Interview: King Ibis Chat About Their New Release, ‘Watch My Mind Bend’

Boorloo/Perth-based indie-rock band King Ibis have unveiled their hypnotic release ‘Watch My Mind Bend‘ – produced and mixed by Dave Parkin (Spacey Jane, Sly Withers, South Summit, Sophian). They also recently won the Coldplay Perth Opener competition and will support them at Optus Stadium on Sunday, November 19 as part of their Music of the Spheres World Tour. We caught up with the band to find out about the release and more!

Congratulations on your latest single ‘Watch My Mind Bend’! What are your plans to celebrate the release?

Recently we received some epic news that we will be supporting Coldplay at the Optus Stadium in Perth on the 19th of November. Our plan originally was to have a local launch show for the single around that time but obviously this was an offer we couldn’t refuse!

Instead, we are focusing a lot of our energy into getting stadium ready and that will be a huge celebration for sure. After that though, we are touring down south for the Balmy Nights festival in Esperance and Hopetoun, and we are looking at some later dates to hopefully do a home launch show late December or early January.

Tell us a bit about the story of the track.

It’s about wanting to quit a habit that you know isn’t good for you. In this case, the habit is a friend with benefits situation that is bound to end in tears, but the allure of the physical connection is too powerful to resist.

How was the process of writing and recording the track?

We played this song for a while at our shows and always felt like it wasn’t quite sitting right. We tried to workshop it and get it to a point where it was recording ready, but it really wasn’t hitting the mark. Just before we binned it all together, we decided to try some ideas in the studio with Dave Parkin to see if he could help to get it across the line.

Everything sat so much better once he got his hands on it. He helped to really solidify the rhythm section and get the best ideas and playing out of everyone. Overall, the song came out so much better than we had hoped.

As a band, how do you balance rehearsing for shows but also making the time to write?

This is really challenging and sometimes there’s really not a whole lot of balance between work, rehearsals and fun!

We try to get together at least weekly and place focus on new material when we don’t have a show. A song can sometimes come together in a session or take months or even years to become fully realised.

Compared to your first release ‘Concrete’, how do you feel your sound has developed over time?

We were really young when we released ‘Concrete’. We’ve come a long way and really grown as people and as musicians. This in turn has also developed the music we write and play together. We’ve gotten a lot heavier and more modern, and feel have really come to know what we like and realise our sound. We take time to examine how each part sits in relation to others and work together to fill the sonic experience to our liking.

What can fans expect from King Ibis to finish off 2023?

We have a bunch of shows coming up to finish off 2023 with a bang including the Coldplay support at the Optus stadium, a tour down south to Esperance and Hopetoun and Supporting our mates Green Pools for their single launch at The Bird.

We are working behind the scenes on our first proper music video and we are also jumping back in the studio this month so there is heaps coming and lots to look forward to!

KING IBIS

UPCOMING SHOWS

Supporting Coldplay*

SUN 19 NOV | OPTUS STADIUM, BOORLOO/PERTH WA*
FRI 24 NOV | BALMY NIGHTS FESTIVAL, BOORLOO/PERTH WA
SAT 25 NOV | BALMY NIGHTS FESTIVAL, KEPA KURL/ESPERANCE WA

Watch My Mind Bend’ is available worldwide now