Doomed Confessionary: Johannes Kyning (Kyning)
Kyning from Leipzig, Germany blend elements of stoner with the very best of metal and heavy rock into a typhoon of sound. You can recognise their widespread influences reaching from the greats of stoner history like Sabbath and Kyuss, the “Greek school” around 1000mods, Naxatras and Planet Of Zeus, as well as progressive bands like Dvne. Their very unique sound is defined also by elements of early thrash and hardcore.
Kyning’s debut album »Ān« was released in 2021 via Interstellar Smoke Records. »Crop« is the band’s second attempt into prog stoner avantgarde to fathom the vortex of human thrownness. Oriented towards the aesthetics of progressive metal and popular music, »Crop« is a journey into the realm of the mythopoetic past. Join their descent and let the vast black ensheathe you. New full-length album »Crop« just dropped on May 1st, 2024.
Can you say a few words about your band?
Imagine Toto having a good time with Deftones whilst Kyuss is giggling on the sofa and none of them recognises System Of A Down peeping though the keyhole. Initially, it was hard to imagine for us as well!
What was the biggest challenge for the band?
Recording an album in a studio with a tight time schedules while writing a MA thesis between takes.
What can you be most proud of so far?
Our two guitarists drive two very different guitar tones. Johannes likes his full-valve stacks with high output and open mid sound. Matthias loves his Kemper and prefers the scooped, modern metal sound. Not only bringing these two tones together but really making them ring in the context of our songs was a good bit of work and something we are really proud of. I think »Black Forest« from the new release is a good example of the two guitars ringing, responding to the other while giving the individual enough room to spread its love.
What was your biggest regret?
No regrets.
What was the best concert/tour so far and why?
We went to Poland for a couple of shows back in 2022. Just seeing the amount of energy within the local scenes was great. There is some great DIY stuff going on in the most inconspicuous places and it was really inspiring to see the creativity and support!
What was the biggest surprise on the music scene for you?
Being in a band in the vicinaty of the stoner underground scene there are some presumptions: Long hair being banged at the shows. Check. Some herbs that evaporate at the shows. Check. But for the love of Ozzy we thought that there would be more fog machines around!
We absolutely love to flood the room with fog and only red light coming through and then: the opening riff. Unfortunately, many venues apparently don’t have fog machines or don’t allow bands to bring their own. Now we have to improvise and our bass player swears it belongs to his pedal board.
What is currently in your heavy musical rotation?
Olhava. Atmo black metal from the shores of lake Ladoga. Especially the eponymous album »Ladoga« is just great. Sounds like it has been recorded through a waterfall and pulls you right into it.
Dvne. We were really big fans of their 2017 album »Asheran« – just finesse from start to end. But their new release »Voidkind« just delivers and brings back the heaviness.
Svømmebasseng. Everyone loves a good synth pop. And these Norvegians trvly deliver!
What was the best advice you’ve ever been given as a musician?
That you don’t _have_ to play each and every gig. So: playing live is like the most fun for us. But it’s also really stressful: the schedule juggling, logistics, driving, costs, being annoyed by your hypochondrical singer, etc. Especially when we started playing live, we wanted to literally play at every possible oppurtunity, which causes all sorts of blessures. Sometimes, and this is something the great Dani of 1000mods taught us, it is ok to _not_ drive 500km to play the tenth show in a row.
What are your guilty pleasures?
Whiteberry lillet with an Olivia Rogrigo record on. But no guilt here, only pleasure!
Can you say something more about the music scene in Leipzig?
Leipzig is great for music heads and musicians! Many great artists come around and play the big venues while just a couple of roads further some great band plays in a bar or pub. There is a vibrant underground scene here, especially if you like extreme metal, hardcore punk or stoner. Basically, if you want to see live music today, there will be a concert for you. And if you just hang out at a show there will always be a known face around.
Where can we see you live this year (concerts/tours)?
We have a couple of shows coming up in Leipzig and surrounding. Last year, we had a change on drums and our singer is having a wee this summer. That’s why there is no big Kyning festival tour coming up in 2024. But if you are in the area, we’d love to see you. For all the others, we plan some more shows for 2025. Sorry!
What are your plans for the future as a band?
Right now, we wanna get back to work on new songs! In the past couple of months and while we were in the release process, we accumulated tons of ideas and snippets, lyrical themes and stuff we wanna amalgamate into new music. While we worked on the release, we were really focussed to polish the tracks the best we could and just dug into them. Now, we let the ideas flow and just play and see what will come out. Don’t know where they road will lead us but it’s going to be fun for sure!
How can people best support your band?
Just come to our shows and watch us play. That’s the number one to support us: feel the energy, enjoy some beverages: have a good time together!
Do you have any message for your listeners?
On track 4 of our new release »Crop«, in the song »Laid To Rest«, we hid something in the C part. The first 10 people who find it will get a special give-away! Just message us or comment, post, or get in touch otherwise.
Apart from that – just thanks for your time reading and listening. It means the world for the underground scene! <3
Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well