Self-described grindcore band King Parrot sat down with Forte to have a chat about their latest European tour, upcoming regional shows and how good it is to see the Australian sun.
Hi Matt/guys, thanks for taking the time to chat with Forte, how are you and what are you up to at the moment?
Thanks! I’m good. We just got back from a six week European tour so I am still recovering from jet-lag and waking up at 3am in the morning and not being able to get back to sleep. All the good stuff that comes from touring!
We saw you’ve just finished up your tour of Europe and you had your first time in Scandinavia, were there many other firsts during that tour (taking a dump while watching TV is certainly a new one too)?
Yeah there certainly was. We just completed six weeks on the road as main support to Soulfly through Europe and the UK. It was our most extensive tour of Europe, so there were many places we had never played before. It was awesome to get a gage on how far our music has travelled, especially in places like Eastern Europe and Scandinavia.
Your last real big overseas tour you actually had some stuff stolen, did that change at all how you got around for this European leg?
That was quite a few tours ago now, over 12 months ago, but yes we are certainly much more diligent with how we operate now in regards to protecting our belongings – in the US especially. You just cannot afford to leave your vehicle unattended anywhere. At the end of the day, if someone wants to rob you while touring then it will come back on them eventually. It’s a shit thing to do to a band.
Is it nice to be home? What was the first thing you all did?
It’s certainly been nice to be home after spending a winter in Europe. Our last show was in a city called Joensuu in Finland. We were in at least a meter of snow and it was -5 degrees. Coming home was a bit of a shock because I hadn’t seen the sun in six weeks, so I just went straight to bed, and I’m sure most of the others did too. Apart from Slatts, he went straight to Golden Plains to continue raging. Madness.
You don’t have much of a break before you head back out on the road, and you’ll be swinging by Forte territory in Ballarat and Geelong, do you have many fond memories of these towns?
Yeah we do, we have lots of great friends in both cities and the shows are always heaps of fun. Last time we were in Ballarat we had an eager punter crash the stage. He fell over and decided it as time for a rest. He just lay there, trying to grab my mic, knocking cymbals over etc. and being a nuisance. He got kicked out and we asked security to let him back in. But then he did the exact same thing immediately after they let him go. It’s always a good time in the regional cities of Victoria!
Your newest album came out last year, how have the songs translated to the live setting? Do you have any favourites to play?
It’s been great for us to play songs from the new album live, we had a reasonable amount of time touring the first record so it was nice to inject some fresh songs in. I think “Sick in the Head” and “Need No Saviour” translate live really well…
You’re at the urinal and you hear two people chatting about your set on stage you’ve just done, how would they describe it?
Dude 1: “I’m wet, I’m deaf, and I’m sexually attracted to a bunch of chubby dudes playing Grindcore, what happened to my life?”
Dude 2: “Same”
So we know you guys have graced the Soundwave stage and with the news of Legion going ahead in 2017, are you keen and would you like to get in on that one?
It’s great that another festival has been able to get legs so soon after the demise of Soundwave. I’m not sure of our plans just yet, but it’s really cool to see something set-up by the bands and for the people.
Thanks again for taking the time to chat with us, do you have any last words of wisdom you’d like to share with our readers?
It’d be great to see as many people as we can at our upcoming shows, live music really needs as much support as it can get right now, so getting to shows and buying a shirt helps bands immeasurably. I would also challenge anyone to come to a King Parrot show, regardless of whether they like the music and say they weren’t entertained… We have a blast doing what we love and we are lucky that we’re in a position to do it so often around the world.
When & Where: Pelly Bar, Frankston – April 15, Karova Lounge, Ballarat – April16 & Barwon Club, Geelong – April 17
