Kingswood Feature Documentary Heading To Cinemas This April

Beloved Australian rock band Kingswood are releasing a feature documentary film this year. It will premiere in Melbourne and screen across the East Coast this April.

The film is called Claptrap and captures the band on their record-setting live venture, where they embarked on a 112-date tour of Australia across six months. Last year’s Hometowns tour saw Kingswood perform to over 60,000 fans following the release of their sixth album, Home.

While the tour sounds amazing on paper, there’s no question that it was relentless. It brought the band closer together, but it also pushed them into visceral emotional territory. It was the kind of tour that had to be recorded and displayed to future generations of bands.

Claptrap will premiere at Melbourne’s Astor Theatre on Friday, 4 April, before airing in select screenings in Geelong, Adelaide, Brisbane, and Sydney. Tickets are now available for the Melbourne and Brisbane sessions, and more screenings will be announced soon.

The feature documentary was directed by Darcy Newton and Luca Catalano.

Newton said of the experience, “When KINGSWOOD asked me, a 23-year-old filmmaker, to document Australia’s longest-ever tour, I knew that if I actually managed to make it home, the film would be very unique and strange. I wanted to create an unreplicable, charming and honest glimpse into the extraordinary world of touring musicians, and this became CLAPTRAP.”

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Catalano and Newton added, “We are filmmakers still from a maturing generation, whose voice, perspectives and concerns aren’t hugely represented on the big screen yet. It’s exciting to be able to contribute and complicate this representation.

“Certainly, this film has been made for fans of KINGSWOOD. If you want to see your favourite rock band wake up together, sleep, eat, argue, dance, drive – and of course, perform – tune in.”

You can watch the official trailer for Claptrap below.

Kingswood songwriter and guitarist Alexander Laska said of the film, “The documentary process was unusual and fantastical. The most compelling aspect was being aware of, and wilfully subjecting to, the experience of one’s life being documented in the pursuit of artistic expression.”

Fellow songwriter and guitarist Fergus Linacre added, “It was surprising how quickly and easily I was able to live as if there wasn’t a camera in my face all day. Credit to Darc and his ability to shoot surreptitiously, and to gain our trust. This enabled him to shoot more real-life moments, providing the depth and intimacy you experience in the film.”