Interview: Alex Laska from Kingswood

We’ve come to expect great things from Melbourne rockers Kingswood after epic tracks like Ohio and Micro Wars. So you can only imagine our excitement when we heard the 3-piece have not only given us new music with the release of single Creepin’, but also announced a national tour! We caught up with their songwriter and lead guitarist Alex Laska to chat about the new music, the upcoming national tour, and why he’d take a road trip to Nashville.

First of all, how’s it going? I hear you’re in New York right now?

Hey, I’m good! Yeah I’m at the launch for Kenzo with H&M in New York and Ice Cube is rapping right now!

You’ve just released Creepin’, the first single off your forthcoming album. How do you feel Kingswood’s sound has evolved since ‘Microscopic Wars’ was released in 2014?

As far musically concerned, it’s probably more considered melodically and dynamically it’s a lighter shade than it normally would have been in the olden days of Kingswood. But more to the point, the transition from where I was in ‘Microscopic Wars’, is that I feel like an entirely different person. So however that translates musically I’m sure people will end up discovering.

It’s hard to pinpoint because it’s like asking “what are you like now?”. I’m very different, and I’m into very different things and I’m inspired and challenged by different things. I guess that’s all the stuff that ends up being contained with the album.

What have been your musical influences and inspirations for the new music?

Musically, I didn’t listen to anything while I was writing the new stuff. When I write, I tend to go into some sort of self-awareness experience mode of the mind where I can work out what’s actually going on and then I can talk about what’s relevant to other human beings. I would write down sentences and phrases and words that connect to me in some way in a little book, and then would construct my thought process from that.

If I had sentences that felt rhythmically viable or rhythmically plausible I’d say it out loud until a melody would shape, and once I had the melody the song would finish itself. The search in this album was one finding something that connected with me on an emotional level and two that I was okay with putting out in the world.

Kingswood are just about to tour Australia again, what’s your preferred method of touring?

Well it depends! When we’re doing a rural tour we love getting in the van and being pretty silly. But if you’re doing a long tour, you want to do it right and get your rest in when you need it so you can go hard when you go hard.

Looking at your tour schedule I noticed you’re visiting a fair few rural and out of the way towns as well as capital cities, why?

We always like to flesh out our tours with rural spots. We found our feet doing rural touring and built our fan base with real people doing real things in those places. There are people out there who want to hear our music and don’t often get to do it, so if we have the facility to make it happen for them we do.

Sure, maybe they’re not the biggest shows that we’re ever going to do but sometimes those shows really mean something to people. We’ve made lifelong fans by doing rural tours and you can’t undervalue the importance of going and playing to people who really appreciate it.

I remember going to Wagga Wagga the first time we ever went. We played to six people and every single one of them brought a t-shirt. A year later we came back to play for 400 people and they were basically all friends of those six people.

How do you guys recover after a big show/ night and push on to the next show?

We definitely do like to skull a raw egg and a jump in the ocean, best way to do it!

Lastly, if given the keys to a Holden Kingswood to take a road trip anywhere in the world where would go?

At this point in time, I’d take a road trip down to Nashville and say hi to everyone who helped make this album with us and hang out with them like mates!

Kingswood National Tour Dates

FRI 4 NOV
Fusions On The Field, Chinchilla
SAT 5 NOV
Spotted Cow, Toowoomba
FRI 11 NOV
Jive Bar, Adelaide
SAT 12 NOV
Blues At Bridgetown, Bridgetown
SUN 13 NOV
Kickstart Summer of Music, Perth
THUR 17 NOV
Imperial Hotel, Sydney
FRI 18 NOV
SSA, Albury
SAT 19 NOV
Howler, Melbourne
THUR 24 NOV
Wooly Mammoth, Brisbane
SAT 26 NOV
Base Magnetic Island, Townsville

Get Tickets HERE