1.Growing Up
Growing up I never really learned an instrument, but I used to watch Rage religiously on channel two every weekend morning. Then, in grade seven, I formed my first band, The DB2. It was a hip hop duo with raps about cows and codfish. Things got real though when, in grade 11, I joined my first band playing drums on upturned Tupperware containers with chopsticks. My family are not musical, so I didn’t have anyone round helping in that way, and it has been a process trying to overcome that pedigree.
2.Inspirations
As a drummer, I’m inspired by players with their own sound: Zigaboo from The Meters, Ginger Baker who plays with Fela Kuti, Stewart Copeland from The Police… These are all drummers I respect in that way. Mostly, I get into music with a deep groove and some swagger: trancey music. Not trance music, you understand, but trancey in its effect on an audience.
3.Your Band
Kingfisha is a band that loves roots, reggae and dub music. Most of the time we can agree on what is hip and what sucks, and that makes long car trips much more bearable. Aussie bands that we kick around with and love are One Dragon Two Dragon, Kooii and Ruby Blue. Production-wise, we like working with Drewid, Peet Gardner, Frank Booth, Paulie B and King Charlie.
4.The Music You Make
The Kingfisha sound is quite organic in that it is a live band with a vocal, but at the same time we have a bunch of synths and live effects too. It’s basically got a huge swinging beat, lush melodies, sparse but tight arrangements, and everything drips in reverb and delay. Bands like Disrupt, Little Dragon, Mad Professor, Electric Wire Hustle, Max Romeo and The Upsetters are some stylistic reference points. We have just released our second album, Offered It Up, and we will be playing brand new tunes from the record on this tour.
5.Music, Right Here, Right Now
Obstacles that the musician must overcome include sharks, stagnation, unending poverty, back pain, hearing loss, police road blocks, drug-and-alcohol free events, plane babies, decibel limits, drunk guys, ‘hotels’ that are actually just tents, requests for ‘Khe Sahn’, a non-unionized workplace, and your own ego. Plus, it’s the only job I can think of where alcoholism is encouraged by your employer.
[Kingfisha photo by Mia Forrest]
Kingfisha appear at Newtown Social Club on Saturday October 15, and Offered It Up is out now on ABC Music.
