Kingswood Are Back, But You May Not Recognise Them

According to a very hungover Alex Laska, anyone who has followed Melbourne rock'n'rollers Kingswood over the last seven to eight years of their career can expect the unexpected from their brand new album. The band made the conscious decision to challenge themselves creatively as well as challenge their audience to listen to and accept something very new and different.

"They will not know what to expect, that's what they need to expect," Laska states with confidence, "they will have no idea what's about to happen. We had a mini launch party last night in Melbourne, which is why I'm hungover, but we were playing little snippets of new songs throughout the night, just secretly, and no one knew that it was us. So that was great."

The difference is such that it has caused a touch of consternation from the people who look after the band and put their records out. "It's so different that our record label thought we were playing a joke on them, and that's not a lie!" he laughs. "It was literally like, 'Okay, cool guys, this is funny, now where are the real songs?' And we said, 'No, this is it.'"

"They will not know what to expect, that's what they need to expect."

What was the thinking behind such a radical stylistic shift? "We crave challenge and growth and diversity and interest, to feel like we're going somewhere," he says, "so I guess, in that sense, it's just a pursuit of creativity and for no other reason than that is the type of music we want to make."

The album is a very immersive experience, as punters are sure to hear upon their first listen to After Hours, Close To Dawn, and Laska is confident that the tunes from the album will lift to another level again in a live setting when they head off on a massive run across the nation as of mid/late March.

"I cannot wait to get this new stuff out on the road," he enthuses, "and have people experience it live and just get right into it. Making [the album] is one thing, but when you start to play with it and mess with it, it's a whole 'nother world of musical excitement. It's like when you're a kid and you get to show your parents what you've been working on."

And the band will be far from resting on their laurels when they get back off the Australian tour in May, as they have plenty more activity planned for the second half of 2017. "We'll be looking at the next album, we've a bunch of new songs already," he reveals. "We'll be doing some international touring as well which will be incredible if everything goes according to plan there. Probably both Europe and the States.

"We're very conscious of just maintaining momentum in this creative space that we're in right now. So we just want to keep going in that same vein."