In the never-ending battle for rock’n’roll success, it’s inevitable that a band will do what it’s got to do to get where it wants to be.
It’s a battle that Melbourne boys Kingswood are not only fighting, but one they’re winning.
After the release of their 2014 debut Microscopic Wars, Kingswood embarked on an incredibly successful national tour, selling out some of the country’s biggest venues as well as spreading their reach off the beaten path. With the release of their new single ‘Creepin’, Kingswood are set to hit the road again this month for a string of nationwide shows – but not before they’ve made an attempt at international domination.
Speaking from a media event in New York City, lead guitarist Alex Laska finds himself rubbing shoulders with industry magnates, but thinking all the while of being elsewhere.
“I’m in a really weird place, I’m moving to another place where it’s quieter,” Laska bellows into his phone. “The brand H&M, they’re doing a collaboration and there’s a launch in NY with Ice Cube rapping. It’s pretty surreal to be here and see him. It’s not really my thing… it’s a long story as to why I’m here. I’m standing next to a Jonas brother – it’s a really weird little corner to get into.”
Evidently, the lifestyle of the touring musician is not always what Kingswood expect it to be. They work hard and play hard, but as Laska explains, their hearts are on the stage, even if their promotional trips overseas see the Melburnians flexing their muscles a little.
“We’re having a bunch of meetings to get our new album out here [in North America], setting things up, all that sort of thing,” says Laska. “We’re touring Canada with July Talk doing about seven or eight shows before we go on the Australian tour. We’re essentially opening for the Canadian equivalent of us and we get to do a run of the new album. I’m super excited and all the shows are sold out. Let’s see if we can’t make something connect as far as our take on rock’n’roll.”
Kingswood’s interpretation of the genre has proven to be fresh yet moody, and ‘Creepin’ captures the darker sides of the mind, portrayed with psychedelic guitars and soothing vocals – a juxtaposition of innocence and darkness.
“It stems from the darker corners of my mind, really, which is something that’s unique to put out to the general public, for me anyway,” says Laska. “I guess it’s reflective. Don’t get me wrong, it’s quite stylised – the basis of it is the darker aspects of higher desires, stemming from a place where you’re in a position of desire and you kind of bypass the nice stuff and go into the… I don’t know, sadistic? It’s the more sinister and sadistic parts of your mind that can twist things that appeal to you and the things you may or may not want to do in regards to it … This is the darker part of the corners of my mind.”
So how does Laska get to a point where he feels he must voice this dark side? “With the new stuff, I dunno, I wrote a lot of it in NYC because we were living here this time last year. I was in a relationship with someone and I went through phrases and words that connected with me on an emotional level, and I feel like it’s the sort of thing that will make sense to someone eventually, to someone who may or may not hear it.
“Putting things together phonetically, if it made sense I constructed the melody around it. Once I get something that’s emotionally connective, I’ll kind of link it into a nice grouping of phrases that feel musical to me. Like lyrics from The Beatles, that immediately moves people, and I wanted the same sort of aesthetic, the same experience from a lyrical base. And from there melody came naturally, the songs wrote themselves. That was the process – it makes sense to me as a creative process to do it this way [rather] than the way I used to do it.”
The fans will soon get a taste of this material with November’s national tour. And yet, Kingswood have already honed themselves as stellar performers, achieving great things through opportunities like supporting AC/DC on their most recent outing. “It’s really surreal,” Laska says. “Every time we’ve done something for a well-known or established act like AC/DC, when you get out there it’s incredible.
“When you finally engage with the reality of what you’re doing, it’s hard because it’s an opportunity you’ve dreamt of since you were 14 years old, then once it takes place, you realise what you’re doing and you fall back into the habit of saying, ‘Crap, this is one of the biggest days of my life – there’s a lot of people here.’ But you fall back into the comfort of being a musician and you say, ‘Wow, that was super rad.’ It’s such a weird experience from the start to the end.”
Recollecting how far Kingswood have come leaves Laska somewhat stumped, and as an afterthought, he adds: “All this stuff is really exciting – as awesome as the international stuff is, you just love going home and playing to the people where you’re from.”
Kingswood play at theImperial Hotel on Thursday November 17.
