Behind The Lens: Koyal

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If your music were a flavor, what would it taste like and why?

Our newest song, bummer song would be like a nice savory bowl of mac and cheese right out of the oven, with red pepper flakes on top. It’s warm and wholesome with a little bit of humor and spice thrown on top.

What's a quirky ritual you have before hitting the stage?

We love to surround each other with our arms in the wings and hype ourselves up. Our drummer gives little impromptu pep talks about how we’re gonna go out there and kill it. And then we do ;)

What’s one social issue that you’re passionate about addressing through your platform?

In a few songs off of our upcoming album, we let out frustration and distaste for the corporate world, its greed, and the strangle hold it has on many people in the US. The last song half alive on our upcoming album breathe in. breathe out explores the drain of a tech job, and how it prevented us from being creative. A false promise of fulfillment from corporations leads many down a dark and lonely path where they forget their dreams, lose community, and cast themselves aside. We hope our album inspires others to make that gut decision to quit the grind and to pursue a life of adventure and color.

If you could time travel to any music era, which would it be and why?

We’d be all about the late '70s. That era had this warm, glowing energy—everyone was dancing, the vibe was high, and you had icons like Chic, Donna Summer, and Sister Sledge. But also, artists like Shuggie Otis were blending funk with this dreamy warmth too. We love to try to emulate both the energy and the warmth in our music :) The late '70s had a real sense of freedom and togetherness, a vibe we’d love to bring into our sound.

What’s the weirdest thing you've ever written a lyric about?

You know that horrible, sinking feeling when you step on a puddle in your kitchen and your socks get wet? Then your feet get cold and take a while to warm back up even after you put a new pair on? We have a lyric in “bummer song” explicitly about that terrible phenomenon and other various top bummers.

Do you believe in manifesting your goals, and if so, what’s something you've manifested recently?

After a big project, we have envisioning exercises where we put up big questions on the wall like "where is Koyal in 5 years?” and “why are we doing this?” These help us align our actions in little ways with the huge goals we have. The first time we did an exercise like this, our goals were to sell out a 100 person venue, put out 1 new song and maybe plan a small tour. 9 months later, we had sold out a 300 person venue, made 2 of our best songs ever, and went on a 12 date tour up the east coast hitting World Cafe Live in Philadelphia, three shows in New York City, and more! Manifesting brought us to LA and will propel us to success here.

If your life was a movie, what would the soundtrack be like?

Songs In The Key Of Life by Stevie Wonder. Ez

What song from another genre do you secretly wish you had written?

Affirmation Song by Snoop Dog

How does your music help people see the world differently?

After you listen to Thank You Dakota, you can’t help but have an incredible level of respect for Taco Bell employees. They are located far and wide and do the greatest service to our nation- feeding hungry Henry.

If you could have one superpower to enhance your artistry, what would it be?

We would be able to remember all the dreams we have! Some of our best songs have come from our dreams, and we hate to think about all the ones that have gotten away when we wake up and forget. Though, recognizing that everything we need is already within our heads is kinda inspiring…

What's one thing you want for the holidays and where can people connect with you?

We would love for people to watch our music video for “bummer song” and see if they relate with any of the top bummers we go through in the video. It’s a very funny video and was even more fun to make :)

We also filmed in algae bloom water for the lake shots. The park rangers told us it was fine to shoot the video, but to try our best not to fall into the water. You’ll have to watch the video to find out if we did…

Connect with us on IG @koyal.official, Koyal on streaming services, Tiktok @koyal.band or on our website www.koyal.band!