Ok so we have the first profile and it's Cornish based band Kola. The band is headed up by Ryan Jones and completed by Harry Harding, Annie Gray and Daniel Cole. Artwork crafted, baked and photographed by Ryan Jones.
I met Ryan around the time he parted company with Hitchcock Rules in 2009. It was here that he was working with new band Greydog. Greydog played at a hi5 Art Collective event we organised in St Austell in 2009, and from there we have kept in contact and he's become a good friend, and even buys me the odd cup of tea now and again. In 2010 Greydogs songwriter and guitarist, Matthew Upsher, tragically drowned while surfing at his local beach, Perranporth. The band still play locally but with the death of Matthew and the break up of The Hitchcock Rules, there was a void which fuelled a feverish desire to create something monumental. So Ryan took the matter into his own hands, again, and has begun another journey with his new band Kola. Ryan is a maker and shaker in the best sense of the word, and someone who inspires others with his vibrant energy and lust for music and artistic endeavours. I am listening to the EP as I'm typing this and the eb and flow of the songs is rolling through my ears and the defining character of all the songs is Ryans voice. Not unlike Neil Finn of Crowded House with layers of instruments building into melodic and uplifting choruses. Kola's music is reminiscent of 60’s American folk but the delivery has a distinctively British flavour and it does indeed feel like the beginning of an exciting journey, and with Ryan at the helm I have no doubt that Kola will be the next biggest thing to leave Cornwall.
Here's a short story about how the band, and how the first ep was born.
Ruins is the first E.P in a patchwork of songs written and recorded throughout the long winter of 2010/11. Themes of Hope and endeavour join the immutable undertone of an impoverished, lonely winter. Song writer and front man Ryan Jones convinced Jazz Drummer Harry Harding into giving up the lease on his flat with the promise of a well paid tour. When the tour transpired to be a hoax Harry had no other choice but to join Ryan for the winter living in The Orphanage, a run down, drafty old studio in the darkest depths of Cornwall and previously home to Joe Francis and Marty Smyth of the Winter Mountain Band.
It was all part of the plan! Ryan and Harry had recorded the album by early spring. They were joined by Daniel Cole and Annie Gray to complete a touring line up. Now after a summer of gigging the first E.P is due to be released. The original Ruins tapes were revisited at the end of the summer to include the harmony vocals of Annie Gray and Daniel Cole. The E.P is due for release in November.
Harry has declined an offer to spend another winter in the Orphanage… for health reasons.
Thank you for reading through our short story. I am very happy to have reached this stage in the development of Kola and especially for the music on this E.P to have reached you.
Should you need to contact Ryan for any further details then his email address is ryanajones@hotmail.co.uk and his phone number is 07976 835 386
you can catch up with them on facebook too.
you can catch up with them on facebook too.
Their first E.P Ruins is due for release in November.
