With Outlines coming up this weekend, I thought it’d be a really excellent opportunity to interview KONG. Originally from Sheffield, these lovely guys, who won Exposed Magazine’s ‘Band of the Year’ award, were more than happy to share their views on the Sheffield music scene. Here’s what they had to say:

You’ve been compared to bands such as Milburn and Arctic Monkeys. Who would you say were your main musical inspirations?

Tricky one this. Because we’ve all come different musical backgrounds it’s hard to pin point any, a lot of our lyrical inspiration comes from punk bands like The Clash as well as some of our chord based guitar lines.

Some of the more riff based songs are influenced at base from Black Sabbath as that’s what our guitarist and bassist grew up listening too.

Sheffield has a rich music scene. How have you found it as a new band making your way in the city?

Yeah it’s a brilliant city for music! There’s loads of events, shows, and things happening pretty much all the time in Sheffield, which is obviously really good to have around you as a fairly new band.

With all the big shows going on, the vibrant scene here, and with so many bands currently doing so well it surely can’t be too long until one of them takes off massively.

From the KONG perspective we’ve done a lot in a relatively short space of time and winning the Exposed Magazine ‘Band Of The Year’ award was a big one for us. The Sheffield crowds that come to our shows are great and I think Sheffield is right up there with Manchester and Bristol as blossoming music scenes.

As well as the locals, Outlines and Tramlines attract a lot of new people to the city. What places would you recommend they visit whilst they’re here?

From a musical perspective definitely Plug on the Friday night, because you can catch us there! But for nightlife others like Leadmill and Harley, to be honest though, there’s not really many places you can go wrong with as there’s such good acts on across the board.

During the day we’d say head down Division Street for shopping, take a ride on the Supertram to Kelham Island and go have a wander around there (Fat Cat for lunch)

Whatever people decide to do they need to get ready for Sheffield folk because we’re the friendliest, warmest people in the country. (you might need to be aware that we’ll call you ‘love’ or ‘duck’ as a term of affection as I know that can shock people from out of the city when they first hear it!)

I can imagine Outlines will be a very busy time for you guys. However, are there any bands you’re going to try and see?

We are going to MAKE time for Outlines Festival – that’s how it should be so we are planning on heading all over the festival go check out the likes of The Wytches, Jagwar Ma etc but also to go and support our fellow local bands who we are big on like SHEAFS, Liberty Ship , The SSS and Trash. Our last words would be come see us, and then go see all of the Sheffield bands who are on the lineup because something’s definitely cooking in the Steel City right now. Big up Outlines Festival for showcasing it all alongside the bigger artists that are coming. Thank you Outlines!

Don’t forget to catch KONG at Outlines Festival this weekend. They’re playing at Plug at 7pm on Friday!