Kero Kero Bonito are a British indie pop band from London. The band consists of vocalist Sarah Midori Perry and producers and multi-instrumentalists Gus Lobban & Jamie Bulled. Their name's meaning is intentionally ambiguous, with one derivation from the Japanese onomatopoeic words for frog croaks and a type of fish. Other meanings include the Brazilian quero-quero bird while “bonito” means “beautiful” in Portuguese, thus "Beautiful Quero-quero" – or even "I want, I want beautiful" in a rough translation. The band's earlier work was influenced by J-pop such as Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, as well as dancehall, and video game music; however, the band's work following their 2018 EP TOTEP was influenced by indie rock bands such as Mount Eerie and My Bloody Valentine. Perry, who is half-Japanese, sings and raps in both Japanese and English.
History
Lobban and Bulled grew up in the suburbs south of London and went to school together. In search for a new band member, they posted advertisements, including on MixB, an online bulletin board for Japanese expatriates, largely due to their interest in "Japanese rap". Perry was one of the first respondents. They selected her based on her background in art, and their interest in her bilingual ability. Although she had collaborated with a Japanese girl group previously, Perry did not have a background in professional singing; instead, she was interested in collaborating with Lobban and Bulled simply because she "wanted to try it". The group released their debut mixtape Intro Bonito through Double Denim Records in August 2014. They wrote many of their songs featured on the mixtape using a Casio SA-45 mini-keyboard. The band contributed "Flamingo" to Ryan Hemsworth's compilation EP shh#ffb6c1. In September 2014, Kero Kero Bonito released Bonito Recycling, a compilation of Intro Bonito remixes by artists including Danny L Harle and Spazzkid. The band released the single "Build It Up", on which Perry sings in a call and response pattern, in November 2014. On 10 August 2015 Kero Kero Bonito announced their first North American tour, which took place during October 2015. On 21 October 2016, the group released their first album Bonito Generation through Double Denim Records. On 12 February 2018, the band released the single Only Acting. It departs from the band's previous electronic sound with a darker, rock-influenced style. Later, on 20 February 2018, the band released the EP TOTEP. The EP included the aforementioned single Only Acting, and other songs following the rock-influenced style. On 13 April 2018 the band performed their first 'full band' show. This involved two extra members, James Rowland on electric guitar and Jennifer Walton on drums and sampler, as well as Lobban on drums and keyboards and Bulled on bass guitar. Rowland previously played guitar on TOTEP. This change in live lineup reflected their change in sound following the EP. On 8 May 2018, the band released the single, Time Today, and announced their second studio album, Time 'n' Place, which was released on 1 October 2018. The album was sonically a significant departure from their previous studio album, and was inspired by radical changes in the band's personal lives following their tour cycle for their debut album. On 8 July 2019, the band uploaded "KKB Life" to Youtube, a vlog video recorded during the Time `n` Place era, announcing that a new era is starting. They announced a North American and Europe tour shortly after and released a new single When the Fires Comein September 2019. Later on in the month before the tour started they also released their fourth EP Civilisation I. In 2020, the band wrote and performed "It's Bugsnax!", the theme song for the upcoming video gameBugsnax, which was featured in its announcement trailer. The members of the band recorded their parts of the song remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Other projects
Electronic musician Spazzkid was a fan of Kero Kero Bonito and enlisted Perry to rap on "Truly" from his 2014 Promise EP. In 2015 she was featured on "Everyday", the debut single by producer Chroma-kei. Lobban also records music under the name Kane West. He won a remix contest for Tiga's "Let's Go Dancing" with Audion. He contributed to PC Music's mix for DISown. He later released his Western Beats EP through the label. Tiny Mix Tapes ranked the EP 31st on their list of "Favorite 50 Music Releases of 2014", and Fact placed Western Beats 33rd on its year-end list. The following year, his song "T.R.U.E.L.O.V.E." appeared on Folie Douce's second Confessions compilation. In August 2015, Kane West released the EP Expenses Paid on Turbo Recordings. Since 2016, Lobban has used this alias mainly to release remixes, with the exception of "Definitely Come Together", a collaboration with Cecile Believe released through PC Music during their Month of Mayhem. As well as Kane West, Lobban also releases solo work as Augustus, a project influenced heavily by Japanese city pop music. Under this name he has released an original song entitled "Vs.", as well as cover versions of songs by GFOTY and Perfume. He also provides vocals on the song "Money Won't Pay" by fellow London musician bo en. In addition to these two projects, Lobban co-wrote and produced two tracks on Saint Etienne's 2017 album Home Counties. Prior to Kero Kero Bonito, Bulled was a member of the band Kabogaeries. Since forming Kero Kero Bonito, Bulled now records music under the name Wharfwhit, with the 2016 single 'Elbows' and 2017 albums 'Evidently' and 'WHARFWHAT!?' released under this name.
