Bio

Originally hailing from Whakatane, two of the four musical brothers from the Kora family, Laughton and Brad, began playing together in the early 1990s in a band called Aunty Beatrice, winning the national Rockquest high school band competition in 1991 and the East Coast region Battle Of The Bands three years running, earning a release on Tangata Records for their efforts.

Dan McGruer studied commercial music at Whitireia Community College and is the only non-related member of Kora. He first hooked up with Laughton when they performed together in Queenstown band Soul Charge, playing and writing their own music.

In 2001 Laughton and Dan went out on their own, recording four tracks while on holiday in Queenstown, including 'Crazy Things' and 'Barely Can See', inviting visiting Madagascan tourist Lilou to lay down vocals on the song 'Barely Can See'.

'Barely Can See' has been released on Loop's 2002 Select 004 and on the EMI 2004 Compilation 'Conscious Roots' which has since gone platinum. The track was touched up by enigmatic electronic musician Lee Tui (aka Epsilon-Blue)

In 2002, 'Politician' was recorded after Kora won Coca-Cola's Launchpad competition. 'Politician' was play listed by 15 stations nationwide and held the #1 spot on Radio Scope's alternative charts for two weeks, whilst staying in the top ten for 8 weeks.

Kora featured on The Living Room which aired on TV2 in April 2004. They have also performed at the Kaikoura Roots Festival, SoundSplash, George FM Groove In The Park, Auckland 05, and they have toured with Shapeshifter and Salmonella Dub.

The band headed to the studio in mid-2004 to lay down a limited edition EP for both their home market and overseas release. So far the EP has reached #4 on the IMNZ (Independent Music New Zealand) Chart, #1 on the Groove Guide New Releases Chart and #3 on Amplifier's 2004 Best Seller listings.

Kora perform with an infectitious, up-beat, reggae cut.

Band Members:
Dan McGruer (keyboards, bass)
Laughton Kora (guitar, keyboards)
Francis Kora (bass, vocals)
Stuart Kora (guitar, vocals)
Bradley Kora (drums, vocals)

Links

• Artist Website
• Amplifier Page
• MySpace Page
• Facebook Page