This month, Melbourne rock ensemble Kingswood released the first dark, sinister single, Creepin from their soon-to-be released sophomore album.
After touring with ACDC last year, dealing with broken bones, recording a follow-up LP, and replacing their bass player, the band is ready to kick off on not one, but three tours.
We caught up with frontman Fergus Linacre to talk about an upcoming as-yet-unannounced tour, the new album’s impending release, touring with The Hives, and even gained insight into the shenanigans that go on behind closed studio doors.
Music Feeds: So your upcoming Australian tour kicks off November 4th…
Fergus Linacre: Correct, yes. We go to Canada on Sunday [October 23rd] and we’re doing a tour there and get back on the 4th of November. The day we get back is the first day of the show, so we’ll be straight into it.
MF: I’ve seen the press refer to it as your “comeback” tour. How do you feel about that term being used?
FL: That’s a bit ridiculous. We haven’t been gone that long. We’ve been working on the album. It’s only our second album.
MF: Last year you toured with ACDC; will it be a big adjustment going back to playing relatively smaller venues after playing stadiums?
FL: We got warned that ACDC fans don’t often support the first act. They’re very committed to ACDC but we suppose we get away with it very well.
The Hives, went on after us and did their “We’re the greatest band in the world” act—which is just an act, they don’t actually think that—but The ACDC fans were not as swayed by them.
When we were doing that tour we did sideshows as well, so we’d play at little 400-cap rooms the night after we’d do the ACDC show and, to be honest, I prefer that to the big stadium. Especially playing to your own fans and people that love the band. We’re much more at home there than playing with 30,000 strangers.
MF: Did touring with such a legendary band change your perspective as a musician?
FL: A little, I mean, they’re kind of a machine. I suppose it’s more like a job for them now. It’s amazing, being able to just step out on that stage. And I’m sure they absolutely still love it. It still looks like they do. It was such a well-oiled machine and it would be great to get to that stage. But at the moment for us, anything can happen. Every show is different and that’s what makes it exciting: the fact that you just don’t know what’s going to happen when we step out there.
MF: These will be your first shows with your new bass player, Braiden Michetti. Was he involved in the writing of the new album?
FL: He was involved in the album. He came on board just after we started demoing the tracks and came to Nashville with us and played on the record as well. So, he’s very much in the team now.
MF: How did recording in Nashville influence the album?
FL: I think getting out of Australia and getting out of the sort of “triple j bubble” that we’re all in here is really beneficial because there’s such a broad range of music out in the world and I think we only embrace a small portion of it here. Which is okay, but when you go to a place like Nashville, which just has got so many different kinds of music and is full of people who really love music, they don’t really care what you look like or what your vibe is as much as they would in, like, LA.
In Nashville, it’s purely about the songs and creating amazing sound and amazing producers and engineers and musicians. You want some strings? You can get them in there in an hour. You want a choir? You can get it there. We really broadened our horizons on this record and it’s very diverse. There are a lot of different kinds of music and a lot of different sounds on it. We’re really proud of it. I think people will get a bit of a shock. But I’m looking forward to that.
MF: I noticed that in your new single, ‘Creepin’ that there’s a lot darker of an element involved compared to your past ones.
FL: Yeah I think Creepin certainly has got a sinister vibe to it.
MF: So, why the shift in aesthetic?
FL: I don’t know if it correlates to the entire record but certainly with that song, the sentiment is about that dark voice in the back of your head, those thoughts you have before you go to bed and that kind of thing. So, I think sonically it suits the lyric, which is something we don’t always match up.
We’ve written really sad songs that have a really upbeat kind of vibe. We don’t stick to that rule of linking the two at all. Sometimes it’s really good to do the opposite. But the album’s full of different kinds of music. There’s like a country ballad, there’s something that sounds like it could be on Graceland. Although the songs do all feel like they’re a family, it’s certainly an ambitious, diverse work.
MF: Have you played any of it live yet?
FL: We’ve played Creepin live once and it went down pretty well but it hadn’t been released yet. But on this tour we’re going be playing a bunch of songs off the new album. Not all of them, but there will be a few new ones in there, for sure.
MF: So, Canada is going to get the first taste of it then?
FL: Canada will get the first taste of all the new stuff and then when we come back home we’ll be well oiled and ready and we’ll play them well. We’ll make sure we’re good by the time we come back.
MF: When can we expect the release?
FL: I don’t have an exact date but February looks like when we’re going to drop it. And that’ll correlate with a big national tour, much bigger than this one. We’ll play bigger rooms. We’ll play a lot more places. We’ll try and get to the places we didn’t get to this time, like Tassie.
MF: Does the album have a title yet?
FL: It does. I can’t tell you at the moment but we sat around a dinner table at a Japanese restaurant only a week or so ago and said “We need to decide on an album title before we leave the dinner table,” because time was running out.
So, we sat down and went through everything and we were all rapt with a lyric from one of the songs. We don’t know how we didn’t see it earlier. It just makes perfect sense and it suits the album so well. So, once someone said it we were like, “That’s it. Done.”
Also, we just built a skate ramp in our studio.
MF: [Laughs] How’s that going over?
FL: It’s great. Except we have a basketball court as well and just before we recorded the album Alex dislocated his finger and couldn’t play guitar.
MF: Did that heal up?
FL: He was good in the end. He figured it out but for the first few months when we were writing and doing demos he couldn’t play properly. Even when we were recording in Nashville he still had to wear a splint on his finger in between guitar takes. So I don’t know if he’s allowed to skateboard on the ramp yet because he seems to be prone to injury.
MF: {Laughs] Yeah, I’d keep him away from it.
FL: I’m the only one who can get away with breaking something and still be able to do a show. I think the other guys need to look after themselves a little bit.
MF: It sounds like you might be setting yourself up for it.
FL: [Laughs] I’m not very good at skateboarding, but I’m trying.
MF: Stick to the music maybe?
FL: Yeah, I think so. [Laughs] I think that’s the plan.
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Kingswood will be heading out on tour in November 2016, for a slew of club shows around Australia. See dates and details here below.
Kingswood 2016 National Tour
Tickets on sale now
Friday, 4th November
Fusions On The Field, Chinchilla QLD
Tickets: Fusions On The Field
Saturday, 5th November
Spotted Cow, Toowomba QLD
Tickets: Official Website
Friday, 11th November
Jive Bar, Adelaide SA
Tickets: Official Website
Saturday, 12th November
Blues At Bridgetown, Bridgetown WA
Tickets: Official Website
Sunday, 13th November
96FM ‘Kick Start Summer Of Music,’ Perth WA
Tickets: Official Website
Thursday, 17th November
Imperial Hotel, Sydney NSW
Tickets: Official Website
Friday, 18th November
SSA, Albury NSW
Tickets: Official Website
Saturday, 19th November
Howler, Melbourne Vic
Tickets: Official Website
Thursday, 24th November
Wooly Mammoth, Brisbane QLD
Tickets: Official Website
Saturday, 26th November
Base Magnetic Island, Townsville QLD
Tickets: Official Website
