“Striped came naturally, because over the course of the album, we found the theme of balance, of Yin and Yang... It's our most varied album and probably our most balanced,” said Ko Ko Mo singer and guitarist Warren Mutton of their new album Striped, released today, Friday October 25.
The Rock ascension of Ko Ko Mo
Founded in 2012 by Warren Mutton (guitarist and vocalist) and Kevin “K20” Grosmolard,
the psychedelic rock duo released their first self-produced project, Stole My Soul, in 2014, which was already receiving good reviews. However, it's in 2017 with their debut studio album, Technicolor Life, that they really make their mark. The release and enthusiastic reception of this album turns their national tour into an international one, taking them as far afield as Japan, China and Australia. Two more albums followed: Lemon Twins in 2019, then Need Some Mo' in 2022, which inaugurates their collaboration with the PIAS label. The Nantes-based duo draw their influences from a variety of registers: rock and blues for one, electro and hip-hop for the other. They combine almost vintage hard rock guitar riffs with a resolutely modern groove.
Striped : Musical renewal and sonic exploration
But the band didn't stop there, as we can now discover Striped, the band's fourth album and second release via PIAS. On it, Mutton explores themes of balance and opposition, inspired by the concept of Yin and Yang, which are felt as much in the lyrics as in the overall sound. The album features a wide variety of tracks and moods, yet all find an unexpected harmony. There are more energetic tracks like All The Way, contrasting with softer ones like Wheels Of Fire, and a rock-electro mix where Double Vision rubs shoulders with a calm Don’t Let Me Go.
The album takes on an air of experimentation, driven by a strong desire for renewal and evolution. It even includes The Wise, an interlude tinged with traditional Indian sounds, perhaps a nod to the band's live experience in India a few years ago.
The first single, Zebra, is reminiscent of Ko Ko Mo's signature style, but the rest of the album explores new horizons and diverse sounds. Beyond the modernized vintage rock to which the band has accustomed us, the album launches into a mix of genres and offers us a dose of renewal. There's also a more pronounced electro presence than on previous releases.
Ko Ko Mo's signature sound is still there, to the delight of die-hard fans, while the album's creative additions and risks could attract new listeners. The mix of styles and sounds reflects current trends in the music industry.
And, as always, the band will deliver an exceptional live performance, visually and musically striking. With Striped, Ko Ko Mo seem to be embarking on an important turning point in their career: a project that is different, daring, but always faithful to their sound identity.
Listen to Striped now [here] or preorder your physical copy [here]. And catch them live at the end of 2024 and beginning of 2025, with a sold-out show in Nantes, an almost sould-out show at the Olympia, and other concerts that are set to sell out very soon!
Finally, after this appetizer, it's time for our exclusive interview with Warren and K20, with whom we had the honor of chatting.
Interview with Warren Mutton & K20
We're here today to talk about your album 'Striped'. So, first of all, why this name? How did you choose it?
W - Well, 'Stripped' came naturally, because as the album progressed, we came up with the theme of Yin Yang, black and white... In terms of balance, in fact. It's true that the tracks are very different; we've never had such a varied album. We think it's more balanced than the others. And then 'Stripped' also refers to a line from the song Zebra, which is the first single we released, which is “I'm wearing stripes, But free as the wind”. It came naturally.
In fact, it was with this title that you opened this new era. Why did you choose this one? Was it because the phrase echoed the title of the album?
W - Not necessarily, but it was just Ko Ko Mo, I think. It was a good track to get together with, because it still sounds Ko Ko Mo. And then, maybe, it left more room for revealing things that were a little more original. And a little more different styles too.
K - And we're not the only ones to choose the first single. You see, we also trust our friends and the production team, and all that. And we all agreed, of course, that it was the most “Ko Ko Mo-esque” track, and that it was more about bringing people in. It was just us for a little while, and then the surprises came, including 'Bottle for Two'.
Your discography is full of very diverse influences; did you have any particular ones for this album?
K - Well, no, it's always Warren who composes. I think there are indirect inspirations, but not for creating records.
W - No, no, there may be things that will transpire from so-and-so depending on the songs or melodies. But for us, above all, we tried to do Ko Ko Mo on this album, and above all to take more personal standpoints. So, if we feel like doing something completely electro or completely folk, we'll do it.
And you juggle a lot with styles. You go where you like. There's a lot of mixing of styles these days, as recently with Bring Me The Horizon and Aurora. Is there an artist from a completely different genre you'd like to work with?
W - Yeah, I don't think there's just one.
K - Of a different style, there's Thom York already. I'd love it if one day we could write an album together. Why wouldn't we? Yeah, there are lots of artists we're thinking about, aren't there?
W - But yeah, completely different... Yeah, I think you hit the nail on the head with Thom York, who's really funny because he's got an incredible musical culture. If only to be able to discuss his artistic vision a little bit, because in my opinion he's really got something that's his own, and he's completely free.
What message would you like to get across with this album?
W - A message, I don't know…
K - There are never too many messages in the creation of our albums in general.
W - No, no, we just think 'If they like it, that's cool'. It's as silly as that, but that's what we hope for anyway.
What about the creative process?
K - Well, it's Warren who comes up with the basic compositions, and the lyrics too, for that matter.
W - And for this album, we were lucky enough to have four people in the studio with two people who accompany us on tour: Loris Marzotto and Johann Goulais, who are both sound engineers. Loris mixed our previous album. And they gave us a lot of support in following through on our ideas, the choices we wanted to make, and technically too. So it was a four-way adventure.
Is there anything you would have done differently if you'd had more time, more means...?
W - Well, that... The more time you have, the more you change things. But after a while, it's...
K - It's never-ending.
W - You have to accept that the adventure is over, and an album is frozen in time anyway.
K - But the truth is, for any given track on the album, there's a moment when the four of us said “yeah, this is where we wanted to go”. We could have gone even further, but the four of us were already satisfied. And that's great. When you think you've got the V1, V12, V-thing... You've got fewer and fewer words to put in, fewer and fewer notes, you say to yourself “well, now we've reached the end of what we wanted”.
W - Well, the great thing is that we went to a great studio not far from Saint-Brieuc called WM Studio, which is just starting out but is incredible. It took them 10 years of their lives to create this magical place, and architecturally speaking, it's pretty crazy. You can sleep in the studio; there's even a mezzanine next to the piano, it's completely crazy. And for us, it's a great memory, so we're hoping there'll be a little bit of the soul of that session in there, which was really great. Even if people weren't there, for us it's still a great memory, and that's already great.
Do you have a studio anecdote to tell us?
K - There are lots of them.
W - The people who run the studio are Wilfried and Melinda. They're a couple, and they have a friend who often comes into the studio. In fact, he's a guy who lives next door and used to play guitar for people like Bashung. He's a great guitarist. And he's crazy about vintage gear. I'm not much of a gear nut myself, but working with him was really exciting. And at one point in the studio, he saw that I only played on Gibson SGs, and he brought back a standard SG 67, which is one of my favorite models, and he left it on display in the studio, you know, for a week, and then... I bought him his Gibson! He told me he wanted to sell it, but then it was a pain because we had to redo a lot of takes because it went much better with this one. [laughs]
There are often tracks that don't appear on the final version of the album, but is there one you would have liked to have seen on the final setlist?
K - Well, I guess not. We're lucky enough to work with PIAS, which is the best record company in the world for us. So we have the choice of masters; as we say, we have the choice of our creation. So no. There may be passages that we've removed and so on, but not necessarily tracks. So all the tracks we wanted are on the record. There may be some lengths that we changed because there's a time limit on each side.
W - It's a bit of a constraint.
K - That's just it. But otherwise, no, there's no frustration there.
Was there any trouble in the studio?
K - I wouldn't say trouble. There was fatigue, which played a part, but we've known each other for a long time. It's also good to be with people other than the two of us. It's true that in the way we do things, it's like being part of a family, quite frankly. There was no tension, there were disagreements, yes, and that's where being four, it's three against one, so they win. And it's not that the other lost, it's just the way it is. That's how I saw it. So there was no tension, but at times it was not easy psychologically, because we had composed these songs and it's not easy to change everything.
W - It's true that it made for good days. In fact, we had two times two weeks. It sounds like a long time, but you need almost one track a day to be able to mix it. Then we were locked up like lions in a cage for days on end, so after a while.... It was more to do with that.
K - Then we managed to find a cruising rhythm, as they say, where the drums were done in the morning and the guitar was put on in the evening, which was cool. The four of us rehearsed this routine a bit. Anyway, there's a whole process that takes place, and since we all love each other, it wasn't that complicated.
W - We didn't have too much trouble communicating, actually.
So it was a good atmosphere in the studio.
K - Yes !
W - Yes !
Do you have a favorite track?
W - That's a good question.
K - Well, you see, we get the vinyl at home, we listen to it once and then we don't listen to it again, usually. Unless our kids ask us to put it on. But I really like 'Dancing Alone'. It's a song I could listen to like that and think it's not us. I'm a big fan of 'Don't Let Me Go'. There's a lot of good stuff on there.
W - I don't know what to say because I think it's too fresh, actually. But compared to the previous album where now I clearly can't listen to it anymore except for one track that still plays... It's the worst promo I've ever done, but that's okay.
[laughs]
No, no, on this one, I think we're all really proud. In any case, this is the album where we went as far as we could. So I hope we'll do it again, and that we'll double our efforts for the next one.
And you're off on tour soon. Which song are you most looking forward to play live?
K - We're right in the middle of it. Last week was our first residency, in the studio. It's the first time we've been in a residency, in fact, to prepare for Live, in a studio. We'll do it in venues later, but right now we're working on it; there are some tracks that clearly won't be live because they can't be adapted as there are only two of us on stage. Right now, we're preparing, changing the structures, changing the arrangements of the songs, and we're going to play the future album live. We like all the songs we play, because they're all new to us and it's good to play new songs.
W - We know which one we're going to start with. And then I think it's this one in particular...
K - We love them all. I mean, I don't like one more than the other.
I have the impression that the first two titles have been very well received. How do you feel about this reception from your fans? Do you feel that they're waiting for what's next?
W - We're not in their shoes, but they're so cute. They're into it and we're hugging them. But after that, I don't know.
K - There are some songs they might miss live, yeah.
W - Maybe, yeah, but not us!
[laughs]
K - But they're going to discover other things. This is our 4th album, it's the 2nd for a lot of people, but for us, it's the 4th. We don't really want to move on, because we're still Ko Ko Mo and we respect everything we've done before, but rather to take a step forward and say “OK, we're not doing this anymore”. We've been doing this for 10 years, and there are some songs, like covers, that we won't be doing live for the time being. The aim is to let people discover new songs live. I remember seeing Massive Attack once, when the album came out after the Live show. And you don't know anything about half the set, but you enjoy it anyway. And then you remember the live show when you listen to the album. In this case, it's the opposite: we're releasing the album beforehand, so people will have time to play it on repeat before coming to see us on stage. They'll be singing the lyrics by heart! [laughs] But yeah, we're curious to let them discover new songs live.
These days, we're doing more and more promotion via the networks. Do you think that's a good thing or a bad thing?
W - That's a good question. I think you need both. Because it's got a nice freedom. But you can't do just that, you can't get too bogged down in that. I think we're still musicians first and foremost, and I think that in this day and age we're asked to do a lot of things ourselves, to do several jobs. I know friends who are graphic designers, musicians... they do everything from A to Z, and after a year, you burn out. You can't be as focused on your art if you're so multi-hatted, but it's still great.
K - It's a bit of an art of war. When it comes to promotion, you just can't pass it up. I admit that sometimes I'd like to go back to the flyer and poster side of things, which is part of me. No network. And to do things the old-fashioned way. That's why we're very attached to records, vinyl and other physical stuffs. We also have a public that follows us a lot, and we realize that we sell quite a lot. We're less Stream than physical albums. In rock, I think that's often the case. But we need the networks.
W - It's a way of getting closer to the people who listen to you, which is great. But it's true that the strength of rock, but at the same time the constraint for us, is that it's an audience of all ages, so you have to be everywhere, you have to be on every medium, whether it's social networks or even CDs, you have to make CDs, vinyls and be on streaming platforms. So yeah, you have to be everywhere. I think that's really specific to rock.
And do you have a message for your fans?
K - We can't thank them enough, but they've been too benevolent in the good and bad times we've had. They're on top of things. We always get the nicest comments. And it's thanks to them that we're able to move forward and their ideas, their joys... When they cry in front of us, well you see, there are emotions going on, and we...
W - We cry with them.
K - We cry with them! We experienced that at La Cigale. Well, at lots of shows too of course, but at La Cigale it was really the show for us last year that was strong. We realized something, and that's that there's this sympathy and benevolence towards them, and they return it to us very well. And then we got up on stage and almost cried five or six times during the concert. There's something going on with them. It's great. But we're doing it for them. For us too, but mostly for them.
W - Hopefully, we'll honor them even more on the next tour. Anyway, yeah.
Do you have anything to add?
W - See you at the Olympia!
K - December 7! And we can't wait to show them the album, and hope they'll stick with us for as long as possible!
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