Interview: Kongos Come Out Swinging
Within the cozy confines of downtown Toronto’s Hard Rock Café, Johnny, Jess, Dylan, and Danny Kongos have seen their shared 
surname go from birth certificates to marquees, album charts, and spoken on the radio as their hit single “Come with Me Now” gets cued up.
Brothers in life, and a band of brothers, these four gents of South African descent have gone from four kids raised in part by ‘70s singer-songwriter John Kongos, to Kongos, a quartet venturing along their own musical path.
Their latest album, Lunatic, was self-released in 2012 before headway from the band led to a record contract with Epic Records. Their new major label backers subsequently re-released the album earlier this year, paving the way for a more mainstream emergence in North America.
“You can crack the rest of the world, but if you don’t crack America, a lot of people act as if you haven’t cracked anything. So I think just getting the ball rolling in North America is a big step, and a big deal for us. It’s a goal [to have] if you consider the plot of taking over the world,” says Jesse with a laugh.
“It’s a luxurious job that you choose,” he adds about being in the music business. “To be successful in music is a very rare thing. No one is entitled to it. It’s not like building a road or farming…[jobs] that people actually need in the world. You have to be willing to take that risk, be open to the idea that it might not happen, and know that going in.”
When recalling their slow, steady rise, the band shares memories of playing before tens of thousands of fans in South Africa – as an opening act for Linkin Park – to heading back to America for shows in front of maybe 20 people. Out of those 20, half were members of the other bands on the bill.
Hearing themselves on American radio is what began to indicate to Kongos that something was changing. Their star was rising, and this was going to give them the freedom to get more creative live, and feel confident that they are moving in the right direction.
“It’s definitely weird. I don’t think you ever feel 100% comfortable, but you get a little bit used to it,” says Dylan of the newfound attention Kongos has been receiving. “Initially, it was a really strange feeling. All of a sudden you’re doing the same thing you’ve been doing, but then people hear you on the radio and then decide to treat you differently.”
What has helped the fellas along the way is the knowledge shared with them by their musically-inclined father. In addition to teaching his sons scales back in the day, he’s also been the one to guide them toward how to be professional and not concern themselves with continually re-inventing the wheel.
The latter revelation is interesting, as a listen to Lunatic leads the listener through a myriad of soundscapes, many of which do a 
careful dance between radio-ready rock hooks and tribal, world music-esque instrumentation and rhythm. Sure, they may not be re-inventing said wheel, but Kongos certainly aren’t guiding the same ole wheel downhill.
With Lunatic now two years old, however, it’s become time for the guys to determine what’s next. While they’re thrilled to have the opportunity to expand their following as a result of the momentum that this album is providing them with, the group is planning to take a sharp left.
In our conversation, it’s revealed that the forthcoming album will be a bit of a sonic departure for Kongos, yet still retain the commercial sensibilities that have gotten the band to this point. It’ll be a new sound developed off of the backs of a journey that took more than 10 years to become recognized.
“We definitely want to continue to push [Lunatic] to crowds and hope that they get larger, and larger. When we released it [initially] in the states in 2012, it wasn’t really happening for us and we began to lose hope. We started moving onto new material, but when we started to take off, that’s added a whole new surge of energy that we want to continue to pursue.”
-Adam Grant
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