Last week Kong Fooey’s latest single landed in our laps. Built for the club but calling back to the groovy foundations of funk and soul, Just For The Night is a dance floor hit waiting to happen.
To find out more about the track, we caught up with the Auckland artist to chat.
Ever known a dance producer who plays in grunge and heavy rock bands? Meet Kong Fooey and his brand new single Just For The Night.
HAPPY: Hey man, how’s it going? What are you up to at the moment?
KONG FOOEY: I’m well thanks, busy working away on my next release, I’m really excited about the new music.
HAPPY: We’re loving Just For The Night… could you tell us a bit about the track?
KONG FOOEY: Thanks! That one came together really fast, just a good groove with a smooth and catchy vocal, I dig it too.
HAPPY: How long did you spend on it?
KONG FOOEY: That track probably took a couple of days with some revisions added in too, I tend to work up a rough mix then over a couple of weeks of listening back make tweaks, but as mentioned that one came together really fast which is always a good sign that it’s working.
HAPPY: You used to play in grunge band Pumpkinhead… do you feel like your time playing this kind of music still influences your current music?
KONG FOOEY: Haha, oh the golden years of grunge. From a beats perspective for sure, I still play drums in a local heavy rock band called Hunt The Witch so all of that definitely influences how I write and produce for Fooey, percussion and beats are really important as well as groove and melody of course.
HAPPY: What made you want to go in such a different direction for this new project?
KONG FOOEY: For the last album the focus was vintage funk, hip hop as well as electro, I love working on a fusion of sounds and styles without being locked down to one defined sound, but for these new batch of songs coming up I definitely wanted to have a more club/dance focus to the tracks. I hadn’t produced that style before so it was a good challenge, it’s also a lot fun coming up with the grooves, and putting all of the pieces of the puzzle together to make a cool dance track. The album I’m working on has a dance/house thread throughout with a few departures of styles but the overall theme is groove and love.
HAPPY: Are there any particular artists that have influenced Kong Fooey?
KONG FOOEY: A wide spectrum really, from old school funk artists Chuck Brown, The Meters and Parliament through to Beastie Boys, Groove Armada, Jamiroquai, Kora and Underworld. But to be honest when I’m producing it all starts with a good beat then it usually just organically builds into a track, I don’t normally go right, this is going to be a funk track or this is going to be a hip hop track etc, if I think it sounds sweet then I’ll roll with it until the song reveals itself.
HAPPY: Could you tell us a bit about the name Kong Fooey? Please say it’s a reference to the cartoon.
KONG FOOEY: Haha yep you guessed it, I grew up watching Hong Kong Phooey as a kid with a big bowl of Weet-Bix each morning, he was such a cool character.
HAPPY: Any other exciting plans in the works? Can we expect any new music soon?
KONG FOOEY: Definitely a couple of new singles coming very soon and then a full album next year, the bulk of the songs for the new album called Feel The Love are written, I’m just finalising vocals on a couple of tracks, I’m really amped about the new tunes, it’s been two years of hard work so it will be cool to finally have a bunch of new music to release out into the universe.
HAPPY: Cheers for the chat!
KONG FOOEY: You’re welcome, thanks for the opportunity to chat too.
Kong Fooey’s new single Just For The Night is out now.
