With 70 Puppets, Turntablist Kid Koala Brings a Live Graphic Novel to SFJAZZ

Even though he’s from Vancouver and based in Montreal, Kid Koala is Bay Area music royalty.

In the late ’90s, the turntablist joined forces with rapper Del the Funky Homosapien and producer Dan the Automator. As Deltron 3030, they dropped a concept album like no other: a sci-fi epic about an intergalactic fight against corporate domination. It went down as a classic, with world-building that could be studied alongside that of Octavia Butler and Ursula K. LeGuin.

Kid Koala has used his scratching prowess in service of storytelling ever since. Along with his Deltron comrades, he worked on Gorillaz’s debut album in 2001. He’s written and illustrated graphic novels with accompanying soundtracks, and composed for hit films like Looper, Baby Driver and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. And more recently, in his most ambitious efforts, he’s created stage shows with puppeteers and string ensembles.

Two of those productions will soon arrive in the Bay Area for Kid Koala’s residency at SFJAZZ. From Aug. 1–4, he’ll present a live adaptation of his graphic novel Nufonia Must Fall, a charming, quirky story about a robot falling in love with a human woman. The following weekend, Aug. 8–11, he’ll stage The Storyville Mosquito, a surprisingly tender tale about an insect chasing his dreams of musical fame and fortune.

Both of these shows play out like films that come together live on stage. Puppeteers bring characters to life on hand-built sets while cinematographers capture the action. The audience can look up at a screen and watch the story unfold like they would at a movie theater, only to look down and see it being acted out in real time. Meanwhile, Kid Koala performs a live score on turntables and keyboards, accompanied by a string ensemble and Foley artists doing sound effects.

Even after decades of touring with huge names like Radiohead and A Tribe Called Quest, Kid Koala says Nufonia Must Fall and The Storyville Mosquito have been the most fun he’s had on stage. Each production is a delicate feat of teamwork and timing. “I’ve never felt that kind of synergy with everybody on stage and even with the audience, who know that at any moment the show can fall apart,” says Kid Koala, whose real name is Eric San. “But we keep it together somehow.”

Nufonia Must Fall has been touring for over a decade, and a key collaborator in developing it was director K.K. Barrett, an Oscar-winning production designer who has collaborated with Spike Jonze on films like Adaptation., Her and Being John Malkovich.

After meeting Kid Koala backstage at one of his shows, Barrett immediately got on board. Over the years, Nufonia Must Fall and The Storyville Mosquito have only grown more intricate. Each features 70 puppets, live special effects and elaborate filming techniques that mimic drone and crane shots.

Both shows have a quaint, old time-y aesthetic that stems from Kid Koala’s early love of Charlie Chaplin films. He watched them as a child with his grandmother who only spoke Cantonese, and grew to appreciate how physical comedy can overcome generational and language barriers.

Kid Koala’s two touring productions are also dialogue-free, which has enabled him to take them to five continents. Whether they’re in San Francisco, Tokyo or Abu Dhabi, he and his collaborators look for ways to add nods to local audiences — sometimes updating sets two hours before the show.

Kid Koala’s favorite part of these project is “challenges that our team kind of sets up for ourselves,” he reflects. “How do we make the scene funny, or how do we make the scene more poignant? Or how do we make the music more grandiose?”

Kid Koala is forever drawing and tinkering with musical hardware in his laboratory-like Montreal studio, looking for ways to push his creativity forward. He teamed up with Montreal production company Outsiders on his first feature film, which is an adaptation of his 2011 graphic novel Space Cadet, about a robot who raises a young girl who grows up to be a space explorer.

“Even though they’re lightyears away from each other, they have this connectivity,” he says. “It deals with the cycles of generations and loss. … I remember it was dealing with my grandmother passing and trying to process that somehow. But then also I was expecting my first daughter.”

At the moment, Kid Koala is in the process of wrapping up the credit sequence, and he expects Space Cadet to hit the film festival circuit next year. This fall, he has a few music festivals lined up with Deltron 3030, including the sold-out Portola Festival in San Francisco on Sept. 28. The trio is working on new music, too. Dan the Automator just sent him three new tracks he’s cooked up with Del.

But before Kid Koala can think about what turntable effects he’ll add, he has boxes of puppets to unpack as he prepares to take the stage at SFJAZZ next week. “The energy we get from the crowd in SF is amazing,” he says with a smile, “so very much looking forward to that.”

Kid Koala presents ‘Nufonia Must Fall’ at SFJAZZ Aug. 1-4, followed by ‘The Storyville Mosquito’ Aug. 8-11. Tickets and details here.