Sundara Karma are currently flying the flag for indie-psych and the quartet from Reading are certainly making some serious movements in the UK music scene. We were lucky enough to talk to lead-singer Oscar Lulu, shortly before their set at The Faversham, as part of our Live At Leeds Festival coverage.
So how did you guys manage to keep on top of your love for music, as well as trying to balance college work at the time?
I don’t know if we really did manage. Well, Haydn definitely didn’t as he dropped out of college, so I think that speaks for itself. I think the balancing act was a bit one sided. At the end of the day, trying to focus on college work is incredibly hard when you have this drive for music. I think that’s why we ended up not going to uni, although if I’m honest I wouldn’t change anything considering how well stuff has ended up for us. Something has to give at the end of the day; it’s a lot to ask of someone to carry out work alongside touring. Whoever can do that deserves some sort of special award.
With all the relentless touring you do, how do you find the time to produce new material?
I think it’s really difficult to write when you’re on the road. Luckily our album is pretty much finished, so there’s no real pressure to produce anything else at the moment. I think in a way it’s great, as we can just enjoy the live shows without having to worry about doing anything else. I think people understand that too, like there are so many distractions and it’s hard for everyone to focus their thoughts into something creative. I know some bands and musicians do find themselves capable of doing it but it’s not for us I reckon. But maybe that’ll change at some point, who knows. Your main objective is just to fucking play and have fun. I find writing is better when you’re by yourself and your thoughts can just flow.
You’ve previously said the plan is to get your debut album out over the summer, is that still the plan?
Yeah, it might be just after summer though I think. Maybe after the Reading & Leeds performances, it might even be September time. But we’ll see, you never know with these things. There’s definitely nothing set in stone just yet.
I’ve also read that you’ve targeted your live shows as an area that you think you can improve on as a band. After all the touring you’ve done over the past year, are you happier with their execution now?
Yeah, I think it’s something that’ll always have room for improvement. I don’t want to come out and say, “yeah, we’re at the top of our game”, as that’s probably where you start becoming a bit complacent and you can get lazy. We’re always keeping an eye out for any unpolished bits that we think we can spruce up and we normally discuss how we think a gig went after we played. I think that’s key to progressing as a band; you can’t expect to get better if you don’t learn from your previous mistakes.
When people listen to you guys, they’re quite surprised to learn that you’re from Reading due to the unique style of your music. Are there any defining influences that you’d say are key to your music?
At the moment, being completely honest, it’s something that changes daily. Right now, we’re listening to loads of funk and soul. The Gap Band were an incredibly talented bunch of cool guys who made some incredible music and then you have the likes of Stevie Wonder, The Real Thing, Funkadelic – I don’t know, we’re just really loving that sort of vibe at the moment. So who knows what the second album may end up sounding like. It’d definitely be interesting for us to incorporate a bit of ‘Superstition’ into Sundara’s sound.
Have you got any definitive plans for what you guys are planning on doing once your hectic summer period has ended?
I won’t lie; it’s probably just going to be us playing more gigs. That’s the thing, when the new album comes out we don’t really have much chance to have ‘a holiday’ as such, so we’re just going to keep going. At the end of the day, we’re musicians and if we didn’t love touring then we wouldn’t be doing all this right now. You never know, there might be some more music out much sooner than you think. I think touring will be something that we’ll continue to do up until the back end of 2017 or when we reach a point where we physically can’t cope with living in the same clothes for weeks on end.
Are there any aspects of touring that you find hard to cope with or just generally dislike?
Yeah, having your own shower is definitely something that I miss. It’s just the little home comforts that you don’t really appreciate at the time, which turn out to be the things you miss the most. Although I can’t really complain about spending a lot of time in hotels, although it’s not always like that. Touring definitely isn’t the glamorous lifestyle that many people make it out to be. Unless you’re in some band that’s selling out Wembley and you’re staying in places like the Ritz most nights. Maybe one day we’ll get that, who knows.
And finally, what excites you the most about playing Live At Leeds Festival?
Oh, the free booze without a doubt. Maybe a little bit of the music and how insane the crowds are, but that’s just something on the side.
Words and Images by Lewis Evans