Flying Q & A: Kyoto Skies

Originally known as Ataractic, Sydney electro-pop outfit Kyoto Skies are impressing plenty of new fans with their latest release Homesick. We asked the band what they’d do with wings or a pimped-out plane and the deeper meaning behind their groovy new track.

If you had the ability to fly for a day, what would you use it for?

Jon: Take mad photos of clouds and casually fly away from conversations if they get boring.

Bella: I would fly over the mountains and valleys of Virginia in America. They’re so beautiful and I want to look at them all the time!

Which is your favourite flying-type Pokémon?

Sebastian: Zubat (laughs). No, definitely Dragonite. He’s one of my all time favourite Pokémon in general (dragon and psychic types are the best types).

Jon: Moltress, it’s a bird on fire. Enough said.

What’s your best plane trip story?

Bella: My friend and I were recently flying from New York to LA and our flight was delayed for seven hours on the tarmac and someone tried to fist fight the flight attendant. It was great…

Casey: I got upgraded on a flight from Buenos Aires to New Zealand, pretty fantastic.

If you owned a private jet, how would you deck it out?

Bella: I would put a horse in there so I could sit gallantly on a steed 50,000 miles up in the air. Oh and copious amounts of male models to tell me I’m pretty.

Casey: Italian leather, marble, cashmere throws, great speakers, fully stocked bar and kitchen.

Who in the band is most afraid of heights?

Jon: Seb.

Bella: Probably Seb because he’s afraid of everything.

Sebastian: Probably me. I’ve faced it and gone bunging jumping once but I still get a bit dizzy standing too close to edges!

Would you ever try hang-gliding?

Jon: I’d be down. Once we use up that one day of flying, this would be the next best thing

Casey: Yes! But only with someone to hang on to. Adrenalin is good for you.

If you could change the colour of the sky to any other colour, what would you pick?

Sebastian: Maybe green? It worked for Namek until the planet got uh, blown up. But it looked cool while it lasted!

Jon: Yeah, I’m with Seb, green is where it’s at. Throw in some northern lights and everyone is going to get tripped out. It’s the sky’s natural glitch effect.

For the uninitiated, how would you describe the Kyoto Skies’ sound and live shows?

Sebastian: Hip hop beats meets electronic elements with a jazz influence and world music instrumentation. The music and live show aims to have as many things played live and as much of an organic feel as possible, so when you throw in live visuals by Jonathan it equates to a pretty nice melting pot.

Casey: Electro pop, hip hop, friendly, and groovy.

We’re loving your new single Homesick, what’s the inspiration behind the song?

Sebastian: The music came from a few sources. A little while ago someone close to me moved away, and I suddenly found myself feeling really lost and with this weird sense of homesickness while just going about my day to day life in familiar surroundings. The everyday things that I’d been doing for the last few months suddenly felt dull and boring, and I realised it was because I wasn’t doing it with them.

When my granddad passed away and I was talking to my mum about it, she was talking about missing him and said, “He was what made a place feel like home” and I’ve never forgotten that line. So it’s a combination of a few different experiences. The lyrics were then written to express those themes and ideas, and the key idea is the feeling of ‘home’ can come from a person rather than a place.

Lastly, what are three things people should know about Kyoto Skies?

Sebastian: We all have a fairly different taste in music, we constantly bond over a shared love of certain TV shows, and we like to party.

Bella: We love to go to dress up parties, I have known Seb since he was an emo, and sometimes we argue about who has better Nikes.