Zoe Konez - vocals, guitars, piano
Will Connor - drums, percussion
Influences
in no order: PJ Harvey, The Used, Mew, At The Drive In, Mars Volta, Jimmy Eat World, Dredg, Ani Difranco, Blood Brothers, Garbage, Pretenders, Biffy Clyro, The Faint, Incubus, Imogen Heap, Glassjaw, Jackson Pollock, Coheed and Cambria, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Bjork, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, Thea Gilmore, Placebo, theSTART, Mogwai, Get Cape Wear Cape Fly, UNKLE, Tegan and Sara, Deftones, Queen Adreena, The Donnas, Pixies, The Turner Prize, Fiona Apple, The Fall Of Troy, Levellers, DJ Shadow, Haruki Murakami, Doves, Madonna, Take That, Regina Spektor, And His Voice Became, Gossip, 65 Days Of Static, Bertie Blackman, the sea, George Orwell, reggae and dub, John Butler Trio, early Oasis, Iron And Wine, the Waifs, my friends, my foes, my home, Kaki King, Jeff Buckley, Sahara Honights, Skunk Anansie, Otti, Tubelord, Juliette and the Licks, CSS, RX Bandits, that silly metal band I used to be in, seasons, Transfixion, Joan As Policewoman, Feist, Rose Kemp, memorable acquaintances, My Vitriol, Dale Campbell, Minus The Bear, Patrick Wolf, people being bad and people being good, The Junket, Listen acoustic night, System of a down, Lidl, Head Automatica, Melaton, Isis, Declan Bennett, Distillers, Skin, Martha Wainwright, Fidgit, Hastings and St Leonards, spontaneity, sexuality, peta, independent spirit, words and sentences, opportunities, quotes and thoughts, randomness, photos, pioneers, travelling, people, architecture, originality, injustice, occurrences, Australia, missed chances, serendipity, weather, bad decisions, Yours.... ..
Since writing her first song aged only 11, Zoe has played in bands and as a solo performer in various extraordinary places. From streets to park bandstands, up trees to under canvas, in regular bars and not so regular bars, Zoe has seen a lot and been seen by a lot more. The many festivals under her belt, including Two Thousand Trees, Cambridge Folk Festival, Beautiful Days, TMF Festival, Brighton Pride and the south's own Black Horse Festival, have reinforced Zoe's live reputation.
Performing as much for the need for letting things go as she does for the love of losing herself in her guitar, managing to contain frustrated passion alone becomes a demanding spectacle for anyone who isn't paying attention properly. Her future-thinking and provocative lyrics grab you with their passionate, sincere delivery. Memorable melodies entangled with every emotion, daring you to think about them, are neatly rolled up and expertly launched, reaching the furthest member of her audience. Once described as a "one-woman aural assault", Zoe's charismatic vocal energy combined with the complimentary clash of intricate finger picking and powerful playing makes for all watching unable to stop their listening.
Zoe ran her own Listen Acoustic night for 2 years at venues on England's south coast, drawing the talents of performers both local and international. Being involved with such a vast amount of musical talent this way, along with her experience in working collaboratively with other musicians and bands (metal to indie pop), has helped her explore an array of styles on the acoustic and electric guitar, singing as both a backing vocalist and taking the lead. This creative collaborating with so many musicians has helped her develop her own style. Zoe is a distinctive, rhythmic guitarist. Her experience playing both acoustic and electric guitars in wide-ranging music projects has evolved into a fusion that can only be identified as Zoe. When asked about this she puts it down to being self-taught. "I've never had patience with studying the standard way. As soon as I learn the basics in something I wander off to create my own path. I experiment with different tunings by randomly de-tuning strings, creating chords and melodies by ear without thought for scales and formula."
Will's drumming takes the role of reinforcing Zoe's sound with his jazz/funk influenced textures, on an array of percussive set ups, from djembe and shaker to unusual drum kit constructions. Will and Zoe first met 10 years ago, forming a band in their early teens, and after many years apart and a chance meeting they formed the 2 piece band that forms the present Zoe Konez live show.
After a recent 9 month adventure busking and gigging around Australia - a trip that ended with a residency at legendary Melbourne venue The Espy - Zoe returned armed with new songs inspired by her travels and since debuting them live this year in various live set ups - solo or with Will on percussion or full drum kit, Will and Zoe are now recording an album due be finished to coincide with dates in Australia in March 2010.
haha yeah i remember haha good night dont let on but i deleted it hahaha, i would love to have you on a show, im going to be setting another acoustic night up soon so we will have to get you on it!
Hey Miss Konez, I'm liking the poster for Smuggs, its groovy ,and eye-catching too! Hope ur keeping well , see you soon. I'll help u put some posters around too X Tim
No Probs, love your stuff. Thx for accepting, we just put some new songs up, my favs a bit cheesy. It's called No Fairy Tale, would love your feedback.
Just to let you know I've invested in some new printing presses so we can now print much larger quantities of full colour flyers, leaflets, posters etc. If you've got a big gig coming up, check out my website for some amazing launch deals on leaflet printing, flyer printing and poster printing.
Hey, awesome tunes! Particularly the guitar work in 'Tell Me Your Name'. The varied sound makes the tracks really easy to listen to, 'Scream It' really kicks around the 2min mark! If you both need any promotional shots, live or otherwise, let me know! I'm always on the look-out for interesting acts. Cheers, Aaron
