Eclectic duo hits the road

KINO Motel are packing their bags and heading on a regional tour.

The Melbourne band will be taking their grit pop sound to Ballarat, Kyneton and Castlemaine to promote their newest single Fingerprints.

Rosa Mercedes and her and bandmate and partner Ed Fraser have an interesting history together, having deserted a Berlin commune.

“Eddy and I met in a commune in Germany out in the forest, but we were also both working in different musical projects,” she said.

The pair travelled the world for a bit and shared a night of karaoke in a basement bar in Vietnam, where they discovered their unique sound.

“Eddy’s from the noise rock world and I’m from the folk world, we also loved to travel around together and we were singing karaoke together in Vietnam,” she said.

“We were singing some karaoke and we realised we liked singing together. Eddy brings the rough and I bring the smooth and we kind of enjoy the combo.”

“I’ll do a bunch of harmonies and things that are a bit melodic, and then Eddy will get in there and make it weird, and also get into a bit of harmonies as well.”

Unfortunate timing struck, however, when Mercedes moved to Australia in January 2020 and the bands plans were put on hiatus.

“We were going to go back and forth, get into surfing in Aus and write a load of music and then go back and forth wherever its summer basically and play shows,” she said.

“It’s a pretty bloody awesome place to be stuck so I’m not complaining, all our mates in Berlin are also in the same boat.”

Now they’re itching to get on the road and are bringing dance musician Our Carlson along for the ride.

“I’m so excited to go to these places I’ve never even been too and we’re just very excited to get out and about and play live music and see humans,” Mercedes said.

Catch Kino Motel at the Eastern on Friday, 9 July and listen out for their newest single, Fingerprints on 2 July. For all links head to the band’s Facebook page.