Kuato by Matt Dixon, January '11

All Photos by Chelle Wootten | CHELLEWOOTTEN.COM

We're pretty excited about a new band on the maritime scene. Kuato hail from Halifax, Nova Scotia and bring with them a wall of sound. They'll be playing the Alibi in our dear Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island on the 19th of February 2011 alongside INSTRUMENTS. You'd better believe we'll be there with bells on, and you should be there too! File them under "Bands to keep a very close eye on". The following is a brief chat I had with the band.

1. You're coming to Prince Edward Island on February the 19th to play a show at the Alibi alongside your contemporaries INSTRUMENTS. Could you firstly introduce the band and give some insight into your inspiration for playing instrumental, dare-i-say post-rock music?
We're sort of a big lumbering beast of a band. It took us two years to stand up, and now we're slowly taking our first wobbly steps into the unknown. Post-rock is such a weird term, everything after Little Richard and Elvis could be classified as Post-rock. I think we're all just interested in trying to write music that commands the attention of the listener. People listen to more music now than ever but that doesn't mean they are paying attention to it, it's just there. I like to think if someone takes the time to pay attention to our band, we'll deliver every time.

2. "I think we're all just interested in trying to write music that commands the attention of the listener." I like that, and I agree with you on the post-rock thing. That classification has always irked me. So you mentioned you're taking your first wobbly steps as a band, tell me about your immediate plans.
After we release our second EP for free online I think we're going to try and have an online campaign to raise money to release both EP's on a 12-inch vinyl. Our friend Rob MacArthur started a company called IOUmusic.com where the idea is for fans to have a direct link to the bands the love, and it makes it really easy for fans to donate money to the bands and sort of makes them part of the process. By using that site and our ever growing mailing list, I'm hoping we can drum up some interest. The old ways of the music industry just aren't working anymore, we need a new approach. People have an opportunity to become directly involved and help out the bands they believe in, and if we could even raise half the money to release a vinyl it would be a major help. We'll also probably head back out on the road in a couple of months and record some more music, but we'll start figuring that out after we get home from these shows.

3. Alright, time for the mandatory question; other than of course Total Recall what is your favourite sci-fi/thriller of recent memory?
Most recently probably District 9, it was a really fresh take on the genre. Of all time I'd probably have to say Event Horizon, that movie is terrifying. I remember seeing it when I was 11 and the scene where the dude takes out his own eyes still haunts my dreams. I watched it again a couple years ago and it still has the same effect.

Listen to Kuato:
http://kuatoband.bandcamp.com

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