‘A Couple Of Kids With Big Ideas’: King Stingray On New Album ‘For The Dreams’

Today is a big day for King Stingray, who not only just released their new album, For The Dreams, but declared this day to be King Sting Day.

In case you missed it, this week, the Arnhem Land outfit encouraged their fans to take today off to enjoy their new album. King Stingray went the extra mile, sharing a wikiHow instructional video that demonstrates how to let your boss know you won’t be coming in. The band also let fans know they can talk to drummer Lewi Styles for permission slips.

Coming up with a genius marketing ploy for album release week isn’t just clever, it’s memorable – just like the songs on For The Dreams.

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On For The Dreams, King Stingray’s highly anticipated follow-up to their self-titled Australian Music Prize-winning album, the band are absolutely joyous, sending messages of positivity and growth to all who need them.

Ahead of the band hitting the road in support of For The Dreams next year, dig into King Stingray’s track-by-track explanation of each song on the album below.

Light Up The Path: 

Light Up The Path is about seizing the moment and not waiting for the perfect moment to come by. It’s about the idea that you don’t necessarily need someone to guide you through the path, but in fact, you will light up the path on your own as you go.

Sometimes, we put a lot of pressure and weight on our decisions in life, particularly small decisions that don’t really matter in the grand scheme of things. It’s about letting go of these pressures and adopting a “birrkapmi” (easygoing) approach. The line “we’re talking too much” also relates to political matters, too much talk not enough action. 

Best Bits:

Best Bits is a song about all the best parts of life, all poured into one moment. Inspired by a particular moment in time, a particular day that had all the right ingredients. It’s about those ripper-of-a-day type moments, those warm days in the sunshine with your mates, with your family or a loved one.

Those days where Mother Earth just turns it on big time for those particularly speccy days where everything is like a dream. The Best Bits is about simple living in a complex digital world, and although it can be hard to articulate in just a few words, it is a feeling that is so massive and profound. Yo manymak! 

Southerly: 

Southerly tells a story, a story that is kinda our story. The line “back in the days when we were just a couple of kids with a couple of big ideas” - that’s us. 

The chorus “I don’t wanna be anywhere else right now” refers to when you are just so content in where you are, and that can be like your geographic location, or it can be something like where you are in your career, your relationships, anything.

It’s just about being content and happy with what you have in front of you. The line “you can see it for yourself, but you just got to look around” refers to the fact that sometimes, we don’t realise the natural beauty of the world and also of people - there are so many distractions in life, and it’s important to acknowledge and recognise just how beautiful Mother Earth is. 

The line “the change in the seasons, picking up the pieces you left out”- this is a wink at climate change and that we are now a generation that needs to pick up the pieces and take care of our planet. It’s our duty of care. “I don’t know where we are going, but we can turn around now” is also a reference to climate change and the fact that it’s not too late if we act now. Let’s work together so we can all enjoy this beautiful planet together! 

Lookin’ Out:

Looking Out is a song about perspective and the feeling of awe. Having spent a lot of time sitting around a campfire or looking out into the ocean, this song describes a feeling of being in awe about the vastness of our planet Earth.

Although a personal experience, it describes a feeling that we believe is a universally human feeling of being in awe of our surroundings and how unbelievably stunning Mother Earth is. And as a result how our our day-to-day problems can sometimes appear small and insignificant when put into perspective. Looking out into the ocean can do this for us. And that’s why we wrote this song.

The song also hints at the idea that we have no idea what our future holds, but if we can find a way to work together, we’d be on the right track! We are a band from a small place, and we’re singing about big things! 

Nostalgic:

This song is pretty self-explanatory - it’s about feeling nostalgic. We often reminisce about good times we’ve had, and when we do this we’re often staying up late yarning and telling stories of like “remember when this happened” etc.

After the crazy busy life we now live, it’s important to take the time to process things, and we found that was very much needed to refuel the batteries, I suppose. “Some memories fade, but this one’s going to stay” - this talks about the fact that, for some reason, certain feelings and memories just stick with you forever. It’s a funny thing when random little memories just seem to stick with you. Making memories with your friends by your side is what it’s about. 

Day Off:

As the name implies, this song is about having a day off. It’s about calling in sick to work and “chucking a sicky” to go and have some downtime. The chorus “picking up the keys to a better life” is a metaphor for opening the door to a new day, a fun day, a day where you can do whatever you want! 

It’s a playful song. We did a clip to it and went fishing for the day at Dima’s homeland Bawaka in the northern tip of Australia.

Through The Trees:

At its core, Through the Trees is a travelling song. It’s about seizing the moment and the concept of time. It tells the story of a long journey. A journey through a canopy of dark green trees before arriving at the top of a sandy rock escarpment that has an enormous view of the ocean - signifying the reaching of a different perspective.

But its meaning extends far beyond this. It’s a metaphor for life, the canopy of trees is acting like a tunnel and there’s a light up ahead. We’re on the move, and we’re not wasting time. On the surface, it’s a fun travelling song representing adventure, but beneath the surface, it talks more deeply about the concept of time and how precious it is. It’s about overcoming adversity, coming out the other side, and reaching that breath of fresh air. 

The manikay (traditional songline) sung in this song describes a man walking by himself through the bush, he’s alone and he’s following the sound of a little native bush bee. The bee is buzzing and he continues to follow it. It’s guiding him to a group of people where he is no longer alone. He is happy now.  

Soon As:

This is a travelling song. It’s about finally reaching your destination and having both feet firmly planted on the ground—that feeling when you’ve finally arrived, taking off your shoes and feeling the sand in your feet. 

We come from a very small remote community and it takes AGES to finally get back home as we have to catch multiple planes and cars. It’s huge journey and so we wanted to write a song about it. Of course this story was birthed out of extensive touring and long journeys on planes and car rides, boat rides everything! And that big release / relief when you finally make it home! 

What’s The Hurry: 

This song is about slowing down. It’s about backing the tempo of life down a bit. Sometimes in life, the goalposts move, and you need to slow down. We love being busy, it’s what drives us, we love filling our plate with lots to do. But this one is about knocking it back a bit.

It’s also a wink at sustainability and caring for our environment, as heard in the line “Can we tread light to sustain” - it’s about trying to take care of our earth and protect it, nurture it. Yolngu people are perhaps the original conservationists, and caring for country is important to us. Loving sustainably is important to us and sometimes we need a reminder to take things slowly to plan for a brighter future ahead! 

Come Up To The Surface:

This song just comes out of nowhere on the album. It’s an interesting song, and the visual behind this idea is a big breath of fresh air - coming up to the surface. Imagine you take a deep dive into the crystal clear ocean and hold your breath, you swim really deep still holding your breath and then you have to turnaround and return to the surface - following the beam of light from the sun that smashes through your eyes. It’s that big gasp for fresh air at the top - that big fresh breath of air kinda sums up the album and also our lives in a way. 

Cat 5 (Cyclone):

It might feel like a bit of a cyclone at the moment, but there’s blue skies up ahead. On the surface, the water is calm and glassy, and there is a light breeze. The land and water are quiet, all the birds are still except the eagle soaring on thermals. Beneath the surface is a strong current running out to the horizon; it’s a time to reflect.

For The Dreams is out now via Sony Music Australia/Civilians. Check it out here.

KING STINGRAY

2025 AUSTRALIAN TOUR

With special guests Beddy Rays and The Bel Air Lip Bombs

FRIDAY 21 MARCH - HORDERN PAVILION, SYDNEY, NSW
SATURDAY 22 MARCH - FORTITUDE MUSIC HALL, BRISBANE, QLD
FRIDAY 28 MARCH - HINDLEY STREET MUSIC HALL, ADELAIDE, SA
SATURDAY 29 MARCH - FORUM, MELBOURNE, VIC
FRIDAY 4 APRIL - FREO ARTS CENTRE (SOUTH LAWN), FREMANTLE, WA

For more information visit: www.kingstingrayofficial.com