Come with Kongos
By John Benson
Every so often there’s a song that just cuts through the din and connects with your ears.
You may be at a party or sitting in front of your television or focused on your tablet when a certain tune with a certain vibe demands your attention.
Invariably, that describes the phenomenon associated with Kongos’ breakthrough single “Come With Me Now,” a foot-stomping, alt-rock gem built around staccato rhythms and soaring soundscapes with a mesmerizing — and highly unlikely — addictive accordion and alluring slide guitar. Not bad for a South African family band featuring four brothers all named Kongos who now live in Arizona.
“We’re always looking for something, but not necessarily to stand out for the sake of standing out,” said Kongos singer-bassist-slide guitarist Dylan, calling from a tour stop in Providence, R.I. “When we’re in the studio for months we tend to get bored with our own sound so we went looking for something else.”
What the band found for the tune was South African genre Kwaito, which Dylan said is a slowed-down version of house music boasting an African flavor. The accordion was added to create a Paul Simon vibe. As for his slide guitar sound, that’s all Robert Randolph.
“I picked up the pedal steel guitar after listening to a lot of Robert Randolph,” Dylan said. “I never heard pedal steel like that before. He blew me away, so I thought that would be cool to add that in. I bought a slide guitar even though I couldn’t play it that well. But it fit the song, and it added another element.”
Kongos is touring as an opening act for Kings of Leon. However, Kings of Leon had to cancel several shows — including Wednesday’s at Blossom — when its drummer was injured. Instead, Kongos will play a solo show Wednesday at House of Blues in Cleveland.
The Aug. 29 Kings of Leon concert, with Kongos and Young the Giant, at First Niagara Pavilion in Burgettstown, Pa., is still on the schedule.
Equally unique to the sound of the Kongos’ latest hit is the quartet’s journey to mainstream notoriety. It turns out “Come With Me Now” is from the band’s 2012 album “Lunatic,” which was an independent effort largely ignored by radio.
Dylan said the band would fly back to South Africa for sold-out shows and then return stateside touring the album without much traction. Eventually the outfit enjoyed pockets of success in Denver and Chicago. However, at that point, the Kongos were already looking to its next album.
“When it finally took off, we were almost moving on,” Dylan said. “We were starting to demo and then ‘Come With Me Now’ exploded at radio. It’s amazing, it’s a good feeling and it was a little bit of luck.”
That’s when Epic Records came sniffing around. Eventually the label signed the band and recently re-released “Lunatic.” Dylan said the band couldn’t be happier.
So now that the audiences are starting to listen to the band, the question remains where will Kongos go in the future?
“Hopefully to bigger and bigger things and better places,” Dylan said. “We’ve always had the hope of people hearing us and giving us a shot. Now we feel like no matter what we do on the next album, our music will have a shot where people listen to it. So it’s almost a different mindset going into the studio.
“We’re really excited about that. I think ‘Come With Me Now’ is one very small side of what Kongos is. We plan to take people completely in an opposite direction and go wherever we want to go when we start recording. I think people will be surprised of the new material.”