London band KYROS are not afraid to take song writing and musical experimentation to a whole new level by pushing the boundaries. Creating fresh, new and exciting music, with influences ranging from eighties pop (e.g. Depeche Mode and Kat Bush) through to modern post-progressive and alternative rock music, such as Muse and Porcupine Tree.
KYROS (known as Synaesthesia 2012-2015) formed in 2012 in London, England and consists of Adam Warne on lead vocals and keyboards, Joey Frevola and Sam Higgins on guitar, Peter Episcopo on bass guitar and Robin Johnson on drums. They will now release their new double album titled Vox Humana on 5th November. This album will mark the band’s fourth overall release as well as being the band’s second official album release.
Although only having existed for a few years, the group has already released a critically acclaimed debut album and a successful limited edition EP. The debut album featured artwork designed by Freyja Dean, the daughter of legendary album cover artist Roger Dean. KYROS has performed a number of impressive shows ranging from festival dates in UK, Germany and USA, to supporting high profile bands such as Marillion and Anathema.
Check out Cloudburst from the upcoming album below!
We asked three of the band members, Adam, Robin and Joey questions about their new single, new album, fans and more!
Adam (Lead Vocals and Keyboard)
How has the new single ‘Cloudburst’ gone?
Especially considering that this is our first proper independent release under the name ‘Kyros’, let alone being the fact that this is our first single – I’d say that the reception has been nothing short of fantastic. We’ve had a great response from people all over the world who have either been with us since the beginning, or only just discovered us. We are putting out a music video for Cloudburst very very soon. We’re hoping that people are gonna love it!
Tell us little be about the new album coming out in November
We put our heart and soul, blood, sweat and tears into the creation of this album. It was a lot hard work but we proud of the result and we hope that people will enjoy the music. The album is a double CD release entitled ‘Vox Humana’ which each CD following the paths of two characters in the album’s story. We treated the project as an experiment on just how much we were capable of doing as musicians which is partly a reaction to our views of progressive and alternative music and the overall music industry model today. The result is something that I feel is very special indeed.
What inspired you to write this album?
We all had our separate driving inspirations behind our approaches, but I feel this only made the results more interesting. My personal inspirations that had a direct impact on production and songwriting were bands such as Muse, Chvches, Genesis, Depeche Mode and Trevor Horn’s work. When it come to solidifying the ideas and working together as a band, I think we just bounced off each other so well our contrasting influences. A sort of yin/yang approach.
Will there be a tour soon?
We’re working on a number of upcoming projects including gigs. We hope to release more information soon.
What is the music scene in London like?
London has a very varied music scene and depending where you go, you can expect to find completely different styles. The gigging scene is especially more vibrant in North London which is where I used to live when I was attending university. I used to gig with mates around north London just for a laugh and for the experience. ‘Cos why not? Nearly every pub in Camden Town is a venue. It’s wonderful. Sadly, now being back south of the river – the scene is a little more quiet. But at least we’re just a tube journey away.
What has been your proudest moment so far?
Proudest moment so far would have to be a 50/50 toss between our trip to the USA to perform at RoSfest where we had one of the best reactions in our career as a band so far and since then, have grown to have a large east-coast US following or our 16 date tour support we performed across Europe last year. Both experiences are up there for me. Touring across Europe has got to happen again soon.
How much do your fans mean to you guys?
We’d be nothing without our fans. They mean the absolute world to us as they’re hugely loyal and supportive. The more we get to interact with them, the better. Especially as they’re all individuals with a story to tell, come from different backgrounds and based all over the world. And in such an age where social media is so prominent and Facebook Live is such a strong feature – I’d say things interacting with fans is an absolute must.
If you could work with any band, who would it be and why?
For me, this changes on such a regular basis. The first band that comes to mind is Muse. I’d love to gig with them and just pick apart Matt Bellamy’s mind on how he approaches songwriting and how his vocal style has evolved through the years. If that were to ever happen, I think I would be nothing short of starstruck. Dream come true.
Joey (Guitarist)
How has the new single ‘Cloudburst’ gone?
From what I can gather, people seem to be liking it. I was curious how that sort of thing would go over with audiences given that it’s just a bunch of different versions of the same song, but we’ve gotten some good responses which is always great. People have especially complimented the Feature Length mix which I am personally very happy with, so that’s good to hear.
Tell us little be about the new album coming out in November
It’s a double concept album about a man who sets out to build the perfect human. Musically, it’s just a great melting pot of influences. The five of us all have differing musical tastes that all somehow come together into this unique sort of thing. I’m sure you could make comparisons to some other bands, but I find it hard to think that way about our music. To me the genre is just “us.”
What inspired you to write this album?
We’re a rock band. Writing albums is like our whole job basically. It’s also a lot of fun and a very rewarding thing to do for us, so I guess we feel our lives are better for having written it than if we hadn’t.
Will there be a tour soon?
We’re working on it. Hopefully we’ll have some announcements in the near future.
What is the music scene in London like?
I actually have no idea. I’m not from London, so my experience with its music scene is made up of Kyros related things, and just seeing bands I already like. I’ve never gone to a show of local bands in London. Maybe I should fix that next time I’m over there.
What has been your proudest moment so far?
That’s a tough one. I suppose getting to tour with Spock’s Beard is up there. I’ve loved that band for several years now, so that was a dream come true.
How much do your fans mean to you guys?
Honestly, I have a hard time fathoming the idea that there are people in the world who I have never met that find some sort of positive meaning in what we do. Having or not having fans has never been an influencing factor on me when creating Vox Humana or any other album I’ve been a part of, so I suppose I just look at it as a very pleasant bonus. I try to never take it for granted when people come up to us after gigs, or write us nice messages about how much they like our stuff. It’s surreal, but in a warm, fuzzy way.
If you could work with any band, who would it be and why?
There are plenty that I would love to work with, but at this moment, my number one choice would be The Dear Hunter. I love that band more than life itself at the moment. In fact, if Casey Crescenzo and I ever wrote and recorded an album together, I’d be done. I could die happy.
Robin (Drummer)
How has the new single ‘Cloudburst’ gone?
I’m pleased to say that the reaction to the release seems to have been very positive. People seem to be getting into the whole idea of taking a song and looking at it from several different angles which was the idea behind the maxi-single release for Cloudburst. There are a few different versions of the song included in the release such as a radio edit, an extended mix and on the CD edition, a vaporwave remix! The fact we’re introducing people to vaporwave is something I’m also very happy about. We wanted both the song and the way in which we released it to be a breath of fresh air for us and I think we achieved that.
Tell us little be about the new album coming out in November
It’s certainly the most ambitious project we’ve attempted so far! We really held back nothing when making this album from both a song writing and production point of view. It’s based around a story which is something that helps tie the album together. Adam’s song writing ability has really moved up a gear since the first album and Joey, who’s our most recent addition to the band, really helped us move forward to doing something fresh and exciting. There are certainly some things about it that will surprise some people, especially anyone who’s already familiar with the Synaesthesia album. It came out sounding great to us and I wonder what other people will make of it.
What inspired you to write this album?
It might seem kind of obvious but honestly, the main inspiration was simply that we wrote and produced what we wanted to hear. The idea of picturing the best album we could possibly imagine and then attempting to make it. Of course, making music is surrounded by subjectivity and I don’t want to give the impression that making an album is a simple process – it’s anything but that! But I’m a firm believer that having a slightly idealistic spirit did push us to write, play and produce much better than we would have done otherwise.
In terms of actual musical inspiration, there was a lot to choose from this time. Unlike the Synaesthesia debut album, this one was a fully-fledged band collaboration and as a result, it’s much more of a melting pot than the first album. We feel very strongly about not repeating ourselves as a band or making any rehashes of something we’ve already done. There was no way that was ever going to happen with this album because of the new members’ contributions and also the fact we all feel the same way about that. Everyone in the band has their preferences when it comes to music which is what makes the collaboration process interesting. If I was to list a few of our influences as a whole band, I would say Muse, CHVRCHES, Porcupine Tree, Haken, Frost*, Nero, Kate Bush, Depeche Mode, Rush and pretty much anything Trevor Horn!
Will there be a tour soon?
We’re planning doing a whole lot of touring next year. I can’t say too much yet about the details but we’re very excited and can’t wait to get out there and play these songs live!
What is the music scene in London like?
Varied, that’s for sure. There’s so much going on in the city and it’s culturally so diverse. That’s a great thing for music I think because again, it creates melting pots. Different styles and approaches to music coming together in ways you wouldn’t expect. One of my favourite areas of London, particularly for the music scene, is Camden. There’s a real vibrancy to that place and no sense of elitism where people might feel excluded because their taste in music, dress sense or whatever isn’t quite cool enough. None of that crap. So yeah, I think London is a great place for music. However, one thing that has been a threat to all of this is the recent closing of a lot of its smaller venues. And London is by no means the only place with this problem. It’s a real threat to culture and I feel some people, especially those in positions of power, need to take the issue more seriously. I hope the next few years sees the situation turn around.
What has been your proudest moment so far?
Holding the complete, packaged CD in my hands for the first time. That was quite a special moment. Though it will likely be overtaken on November 5th at midnight when the album actually comes out. I’m sure I’ll be having a drink then!
How much do your fans mean to you guys?
So much!! I can’t emphasise enough how grateful we are to anyone who offers their support to us. Whether that be buying our music, going to our gigs or even just telling someone else about us. It all counts and needless to say, we wouldn’t be doing what we do now if it weren’t for those people. I thank each and every one of them.
If you could work with any band, who would it be and why?
For me personally it would be Muse. If I was talking about Kyros collaborating with another band, I think The 1975 would be an interesting one. I feel we do have quite a lot in common with them in terms of production style and general ethos. But of course, genre-wise there are a lot of differences. It would be quite an experiment!