Wah Wah Live: Kotoa + Him & Earl
Soulful independent record label Wah Wah 45s return to the Fox & Firkin for the second in their new series of live focussed events celebrating this eclectic and always forward thinking imprint that has been running for over 27 years!
On Friday June 5th, Wah Wah 45s present a very special live double-bill!
Celebrating the release of their new single, Love & Light, released that very day, Kotoa are a 5 piece band from Loughborough Junction, South East London, made up of drummer Laurie Campling, bassist Frank Black, keyboard player Sam Hillier, guitarist and vocalist Memphis Koloi & saxophonist and vocalist Maia Avery.
Having signed to Wah Wah 45s in 2025, Kotoa brings a refreshing sound, blending political rhetoric, soulful melodies & heavy bass lines. Deeply influenced by dub, trip-hop & the recent rise of African inspired jazz, Kotoa are a rising force in Brixton’s historic music scene.
Following on from the success of their first Earthwise EP, and their cover version of Fela Kuti’s Zombie, which received support from Gilles Peterson on BBC Radio 6 Music and Worldwide FM, this exciting young outfit present their brand new single, entitled Love & Light, taken from the forthcoming Out of the Dark EP. Produced by revered musician and engineer Benedic Lamdin (Nostalgia 77) it’s an uplifting yet provocative EP that seamlessly shifts between Afrobeat, dub, jazz and deep soul.
Singer-songwriter Olly Him and DJ, producer and composer Wyndham Earl both have deeply-dug roots in the south coast of England, with the former making his name as a solo artist before exploring his soulful folk sound with a number of live acts, and the latter collaborating on albums and sharing stages with Bonobo, Khruangbin, Alice Russell and TM Juke, having remixes released by Tru Thoughts and Mr Bongo Records, and releasing his solo projects on his Time Spun imprint.
The pair first met in 2015 when Wyndham produced some songs for now defunct hypnotic Afro-folk outfit Creatures Of The Deep, of which Olly was a founder member. They instantly clicked, but after the group broke up it wasn’t until some years later that serendipity brought them back together. A chance encounter at a gig led the duo to reignite their fire for working together, and they began to hatch plans to make a full album under the name of Him & Earl with Olly writing the songs and Wyndham arranging and producing the project.
With its sonorous yet strangely uplifting and mellifluous feel, their forthcoming full-length debut, entitled Falling Backwards, is a mystic brew of desert blues, English folk, Americana and stirring southern soul, with tentacles stretching out into psychedelia and prog.
The double LP officially drops on June 26th, but signed advance vinyl copies will be available on the night!