DRUNKEN KONG (D. Singh & DJ Kyoko) join our One to Watch list. Residents at Tokyo’s legendary nightclub Womb, they’ve already secured releases on major international labels such as Christian Smith`s Tronic and Monika Kruse`s Terminal M…

https://soundcloud.com/changeunder/change-undergroundcom-presents-drunken-kong-womb-tokyo

Drunken Kong, tell us who you are, where you’re from and how you can describe your music style?

Hello, we are DRUNKEN KONG and we are from Tokyo, Japan! We would say our music style is somewhere in between techno to tech-house. We still like to make music with a groove.

You guys are well known residents at Legendary Womb in Tokyo. How did you get connected in the Tokyo underground and how long did it take you to get a residency there?

When we started out DRUNKEN KONG we had some friends who were doing parties at the time. We started doing live sets since we had a few tracks we had completed at the time. From there, in about a year we were connected with WOMB when we did a remix for their label Session Trax. This eventually led to our first gig on the main stage of WOMB a year later. Since then, we have had a great relationship with WOMB. We felt that our production really helped us progress in the Tokyo club scene.

When most clubbers think about underground music in Japan, they think Womb. But which other clubs in your country do you enjoy playing?

WOMB is great. The main room is something very special and the energy of the crowd is always amazing. We also enjoy playing at Kawasaki Citta – Citta is an event space where they hold various events from rock concerts to techno parties, but they have an amazing sound system in place. It’s such a cool venue. Ageha and VENT are also another two great clubs to play, and visit if you are in town.

Who in your opinion are the strongest names in the Japanese underground right now?

The strongest names in the current Japan scene would be Ken Ishii, and Takkyu Ishino.

Why do you think Womb is so special compared to other clubs in Japan? And how do you think the club differs from others you have played around the world?

We think WOMB is very well organized structurally. Each floor has a very different mood so it’s great to have different musical concept for each floor. All floors also have good sound system so you can really get into the music wherever you are.

It’s very difficult to compare it to other clubs, as I think every club has its own unique atmosphere. We always have a great time where ever we play!

Who is or are your biggest influence(s) at the moment and why?

Our biggest influences at the moment are Christian Smith, Adam Beyer, Monika Kruse, Victor Ruiz, Pig & Dan, and Stephan Bodzin. We are always inspired with their music. We can really feel the sound evolving with these artists and we really respect this! That is something we always keep in mind when we are producing.

Which artist(s) have you followed since the beginning and are you’re still following now?

Sven Vath, Carl Cox, Josh Wink, Adam Beyer, Christian Smith, Pig & Dan, and Joris Voorn.

We see you appearing on some amazing labels and congratulations on so many fantastic releases on Tronic since 2015. How did you and Christian both meet?

Happy to hear you liked our releases on Tronic – thank you! We first met Christian at WOMB, where we were lucky enough to get the opportunity to introduce ourselves, and then that developed into a long chat! From that point we exchanged contacts and we sent him tracks we had just finished at that time. This eventually became our first release on Tronic!

We saw that he’s picked you to appear on a massive remix package for his Input Output album, which includes Pig & Dan plus legend Laurent Garnier. It’s my pick of the pack btw. Do you think this is finally the point that Drunken Kong has arrived in techno?

Thank you. When we first heard the news, we really couldn’t believe it! It’s such an honour for us to remix Christian`s track, and also to be in the same release with legend Laurent Garnier! We were happy and excited. We are very pleased with how the remix came out, and it’s been working for us on the dance floor.

We really hope that we can be involved in more releases like this in the future, these are the type of projects which we find so motivating and inspiring.

We ran a really cool interview with Robert Babicz who was sharing his opinion on the digital sound. Can you talk us how you get your sound and with what Robert was saying?

Robert Babicz`s interview was really interesting. We really agree on the points he mentioned about using analog gear. Re-recording VST sounds through different microphones was very interesting. We also like to use a lot of hardware for our production. Even for VST plugins, we sometimes run these sounds through analog preamps to give it an analog texture. There are many great plugins but when we run it through analog compressors, it really gives the sound a different feel and depth. This is something very important for us.

Finally, what next for Drunken Kong?

OUR DEBUT ALBUM!!! This is something we have been working on for a while, and are really so excited to announce soon. We will also be touring a lot more in Europe from May to June, so keep an eye on our Facebook pages for more on both!

Preorder their new release on Tronic here