Kula Shaker represent a swaggering oddity within British pop culture. They headlined Glastonbury twice in the same weekend, supported Oasis at Knebworth, and secured one of the fastest-selling debut albums in history. None of this should have been the case.<\/p>\n
If you swanned into any A&R office in the world and said, \u2018I\u2019ve uncovered your next big band: they\u2019re a mystical blend of psychedelia, transcendental philosophy, and Kurt Vonnegut-like storytelling,\u2019 you\u2019d be laughed out of town. Alas, Kula Shaker have made a living out of defying odds, expectations, and what is known to the public ear.<\/p>\n
Their latest album sees them liberated and pointing fingers in their own quirky, original manner. As frontman Crispian Mills explains of the lead single, \u2018Good Money\u2019, \u201cIt\u2019s a story about a boy in a small community, who grows wings and how the local people come to treat him. Some think he\u2019s a freak, some think he\u2019s a cherub, others cynically see him as an opportunity to make money\u2026. Is it a metaphor for the music business? I\u2019d say it\u2019s a metaphor for life.\u201d<\/p>\n
These tales are everywhere on Wormslayer, the new album due out in January 2026. The record finds the band repackaging everything that they have loved before in a whirlwind of evident inspiration. As Mills added, \u201cI hope people enjoy the twists and turns that this new record takes you on. We always loved those psychedelic records that had great songs, great production, great storytelling, and took you on a journey.\u201d<\/p>\n
So, with unknown journeys and past loves in mind, we asked the band to recommend us one of their deepest inspirations that we\u2019ve probably never heard. They came back with a breakdown of the masterful \u2018It\u2019s a Sin to Go Away\u2019 by We All Together. They breakdown the little-known 1973 record from the Peruvian outlaws below.<\/p>\n
Crispian Mills of Kula Shaker on \u2019It\u2019s a Sin to Go Away\u2019:
\nCrispian Mills: \u201cBefore Tame Impala were even a twinkle in their father\u2019s ballsacks, brothers Saul and Manuel Cornejo from We All Together were weaving their melodic web of psychedelic dreamery from deepest darkest Peru. For decades, fans in the West were strictly niche, but after the compilation album Nuggets 2 featured the band\u2019s song, \u2018It\u2019s a Sin to Go Away\u2019, a few more lucky listeners got the chance to sample their Peruvian delights.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe track opens with Fudgey organ swirls, ushering you into the rainforest, before removing your still-beating heart with fuzz bass, backwards shizz, echo-drenched vocals \u2013 and not a panpipe in sight. We\u2019re not sure what they\u2019re singing about, but it sounds prophetic: something to do with human sacrifice and tortilla chips.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThirty years later, some thieving Aussie buggers (fuelled no doubt by a night of marmalade sandwiches) would climb the ancient stone temple steps to fulfil the Cornejo brothers\u2019 prophecy, taking We All Together\u2019s sound into the 21st Century hit parade.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the Peruvian group arrived in the 1970s, the band looked to bring the latter psychedelic legacy of The Beatles forward into the new decade.<\/p>\n
Alongside their Uruguayan buddies, Los Shakers, the band pioneered the sound of a South American hippy dream, but sadly, both acts struggled for wider success beyond niche appreciation among \u201870s collectors prior to the Nuggets 2 compilation.<\/p>\n
That same seamless blend of groove and Paul McCartneyisms can be heard in Wormslayer as Kula Shaker look set to bring back lava lamps in 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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