Bothering the Band - KIN
by RYAN BUYNAK
Get ready to fall in love with KIN, the London-based trio who’s busting out atmospheric indie pop blended with electronic keys and catchy guitar riffs. Their sound is unique, dynamic, and apt for evolution. Taking the music scene by storm, they spent the better part of 2019 playing gigs and building a following from Chelsea to Chicago.
Their debut single, Sharing Light, was released in May 2020 with their follow-up, L.O.V.E, premiering on Refinery29 in August. Together the two tracks have been streamed nearly 60k times on Spotify, and the videos have been viewed 35k times on YouTube. KIN was featured as one of Eventim UK’s weekly picks, who said they were “expecting big things in the future” from the band.
KIN consists of Grace Strickland de Souza, Adam Collier, and Ritu Arya, and they all have creative backgrounds; Grace is a performance maker and model, Adam recently finished a run at the National Theatre, and Ritu is a lead in the second season of Netflix's The Umbrella Academy. KIN has a growing and engaged social media presence; with over 250k followers across their individual and band accounts on Instagram. In the words of IndieCentralMusic.com, ‘you are bound to fall in love with KIN”. And we got to bother all three of them.
If you get a pimple, do you pop it or leave it?
Grace: Starting with the hard ones, hey? It really depends on where it is, how much it hurts and whether it is ready to be popped. It most likely will get popped though…
Adam: Pop that bad boy. Even though I know I shouldn’t…
Ritu: Pop every time. It’s a hobby.
Running errands on a rainy day in London, do you go umbrella or raincoat?
Grace: I have an absolute hatred for umbrellas so definitely a raincoat. When it rains here, which is all the time, London becomes a sea of black umbrellas. People here have no regard for personal space. Umbrella in the eye is a common injury. Plus, the streets here are like wind tunnels and the umbrella always wins and goes inside out. It isn’t worth it.
Adam: Raincoat while running errands (umbrella while going for a stroll).
Ritu: Neither, I just get wet.
Out of all your kinfolk, who are you closest with?
Grace: This is a trick question for me because I have a twin sister, Ella, who is my other half, my womb mate for life. My saying is; “from the womb to the tomb.” No one will ever mean as much to me as her. She’s an illustrator and has done all the single artwork for us which is the main reason I love her the most.
Adam: My Mum. She’s the smartest and most compassionate person I know. I’m fortunate to have a wonderful and extensive family, it’s everything to me. Our entire family is very close.
Ritu: Depends on who brought the snacks.
Would you rather share a lighter with Elton John or Phil Collins?
Grace: Elton John. Would have to keep it away from his outfits though, they look highly flammable. I’d ask if he had a spare set of glasses I could borrow, too.
Adam: Elton John, but only if we’re watching the scene in Almost Famous when they sing along to “Tiny Dancer” on the tour bus.
Ritu: Phil Collins.
What is your favorite acronym?
Grace: P.O.L.I.T.I.C.S. = Purely Outright Lies Intended To Infect Common Sense. Is that too heavy? Alternatively, W.W.J.D.D = What Would Judi Dench Do? Because, basically, we should all think like the master. Would Judi do it? No. Then I wouldn’t.
Adam: I have a good fact for this one! The word care in ‘care package’ is actually an acronym for ‘Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere’. These packages were put together by the CARE humanitarian agency to help feed people in war torn Europe after the Second World War. So yes, CARE. I also love WTF, especially this year...like WTF 2020?!
Ritu: BRB, FYI, TBH.
Have you all purposely synchronized wearing overalls?
Grace: I had to google “overalls”. Do you mean dungarees? We have never worn matching outfits. This needs to change.
Adam: Alas, we have not, I can but dream.
Ritu: No and I don’t know why, TBH.
If you could travel back in time to any year or era, when would you go and what would be the first thing you’d do?
Grace: I read someone on Twitter say they’d like to go back in time with a portable DVD player and the new film version of Cats just to show T.S.Eliot. I think that would be pretty astounding. Or to the Mesozoic Era. I’d also like to ride a dinosaur.
Adam: My grandparents on my Dad’s side passed away before I was born, I’d love to go back in time and meet them.
Ritu: I would go to the day I was born and hand baby me some drumsticks.
When’s the last time you were in trouble?
Grace: I’m always in trouble. But I’m never caught.
Adam: At one of the last gigs we played before lockdown, I shouted ‘who’s ready to rock?!’ into the mic before the climax of our final song. I ruined any pretension of being cool in that very moment. Grace certainly wasn’t impressed. I don’t blame her.
Ritu: I’m always in trouble and I do NOTHING WRONG; I think I have a sneaky looking face.
Have you been binge watching any shitty shows during these wacky pandemic times?
Grace: An awful one called The Umbrella Academy. In all honesty, it’s actually amazing, I watched season 2 in 3 days. I’ve mainly been watching Anime, I started watching Fullmetal Alchemist which isn’t the best I’ve seen, but is definitely entertaining.
Adam: The Floor is Lava. But I’m not sure I’d describe it as shitty because I think the creators are obviously very smart, they know exactly what they’re creating. I’d like KIN to appear on that show.
Ritu: Some may say Millionaire Matchmaker is shitty, but I think it’s genius and amazing.
What is your definition of Love?
Grace: It’s mid-summer, hottest day of the year, you go and buy the chocolate ice cream you’ve been craving all day from the best ice cream shop in town. The person you’re with accidently drops theirs. You give them yours.
Adam: There are many different forms of love but I think they all start with compassion and respect. Love is also voting Trump (which means fart in the UK) out of office.
Ritu: It’s what makes the goddamn world go round, and is truly the only thing we want and need and now I’m crying, TBH.