Interview with K-MRO

Pop Cairn Zine August 2018

We met up with a member of the Noise/Metal band KMRO after a set at an art gallery in Eureka. We tried to ask some questions and instead we got a lecture. Interview by Wiley.

S: Who are you and where are you from:

KMRO: I’m a member of KMRO and we are from Humboldt California – Eureka to be exact.

S: Tell me a little bit about K-MRO? You guys are noise right?

KMRO: I’d say it is drone influenced electronic music with a lot of distortion. The project is an outgrowth of political anger and a desire to make noise.

S: What do you mean anger? Like politics?

KMRO: Yeah, we are a really political organization. Earth and Animal liberation, total opposition to capitalism and dislike of hierarchies. This stuff takes work and you have to say to yourself “I am a revolutionary” every day. Say it when you brush your teeth.

S: That is funny. It seems like this current moment with Donald Trump is really making a lot of people into activists, do you think people are like . . .getting on the bandwagon?

KMRO: No, not at all. I think politics sucks when it is a few elitist vegans who know better than everyone else. The food we eat and the air we breath is politics. If you can talk and work with everyday people and explain revolutionary consciousness in straightforward terms, then you’ve got work to do. The only way to win is to make radical change normal.

S: So how does the band help with that?

KMRO: It probably doesn’t. The band is an outlet, an expression of collective anger and frustration. There is some value to noise as signal disruption. But even that is a little risky, like I bet the sonic cannons that the government has will swamp any metal band.

S: I don’t understand? Do you mean that . . .

KMRO: You know that police forces and the army have sonic weapons to disrupt protester right?

S: Yeah.

KMRO: Well a few noise artists talk about industrial music as if it would drown out the propaganda of the state. I just think this is romantic . . .like the people who want guns to resist federal action. The system of power isn’t going to be drown out or out fought, we have to shift the culture at the fundamental levels to win.

S: I heard that you guys play with your back to the audience? Is that true?

KMRO: Yeah, sometimes. The culture of celebrity is kind of bad for music. It is a lot cooler to be finding a groove or a riff with your buddy and watching each other. And we use a lot of electronics that require minding. It is hard to really pay attention to the audience. And it is easier to not see people walking out (laughs).

S: Do you have a record?

KMRO: We have a bunch of singles on bandcamp and we’ve got an EP coming out in the early part of 2019 . . . if we all make it to 2019.