KOKOMO? OH NO, KOSOVO!
If you keep churning out first-rated indie bangers it eventually will bear fruit, and to the four-piece band Damen that means a trip all the way to Kosovo for a gig at NGOM Fest this coming weekend. We had a chat with vocalist/guitarist Danial Bin Ismail Ärlig and drummer Adrian Gejrot about the festival - and what’s ahead.
– Going to NGOM Fest is really exciting for us as we probably wouldn’t end up in a place like Kosovo under any other circumstance. And nowadays we mostly see each other for rehearsals, so it’s nice to get to hang out together, says Danial.
– We’re also looking forward to play some new songs, and it looks like a really cool venue - being an old fortress up in the mountains, Adrian fills in.
The day after the release of their debut album Sagrada Família in 2020 the whole world came to a well-known halt. But it gave the band time to work on last year’s EP Unemployment, Broken Bones, Death, Baby - and now evolve their sound even further for the next release.
– The plan is to record this autumn. The sound will be a little more scattered this time around with no real common thread. We used to overthink it all a bit too much about what we should and shouldn’t sound like. Now we’re kinda throwing that out the window to instead just have fun and focus on what sounds the best, Adrian says,
– We haven’t actively tried to find a new sound - but I think we found it anyway, Danial fills in.
Having previously played high-profile places such as The Great Escape Festival in Brighton they know the weight of being a great live band - and to not focus on the wrong things.
– Our music is always created in the rehearsal room, so everything is made to be played live. But it’s been a bit frugal with gigs as of yet so we only have one booked gig in Sweden this year - at Grand in Malmö in August. We haven’t really posted about it yet as we have a small hiatus from social media, so when we don’t have much to say we’re not on there. So there will be no stories of when we cook and drink coffee, but rather when new things are happening, says Danial.
NGOM Fest happens in Prizren 14-16 of July, and we've had sending acts to this magic event for years. And proud to be delivering music on par.