โKhaki Feverโ (pronounce โKar-Kee-Fee-Verโ) is a London-based, upbeat, and whimsical two-piece band-pop duo. Even though Khaki Feverโs music is synth-heavy, it still has a live feel to it and incorporates elements of indie rock, funk, pop, and rock. Khaki Feverโs sound is so varied and wide-ranging that it has something to appeal to everyone. Sam and Gio believed it was past time for the groove to heal the world as they emerged from the 2020 pandemic. Since then, Khaki Fever have put in countless hours at their studio, The Fever Factory, creating some of their best work. Their demos have received praise for being โutterly huge,โ โbeautiful, ethereal, and truly astounding,โ and โepic sounding with a hint of sentiment.โ Samโs intense love for catchy melodies and gritty vocals gives Khaki Fever a distinctive and rich texture. Gioโs incredible sense of orchestration, groove, and danceability have combined to make Khaki Fever an unstoppable force that will stop at nothing to produce the greatest music ever! Check out the exclusive Interview below:

1. Can you tell us a bit about where you come from and how you got started?
KHAKI FEVER:
We met in a recording studio Sam was working in before lockdown. We then didnโt see each other for six months until Gio called looking for someone to go on a night out with โ an offer Sam simply canโt refuse. ย
We didnโt see each other for another six months until Gio called again during the first lockdown asking if we could jam. We were both going insane not being able to perform and play music.
The jam went better than we could have hoped for, we instantly clicked musically and socially so Gio moved into Samโs flat two weeks later.
Because of lockdown, there were no gigs then, so our main focus was on making records when we started. We spent every day working on our sound all the way through the Covid period.
2. Did you have any formal training or are you self-taught?
KHAKI FEVER:
Gio has been playing since he was five. He played all the way through college and then studied Popular Music and Recording at Salford University.
Sam is self-taught and started his musical journey when he was 18. Although he didnโt study music at university, he spent most of his time in recording studios, rehearsal rooms and on stage.
Both of us had played across lots of genres in the past but never really found our home in the music world before we started Khaki Fever.
3. Who were your first and strongest musical influences and why the name โKHAKI FEVERโ?
KHAKI FEVER:
Khaki Feverโs first and probably strongest musical influence was the band Jungle. After both of us expressed our love for their tight grooves and quality production, we started drawing influence from a rang or artists and genres.
From a songwriting and structural perspective, we draw a lot from Stevie Wonder, Led Zeppelin and Elton John. In terms of tonal and groove-based inspiration, Parcels, Foals, KC and the Sunshine Band and Daft Punk are a few artists we draw from for our current sound.
Weโre always listening to music and find inspiration in both new and old artists. The most recent band weโve started listening to are Busty and the Bass โ an awesome band with a great vibe. We can see a similar trajectory in the future of our music too.
The name Khaki Fever came from the two of us brainstorming names in the studio. We liked the idea of โFeverโ โ it has that lighthearted, smooth and cheeky connotation to it that weโre all about. We were thinking of colours to go with and came up with โKhaki Feverโ.
After a quick google to see if the name had been taken already, we found that it was the term used to describe women who had an eye for men in uniform coming home from the war. Our instant reaction was โ โyep, thatโs it โ get that Khaki Fever boy!โ

KHAKI FEVER:
Khaki Fever is characterised by groove-based rhythms, dynamic movement and a euphoric blend of genres. For want of a better term, we love โBIG SOUNDSโ โ nothing makes us happier than hearing that epic chorus hit at the end of production.
The three releases we have out and the EP thatโs coming out in 2023 are all fairly uplifting. Beginning as a lockdown project, itโs important to us that we write music that take people somewhere happy at the moment. Weโre looking forward to exploring more melancholic moods in our writing in the future, but for now weโre all about that uplifting energy!
5. For most artists, originality is first preceded by a phase of learning and, often, emulating others. What was this like for you? How would you describe your own development as an artist and music maker, and the transition towards your own style, which is known as retro pop/funk?
KHAKI FEVER:
We spent about a year, maybe 18 months in this discovery phase. We pride ourselves on fusing genres together well, being able to do so tastefully has been a journey and weโre really happy with where weโre at now.
This first year involved making our own sample libraries, discovering synths and guitar tones that really complimented our vibe and a hell of a lot of trial and error. The first three singles we have out now really encapsulate this journey.
Now weโre harnessing those sounds and tools outside of our usual studio to somewhere new so we can apply them to new songs with new inspirations. We have a new producer in the south of France โ Joe Woolf โ who weโve brought on board for our upcoming EP as another set of ears and talent to help steer the ship and create musical contingency across the whole EP.
Before this point, I think another creative mind behind the wheel would have been too many chefs in the room, but now we have a clear sense of where Khaki Fever is going, itโs the perfect time to bring on the brilliant Joe in making our best records to date.
The next EP, out in 2023, will mark the transition from us finding our feet to us finding our home in the music world.
6. Whatโs your view on the role and function of music as political, cultural, spiritual, and/or social vehicles โ and do you try and affront any of these themes in your work, or are you purely interested in music as an expression of technical artistry, personal narrative and entertainment?
KHAKI FEVER:
At the moment, Khaki Fever is more about personal narrative and entertainment and we think the first three releases are certainly reflective of that. Itโs likely so too will our next EP. Creating a vibe and a feeling is really important to us and is at the heart of Khaki Feverโs musical delivery.
Personal narrative is something we always base our work on and we share those experiences with each other when weโre writing. At the same time, we try to make sure our music is relatable to our listeners, so we avoid being too on the nose with specific experiences in our lyrics as we want our listeners to be able to interpret the music in a way that suits them.
While this will remain the theme for the foreseeable future of releases, we have some songs in production that certainly touch on more personal subjects and social issues. But we will always strive to express these in a way that can be interpreted by all listeners.
In terms of music in general, thereโs certainly been a trend of mainstream music becoming less political, cultural or spiritual. Thereโs a few reasons for this, but I think a significant part of it is because the way we consume music now is very different to thirty years ago. Streaming platforms have allowed listeners to expose themselves to such a variety of genres which makes it hard for any one genre to be backed by a specific community.
More often than not, the question โwhat kind of stuff do you listen toโ is answered with โI listen to a bit of everything reallyโ and while some might think itโs not the most interesting of answers โ it is probably the truest.
Thereโs an argument to say that this has taken away some of the heart and meaning behind popular music which I can certainly understand. On the other hand, it means as people listen to a wider variety of music, theyโre being subject to a wider cultural spectrum which I think can only give the listener a more balanced view of the world. It does wonders for the fusion of genres and therefore the fusion of culture and I think thatโs quite a beautiful thing in this day and age.
7. Do you feel that your music is giving you back just as much fulfilment as the amount of work you are putting into it, or are you expecting something more, or different in the future?
KHAKI FEVER:
As well as an artist, Samโs also a music producer. He tells his clients โlove the process, and if youโre not doing that then youโve already failed as an artistโ.
Weโre absolutely looking for more in the future, bigger gigs, a bigger fan base, interest from labels etc. But what we love is that feeling of being on stage, the feeling of nailing that guitar part in the studio and honestly just having a laugh as we work together.
Thatโs what Khaki Feverโs all about and if weโre not getting fulfillment out of the process then I think it would be quite difficult to convey uplifting messages of happy days and great times.
8. Could you describe your creative processes? How do usually start, and go about shaping ideas into a completed song? Do you usually start with a tune, a beat, or a narrative in your head? And do you collaborate with others in this process?
KHAKI FEVER:
The very beginning of the process differs depending on who starts the song.
Gio starts with a melody/beat and is inspired by things in the world or other songs that have made him feel a certain way in the moment. Heโll then aim to revisit that feeling in his own writing.
Sam generally starts his songs more introspectively. Heโll start writing about something thatโs on his mind either at present or at some point in his life. The initial vibe or emotional delivery will often come from a memory.
At about 20% of the way through writing the track weโll come together and riff off each otherโs ideas until weโre at a place where we know the message of the song is properly delivered. Then weโll dive into the nitty gritty of music production and make it sound more polished with focus on tone and groove.
When it comes to collaboration โ we love bringing people onto our tracks. Bringing other people into our music is always great โ theyโll bring something to the table that we may have overlooked. The core structure and message of our songs, however, will always be from the two of us. On of the things weโre looking to develop moving forward is to integrate our nine-piece live band into the recording side of Khaki Fever.
Bringing on our new producer Joe for our next EP has been a great way to get some objective ears on our music and itโs really exciting to be working with someone who can see the same vision as us.
9. What has been the most difficult thing youโve had to endure in your life or music career so far?
KHAKI FEVER:
We want to preface this answer by saying our goal is to live off Khaki Fever. We both work other jobs (fortunately also in music) to pay the bills, but our real aim is to sustain ourselves on Khaki Fever.
Gio: โNot being able to work on Khaki Fever nonstop is always difficult. Lockdown had its benefits as we could spend all day every day on it, but now we have other commitments and canโt sustain ourselves on Khaki Fever alone. Balancing life with Khaki Fever is always a challenge.โ
Sam: โMy mental health suffered a lot during lockdown. If it werenโt for Gioโs call to start writing music, I donโt know where my headspace would be right now. Given that our goal is to sustain ourselves off Khaki Fever, I put a lot of pressure on myself to work on our music. Thereโs no quota for how much work to do so I end up overworking and itโs not healthy. Itโs something Iโm working on, and I am improving for sure, but the last couple of years havenโt been easy.โ
It often feels like weโre trapped in the passion for nothing but music โ itโs not a job, itโs a lifestyle that we canโt ever leave because itโs why we get up in the morning. Itโs inescapable which is both beautiful and crippling at the same time. But to be honest, we wouldnโt want it any other way and itโs that relationship with the life of music that makes the whole journey that much more rewarding. How poetic โ maybe we should write a song about itโฆ

KHAKI FEVER:
Meeting each other has been great both socially as well as musically. Itโs difficult to find people to work on music with. Lots of artists have egos, different tastes and different visions. I think weโre both proud of each other, our personal musical achievements within Khaki Fever and our ability to work together so well. Weโre both weird as hell and quite frankly no one else would want to work with us anyway haha.
A great moment for us was our first in person fan congratulated us after a gig and complimented us on exactly what weโve been striving for in terms of stage presence and the way weโd crafted the songs for live performances. It was just a nice signal that maybe weโre heading in the right direction โ itโs always hard to tell whether youโre on track as an artist. We shared a pint he bought for us which was the first real income Khaki Fever had made at that time โ sweetest tasting half a pint weโve ever had.
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