Jason Barnard speaks to exciting hard rock two piece Kingdom of Reptiles, covering the duo’s history, future and and their excellent single Blue Magic Gin.
Hi – can you introduce the band and tell me how you formed?
Irakli Sheklashvili, 27, guitar and vocal, from Tbilisi, Georgia.
Andreas Ziarkas, 22 on drums, from Rhodes, Greece.
Irakli: There was several lineup changes in the band, since I started so I’ll try to say it short how we ended up as a two piece band.
Since 2013, when I moved in London I started playing acoustic gigs mostly. Gone through some time and I realised how much I missed having a band. I had some songs written already by that time and wanted to record them. So in early 2016 I started looking for musicians to work with. It was difficult for me to find anyone because I didn’t know many people around and didn’t have any professional records either. Then I remembered one of my good Georgian friend, Zak, who was studding at ICMP. I asked him for help and he introduced me his uni friend, drummer Sebastian. He later brought bassist Dafne from the same uni to the band. So we started as a 3 piece band.
After releasing first EP Be Aware! In Aug 2016, relationship with drummer didn’t go down well. So I started looking for replacement and Oct 2016 I first met Andreas at Dublin Castle,Camden, open mic night. He liked our songs, had an audition and we decided to rock on together. Soon after I started working hard on my guitar tone, I was trying different effect pedals to make it sound wider and bigger. So when I wrote new songs and was getting ready to record them I’ve noticed bass guitar was not adding much on it. Same time Dafne was getting very busy with her guitar stuff. She is also a very good lead guitar player. So I decided would be better for both of us if we parted our ways, however we are still good friends. Since then we are 2 piece and we love it.
Whilst I understand you’re based in London you both hail from different countries. Can you tell me about your backgrounds?
Irakli: I come from Tbilisi, capital of Georgia. My parents took me to private piano lessons in the early age, when I was around 12. But it became boring and uninteresting and I gave up. I knew my family had a very old acoustic guitar at home somewhere and I always wanted to learn how to play on it. So I started going to guitar teacher for about a month to learn the basics and after that I started exploring the instrument myself with help of internet. I never went to any music college or had any other musical education. By age of 16, I met some musicians from Tbilisi online and soon we started cover band Evolution and we played Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin infinitely. Played in every rock club in the city possible. Same time I started learning to play Blues and RockNRoll on piano which I still love it. I didn’t sing by that time, played only lead guitar. I started singing when I was around 21 and took more seriously in last 3 years when I started the band.
There was not and still is not much opportunities in Georgia as an Alternative rock musician. You can’t make leaving of it it’s impossible, especially when you are an original artists. So In the Age of 17 I passed university entry exams and enrolled in Information Technology faculty. Which also helped me to relocate to London easily.
Andreas: I come from a traditional Greek music background. My two older brothers are musicians as well . All of us started with the traditional music and moved to more contemporary styles such as jazz.
Do you think this has shaped your music?
Irakli: Georgian folk is one of the unique sounding music in the world, but I never got interested in it. I always was addicted to alternative music. If my memory serves me right, first Alternative band was Green Day which just had released American Idiot in 2004. Moment I heard it I knew what I wanted to play. That was as I time when I started exploring music more seriously. So I started from the beginning. Online I found the records like Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richards, Chuck Berry and many other early Rock’n’Roll and Blues pioneers.
Kingdom Of Reptiles guitar influences are, Ritchie Blackmore – Deep Purple, Jimi Hendrix, Kim Thayil – Soundgarden, Tom Morello – Rage Against The Machine, Jerry Cantrell – Alice In Chains. My vocal style is mainly influenced by 90th Grunge era singers like Eddie Vedder, Scott Weiland, Chris Cornell, Layne Staley, with a hint of British 90th Alternative bands as well. Our latest single Blue Magic Gin might not have all of those influences but new songs which we recorded clearly have it.
Andreas: Absolutely, it affects the way I learn songs and my approach to the drums.
What artists, past and present do you admire and why?
Irakli: That’s quite large topic, I love listening various old and new artists. Most bands I love are from 60th – 70th, like a Beatles, Doors, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Rainbow, Frank Zappa, Jimi Hendrix, Sex Pistols. Motorhead, ACDC. Because they have different attitude and energy in performance, even in the studio records. They are clear example of how musicians should play at live and at studio. Nowadays all that attitude is lost in heavily produced tracks. Late 80th and 90th Alternative bands like Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Tool, Stone Temple Pilots, Nirvana, Alice in chains, Smashing Pumpkins, Rage Against The Machine, White Stripes, Oasis, Verve, I admire all of them because they are clear reincarnation of classic rock bands.
Regarding present bands, I like bits and pieces from different ones. I really like the last two album of Arctic Monkeys, songwriting is really good. Royal Blood – because of their bass guitar sound. Band Of Skulls has good songs too. I like Wolfmother because of singers vocal type and range. I love Kooks, songs in their first album, it’s so simple, catchy and easy to listen. Lately I got into A Perfect Circle, I love how they blend rebel lyrics with love songs and psychedelic melodies.
Andreas: I’m a jazz drummer at heart so I tend to fuse rock and jazz a lot . My influences are the great Tony Williams , John Bonham, Elvin Jones and Chad Smith because of the impact they had in the bands/projects they were in . For example, when Chad Smith joined the RHCP their whole sound changed.
How do you approach writing material in the group?
Irakli: I write guitar riffs then bring it to play with Andreas to see how it feels. Then I take back home add some lyrics and add other parts.
Can you tell me about your past releases – what have your released?
Irakli: I haven’t released anything in the past apart from our first EP Be Aware! Which includes 4 songs. Which was mainly experimental.
Andreas: Haven’t released anything in past this is first time I take it seriously.
Being a two piece gives you a very distinctive sound. Which tracks are you most proud of and which go down best live?
Irakli: We are most proud of Blues Magic Gin, Heavier Than Rain which is our upcoming single. They go live well. We don’t add extra instruments, while we recording in the studio, we just overdubbing. So our live sounds very close to studio recordings.
What was the inspiration behind ‘Blue Magic Gin’ – how did you get the riff and lyrical idea?
Irakli: Blue Magic Gin is first song I wrote for 2 piece band. Riff came as usual, while I was jamming at my bedroom. I think lyrics has to have different meaning for each listener. It’s very individual. For me it’s about a gold digger 🙂
This track attracted a lot of attention – can you tell me more about this?
Irakli: We don’t have record deal or producer or manager or PR, so all stress comes on me. It was first ever track where I tried different approaches from first EP and I learned a lot. We recorded drum, guitar and vocal in different studious. This track was remixed and remastered twice. Also vocal has been recorded twice as well. I spent loads of money on that but all that experience I gained it worth it. Then I started promoted as I much as I could. It’s been included in various blogs and podcast as well as internet radios. Few months ago we also shot music video for it which is available on Youtube.
What are your plans as we go into 2019 – more shows, another single/EP?
Irakli: Well before 2019 we have another single coming up soon end of October and then new EP in 2019. We got 2 shows booked for now 25th Oct @ Hawley Arms,Camden and 25th Nov @ New Cross Inn.
Find out more on Kingdom of Reptiles Bandcamp, Facebook and Twitter.
