Voice Of Unity

"It feels like I'm at a point where music's cool, but I want to do music that has a message and has a purpose,” says singer, producer and multi-instrumentalist Kevin Mark Trail. “And it's not that it's contrived or anything like that – it's just who I am – but I think there's enough negative... I don't even want to say the word, but there's enough of the N-word, there's enough of the B-word in black music and culture, and I just don't want to be like that, I don't want to be about that.”

After some whirlwind years as a vocalist for The Streets, Trail is now standing on his own two feet and revelling in the artistic freedom. He calls in from northern New South Wales, an area he's clearly enamoured with, talking of trees, snakes and black cockatoos. The self-referenced “boy from London” is soaking up the natural beauty found in this part of the world, and it's seen him take on a whole new direction with his latest LP, The Knight.

Having just dropped exclusively in Australia, The Knight sees the 33-year-old exploring more cinematic sounds while analysing society's current obsession with consumerism. Going against this trend, Trail has found inspiration in Australian Indigenous and New Zealand Maori communities, and after being encouraged by working alongside children in the bush, he'll be giving his profits from this upcoming east coast tour to the Music Outback Foundation.

“I'd like to see a Bob Marley of our generation, I'd like to see a Tracy Chapman, a Dylan, another Joni Mitchell, Public Enemy y'know,” Trail enthuses. “I'd like to see that arise, or maybe it's there and I just ain't seen it? I was really inspired by the Damian Marley and Nas record they did together [2010's Distant Relatives], and just talking sense, common sense. I really like the whole ghetto mentality – that is real. Some of my family have come from that, but it's how you depict it and how you talk about it. I just want to inspire people; I just want to say something different.”

Flexing his musical versatility, Trail will perform solo and with a full band on this tour, taking the opportunity to experiment on stage with his new songs and explore more electronic elements, toying with beats and loop pedals like another personal hero, Reggie Watts. And having written, recorded and produced The Knight himself “out of necessity”, he knows the music inside out.

“I believe that the more you can do yourself the more powerful you are, and we're at an age where artists can do a lot themselves, so if you can, why not? Just not having boundaries, I feel like I've got that more in this part of the world. I'm not just this artist or that artist; I can make music and just put it out, so I'm really excited about this phase of life.”