Kinobe :' The Rock & Roll Lifestyle is Eluding us So Far'(interview)

West London duo Mark 'Blackie' Blackburn and Julius Walters, aka Kinobe, are rapidly finding themselves in the category marked Moby, having a superb 'grower' album under the belt (Soundphiles) as well as the soundtrack for the latest Kronenburg lager advert ('Slip Into Something'). "The Moby example is interesting because that album (Play) was released for a couple of years before it took off," Blackie told Mezz this week. "The record company thought it was finished until suddenly they'd sold 60,000 records and we'd be well chuffed (happy) if the same thing happened to us."

Mezz: The two of you signed a major label deal just 4 months after recording your first demos, did you find making music together instantly easy-
Kinobe: "We formed in 1998, after Julius had returned from Australia and started talking about making some tunes. I was unaware of how to go about it, but didn't realise he was as well. We worked it out together, he bought a sampler and a computer, I turned up with a load of records and early on, we decided to blend real instruments with the sample elements. It grew steadily from there - we recorded 12 tunes very rapidly at home, produced a CD and sent it out to labels."

Mezz: Did you really find instant acceptance from record labels-
Kinobe: 'Luckily for is, we did, we were joking at the beginning, saying 'Yeah, we're going to make money out of this', not realizing the world is full of home studio 'boffs' (boffins/ nerds). We rapidly met loads of people just like us, which was encouraging, apart from the fact that a lot of them had been making music for a long time, without success."

Mezz: You've already been compared to Portishead, Massive Attack and Groove Armada, how do you feel about such references-
Kinobe: "I didn't know anything about Groove Armada when we started but I'd listened to the other bands for years and I remember Julius telling me he wanted to find that kind of vibe. We ended up going out and buying loads of cheap records in charity shops and sampled some beautiful pieces of easy listening and orchestral stuff that other people hadn't used at that point."

Mezz: Did you grow up in West London-
Kinobe: "Both of us grew up in Mortlake, in South West London and went to the same school - we've known each other since we were six. His family moved to Australia when he was 13 and he came back in 1997. I've never had a settled 9 to 5 job, I worked with a company doing light and club installations when I was at university, and also did odd jobs for a wine company. When Julian came back I was right in the middle of that but once the music took off, I switched."

Mezz: How did you land the Kronenburg lager advert-
Kinobe: "We were told by the publishing company that the production company making the advert had heard the track on a Q Magazine 'Best Of Chillout' compilation on the front of the magazine. He sourced it from there and it's been really handy for us. It's lovely having people exposed to the track without knowing it rather than being promoted as our tune. It's there in peoples' living rooms, which is a nice way to invade peoples' houses."

Mezz: Did you go through a big raving period in the 90s-
Kinobe: "Yeah, I did, when Julius was away I was going to free parties, such as Spiral Tribe dos. I've got such fond memories of those free parties and their vibe. I don't know if they've influenced my music directly but they certainly made me want to get involved in music."

Mezz: You both appear on the album artwork, are you starting to get recognised on the street-
Kinobe: "No, absolutely not. My friends all take the piss out of me, but luckily nobody's recognised me yet. The rock & roll lifestyle is eluding us so far. We're getting asked to DJ more and we've been invited to tour with the Big Chill in Australia, in March."
Jonty Adderley
SoundPhiles is out now on Pepper Records/Zomba
http://www.zomba.co. Tags

• Knobe