#IMExclusive: Kingswood Talk Little Simz, Tour Life & Plans for Their New Album
The Great Escape Festival is home to some of the worlds most incredible talent. Spread across 3 days and several stages in the seaside city of Brighton, it is a hub for both upcoming talent and seasoned professionals.
IndustryMe had the pleasure of seeing some amazing acts including Australian band Kingswood. Here’s what happened when we caught up with the boys for a chat after their show.
Let’s start at the beginning. How did the four of you meet?
Alex and I met at school, were in a band when we were 11 band, we did a cover of don’t want to miss a thing by Aerosmith it was very good and we all got girlfriends after it. We actually ended up opening for Aerosmith when we were a bit older, so that was a fun bit of full circle . Al rocked up at my house with a CD and lyric sheet and told me we had a gig in a week and was how it began.
What’s been the highlight of your career so far?
One moment…damn! Can we do top 3?
First time we got played on the radio. We all went bonkers
When we won Splendour Unearthed…gotta be up there. It’s the biggest festival in Australia we won the opening slot through a radio station called triple J.
Triple J have been amazing to us.
They are an independent nationwide youth focused station who ran a competition for unsigned bands. Our biggest festival show was Splendour at a beautiful theatre in Melbourne called the Forum.
Rock band, destiny’s child cover. Not exactly phrases you would expect to hear in the same sentence. Where did the inspiration for the cover come from?
I mean its destiny’s child!
Triple J – have this series called like a virgin where you basically take a famous song and perform in a way that hasn’t be done previous. We were on the end of the tour and we would have after-parties and we were always smashing it out after shows.
Our second album was more soul focused, with more gospel based harmonies and horns and we already had great backing vocalists. I mean its pretty unusual but the best things usually are
What’s the story behind the song for you?
Great memory behind our formative years, soundtrack to that time …super nostalgic transports you to these wild parties because you are at that age where you start to think
So you’re two albums deep and you’ve supported some major acts, what would you say you bring to the scene with your sound?
We are gonna be the saviours of rock n roll. No one is making grand rock n roll anymore. For our first album we made hardcore rock and our second was Beatles inspired with lots of soul.
Now for our third album we want to make rock n roll that’s romantic, grand and musically sound but still maintains the foundation of good songwriting.
We just want to make music that makes us excited, filled with riffs musicality big stories and singalongs.
You’re also on the last leg of your European tour, What have you enjoyed most about performing in Europe?
Usually its German snitzels! We try to get German or Austrian ones. This time around we got really bad ones and that’s one of our biggest regrets from this tour.
I loved Leeds, infact the northern towns in general.
Alex and our drummer got very sick in Birmingham through to our London show. They went to hospital, we picked them up drove to London, did soundcheck without them, woke them up 30 minutes before the show, they killed the show.
Have you had time to explore any of the sites?
We love to get out. It would be ideal to do a show day and a day off in every city we go to.
What are you currently working on?
Lots of stuff. I think the main thing is our third album. We have been doing drum edits while we’ve been on the road and plan to hit a few studios just to keep the ball rolling.
The album should be done within the next month – we are loading the cannons as the they say!
What is the inspiration behind the new record?
We were sick of the conservatism. We want to change peoples lives by the time the song finishes.
What can listeners expect from the new album?
If they’re not in love they are going to fall in love. If they’re married those fires will be reignited. What you do with the heat is up to you but fires will be formed.
The album should come with a warning label: contains incendiary riffs
If you could make an album of any genre outside of rock who would you want to feature?
If it wasn’t rock it would be hip hop or R&B. We saw J Cole in New York, he was great. It would be awesome to work with him. We actually saw Little Simz the other night shes incredible! She is just something else man, it was unreal. Lyrically sophisticated with Lauryn hill’s energy but more grimey. She has thought provoking lyrics and great hooks but also unpredictable production twists and rhythmic shifts like Kendrick, I don’t know how to explain it but shes sick.
Any final shoutouts or plugs?
Great Escape, South Australia, Gibson, Little Simz, Sam Tompkins that kid is gonna be a megastar
Photography by: KI Media