” Hey girl, what’s the fuss about?” The opening lines of the latest single release, Sunday, from favourite Melbourne four piece, Custom Kings. The fuss is that the Kings will be touring this Summer. In tow are their new tunes, splashed with 60’s rock, roll and folk, and at times, a much more pop electronic sound than their eclectic debut album At Sea.
Nick Vorrath, lead singer of the Kings explains, “We wanted to match up the sound to what we sound like when we play live… If we were going to be an electric band we wanted to make it sound like that, and it’s just a natural progression of where we wound up.” Although the band is anticipating how the Custom Kings crowd will receive the new tunes, Vorrath explains they are pretty happy with the recent album launches in Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney. “We did have some residencies in Melbourne to get us up and going with it, and so far the response has been really good… Anyhow we do still play the old stuff as well!” (Which I openly admitted still own a piece of my heart).
Vorrath, catches me up with what they have been up to since the album release of The Great Escape. Full of 50’s and 60’s rock sounds and sweet, sublime vocals, the boys have found a swing in their step and a certainty in their sound. Vorrath says personally as far as his musical and lyrical influences go, he reads… a lot. “I start off with an idea and it turns out to be something either totally illegible but I like the way it sounds or it turns into something completely different.” Evidently this is where the King’s 2004 single, Rose Pickles (based on the character of the same name from Tim Winton’s Cloudstreet) comes up in conversation, “I mean I still kept the ghost in that song somewhere and kept the title as Rose Pickles, I guess they are the only similarities to the book. But I do try and listen to as much different music as I can.” It is wonderfully clear that lyrically Vorrath also extracts inspiration from films. ” On the road again/ truck stop and I’m waiting…”
The band worked with long time collaborator and producer, Steven Schram (Little Red, Little Birdy) for the recording of The Great Escape, Vorrath laughs, “He’s actually pretty much a member of the band now.” Vorrath admits the band were a little nervous going into the studios for the recording, “but I knew he (Schram) knew it really well, but it was a way to make us feel comfortable about the whole situation.”
Vorrath, and fellow band mate, Jarrad (Brown – bass) have been dabbling in their charming side project, Joe Neptune in the meantime, producing some more acoustic folk tunes together. In fact, the track Indigo, which features on The Great Escape was originally a Joe Neptune song, “We actually started playing it at Custom Kings gigs, and I really liked the way we were playing it, and I almost wished I could record it and I thought, well why can’t I?” And from there it was recorded and now fits wonderfully within The Great Escape.
“I love the Joe record and I love playing Joe shows, so I’m sure there will be another record in there sometime, but we haven’t done much more with that unfortunately.” Vorrath says Joe Neptune, and Jarrad’s other side project Eagle and The Worm have been put on the backburner since the Kings have started recording and touring again, and probably won’t be around again until after the touring ends.
The Custom Kings tour started in Toowoomba on the 25 November, and will make its way down the East Coast to finish up in Ballarat on the 18 December. In between, the band will be sharing the stage with Dan Kelly at DALEBAKE, a mini-fest happening at the Annandale Hotel on the 4 December, as well as appearing with Jebediah in Adelaide on the 11 December.
Originally published on: thedwarf.com.au