EKKAH are an upcoming disco pop & funk band fronted by Brummies Rebekah Pennington and Rebecca Wilson. Born from the ashes of their previous band The Arcadian Kicks, this duo are set to take their club-friendly sound to the next level. I had the opportunity to ask them some questions after their gig in Manchester:
First things first, how did you find the gig?
RP: “Aw it was really really good, a great show up north, I love playing Manchester it was great!”
How did the show compare to the rest of the tour?
RP: “It was great yeah, we played Sheffield as well was which really good, a lot of the northern dates have been great which is really cool. We’ve done about five dates now and they’ve all been fun.”
As Mid-landers then, do you prefer the North to the South?
RP: I’m not saying that, I’m not saying that haha! I mean people seem to be quite up for it in Manchester which is cool. Birmingham is a bit of a middle ground I suppose.”
You’re quite a new band at the moment but you were previously involved in your previous (Indie/Emo/Rock) band ‘Arcadian Kicks’. What prompted the change in musical direction?
RW: “Well we started our old band when we were just fifteen and we did it for quite a few years, and I guess we just grew out of it. Everyone grew out of it but we wanted to carry on doing music so we formed EKKAH.”
How do the two different genres compare when playing live?
RP: “It’s different.”
RW: “Yeah it’s definitely different, it’s not as full on I mean we have choreographed dance moves now!”
It’s a lot shinier!
RP: “Yeah there’s a lot more sequins haha!”
You recently covered ‘Spinning Around’ By Kylie Minogue, is there anybody else you would like to cover or potentially work with in the future?
RP: “In terms of working with people I think our dream would be to work with Nile Rodgers from ‘Chic’. He’s our biggest hero and we actually met him when we played British Summertime (festival) which was amazing.”
Speaking of festivals how was playing Glastonbury this year?
RW: “It was just so great, playing BBC Introducing and just being at Glastonbury was really cool.”
Have you found BBC Introducing to be helpful then?
RW: “Yeah they’ve been really supportive. We’re a new band obviously and they’ve been able to give us loads of great opportunities.”
With the rise in popularity of bands such as yourselves, CHVRCHES and Haim; do you think the music industry is changing for women?
RP: “I hope it is, there are a lot more female artists out there. We haven’t experienced any different treatment.”
RW: “It’s hard to say. I think because more people are talking about it now it seems like a ‘thing’ but there’s always been so many female artists like Blondie and stuff.”
RP: “It’s cool now that there are festivals that do female only stages, we’ve played a few and it’s great to see some of those acts. Hopefully it’s changing for the better!”
