Mississauga duo K.I.D is not kidding around. They just released their new single, “Errors,” today, the follow-up to their indie hit “I Wish I Was Your Cigarette.” Both of these tracks highlight the pair’s unique and eclectic pop/rock/punk sound, which is further showcased in their recent self-titled EP. What is possibly most notable about them is that their rapidly growing viral fame is translating into hot-ticket gigs with the likes of July Talk, The Beaches, Bleachers and Fidlar and a worldwide fanbase of K.I.D shirt-wearers. Next up, K.I.D will be headlining a special hometown show at The Drake Hotel on September 20 and gearing up to tour their upcoming debut album.
We chatted with K.I.D – Kara and Bobby – after their TIME Festival set and they gave us the inside scoop about their “mundane” upbringing, recent near-death experience and why 2017 will be their year.
How are you enjoying your time here at TIME Festival?
Bobby: It’s awesome! There’s great beer, great bands, hot girls…
Kara: There are hot boys too! I also like that there are just two stages and it’s kept simple so the smaller bands are actually getting exposure. Our friends Sahara played and they were awesome. I’m also excited to see Broods, Run the Jewels and Kehlani.
Bobby: Broods has that song with Lorde right? That’s such a great song. Tell them I think that song is lit.
For people who have never heard of K.I.D, how would you describe your sound?
Bobby: Garage pop pornography groovy.
You are both from Mississauga. Has living and being raised there influenced your sound at all?
Bobby: I don’t know if it’s influenced our sound but it’s definitely influenced our perspective.
Kara: It’s influenced our outfit choices 100 per cent.
Bobby: We’re very Dixie Outlet Mall-core. K.I.D is just a romanticization of our lives in Mississauga – all our visuals and our lyrics draw from that kind of mundane, unimpressive sort of manic depressive youth! [laughs]
K.I.D gave a stellar afternoon performance at this summer’s TIME Festival in Toronto. (Photo credit: Angela McLean)
You’re not biological siblings, but you have become very much like brother and sister. Tell us about how you met and then began writing and recording music together.
Bobby: We were on a lot of medication so our memories are kind of blurry and we don’t really remember forming the band. We just know we spent a lot of time together and played a lot of gigs.
Bobby: So, we kind of became really close and we developed this mutual very specific way of thinking about art. We had metaphorical art sex and conceived an art child.
Your hit single, “I Wish I Was Your Cigarette,” has been getting a lot of airplay. What inspired it?
Bobby: It’s about this super hot guy named Patrick who plays guitar for a big rockstar. We had gone to that rockstar’s concert and afterwards we were at a bar and this guitar player was there and he was just smoking his cigarette outside with his perfect mouth, and we were like, hey, we envy that cigarette. So, we went home and wrote this song.
During your TIME set, you played five new songs from your upcoming debut album. What can you tell us about those songs?
Bobby: They’re all pretty different. Some of them are New York punk style and garagy and some of them are more French dance music inspired, but they all feel cohesive because they’re all coming from a similar place. We played one new song called “Errors” which is our new single. We’re really excited about it and it’s cool to have a first single that’s so honest.
The official single artwork for K.I.D’s new release, “Errors.”
When can fans expect to have the album in their hands?
Kara: Beginning of next year! 2017 – it’s our year.
What else is next for K.I.D?
Bobby: We just shot a really special video for “Errors” and we can’t wait to show it to everyone. We almost drowned – twice.
Kara: We had a shot where we were in a pool and it was like an aerial shot.
Bobby: We had to stay in place for the shot and your body doesn’t naturally stay in place in a pool because of the current, so they had to tie us to chicken wire and pull us and these things were weighing us down.
Kara: We also had to float for five hours and I had to lip sync, so it was tough but we tried not to be divas about it.
Bobby: It was tough. I was wearing a bath robe in the pool and it sucked up all the water and it was like pulling me to the bottom. It was worth it, though. The video looks good.
Thank you, K.I.D! “Errors” is available now on iTunes, Spotify and other streaming platforms.
(Photo credit for header image: Nadia Lee Cohen/Umusic)
