Without a doubt one of the hardest working Australian rock acts at the moment is King of the North. If you have been following their pursuits on social media, you will know that they have been playing a lot of gigs in regional Victoria and down the Surfcoast over summer. Over the long weekend in March, the duo is set to return for a rocking set at the Torquay Hotel. As expected Andrew, or Higgsy as he is better known, is full of excitement to get back down to the coastal town.
“To be honest it reminds me a lot of where I grew up. I grew up in Adelaide and my mates and I were all skaters and surfers and I spent a lot of time as a kid on the beaches of Adelaide,” he says.
“We used to travel down the south coast to go surfing and come across to Falls Festival over New Years and hang out on the Vic surf coast – I’ve always loved it down there. There’s a big laid back surf-y culture to Torquay, which I really like and it’s great. I’ve made so many friends down there and so to a point, it’s almost a second home. I can’t wait to jump up on stage once again.”
A few weeks before I got the opportunity to talk to Higgsy, the band had just signed a deal in Europe for the release of their no holds barred rockin’ debut release, Sound the Underground. After touring constantly for the past couple of years, being able to hit the ground running on a new continent and play to some new audiences is something that KOTN are very excited about.
“It feels really good man to finally have broken the seal on Europe. A lot of the American bands and European bands that we have toured with have said that we would really benefit from going to Europe. The label is Bad Reputation and they are based in Paris and are responsible for breaking Electric Mary in Europe. Those guys are massive over there and so if we could do the same then, that’d be awesome,” Higgsy says.
If you have been holding out for the follow up to Sound The Underground, you might have to wait a little longer due to the unexpected circumstances whilst the band was on tour last November touring around with The Mark of Cain.
“I actually had a whole bunch of things stolen out of my hotel room one night and that was pretty much the base of the whole second album. My laptop, phone, wallet was stolen and as a result, we’re touring Europe this year and Australia will have to wait for the follow up. You can blame the guy that stole my gear for that one,” he says.
If you haven’t seen this dynamic duo at work, I highly recommend that you get on seeing their show at the Torquay Hotel on March 6. They are about to hit the ground running in Europe and it may be sometime before they are back playing regional shows in Australia.
“We are going to wait around for the opportunity to play in Europe. We’re going to get over there as soon as possible and see what happens. Come out and boogie Torquay!”
When&Where: Torquay Hotel, Torquay – March 6 & Northcote Social Club, Melbourne – March 13
By Tex Miller