to see this piece of art you created, that you also invited the world to interact with while experiencing your music, to me, it was kind of this full circle healing moment. Kid Koala: Oh wow. Thank you. It’s the first time I’ve heard that. That’s very sweet. I think we were all there, just tuned into everything, right? And my wife and I were just talking about it nonstop. Anything news all day. Two things that were saving us just as a family unit were board games and these nature documentaries that my daughters loved. We were learning about all kinds of creatures, many of them who ended up in the actual game. I remember one was the desert rain frog. Do you know about that? (sharing screen) This brought us so much joy. BBC Narrator: But sometimes more unexpected zones grab our attention. Like this desert rain frog squeaking viral sensation. 11 million hits and counting. It sounds like a dog toy, but actually, this is the sonorous war cry of a very angry frog. Kid Koala: Can you believe that? Krysti: So cute! That’s amazing! Which game character is it? Kid Koala: So he’s a drummer. Ruby, my daughter, and I were just so tripping on this animal so I painted him with some drums. I was drawing all these creatures we were learning about and sadly, every episode of a show we’d watch, there’d be this sort of warning at the end saying, there’s only a handful of these creatures left. And they’ll be extinct within a few years if we don't change our direction with encroaching on their habitats and all this stuff. And so that was kind of this sombering wake-up call. It seemed to be at the tone of every single episode, no matter how cute and amazing and inspiring the footage was. Meanwhile the world was on fire, flooding everywhere. It was one of those things that I had to sort of process it in some way or speak to it in the way I could, which is just through art, again, not too explicitly. But with Creatures of the Late Afternoon, even as a title, it was about that, creatures being at the late afternoon if your entire Earth is like a whole day, the late afternoon means you’re past the midpoint. You might be on your last lap. And what are you going to do? So really it was tapping into everything that was going on. And I remember even with “Things Are Gonna Change,” it was one of those moments where I was like, oh, there needs to be this call to action track. I needed somebody with a voice who could just really cut through that. During the pandemic I was in LA doing something for Cartoon Network and I spent an extra day there to go meet up with Lealani, who I just met to record her vocals on that track. And that was the only actual time I recorded a track during the pandemic. And now Lealani is one of my favorite people. It was one of those things where she had that kind of No. 115 riot girl energy. Jonny: That is a great collaboration by the way. Krysti: You’re so synergistic with each other. Kid Koala: She’s this polymath who’s just starting. She’d already done two albums under The Pezheads, which is her one-girl punk band and a Lealani album. I was like, how did you get that? I just recorded it in my studio. I’m like, cool, so we’ll just do it in your studio. I don’t have to rent another place in LA to record. And she's like, okay, and oh, just so you know, the studio is my room. I’m like, I’m cool with that. I’ve seen bedroom studios before, but hers is like a mini museum of modern art mixed with a quirky 8-bit synth shop mixed with her bedroom. It’s this tiny room with things on the wall floor-to-ceiling. I was looking around and was like, where’d you get this piece? She’s like, oh, I did that. Then there’s this beautiful Cubist thing, a totally different style. And there’s a photorealistic charcoal drawing and she’s like, oh, yeah, I did that. I’m like, what the fuck? And she animates. And she records, some of the songs that we’re playing on tour. I was like, this song is a jam when’d you write this. She’s like, I wrote that when I was 15. I'm like what? I said, okay, so where did you record your vocals? She’s like, this is my vocal booth. And she opens her closet, a little clothing closet, packed with all her clothes, just real tightly packed. And she’s like, yeah, I just use that to deaden the sound. (laughing) She had a clipboard with the lyrics, and she was just screaming into her clothes. And so we did maybe a couple takes, and then I said, okay, why don’t you do one that’s just super unhinged. Don’t worry about being off axis on the mic. You just take the mic off and run around or jump around, do whatever you have to do. Then she really cut loose on it. And I was like, okay, that’s the lead one right there. Jonny: It’s so cool, that video where she’s got the MPC going and she’s got guitar going. And then you’re back there playing the drums. Like two polymaths just rocking. Kid Koala: We’re having fun because she is literally a one-person band. So for The Pezheads stuff that I wanted her to play at the shows too, I’ll do the drums so that you don't have to start a drum machine and then pick up your guitar and sing. But alternatively, she’ll be able to take my Pro Tool sessions and then take out every hit, like drums, bass, key chords and then map it and play everything live. So we’ve been doing songs off Creatures that are my songs and she’s not doing vocals on. She’s able to reassemble them live with no grid, no safety net, literally. And looks like she’s throwing gang signs or something. (laughing) I don't even know. But she’s incredible. Jonny: We’re looking forward to seeing more of where you guys take that whole endeavor. Kid Koala: There’s potential here because it’s kind of like a Black Keys or White Stripes duo mentality only turntables and MPCs. And then the PHOTOS COURTESY OF KID KOALA
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