Discover up and coming artists in 10 questions…

From Springfield, Missouri here’s… KUDZU

KUDZU is a steamy two-piece engine. Mark Gillenwaters (vocals and guitar) and Seth Goodwin (vocals, synth, and drum programming) produce hectic-synths-punk-firework
that is both mind-blowing and sticky as top glue. The duo just released their new album DEFEATED. A fulminating 9-track fireball of electronic pandemonium. Thrashy, resounding and head-twisting. A couple of dreamy, reflective songs give you here and there time to reload your batteries and dive in again. An overall cutting achievement. Enough reasons
to have a chat. Let’s start the acquaintance with Turn Up The Volume‘s favorite smack on the LP. Fasten your seatbelts ’cause here comes ‘Burn Yourself‘…

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Hello Kudzu, welcome at Turn Up The Volume!…

1 / What’s the band’s name about?
“It’s an Asian vine that is invasive to the United States’ south. It was sold as a way to stop soil erosion, but it grows really fast and climbs houses, trees, shrubs, anything and kills any plants by shading them. It’s pretty shitty in the states but also it looks cool written down and we like short snappy names for things.”

2/ When did you know: ‘this is how we want to sound,
this is what we want to tell the world’?
“It was a process of trying a lot of different things and settling on something that felt true as our voice. We settled into post punk and synth pop and for inspiration for lyrics from personal experience.”

3/ Brand new, explosive album is titled ‘DEFEATED’. Who’s the beaten party?
“It’s probably us, or everybody. We tossed a few different ideas around that I can’t remember but ‘Defeated’ so perfectly describes the vibe we got from touring the
States in 2017. Everyone was in kind of a daze after the election and it was strange
seeing different communities deal with the consequences of having a reality tv star
for president.”

“America: you’re defeated”…

4/ Which song would you pick as your signature track so far?
“‘No Backbone‘. It was one of the first songs we wrote and kinda set
the pace for all the others.”

https://soundcloud.com/kudzu-kudzu/no-backbone
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5/ If KUDZU was a politician who would it be and why?
“Probably Stubbs the Cat aka ‘Mayor of Talkeetna, Alaska‘.”

6/ What movie would you pick to visualize the new album
on a big screen on stage when playing a show?
“I’ve been meaning to rewatch Pink Flamingos so I’d have to go with that.
The only downside is we wouldn’t be able to hear all the fantastic writing.”

7/ Whether The Simpsons live in your hometown – Springfield, Missouri – or not,
tell us who your favorite character is in the series.
“I think Matt Groening based Springfield off of a town in Oregon but I totally thought it was the same place as growing up. I’ll go for Lionel Hutz and Troy McClure. Phil Hartman really made both of those characters hilarious and it doesn’t hurt that the show had some of its best writers when he was on the show.”

Attorney at law Lionel Hutz delighted with Kudzu’s love”

8/ Your number one artist/band to do a world tour with?
“Hannibal Buress.”

9/ If you could go back in time on which artist’s front door
would you knock and ask to have a selfie together?
“Arthur Brown, seems like he’d take a good selfie.”

Arthur’s on fire…

10/ Future plans for the band?
“A music video for ‘No Backbone‘ is in the works and a slew of
shows/small tours. Maybe we’ll finish another album soon too…”

Thanks for the chat guys.
May the road rise with KUDZU…

DEFEATED in full right here…

Album available on Bandcamp

KUDZU: Facebook – Instagram – Twitter

(promo photo on top received via band)