July 18, 2025 |
“London to the world”, reads the first line of jazz collective Kokoroko’s Spotify bio. A nod to the locale of the band and where each of its seven members grew up, it’s equally telling of what they wish to reflect in their music. Releasing their debut self-titled EP in 2019 and a debut album, Could We Be More, three years later, the group have used their music to hold a mirror up to the multiculturalism that makes the Big Smoke a thing of beauty. Using afrobeats and jazz as the foundation for their unique, horn-led sound, the septet’s sophomore album, Tuff Times Never Last, released last Friday, folds in layers of West African disco, bossa nova, neo-soul and ‘80s R&B born on UK shores to write a love letter to balmy London summers spent sun-soaked, laughing over pub tables and BBQs.
Released via Gilles Peterson‘s Brownswood Recordings, the record is steeped in nostalgia and feels reminiscent of the sounds that dance through the Black communities the musicians call home. “To us, if you grew up in an estate in the summer, it was the sweetest thing in the world,” says co-bandleader and percussionist Onome Edgeworth of using the record as a means of combatting any misconstrued narratives around their upbringing. “[Summer meant] an African home with 10 cousins barbecuing and music blazing from every car and house.”
Drawing inspiration from artists such as Loose Ends, Patrice Rushen and Cymande, the album is offbeat yet intentional, eclectic in its roots and honey-smooth in its delivery. Listening to the offering adds a tone of serendipity to this warm, blue-skyed summer we’re having. Tuff Times Never Last certainly provides the soundtrack for it. Here, we hear from bandmates Edgeworth and Yohan Kebede about the artists inspiring them right now, the lessons they’ve learnt in production and how they feel about playing their biggest headline show, set to take place at Brixton’s O2 Academy on September 25.
1. You’ve just released your second studio album Tuff Times Never Last – what inspired this body of work?
Onome Edgeworth: We wanted to write an album that we’d love playing live and that would bring us all a bit of joy. I think that inspired everyone – writing with this group of people, going away to record and eating together. It helped us create and reflect, ultimately leaving us with these songs about moments and people in our lives. We really love them.
Yohan Kebede: Initially, our musical references were almost exclusively West African. For example, our live shows featured quite a lot of covers of songs by Pat Thomas, Fela Kuti, King Sunny Ade and Antibalas. We definitely haven’t lost that influence, but over time have gained the confidence to start really thinking about where we want to take this music, and being brave enough to bring our other influences into the mix. Sweetie for example has that 80s Atlantic Starr sound that we all love, or Closer To Me with that strong D’Angelo influence – they both maintain the principles of a lot of the music we started with, but have incorporated other things that we all listen to day to day.
2. You mention Tuff Times Never Last being a testament to resilience – what challenges did you face during the making of this album?
OE: Haha! Finishing it! It took so long, but each song is kind of a testament to the album title. Some things don’t work at the beginning or just get tricky and bad. That’s the case with a lot of these songs. A lot of them found light right at the end, working through them all has been so worth it. The tough times didn’t last.
YK: We’ve been together a long time now, probably about 10 years give or take, and we’ve all grown so much in that period. Despite that, I’d say it’s really only in the past two years or so that we’ve kind of figured out our collective and individual creative processes. It’s been a journey of learning how to really write, and really produce, and really arrange – even engineering for some of us. This teething process has definitely been a part of this album’s story but I think you can hear how far these elements have come when you listen to the tunes on this record.
3. Who is one artist inspiring you right now?
OE: A band called Zena led by our very own Yohan Kebede and the wonderful bassist Menelik. Beautiful music.
YK: Demae! She’s featured on one of the songs on the new album – Time and Time. Everything she’s doing at the moment is brilliant. Lady Donli is another one. She’s a superstar!
4. Who is one artist that always inspires you from the past?
OE: We listened to a lot of Loose Ends at one point whilst writing this album. Great band.
YK: So many names to name! Jean Adebambo is one. She was a Lovers rock singer from London but originally Nigerian. I remember first hearing her voice on a Lovers rock compilation a few years ago and thought there was something distinctly British about the way the song was played. A few years on and we play one of her songs in our set. We’re always surprised more people haven’t heard of her. I hope she gets her flowers as time goes on! Also, naturally, in a group this big, Earth, Wind & Fire are massive influence. Making something sound like a group instead of seven individuals (especially vocally) isn’t an easy feat and they did it so seamlessly.
5. If you could collaborate with one artist on the scene right now, who would it be?
OE: Raphael Sadiq. A joint Kokoroko and Lucy Pearl album would be a dream.
YK: I’d probably say Amaarae. She’s taken herself so far, all while writing such interesting and original music. And among all that she still holds it up for the continent. It would be great if we could collab, I think we’d do something pretty special.
6. TTNL was given its name after a viral social media meme, what’s a meme you can’t get out of your head right now?
OE: That’s a very risky question with some of the people in this band haha. Let’s just say its forever tough times never last – only tough people do RUDEGLUUGHGLAUBUDUBLUHBLEH.
YK: Myself and our bassist Hurcs are obsessed with the clip of Lebron James talking about a deluxe album as if it’s a revolutionary idea he just came up with. He tops it off with “here go two more for y’all”. We say that at random points throughout the day for no reason.
7. We’re three years on from your debut album Could We Be More, what lesson did you learn producing that album that you’ve applied to Tuff Times Never Last?
OE: I think just getting deeper into the songwriting process. Enjoying it more and having fun with it. We really learnt loads in that last process as our tastes have developed. Getting deeper into that world, and taking things less seriously has been the focus.
YK: Let mistakes be! We’ve discovered so much sauce in the things we didn’t get quite right in the recording. By applying a general rule of ‘don’t stop the take’, you take yourself out of the moment a little and let things unfold as they may, which ultimately produces a take that you could have never intentionally created, and that’s where the juice is. Additionally, I think we’ve developed in our individual capacities to make a record. If you stepped on the tour bus, you’d see us laughing at/with each other, sleeping or locked into our laptops working on separate musical projects.
8. How does it feel to be playing your biggest headline show at Brixton O2 Academy?
OE: Nuts! We used to see people coming out of the station going to gigs there – some of our parents saw Fela Kuti there and we’ve seen a lot of great shows there too. It feels like a big deal!
YK: Amazing, it’s always great to play in our city, but somewhere as iconic as that? It’s crazy. Some of us have been going to gigs there for years, so to be on stage now is a dream come true. Even just walking past sometimes and seeing our names outside is a bit surreal.
9. Where do you imagine your audience listening to Tuff Times Never Last?
OE: I imagine people listening to the album in Ally Pally as the sun comes down. On the beach. In a hot car with the windows down. In the shower. Everywhere!
YK: Anywhere at anytime! This record feels timeless. It has that old school flex to It but I think we’ve written songs that feel pretty fresh. The combination of those two elements places it perfectly I reckon. I can hear it in parks on someone’s speaker on a summer evening, but also in people’s AirPods on the northern line on a Monday morning as well!
10. Do you have any pre-show rituals?
OE: Maybe struggling to get dressed in time?! We huddle up and talk before every show. Each night someone different speaks to warm us up and get us connected. Sometimes its inspirational, sometimes it’s not so serious, but it sets the tone.
YK: We all kind of do our own thing in the buildup to a show, but right before we go on, we huddle up and nominate one person on the spot to bless the performance. We all come from different backgrounds but we all share an upbringing rooted in God, and we bring that on stage with us. Doing what we do for a living in front of people who love and appreciate us Is a blessing we’ll never take for granted.
Photography by Delali Ayivi.
