Flamingods (Exotica / Psychedelic / Tropica from London)
Flamingods are a five-piece, multi-instrumental band formed in Bahrain in 2009. The band was founded by Kamal Rasool and now consists of Rasool, Sam Rowe, Charles Prest, Karthik Poduval and Craig Doporto. Based in both the UK and Bahrain, the band has carried out operations online as much as in person. The group puts a focus on exploration and experimentation, often taking influence from different cultures around the world by use of an extensive collection of instruments from as far as Nepal, Thailand, Indonesia, Turkey, Japan and Tanzania.
Floating near the western shores of the Persian Gulf is the Kingdom of Bahrain, the desert country where Charles Prest, Sam Rowe, Craig Doporto and Kamal Rasool grew up together, joining forces on various musical projects and detangling myriad influences from other lands and times. At the same time Karthik Poduval, unknown to them as of yet, was being familiarised to a life similarly sated with a rich pick & mix culture only 500 km away, in the city of Dubai, and previously Saudi Arabia, Italy and
Albania.
Kamal started a bedroom project in 2009 in which he attempted to make experimental music that captured the imagery and spirituality of far flung cultures. He recorded the first Flamingods tracks in his room, occasionally jamming and recording with other soon-to-be members. Having no specific scheme in place for the long term life of Flamingods, the next few years would see the eventual members relocating to the UK whereupon Karthik was discovered and quickly assimilated into the fray.
A band identity had not yet formed but one fateful 8-hour chalet jam at the Animal Collective curated ATP Festival in 2010 later and Flamingods had officiallygraduated from its initial solo bedroom project in Bahrain to a fully-fledged band.
Kamal said of it in an interview with Loud and Quiet, "We did actually start the band at ATP in 2010. We brought some instruments down to just jam with in our room, and then people walking past would be like, 'oh, we want to play too,' and it was just incredible because people were climbing in through our window, and I gave them pots and pans to play... it was just insane. We had 60 people crammed into our chalet and people dancing outside. It got a bit out of control and turned a bit dark. All the lights went off" with Sam adding "It was like a constantly changing band. People would leave but others would then come in. We couldn’t stop it and it turned into a monster of its own. It went on for eight hours."
Flamingods recorded their first studio album in 2012 in Sound Savers Recording Studio in Homerton, London, and soon after teamed up with Art is Hard Records to release the album in January of 2013. The lead single "Quesso" featured former Ponytail and Ecstatic Sunshine guitarist Dustin Wong. "Sun” received positive reviews from Line of Best Fit who wrote "It is an album that deserves your attention.
The complex and dense interplay of all the instruments create beautiful substrata of harmony and rhythm that makes each new listen as rewarding as the last" as well as from The 405 who in describing the band wrote "They are a five-piece based out of the UK, fusing together Asian polyphonic textures, African rhythms, and the occasional pop sensibility into something of a freak-folk blush”.
flamingods.bandcamp.com
de-de.facebook.com
Eintritt: 13.00 € | Eintritt VVK: 10.00 €
| Open: 20:00 | Start: 21:00
