Kingswood have rock and roll in the blood. If you don’t believe me, just ask their grade six teacher – a very early lineup of the group played in a primary school cover band.
Their crowning achievement was a heartfelt version of Aerosmith’s ‘Don’t Want To Miss A Thing’. How were they to know that, a few years down the line, they would actually be opening for Aerosmith at Rod Laver Arena? I ask singer Fergus Linacre if he or anyone else from the band admitted to their preteen crush, but he insists they played it cool.
“Steven Tyler came into our room before the show and said ‘look at this motley crew, look at your hair!’” he tells me with a laugh. “He was carrying on and telling stories about when he was our age and driving around in a flower truck.” The show was Kingswood’s biggest to date, even if playing to an arena crowd was an intimidating experience. “You have people rolling in all the way through your set, and oldies sitting up the back. You don’t know what to expect from something like that.”
The boys did manage to ruffle some feathers at the show. “Someone actually emailed us after the gig saying that our language was inappropriate and that we were too rude,” Linacre says. “I don’t know exactly what we said, but he just said that we should all grow up.” He seems baffled that such prudish types would make it to an Aerosmith show. “I mean, Steven Tyler’s wanking the microphone off and chucking a water bottle in his crotch to pour it all over everyone,” Linacre says. “I don’t know what they would have made of that.”
Kingswood are all set for a national tour, after which they’ll be heading to Nashville to record their debut album. Before that, though, they have a short film to release. The film, made by the band themselves, is called Some Motherfucker’s Gotta Pay. It started out as a music video for their raucous track ‘Ohio’ before blossoming into something much bigger and grander. “The song’s been out for ages, but we just kept going and going on the video,” he says. “If we like an idea, we really don’t hold back!”
The band dreamed up the idea for their Tarantino-esque film one delirious night as they were driving back from a show. “We were in our van on the way back from Sydney,” Linacre says. “Alex and I were up the front, and we started dreaming up a story about three or four gangs who are after a prize, which is called The Cheddar. By various circumstances, all these gangs end up at a bar, where there’s a big shoot-out. The bar scenes were actually shot at The Annandale.”
The film features a variety of guest stars – Sticky Fingers are in it, as is Seth Sentry, and Mambo guy Reg Mombassa plays the baddie. “He was the original possessor of The Cheddar, and when he comes back and he’s not happy, he’s as scary as hell,” Linacre says. Where can we expect to see the film? Well, that’s a long story. “We figured it wouldn’t pass any of the classifications for Rage or Channel V,” Linacre says, “but Channel V are quite keen to pick it up based on the preview. They haven’t seen the whole thing yet, and I wonder what they’ll think when they do…”
Needless to say, the film features a lot of blood and splatter. “My mum’s really excited to see it,” Linacre says, “but I’ve been preparing her for the possibility that she won’t like it.” She and the Rod Laver Arena couple may want to steer clear, but everyone else should prepare to have their minds blown.
BY ALASDAIR DUNCAN
Kingswood plays The Annandale Hotel on Thursday June 6 andSmall Ballroom, Newcastle on Saturday June 8.
