Exclusive: Ones to Watch Right Now- The Kumari Band

Having notched up 5 critically acclaimed singles under their belts already and possessing a jangling garage/blues/psych sound, The Kumari have been regarded as one to watch within London’s fledging live music scene for a while now. Described by the fuzz guitar music lover’s bible Shindig Magazine as having “uncovered sparkle and promise”…and “a little menacing and a little enticing in equal measure”by Artrocker Magazine. Not to mention “a band to keep close tabs on, they have some major jangle yet to share” – The Knights Of Fuzz.

The band have already shared a stage with U.K festival favourites Temples, The Moons, The Voyeurs, Lola Colt, The Shivas and Dead Ghosts. With all of the major milestones and critical acclaim they have received, we thought we would find out if these rumours where true, and caught up with the lead singer Claude Pelletier to give us the lowdown on their upcoming shows in the legendary and now reopened indie gig pub Nambucca (which closed it’s doors last year due to a fire, but was reopened thanks to public rallying), and Paris following on from their recent album release in July 22nd of A-Side single ‘Abyss//Space Witch on SoundFlat records.

TP: Your name Kumari is derived from the Sanskrit Kaumarya, meaning “princess” or ”Living Princess.” What was the inspiration for this?

CP: Claude- well my godmother was called Kumari and was Hindu.. She passed away when I was 8. It was a sad time as she was a big part of my life. My godfather used to tell me that Kumari means princess in Hindu. I always had that name stored for a band name..

TP: Woah that’s so nice. I didn’t realise that it had such deep emotional ties. On a lighter note you recently played Leeds With ‘Sundays & Cybele’ (Japan) at Chunk and Crash Festival. Do you have more gigs coming up in the UK this year?

CP: Claude. Yes Leeds was a fun show. Sunday’s & Cybele are a great band! Proper psych!! Yes we have Nambucca London 3 October. Shacklewell London 16th October with our pals Dream Herbs and put on by Sweet but deadly promotions.

TP: What about plans for a Europe tour?

CP: yes. We are planning as we speak a show in Paris put on by our other French label Alex at Croque Macadame and a few more dates around Europe. We love playing abroad! They treat you well!

TP: What’s your sound influences for this?

CP: I think we all share a love for raw heavy music with melody..
We are messing around with a lot of new pedals and guitars and the sound I guess just comes naturally when we play together…

When are you due to release your next album?

CP: Hopefully by December… We’ve got a bunch of new songs and kind of refreshing our sound as our last records were strictly a generic style of a mix of early 60’s to late 60’s sound. Where as now we are hopefully taking it further. It’s a lot heavier..
We have a studio we share with Dream herbs so I think we are going to be recording in there with Ben from Dream Herbs producing it.

Thanks for chatting to us Claude!

CP: You can catch Kumari’s next show at Nambucca on Monday October the 3rd see event here.

Words by Natalie Wardle.