KING PARROT
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KING PARROT

King Parrot pic Stephanie Cabral S.jpg

“We were honoured to be asked to play the whole tour this year,” he says. “It’s a testament to the hard work we’ve put in. We’re like the underdogs to a certain degree: we don’t play fashionable music, we’re all pretty weird looking dudes, and we don’t wear cool clothes. We’ve forced our way into the scene by playing our arses off and playing from the heart. I think, regardless of trends and fashions, that goes a long way. I’m glad we still live in a world where that is recognised, because I’ve often had my doubts.” 

Forming roughly five years ago, King Parrot’s debut EP The Stench Of Hardcore Pub Trash landed in 2011. Their debut long player, Bite Your Head Off followed in late 2012. A sophomore full length is yet to arrive, but it’s not as though the band’s been slacking off. Over the last few years King Parrot have toured Australia many times over, as well as gaining considerable momentum in the US and Europe.

“We’re a touring band now, there’s no doubt about it,” says Young. “We have been incredibly lucky to this point, but we have also worked our arses off and put 100% into each and every show.

“I don’t really cope that well with anything more than a month of down time now,” he adds. “It’s not really necessary. We love touring, so it seems stupid to not want to push ahead and keep building the bands profile around the world.”

When Bite Your Head Off came out, King Parrot was still in its infancy. Touring like madmen over the last couple of years has allowed the band to sharpen their collective strength and overall sound. After the Soundwave tour, they’ll head straight back overseas for another hefty run of dates. But fear not about the band disappearing, as a brand new LP is on the way.

“After we toured with Origin and Beyond Creation in the US and Canada in September we took a month off to write the album in a friends barn in the woods in Vermont,” Young says. “We recorded the album in the US in January, just after the Down and Orange Goblin tour finished up. We can’t wait to show everyone later this year.

“We are much tighter as a band and I think we went into this record wanting to write better songs,” he continues. “I feel like we’ve achieved that. The first album was all the early stuff we had written. I still think that record is ok. This one’s a much bigger sounding record and I think it really shows the care we’ve taken in trying to make better songs. We worked with some of the best people in the business to make this record, and I think it will show when it’s finished.” 
 

King Parrot guitarist Ari White was responsible for instigating the majority of material on Bite Your Head Off. The same goes for the forthcoming record, although Young says the door’s always open for all members to throw in ideas.

“Ari is a machine with his riff writing. He has an unorthodox style to his formation of riffs and has a really good understanding of how he wants his songs to go. That being said, the writing process within the band has always been very much a team effort and everyone is involved with the final outcome of every song.”

Since forming, King Parrot have had a bit of trouble securing a permanent drummer. Current sticksman Todd Hansen has only been with the band for six months, but he’s had no trouble integrating with the group.

“[The album] was written and recorded with Todd on drums,” says Young. “Toddy has been a great fit for us. We’ve had four different guys play drums in King Parrot since Bite You Head Off came out. To do the amount of touring and re-learning and rehearsing of the songs we’ve done in that time – I can’t think of another band that has done what we have under those circumstances. It could’ve easily have broken us.”

 

Far from devolving into a dysfunctional unit, King Parrot are on the up and up. With the Soundwave tour and new LP on the way, the band shows no signs of slowing down.

“I couldn’t think of a better bunch of people to be out on the road with,” says Young. “Sure it’s tough at times, but we are all best mates and we respect each other and that’s really important. We love what we do and we have a damn good time doing it. That’s what it’s all about for us.”

 

 

King Parrot play Soundwave Festival before heading off to Europe on an extensive international tour. To catch them in all their heavy riffing glory visit www.soundwavefestival.com and get yourself a ticket.