Tell us about Lord Knows. The band members, the project, and all.
Lord Knows – Brandon DeLord (Brandy), Nathan Laurent, Gab Lubin, Eddy Kojo Adarkwah, Michael Jong (MJ), Stephen Peralta (Stevie P), Ray Mariscotes, and Jason Watts.
Lord Knows began as a few homies linking up and jamming together around (2019?). It was a loose collective of producers/musicians from our area who showed up with whatever they had and did their thing, bouncing around different places to jam.
Over time more heads peeked in and joined the band, we started streaming our sessions when we got together every Sunday and dubbed it Sunday Service. We only came up with a name for ourselves; Lord Knows, in early 2022.
None of us could’ve guessed we’d be doing gigs and eventually releasing our debut project. Each of us just genuinely love music and want to contribute to the sound, I think people see that and support it for its authenticity.
How did the project come together?
After our Dreamstream gig in Feb 2022 we got approached by Danny aka A.kid to release a project under his label Mandarin Dreams, we came up with a bunch of cuts from our jams that we recorded over the years and through Danny’s help as executive producer we chose the best tracks and refined em’ to eventually form the project.
How long has this debut release been in the works?
With all the processes involved it’s been about 2 years till now coming to the release date. A long time coming for sure
You have drawn inspiration from icons like D’Angelo, J Dilla, and Madlib. Are there any local artists you are inspired by?
Definitely. Electric Empire, Silent Jay, Hiatus Kaiyote, Izy, and honestly, ourselves and each other in the band just to name a few.
Along with all the different artists and musicians from the Areaz, the sound wouldn’t be the way it is without the people we know and grew up alongside with.
The album features collaborations with Ladybrxwn and Nikodimos. Tell us a little bit about working together?
Our feature with Ladybrxwn is a cut from one of our jam sessions, she’s been around for a while as one of the many heads that’s come to be there and jam with us, having her around has been a natural blessing.
With Nikodimos we actually sent a cut from an old session over to, which he then added his touch with the BVs, Sax, Guitar and Percussion. When we got it back our minds were blown, he understood the assignment hahaha, we knew it was the one straight away.
Do you have any dream collaborations? Both locally and internationally?
We’re down to jam with just about anyone, but if we had to choose; Yusuf Harare Jnr, Baro, Dylan Atlantis, Inquisitive Minds, the Hiatus Kaiyote gang, Rei so La and NURU INDI. from our side of the world.
Dwele, Donnell Jones, Jon Bap, Yusuf Dayes, Mndsgn, MIKE, and Eyedress from the international stage.
How were the tracks for the release created? Were they improvised? Recorded live?
The tracks in the project were all taken from different sessions we had over the years, some are really old, some are newer, at this time of writing they’re all old as hell to us now lol.
We refined them by re-recording some parts and adding some elements/sections over at the old Judah Studios and Park Orchards Recording, keeping the essence of the jam in mind.
Do you have any favourite moments from the studio?
Too many. There are moments where all of us would be jamming and get stuck in a trance, we’d be in that state for 15-20 minutes riffing off eachother. An example of that being the last track in the project; Matrix.
What’s one word you would use to describe Lord Knows?
Distinctive
Do any of you collect records and have a favourite store to go digging (aside from Northside Records of course)
A few of us do! Other record stores we go to in Melbourne are Plug Seven, The Searchers, Wax Museum, Radical Records and Licorice Pie.
What are your plans for Record Store Day 2024?
We’re gonna pull up to Northside records to play a few songs off the project, then jam for a little to celebrate our vinyl release, come through!