[Interview] Exclusive interview with Kult Ikon

Dear readers, we are pleased to offer you in this article an interview with a Stoner/Doom, Progressive Post-Metal band from North Carolina. Please welcome Kult Ikon.

Hi, how are you?

“We are doing well. We put out the new album in March of this year and so we are trying to expand the audience who might take the opportunity to listen to it.“

How did the band come about and what is the meaning of your name Kult Ikon?

“Ryan (the drummer) and I (John, the bassist) met through an ad I posted online. We started exploring music together in early 2018. I ran into Scott (guitarist), who I’d known for a few years, around June of that year and invited him down for a jam. Out of that jam the band was formed.

The name itself comes from an old Halloween costume I wore one year. It was a self-made head-to-toe cardboard robot with a TV antenna sticking out of the head, and smiley faces stenciled all over it with the words “Kult Ikon” spray painted on the front.“

You play a blend of various genres including Stoner, Doom, Progressive Post-Metal, how did your passion for these sounds come about?

“We have varied musical tastes as individuals, from black metal to dub, industrial to no-wave, thrash to jazz. Why does anyone like the things they like? For us, art needs to be authentic. From that authenticity everything else falls into place. There is no wrong and right. Authenticity and intention. We all wanted to play something heavy at slower tempos, but ultimately what comes out is the result of this ingestion of a wide range of influences, distilled through our experience and technical abilities, and explored in our interaction with each other.“

Your new album “Black Iron Prison” was released in March 2024, how would you describe this work?

“Slow, heavy, & introspective, it’s a space doom soundtrack for the wayward voyager on a one-way trip into the cosmos.“

A slow, heavy and introspective sound, how does the creative process of your tracks take place?

“Being an instrumental band lends itself to the creation and exploration of dynamic soundscapes. Many of the songs we’ve written are linear and take you from one place and transport you to another. We don’t often come back to sections or riffs. In some ways being an instrumental band poses challenges but opens up the songwriting because it gives us freedom to explore more options as to where we want to take the song without being tied down to traditional verse chorus structures typical of music with a vocalist. That is not to say the songs don’t have their own lyricism, but the story is written in part by the listener. Often I bring bass parts to Ryan, and the bass and drums go back and forth and around for a while, exploring these parts, changing them, trying different approaches. This process can be spread out over months as we only meet once a week, and we typically put off trying out new stuff if we need to rehearse for a show. When these ideas have been fleshed out a bit, and organized into some kind of structure we present them to the guitarist. Scott then has a
foundation to build on. That foundation allows the guitar to take off and explore space and texture, to play counterpoint, to circumnavigate, or to reinforce what the drums and bass are doing. With the addition of the guitar we go back to exploring the parts, trying different approaches, and reorganizing the structure.“

Long, entirely instrumental plots that offer an interesting journey through your sounds, what is the theme of this new work?

“A lot of this record was written during the lock-down. There is no denying that the personal and social trials and tribulations, the loneliness, the unknowing, everything of that pandemic period seep, often subconsciously, into the music and art of the time. The listener creates their own meaning, but the collapse of the environment – whether that be physical, mental, social, or emotional – are themes that were in play during the creation of Black Iron Prison.“

Many of our readers and your fans wonder if there will be a chance to hear your music live, do you have plans in this regard?

“We have been playing regionally for a while, but we’d like to see if we can expand our reach and start booking shows further from our home base of Raleigh, North Carolina. We certainly would like to play shows outside the US, if those opportunities are available.“

This is your second album since 2020, how has your sound evolved over time?

“We have gotten tighter as a band. Also, we have a better understanding of how we want to do things as a group. When we started, we didn’t have a road map laying out where we wanted to go; we just set a few basic parameters, such as we wanted to write songs that would be slow & heavy. By the time we finished the first record we’d succeeded in the slow and heavy aspect, but the music developed a kind of introspective element which we think you can hear on this album.“

The US in the heavy field is a country rich in artists, how do you see the modern scene in your genre?

“In this age of the internet, we are spoiled for choice. There are a lot of talented bands out there putting out really good music. The scene is alive and well with access to these bands having never been easier.“

What advice would you give to young artists approaching music with sounds like yours?

“People ask us two questions a lot, one is “instrumental, so you don’t have a singer?” and the other is “why don’t you have a singer?” So, make the musical choices that you like and take chances. Don’t be swayed by the naysayers or trends.“

Do you have any other activities or artistic passions outside of music?

“Outside of music I would say that Ryan has the most interesting activity of the three of us. He crafts beer and has brewed a beer for the band called “ Black Iron Stout”.“

I thank Kult Ikon for the interview and wish them all the best for the continuation of their artistic career.

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