KingswoodThis week as the war in the Middle East stretched out, the price of wholesale diesel was an average $3.22 per litre. Or up to $4.75 if you were filling up in Tilmouth Well, outback Northern Territory.
Diesel had run out in 3.4% of service stations. Unleaded wholesale, from an average of $1.30 a month ago, is about $2.26 a litre on average.
This has caused tremendous difficulty for performance arts groups – especially in theatre and dance – going into regional areas.
Ticket sales are softening. Promoters are talking about shorter tours and festivals. The sector is calling out for government bail-outs. Freight charges already tripled in recent times. Now regional touring service Arts On Tour has advised a 7% hike in charges, a rise of $20,000 in some cases.
Eating on the road in a café, pub, or restaurant has gotten more expensive. Fuel prices have affected transport, refrigeration, utilities, and waste collection and supplier delivery.
Speculation is a 5% surcharge will be applied in these businesses. With profit margins extremely tight (generally 2.8% for restaurants, 2.6% for cafes) it is inevitable the cost rises have to be passed on to customers.
Not Immune
Contemporary music tours are not immune. Budgets put together in early March are being reshuffled to find ways to pay at petrol bowsers.
Al -country bands, Kingswood from Melbourne and Good Will Remedy from Brisbane, are taking it in their stride and continuing with separate scheduled country runs.
For them, tougher economics play second fiddle to the joy of playing to country audiences and how these are essential for the spirit of their music.
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“The inflationary cost is unbelievable,” reports Alex Laska of Kingswood. “The problem we’re facing is definitely one of liquidity in maintaining the tour, especially when we fill up.
“We’ve gone through $5,000 worth of diesel over six shows with The Black Crowes. So that’s about an extra $1,000 per show in fuel alone.”
Laska was speaking as their massive tour bus “Peggy” was speeding towards Coffs Harbour NSW as Kingswood made their way to Sydney for the Crowes show.
In a few weeks they head out again on their own run, behind their latest album Midnight Mavericks, which drops globally on May 22.
For Good Will Remedy, whose upcoming dates have them using four cars, a financial rethink also has to be made.
Explains bass guitarist and singer-songwriter Will Lebihan, “Diesel was $1.90 when we first did the budget. Now it’s over $3, so we obviously have to watch our pennies elsewhere. Maybe we pull back on our merchandise range.
“On a normal tour for us, fuel makes up 10% to 12% of the budget, now it’s 20%. It’s about $200 to fill up at the moment.
“At this stage, we’re in contact with communities we’re going to, and they’ve got plenty of diesel,” he adds. “It’s a question of being able to pay for it. It’s also a question of having enough to get back to Brisbane! (laughs). It’s great to tour but I like coming home.”
Juggling
Juggling to balance the books isn't always easy. For instance, there’s a reluctance in Kingswood’s ranks to increase ticket and merchandising prices.
“We’d be passing the costs on to consumers who’re already dealing with those problems in their daily lives as it is,” Laska stresses.
“A music concert is a release in some sense. To reflect the rise in costs is a tricky thing to do.
“You just grin and bear it. You keep on going in the knowledge that if you keep delivering good quality product with a great attitude, people will be appreciative of that, and will be willing to support and engage in that in the long term.”
Kingswood have a trump card. One of the hardest-working bands in Australia over the past ten years, in 2023 and 2024 they were touring for nine months each.
In 2025, it was six months of road-roaming. It's led to 80 million global streams, Platinum and Gold record certifications, and nominations for a wide array of awards.
In 2026, there were runs in January/February, then with the Crowes in autumn, and the tour in May. The schedule for the rest of the year will include return dates in the US, while August to November also sees them burning up tyres. It’ll be in the range of 40,000 to 50,000 kms.
Because of this hectic schedule, “Peggy”, with her 400-litre tank, was custom-built with all the comforts of home and to be self-sustained.
There are six bunks, TV and gaming spaces, a chill-out zone, a kitchenette, bar, and state-of-the-art sound system.
“Peggy” is parked overnight at venues, caravan parks, farms, or just off the road in the bush.
“We designed our tour bus to make regional remote and city touring a viability,” Laska notes. “Insurance costs are higher because it’s essentially a motor home. But we’ve removed the necessity for flights and accommodation.
“In the majority of towns we go to, we have removed the backline hire, car hire and trailer hire.
“So that percentage balance is proportionate to what we can put into, say, production costs or wages for everyone or merchandise production cost or servicing cost or public liability costs.
“We can clock up 10,000 to 15,00 km pretty quick. So the wear and tear on the bus means at least three services a year, which for a heavy vehicle can be $1,000 to $1,500, and replacement parts are more expensive.
“It becomes a viable machine if you carefully manage everything. Plus, venues and promoters have their own pay cycles.
“Once you’ve worked out what your expenses will be, it’s being aware of where you’re going to spend your money in the most pragmatic and tour-supportive manner to keep everyone happy and functioning.”
Single
Good Will Remedy launch their new single St. George at Leftys Music Hall on April 18.
They then take the single across regional Queensland, some as part of the Queensland Music Trails, and estimate playing to a total of between 600 to 800 people.
The tour will road test four new songs (reflecting a more New Orleans vibe), starting in Toowoomba on April 23, the next day returning to St. George where the new single was written on his visit last year.
“We spent Anzac Day there,” recalls Lebihan. “I was surprised how quickly the words came. It was that time, at that moment, when you feel inspired.
“It was my first visit there, over three days, and it was a new experience for me, with mills and cotton on the side of the road looking like snow. The people were friendly, resilient, self-sufficient and hard working. They loved living there, they were very proud of their community.”
The band do a workshop at St George High School with music students based on the song, and The Cobb & Co Hotel that night.
The final dates are Tambo Racecourse (26) and Barcaldine where Lebihan does a Q&A session and a night show at the Hotel Shakespeare (28). Back in Brisbane he’ll work on another project, inspired by his love for Elvis Costello.
For Good Will Remedy, playing to regional audiences is essential.
“It is important to the spirit of this band, and its creativity,” Lebihan says. “Your music takes on a different life of its own when you take it out outside of the Brisbane/ Gold Coast where we normally play.
“You feel different when you play different communities. You hear different stories from peoples’ different lives. You're inspired to make new music, whether it’s a whole song or just phrases and snippers of a conversation.”
Queensland audiences, he says, relate closely to these songs.
“Most people like St George because of its catchy chorus. With (earlier track) Sunshine State, it’s interesting because it’s not only just about the best state in the world, but it's a state of mind where you are ‘up’ any time of the day. It comes out of the blue.”
Thrive
Kingswood, Laska emphasises, “thrive in a live environment and being on the road. That’s how we developed our personality. It’s been developed over 10 years.
“As working musicians we are dedicated our lives to refining what we do, and we tour as hard as we can.
“The country element has a greater alignment to a working class approach to life – the consumption of music and the accompanying good times. There’s a mutual respect there, and we love taking our music to those communities.”
The singles from the new album, Lovin’ A Girl, Last First Kiss, and Highway Signs have given them wider support on key country and rock radio, putting them in the Countrytown Top 50 National Country Airplay Chart.
“It’s very exciting and encouraging,” Laska adds. “At the end of the sessions for the album, we were feeling a mixture of pride, a bit of a lament that a chapter had come to a close, the feeling of trying to crack the puzzle of the album, of its characters and sentimentality.
“But for us it’s more about taking it from the control of the studio to the ‘chaos’ of the live show.”
Kingswood refer to Midnight Mavericks as "a bold, after-dark record written in the quiet hours between the show and the silence — shaped by long drives, back rooms and hard self-reflection — exploring ambition and belonging, love and restlessness, loyalty and escape, all wrapped in worn-in country-rock built on melody, muscle and storytelling rather than polish.”
Part of the puzzle is how the songs’ characters take on a life of their own.
The latest single Faith, co-written with Tyler Halverson and hit-maker Jon Decious (Lainey Wilson) as a hook-bait West Coast sound.
The band’s media release states: “Faith paints a picture of a free-spirited woman who's the embodiment of resilience and joy. She's cosmic, navigating life with her mama's wisdom, and a healthy dose of pragmatism towards traditional norms.
“She's the anchor, the muse, and the centre of chaotic worlds. Throw in a touch of philosophy behind embracing the unknowns of love and living it on your own terms and you got Faith.”
How does Laska imagine her to be? “She’s peculiar, inquisitive, slight features, whimsical. Her curiosity is her main defining feature.”
Good Will Remedy – Australian Tour Dates
April 18 – Lefty’s, Brisbane, QLD
April 23 – Bone Idol, Toowoomba, QLD
April 24 – Cobb & Co Hotel, St. George, QLD
April 26 – Tambo Racecourse, Tambo, QLD
April 28 – Hotel Shakespeare, Barcaldine, QLD
Kingswood – Australian Tour Dates
April 18 – Live at The Bundy, Bundalaguah, VIC
April 24-26 – Gumball Festival, Hunter Valley, NSW
May 15 – Rosemount Hotel, Perth, WA
May 16 – The Gov, Adelaide, SA
May 22 – The Corner Hotel, Melbourne, VIC
May 23 – Savannah Sounds Festival, Port Douglas, QLD
May 28 – Lefty's Music Hall, Brisbane, QLD
May 29 – The Factory Theatre, Sydney, NSW
May 30 – Full Throttle Ranch, Hunter Valley, NSW
June 19 – Tanks Art Centre, Cairns, QLD
June 20 – Cooktown Discovery Festival, Cooktown, QLD
This piece of content has been assisted by the Australian Government through Music Australia and Creative Australia, its arts funding and advisory body
