Interview with King Parrot

Interview with Matt Young

How did you come about obtaining the band name?

A mate of ours came up with the band name. With thought it was appropriate as we’re a bunch of loud, obnoxious pricks and in Australian slang King Parrot kind of represents that perfectly.


How would you describe your music to someone who has never heard you before?

Like someone overdosing after a massive night on a concoction of booze and every drug known to man. It’s like vomiting nails. A more simple explanation would be Thrash/Grind.

What one thing do you feel sets you apart from the rest in this genre?

We are aggressive as all fuck and like to incorporate this into our live show. I’ve been known to clear moshpits.

How long did it take to record your latest material? And is there any particular message you are trying to relay to your audience with this album?

We recorded it in just a few days. It was a small studio so we tracked everything individually. As far as a message goes, there is nothing in particular. We just represent everything and anything that’s fucked up, grotesque or wrong.

Which label, if any, have you produced this album through? Do you think record companies actually make the recording process any easier?

We put this EP out through our friends label Impedance Records. It was more of a practicality thing for us. They have everything setup so we can get our music out to people in Australia. The recording itself was funded entirely by the band, so we had no record company input for this one. Although, if any labels wanna give us some cash to record the next one, we’re more than happy to oblige.

RELEASES: THE STENCH OF HARDCORE PUB TRASH 2011 - EP   Recently released in Australia on Impedance Records / Rocket Distribution

Any plans for a music video? And, if applicable, which is your favourite video thus far?

We have a music video for the first track off the EP Epileptic Butcher.

When you go into recording mode, do you find it easy or challenging?

We’ve all played in a lot of bands and have recorded many times before, so we just get in there and bust out the songs. It is important to maintain a good level of energy. With this style of music the vocals can take a little longer. 

Who’s responsible for the bands artwork?

Boyd Synnot is the artist that did the artwork for this release. He is a good friend of ours and is happy to dish up some good quality art when we need it. We just wanted to keep it pretty simple as an introduction to the band for this release.

How hard has it been to get to this point?

Not too bad, we have had a few line-up changes, but no real disputes as such. We have just recently replaced our old guitarist Eddie with Squiz (Cemetery Urn/Mustang) and its going better than ever.

Where does your main fan base / support tend to lie?

Being from Melbourne and being a reasonably new band it’s fair to say our main fan base is here. We have toured Australia and will be doing a lot more in the coming months but getting to Europe and USA is definitely on the agenda.

Can you recall a favourite venue?

I book bands at a venue called The Prague in Melbourne and that’s a great stage to play. The Corner Hotel in Melbourne is also another great place to play with an awesome sound. There’s also a pub called The Tote in Melbourne and that is the spiritual home of rock ’n roll and metal in Melbourne and we love that place.

What are some of your favourite Australian acts? And have you had the chance to play alongside them?

Our drummer Rizzo use to play in Blood Duster and we’ve had the chance to play with them. We also recently supported Forbidden (USA) in Australia. Some other great Aussie bands you should check out are Desecrator, Maniaxe, Broozer, Swidgen, Dreadnaught, Clagg, Frankenbok, Mustang, In Malice’s Wak and Decimatus. There’s fuckin’ heaps!

After a live performance do you tend to go and hang out with the fans or do you prefer to keep to yourself?

Being the singer, I usually need to lie down for about 15 minutes after the show, but we’re always up for hanging out after the show. Someone’s gotta sell the merch! Someone in the band usually vomits after the show and that someone is usually me!

What would be your most memorable gig / performance to date?

Our EP launch at The Tote was some brutal fun! We were pretty pumped up for it and spent a little extra money on production and lighting. We were happy with the response we got and a lot of people came away from that show saying they’ve never been that scared/impressed with an Australian metal band in a long time.

Have you got a favourite song you like to play? And is there one in particular your fans seem to prefer?

The song we did our video for, ‘Epileptic Butcher’ is always fun to play live. We have almost got a new record written and it’s safe to say that once we have that done, the new songs are going to be another step up.

If you created your own metal festival, who would you prefer was playing alongside you and where would that be?

I’d like to do it in Spain. I love that country! Some of the bands we’d like to put on the bill are Napalm Death, Pungent Stench, Poison Idea, Malevolent Creation and the original line-up of Australian grind legends Damaged would be cool.

What kind of instruments do you use?

We play Gibson guitars, usually SG or Flying V and Rickenbacker or Fender basses. One guitar amp is Engl, the other is a Peavey 5150 and Ampeg bass gear. Rizzo our drummer has an endorsement with Yamaha drums.

What have been some of the more bizarre signings you’ve had?

I recently signed a dude’s ass, I was little reluctant at first, but he was pretty insistent, so I just closed my eyes and pretended I was signing a chicks tit.

Have you ever had any Mystical experiences?

I’ve seen a few UFO’s in my time and I have recently moved out to the country side and had a few weird experiences in my new house. It’s an old wood cabin and I reckon there’s a few ghoulies hanging around here.

Where can people purchase your music and merchandise from?

We are in the process of setting up our new website and you will be able to purchase all our stuff from there very soon. In the mean time you can go to Impedance Records to buy our EP.

What was the main reason you chose this career path and has it turned out as expected?

If we weren’t playing music we’d probably be in jail for selling drugs or bashing people, so this keeps us occupied in a creative kind of way. I haven’t made the millions of dollars I was thinking I was going to make when I started out playing, but we ain’t finished yet!

Let’s pretend you were creating a tour survival guide. What would be your top three tips for surviving a long tour with the band?

We are planning to tour Europe with King Parrot in the next year, so I would say staying sober will be pretty important for us. I’ve recently (attempted) to quit drinking so I guess that’s a start. We like to put everything into our live performance so staying reasonably fit is pretty important.

What words of advice can you offer anyone looking to enter the music industry?

Don’t do it, hahaha! It’s a lot of fun, but if your in it for the money don’t bother.

Anything you'd like to add or say to your fans?

Buy our fuckin’ disc and check out our website when we’ve got it up and running. We’ll keep you posted on that. Stay Metal!

LINKS:

King Parrot Facebook

King Parrot Reverbnation

King Parrot YouTube

Impedence Records

Buy King Parrot

‘Interview with King Parrot’ by Déa di Morté © 25 October 2011
Hails! to Matt Young for agreeing to participate and taking the time to complete this interview
All pictures courtesy of King Parrot