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Kid Confucius
 Something of an anomaly in Australian music, Kid Confucius are a nine-piece soul and hip-hop group who have been compared to the eminent (and disparate) likes of Marvin Gaye, Kanye West and even The Beatles. Whether or not they can live up to these comparisons is still up for debate, although the group's MC PreFab (a.k.a. Andrew Guirguis) is quietly confident regarding the band's future and integrity. And why not, with artists like Josh Homme (Queens Of The Stone Age) and Moby being caught asking for autographs.
Guirguis chuckles over their Splendour In The Grass mischief, fondly remembering the experience.
"We had a video camera and we thought how cool would it be to take footage of as many of the big acts at Splendour as we could. Our lead singer Rob [Hezkial] was talking to all these people and he decided he would just get them to ask for his autograph, on camera, and next thing we spent the rest of the weekend tracking down lead singers from every band that was playing, all of them asking Rob from Kid Confucius for his autograph. We had everyone on camera doing it from Moby to Josh Homme. They were all great sports! We actually put the footage online for a while, so it'd be a rare piece of footage if you could get your hands on it. We put it up on Youtube, it's very cool."
With nine musicians onstage at a time, Kid Confucius' live show is always going to be something a bit interesting, especially in hip-hop - surely a touch more exciting than one guy with a mic and another behind some turntables. Guirguis is quick to remark that, although there is a hip-hop influence there, the group definitely think of themselves as something a bit different.
"Ultimately we see ourselves being very different to the other acts that may or may not make up an urban scene in Australia." Guirguis states, carefully. "After recording the new album we almost see ourselves as being an obscure rock band of sorts, that just prefers to play soul music rather than pure rock. Rather than the other way round, being a soul or an R'n'B band that prefers to play on stage. We like to play on festivals with other more rock bands, we like to think that we can mix with that circle."
With a slot as part of the Adelaide Fringe, there's a decent chance that a fair bit of the audience may not have heard of Kid Confucius and may not even like hip-hop music...
"Being a nine-piece band, it's like the theatrical nature of it happens by default, with so many guys on stage and so many different sounds emanating from it. The size of our band has always been the drawcard but on top of that, we really see the live show as a performance from start to finish. It's not just about playing songs, it's about entertaining. Our lead singer has grown up on a mixture of Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson...James Brown, so he's up there dancing and running around and calling on those influences while he's on stage.
"Playing a festival like the Adelaide Fringe is a chance to play in a city we've only played in once, in front of a lot of new people and a lot of people who probably have never heard live soul before, or might not even like hip-hop. It's a challenge but it's also a really enticing prospect to potentially win over some new people."
Which is essentially what they've been doing since they formed and, with their new album 'Stripes' having recently been released, a whole host of converts to the Kid Confucius cause will probably emerge.
"We've been around a few years and we probably will keep building [our fan base] but we're not in any way a fad. We're not the band that's overnight drawing thousands of people to gigs and attracting record companies from all over the world and whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, I don't know. Whether that kind of stuff happens quickly and then it fades just as quickly. I like to think that we are consistent and we can maintain what we do and we can maintain our fans without the kinds of fads that come and go."
BFS
Kid Confucius play at Rundle Park as part of the Fringe Festival Opening Night on Thurs 8 March
'Stripes' is out now through Inertia
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