KickBoy are the chaotic “milk-punk” 5-piece from South London, brewed with influences of The B-52’s, Parquet Courts and The Garden. They invite you into their bizarre world of diverse punk flavours.

In this interview spotlight, I chat with KickBoy about their latest project, AI in music, dream collabs, and more.

The band will be touring throughout May following the EP’s release:

• 5th May – The Pipeline, Brighton, GB
• 18th May – Paper Dress Vintage, London, GB
• 23rd May – Cafe Central, Brussels, BE
• 24th May – La Griffe, Lille, FR

• 25th May – Le Riff Magnetique, Saint Malo, FR
• 26th May – Le Super 9, Tours, FR
• 28th May – Le Quartier General Oberkampf,

Full Q&A along with links and music below.

This AI thing is getting way out of control. I have students using ChatGPT to write death metal songs about country music…and country songs about being sad. You can feed some Ais a text prompt and create a Hollywood-quality short film. How do you feel about this new wave of technological innovation?

It’s brilliant but terrifying. If you think about the trajectory of development for the internet and how much that’s changed the world, then think about the trajectory of development for A.I, , A.Is developing way faster and is being universally used faster as well. It’s hard to think about what the world’s going to be like in a few years time because of it. Existential dread is the word. But also there’s some really funny creative stuff being made with it so I’ll just distract myself with that for now. For example

I’m not too worried from a creative/musician’s perspective though. People hate A.I art. And it can’t replace a kickass live performance so we’ve always got that.

I know it’s hard…but what’s your favorite song and/or favorite artist of all time? If not favorite, in your top 3?

Favourite artist is The Garden. They’re just bonkers in the music they write and I love it. There should always be more people willing to do stupid stuff. We really try to embrace that philosophy too.

Favourite song, I don’t know. You know what I’m just going to go with the Planets Suite if that’s not cheating. Chills. Classical music is dope. That shit makes you FEEL.

Were you trying to accomplish anything specific or different with this project? What’s the back story?

Make stupid music

Play stupid music

Go to some free festivals

Have fun

The original goal when I started making music back in 2018 was genuinely just go to some festivals for free, maybe start some mosh pits. We’ve done that now so we’re just in it for the vibes.

What drives you to create? What keeps you going, especially on the bad days?

If I stop creating I think I’ll just go insane. I love bringing stupid ideas to life and seeing people react to them. It doesn’t matter what the reaction is, there just needs to be one. Maybe that’s why all the music has to be different – I want to catch people off-guard. If you’re expecting 5 helpings of Vision Shakes from the EP you’re going to be in for a shock.

One thing that I love about playing live is that everyone has a different favourite song – there’s no clear winner because there’s so much variety, so it appeals to people in very different ways.

As we’ve gone on we’ve really started getting more into the live performance design as well. Like we love coming up with stupid ‘bits’ during the set to keep people on their toes – admittedly the rest of the band can be a bit reluctant for some of the more insane stuff but it always pays off.  Like we now have someone come on halfway through the set in a balaclava and gimp suit with a fuzz pedal attached to their chest, which Chris (our guitarist) plugs into: THE HUMAN FUZZ WAR. We also do a cover of the “You WOuldn’t Steal a Car” ads, do metal versions of Mariah Carey tracks every now and then. Yeah and we love an entry song as well – Classical Gas is the current favourite

I don’t know what the point of that is other than to put on a good show, so yeah I think we’re probably motivated by getting that reaction to something new.

If you could collaborate with anyone – dead or alive, famous or unknown – who would it be and why? Please plug them with a link so readers can check them out.

Moondog! The king of outsider music, he’s a legend. I bet he’d have some insane ideas and we could do some weird jazz-punk stuff.

If you haven’t heard of him look him up. He started off as a busker in New York, sometimes dressed as a viking, and eventually became well known amongst celebrities and a signed musician. It’s a mental story.

Where is the best place to stay connected with You?

@kickboytheband on instagram bebbehhhh

All our stuff goes there. We’ve got a tour in Europe coming up, our EP, some music videos, plenty to see

We’ve also just started a sort vlog thing on our youtube which is good fun so come hang there

I appreciate Your time. Want to say anything else before we sign off? 

Cheers mate! Come see us live if you live in Brighton, London, France or Belgium xxx