"This event was made possible by Jack Trueax, their sound technician and tour manager, who facilitated our communication with the band and assisted in compiling their answers; and Trevor, aka CATZ, a member of our server who kindly shared the server with Jack in the first place. We'd also like to express our immense gratitude to their sound engineer Kyle Smith and the rest of the band for generously taking the time to answer our questions, as well as for their continuous involvement with, acknowledgment, and support of the community. We seriously can't thank y'all enough, it was a dream come true."
Written, compiled and formatted by @starfunkbonnibel over on rateyourmusic.com! All credit goes to her - this post is simply meant to facilitate reading and sharing.
Join the Kiltro server here:
https://discord.gg/M67HjF9C9V
The following is a transcript of a Q&A session with the band hosted on our Discord server, around July 28th, 2023. With the exception of certain typos and emojis, the questions and answers remain intact. Enjoy!
Introduction
Kiltro is an indie latin folk rock project created by Chilean-American musician Chris Bowers Castillo while working as a walking tour guide in Valparaíso, a formerly prosperous port city northwest of Santiago, Chile. After the opening of the Panama Canal, the city transformed into an elusive haven of bohemians and stray dogs - or "quiltros", Chilean slang for "mutt". Inspired by the liminal nature of Valparaíso, Chris wrote a series of short stories that would later evolve into the material of the band, using the symbol of the stray dog as both a metaphorical vehicle and an empowering term for his mixed identity and music, ultimately naming the band after them. Subsequently, he would reunite with an old college friend, Will Parkhill, who would go on to join as the band's bassist, alongside Michael Devincenzi as their drummer. Together, they would shape the sound of Kiltro, reanimating Chris's stories into the mysterious characters, melodic allure, and intangible soundscapes that comprise and lurk beneath their debut album Creatures of Habit. Later on, affected by the quarantine, the band took a more introspective approach, deciding to use cats as a motif for their sophomore record, Underbelly, inspired by their solitary and contemplative nature. Around this time, Fez García joined the band as a second percussionist for concerts, completing the lineup as we know it today. (Carroll, 2019) (Mitchell, 2023)
Info sourced from:
Carroll, E. (2019, 13th November). Here, There and Everywhere: Kiltro’s Mutt Rock. Westword.
https://www.westword.com/music/kiltro-frontman-chris-bowers-castillo-talks-mutt-rock-11494843
Mitchell, M. (2023, 1st June). Kiltro Go Behind the Scenes on Underbelly Track By Track. Paste Magazine.
https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/kiltro/underbelly-track-by-track
Q (regulus_di): What's the best show the band has ever had, or alternatively the most special?
WILL: the last run of tour had the most special shows in a while, especially the navy pier in Chicago, Vienna, and Brooklyn. The growth and excitement has been extremely exciting to see.
CHRIS: The show on the staircase outside of a friend’s restaurant, in Valparaiso, Chile.
MICHAEL: the shows in which there are zero expectations about the city have been the best. Every time we arrive in a town that we know nothing about, we are blown away by the hospitality that we receive. Towns like Columbus, Phoenix, Richmond, Vienna, and Detroit come to mind.
FEZ: can’t decide. He says it’s like asking him what his favorite meal of all time is, “they all filled my tum tum” 😂
SOUND CREW: the Hollywood theater in Vancouver, BC, and Baby’s Alright in NY have sounded the absolute best
From Chris's favorite show 😱
Q (goodman873): Chris solo album?
A: Currently the focus is Kiltro, if a song is written that seems out of place for the current state of the project, it’s often left on the shelf to return to at another time. There are a handful of songs that were planned for Underbelly that ultimately didn’t make it onto the final version for one reason or another, the possibility of them being included on a future album always exists. If a song appears that categorically falls outside of the vision of the band, then a solo project might be considered, but the ultimate goal is to experiment and push musical boundaries.
Q (evantheblank): Favorite unreleased / scrapped song, and is it planned to be available at some point?
A: There are tons of demos that have silly working titles, some of the songs that make it into the final version often don’t have a legitimate name until close to the end of the writing process.
CHRIS: the song Alpaca that was written as the same time as Guanaco, different energy but in the same vein and style. Never played live
WILL: Sin Salida that was included in an Instagram reel with a bunch of Super 8 footage
MICHAEL AND FEZ: Tambach
Q (allisawr): Any plans to record a live album?
THE BAND: we try to capture every show 😉
SOUND CREW: We are currently multitrack recording every live show for reference purposes and our personal archives. If a particular recording stands out, then it will be heavily considered for a live release.
Q (syd1288): What's with the cover art of Creatures of Habit?
A: The cover was a collaborative piece done by Markus Puskar and Julian Brier, heavily inspired by the work of M.C. Escher
The songs on CoH have a lot to do with the monotonous liminal spaces in our everyday lives, and the lyrics are very character driven. The art is meant to invoke the illusion of a society that feels like it is going in loops and circles, in which we are becoming “creatures of habit.”
Q (regulus_di): What games are the guys into atm/pre-tour?
A: We love to play giant jenga and a card game called “Hanabi,” we also invented a pool game called “twenty ball” in which Will is the (heavily disputed) champion.
Chris is currently working through another play through of Dark Souls, he’s been tearing through it on the switch in the van. We’ve also played The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and a lot of Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury. Stardew Valley and Roller Coaster Tycoon Classic are also big hits on the iPad.
Q (kalamaroe): What inspired the visuals in the If I Lead music video? I've always found it very hypnotising
A: Generally the band doesn’t like to be too specific with the meaning of the artistic content and likes to leave it more to interpretation from the audience. At the time that the video was shot, the band was interested in experimenting with old school classroom projectors, spinning images, double exposures in Will’s photography, and super 8 film footage. The goal was to add visual content to live shows, and a lot of the footage came from that effort.
Here’s some behind the scenes footage from that video courtesy of Will 😱
Q (happidragon): What are the band members' favorite songs to perform?
WILL: it’s hard to pin down and is always changing based upon each performance, but Guanaco is always up there
CHRIS: it really depends on the show, Softy has been a favorite recently because of how dynamic it is, and Lovers of death is another that has been a longtime standard in the sets for that same reason.
MICHAEL: Underbelly, Softy and Lovers of death are all favorites. The dynamics and drum progression allows for a lot of exploration in each performance.
FEZ: Crazy because of the shaker and wood blocks, there are a lot of fun little percussion parts
SOUND CREW: Errasuriz is the most fun to mix, and is always right in the middle of the set when we really have things dialed in.
Q (gumibearheart): How do you guys approach music and the moving parts of it?
A: The writing process is slightly different for each song but tends to coalesce in a similar way, with lyrics typically coming later on in the process. Many songs that start as musical loops get jammed on in rehearsal and recorded as practice demos, the most exciting material eventually evolves into something worth returning to.
Q (starfunkbonnibel): What has been your approach in connecting all these sounds with the themes and stories of your songs? And are there any plans to do one continuous narrative in an album?
CHRIS: I think the soundscapes and by extension the “story” comes from whatever I’m interested in or experiencing at the time of writing. I start in one place, whether it’s a chords progression or an interesting ambient loop, and move in whatever direction feels most compelling and true. I find that a lot of ideas begin to link together because I tend to cycle back on ideas multiple times throughout the process. Because I’m working it out for myself. That goes for sounds, samples and progressions too. Overarching themes or the recurring “character” of the sounds and the places they evoke emerge as the process goes on, and in that is often a kind of story. Or many stories in a similar setting. I visualize things a lot when I’m writing.
In a sense, I think we already work “narratively,” it’s just that there’s not necessarily a script or a series of events. I’d like to make albums that exist in a specific space and create the context for meanings and patterns to emerge. Not a narrative per se. There are bands that do that well but I like to keep things more abstract.
Q (goldengoldstar): Although we know of the influence artists like Víctor Jara, Violeta Parra and Atahualpa Yupanqui have had on the music of Kiltro, are there any other artists or bands you might mention as big influences or inspirations?
A: Thanks to everyone who listens to and shares the Kiltro playlist!
This is a stream of consciousness list from all the guys in the band in no particular order: Manu Chao, Deerhunter, Devendra Banhart, Ween, Talking Heads, Jorge Ben, Radiohead, Damon Albarn, Thelonious Monk, Damu the Fudgemunk, Moses Sumney, Animal Collective, John Coltrane, Boards of Canada, Chico Trujillo, OutKast, Teke Teke, Travel Kit, New Order, Kraftwerk, Stereolab, Broadcast, Jack Canaan, Charles Mingus, Sonic Youth, Polo y Pan, Andrew Bird, Marvin Gaye, Metronomy, Sade, YĪN YĪN, Fela Kuti, Tortoise, Cocteau Twins, Air, and Erlend Øye.
Q (goldengoldstar): Are there any plans to play in Latin America?
A: No plans currently, but it’s definitely a long-term goal
Q (starfunkbonnibel): What are your favorite moments of experimentation during the making of Underbelly?
KYLE: During the production/recording process of Curicó (being one of the first songs Chris, Will, and I dove into, if I remember correctly) I was in the studio with Chris focusing on the song’s momentum. I believe this may have been before real drums were put down? Idk, can’t completely remember… but my goal in that session was to add excitement and some kind of uplifting drive to the song. In one moment, I was trying to think of a way to show Chris how we “could” add a particular energy to the song to see if he liked the idea/direction. I decided to give Chris an example by grabbing a shitty/lofi mic and shouting “HEY! HEY! HEY!.. etc” into the mic along with what we had recorded so far. And I was like, “that’s the kinda of energy I’m thinking we can add,” and then Chris was basically like… we should just keep that hahahaha. In that moment I personally felt like we or I at least had figured out a key to the energy of that song, and also my creative flow with Chris, Will, and so forth going forward. Not to mention the beginning of a great friendship 🙂 this was fun to write about! Thanks to everyone here for being a part of their music ✨🐕
This wasn’t about Underbelly, but it’s what the question made me think of lol sorry
But still fits a vibe of how I think we all have fun working together on all the music 🙂
Thank you for reading!
Event managed by: Kamsthetics , MartixArtist, GoldenGoldstar, and StarfunkBoogie / @starfunkbonnibel.
Transcript revised by: plantboyfriend / @plumerii
Format inspired by silvershr0ud_'s interview
he's better that everyone bc if i had to deal with school, a mentally demanding job, my unresolved trauma and kyouko all at 16 years old and without parental supervision i'd be doing crack out in the streets
happy birthday to rei kiriyama 😇🎉 (citation needed)
rei if he were in hypmic. this is my second hypmic + 3gatsu crossover art because rei 3gatsu and rosho hypmic are both voiced by kengo kawanishi and i will never get over hearing rei rap
— I am a cuckoo, standing on top of the lives that were pushed aside. As they sing of spring, I hear a voice calling in the distance… And I think, if I ever really were a bird, then at least I would pass through the days oblivious to such agonizing torment as this.
