up into a fresh sonic landscape. This again is drawn from the different influences that we each bring to the band.

Songwriting - is this a group effort (jamming) or do you have a core songwriter?

When Kobi came together Gary was the core songwriter and while he still handles all the lyrics and more often not sets down the final arrangement, after the songs are worked up by jamming on them and the band bringing ideas to them. Stevie and myself have started to bring ideas to the group which adds to the diversity of Kobi due to our different influences.

What are your ambitions as Kobi - do you want to get signed and do things full time?

Our ambition is to be able to work on Kobi full-time as we love making music, however we would rather work with a credible Indie label than one of the majors.

If so, are there any particular labels or people you would like to work with?

We are talking with a few indie labels at the moment so I cant really give any details of that, however there is a London based producer called Leila Arab (http://www.leilamusic.co.uk/ ) that we would love to work with.

What are the members of the band's favourite albums?

This is a hard one to answer, so we've really just put down a few of the albums that we are each listening to at the moment.

Gary - Pink Floyd - Dark Side Of The Moon, Joe Satriani -Flyin In A Blue Dream.
Dave - Feeder - Echo Park, The Stereophonics - Performance & Cocktails.
Stevie - Foo Fighters - Breakout & Thin Lizzy - Jailbreak.
Steve - The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Electric Ladyland, Massive Attack - Protection.

What can we expect from Kobi over the coming year?

Kobi have decided to step up the pace, we are working hard but we have decided to start working more in the south of Scotland and also to get involved in some gigs in England over the next year.