My name is Armando, I am the drummer in Electric Kif.
We are based out of Miami. The scene is relatively small but is full of killer original music that I think the national scene is only just catching on to….
As a drummer, I began when I found my uncle’s drum kit in a closet in his house and forced him to set it up. From there I played along with my favorite records until auditioning for music school at University of Miami.
The Kif started as a trio when Eric (our guitar player) met Digo (our bass player) and immediately connected on records they both loved. They decided to start a band and formed a power trio along with the original drummer (Ale Fernandez). The Kif’s first record – sessions – is this trio.
After some time touring and creating with the Kif, as well as other projects, our new album JEFE is finally done and ready for release. We could not be more proud to share it, and we believe it is the best representation of ourselves we have ever achieved on record.
Apart from our musical influences like Radiohead, Rage Against the Machine, Jimi Hendrix, and all the usual suspects – I believe the record was influenced most by our experiences in the last two years. The touring, the many shows, and our relationship as a band grew and evolved to the point where it infiltrated our musical identity in a deep way.
We actually booked three days in the studio with very little music prepared, and began to create as much as possible, avoiding distraction. We really liked the idea of having our gear set up and coming in and just “pressing record” each day. A lot of the record was created off the cuff and it honestly surprised us. We left this session with a new energy to create something next level for us, and spent the next year crafting those ideas into what the record is today.
We recorded in Miami at a place called The Bridge, which is a somewhat musicians hub where people rehearse, record, etc… It was tracked by our good friend Brian Robertson, who absolutely helped form the sonic pallet of the record.
We used standard Logic Prox through an Apollo 8p. As far as instruments, many were used! It is certainly a power quartet record so drums, bass, guitar, and keys are the foundation. However, electric and acoustic guitars, synth bass, Rhodes and organ, countless synths such as moog and prophet, percussion instruments, and many different tools were used to get the sounds we wanted.
The most challenging aspect of JEFE was probably the way in which the compositions came about. Since there were no written compositions when the day came to record, a lot of the writing happened after the fact, piecing together ideas that were recorded. However, this almost backwards process, while challenging, proved an insanely rewarding part of the process. It developed a different avenue of creation that resonated with the band and played to our strengths.
Any and all platforms! ElectricKif.com, Bandcamp, ITunes, Amazon, Spotify, etc etc..
In the immediate future we have our local record release party on September 14 at Lagniappe House in Miami. Soon after that, we will go on tour along the east coast and a couple other new cities as well!
All four of us listen to a lot of different music, so it’s hard to list everything. But some music that we have been digging into includes Anderson Paak, Kamaal Williams, Khruangbin, Aaron Parks, Thom Yorke, Tigran Hamasyan, Salif Keita and a ton more.
My favorite food changes depending on the day you ask me, but right this second I could go for some Pho. For us, some of our favorite places to hang out in Miami are Lagniappe, Jada Coles, Las Rosas, Citadel …. to name a few.
