<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You\u2019re a founding member of The Whigs, this catchy-ass band from Athens, and on the cusp of signing to a major record deal, you leave.<\/p>\n
Weird, but OK.<\/p>\n
Then your high school buddy Andrew calls, and says, \u201cHey, tour with my band.\u201d You do, and during that time the band, MGMT, becomes an international hit. You\u2019re atop the mountain.<\/p>\n
And \u2026you leave. Again. Hank Sullivant: Are. You. Crazy. Are you afraid of success?<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, that\u2019s stupid,\u201d Sullivant said with a laugh. \u201cI wouldn’t mind being the biggest thing in the world. I would love that. I just wanted to do my own thing and be extremely careful to do it the right way.\u201d<\/p>\n
If The Whigs was college, and MGMT was graduate school, then Kuroma is Sullivants job, and he\u2019s quite happy thankyouverymuch.<\/p>\n
An outfit with a rotating crew to go with its sundry of sounds, Kuroma boasts an album (Paris) and strategy (no MySpace) seeking to engage, not pander.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe goal is to have some aspect of you other people have to find out about and not you desperately seeking attention,\u201d Sullivant said. \u201cThat turns me off to a lot of bands nowadays. A lot of them don\u2019t have any nerve.\u201d<\/p>\n
With a whole lot of pluck and a little bit of patience, Sullivant now finds plenty of people seeking him out. In January the band supported Cold War Kids at New York\u2019s Mercury Lounge (\u201cAwesome. I told myself I\u2019d never use that word again unless describing mountains,\u201d Sullivant said.<\/p>\n
In March, the band has a half-dozen dates opening for Primal Scream, while April has Kuroma embarking on an extensive tour with Starfucker (\u201cIt was fun telling my mom that,\u201d he said).<\/p>\n
Hank Sullivant, meet mountain. Again.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter the careful starting out approach, things are rolling,\u201d Sullivant said. \u201cThe plan is to become the best band in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sullivant\u2019s path to Kuroma is an amalgamation of elements starting in Memphis with a guy named Andrew Van Wyngarden.<\/p>\n
Now one-halt of MGMT, Van Wyngarden and Sullivant then flexed their musical muscles in a funk band, a genre that doesn\u2019t reward poor playing. \u201cIt was important to be incredible at our instruments,\u201d Sullivant notes.<\/p>\n
Upon graduation, the two diverged. While Van Wyngarden started playing \u201csubversive Cyndi Lauper kind of stuff\u201d while singing to recorded tracks, Sullivant came to Athens to attend UGA and share in the town\u2019s musical wealth.<\/p>\n
At first, he was underwhelmed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was unimpressed mainly because of the musicianship, he said. \u201cI saw a couple of bands, and my first reaction was it was pathetic and wimpy. I knew there could be music that could stomp on it.\u201d<\/p>\n
With Parker Gispert and Julian Dorio, stomp he did.<\/p>\n
The Whigs were a revelation, pounding pop gems to SRO crowds. It was here Sullivant grasped the power of pop structure.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the bass,\u201d Sullivant said. \u201cI never played bass before. I would have left Georgia if I hadn\u2019t met Parker and Julian. Back then, the songs I wrote were all over the place, and Julian and Parker have a keen sense of pop structure. The big thing with The Whigs was we were young and wanted to stomp other Athens bands. That was part of the energy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWith MGMT, I admired the way Ben (Goldwasser) think about music. Moving to New York and playing with them was eye-opening. And Ben shared music that has messed everything up in my head. I don\u2019t know what\u2019s good or bad anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
Seeing where Sullivant\u2019s been makes it easy to understand where Kuroma\u2019s going; he did his own thing by piecing everything he loves with everything he learns. Paris tracks prove this, revealing chunks of funk (\u201cParis\u201d), pop (\u201cSearching For A Sheep\u201d), playfulness (\u201cAlexander Martin\u201d), and grunge (\u201cMay Be Im Lazy\u201d \u2014 \u201cKurt Cobain is amazing,\u201d Sullivant adds), while not making any effort to conceal its origins.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are copying each other but trying to hide it,\u201d Sullivant said. \u201cWith Kuroma we\u2019re copying people blatantly, absolutely stealing and doing nothing to cover it up. It\u2019s trying to introduce elements you\u2019ve heard a zillion times and repackaging it in a different context. It\u2019s making things hyper-real, truer than they were.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sounds like this time he\u2019s staying.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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