“We started this band with an intent behind the sonic output,” says vocalist, guitarist and producer Nick Herrera. “We had a vision for what we wanted to try and make and we built a band around making that a reality. [The vision is] tonal mastery: bands like Portishead and Radiohead; bands that use tone with precision; that use vintage tone that never gets old; bands that use that timeless sound and turn it on its head and do something that you have never heard done before. It’s using agreeable and accessible tones that can draw the listener in and create a sense of nostalgia while hearing something completely fresh at the same time.”
Kalacoma’s commitment to realising this artistic vision has driven them to engineer and mix all their own recordings. “When my first band at high school got a record done it was recorded at some shitty studio, it was embarrassingly bad and I was sure we were not that shit, so I started recording my band back in high school and got alright at it,” Herrera explains. “I started getting work, so for the last eight years or so I’ve been doing recordings for lots of bands. I started recording and producing bands, and by doing other bands it got me really good at doing my own band.”
One of the most impressive aspects of Kalacoma’s sound are Herrera’s haunting vocals, which he is capable of nailing in a live setting. “I’ve been singing for quite some time,” Herrera says. “I practice a lot and we rehearse a lot so we make sure we can get our style and our technicality down. I use live effects, so I have a whole pedal board on my voice. Instead of relying on the sound guy to put a bit of reverb here or a bit of delay there, I do it myself and I use those delays and reverbs as part of the music, as part of my instrument.”
Kalacoma’s distinctive sound is matched by the arresting visuals they conjure in their creative and left-field video clips. The mysterious and deeply evocative clip for Waves is nothing short of mind-bending. It cleverly implies a rich back-story while revealing little. Discussing the video-making process, Herrera says, “We make them all ourselves – our keyboardist [Alan Erpi] does that. He’s the man with the skills. We come up with a foundation and then just go for it. We try and break some minds. The key vision is basically just to impress people. We are a new band and no one really knows who we are, so our main intent is to grab attention.”
For those of you considering whether to check out the band’s upcoming launch at the Evelyn Hotel, Herrera provides the following appetite-whetting description of what’s in store for the audience. “This time around it’s going to be pretty special,” he explains. “We’re going to be completely transforming the Evelyn. We’ve got an impressive light show that we’ll be putting on. Our music is going to definitely take you on a journey. It’s going to be the most intense musical experience we can possibly conjure up and I’m certain that I have never seen any local act do something like we are about to do.”
BY GRAHAM BLACKLEY
