Jen chats to King Parrot about Download Fest 2018.

It is almost here! Jen chats to King Parrot days before the first ever Download in Australia.

Hi Guys, There is a certain buzz here about the upcoming, first ever Download Festival, are you guys stoked to part of this?

We couldn’t be happier about it. The first ever Download and playing in front of our hometown crowd is a massive honour. Some amazing bands, and there is something for everyone at this festival. It’s been really well put together.

You certainly don’t have to go far all being from Melbourne. Your reputation (from a teenager I know) said that your shows are insane. Can you give me 5 words to describe your set to encourage people to head to your stage?

RUTHLESS – HILARIOUS – SPONTANEOUS – GRINDING – CUTE

Nice! I am assuming that you will check out some other bands. Which bands are on your must-see list?

High Tension, Nails, Psycroptic and Clowns.

After DL your Regional Rampage Tour of Australia kicks off with Child Bite.I admire that you include these regional towns in a tour. You seem to have a solid work ethic as I read that you guys have been super busy.

We do have a good work ethic, we love to tour and play shows. I guess playing this sort of music, touring is the main things that we do. That being said, I love the creative process too and I’m getting itchy feet to start writing some new material again.

Is touring your number one thing to do? Your passion I guess.

Sometimes… It has its moments, but at the end of the day I would rather be doing that than some job that was my second or third choice in life. Or something that I felt compelled to do because some idiot at an educational facility told me to do it.

You have just announced support bands, on Facebook, how did you choose them?

We go through the submissions and take a listen and choose from there. It’s important for us to do this sort of thing with the local support acts. It reminds me of my childhood growing up and looking up to the bands that I loved and wanted to play with. For us being in a position to do the same thing for local bands is really important. It fosters a sense of giving back and helps keep the scene eager. We could easily just do a tour package, but I prefer to take the time to get local supports.

I noticed some very disappointed fans because of not having many all ages shows on your tour. How do you cope with these critics when it is not your fault that it is difficult to do an all-ages show in many places?

We have never really been an All-Ages band. Kids aren’t really into grind core. I always hassle our booking agent to book All-Ages shows, but he says the youngsters aren’t really getting out to shows as much these days. If the bands that are directed towards kids aren’t pulling heads, it’s pretty safe to say numbers for King Parrot won’t be great. Did I just throw our booking agent under the bus? I love him, he’s great and booked this amazing Regional Rampage tour for us, it’s going to be massive and a huge undertaking playing 24 shows in a month through Australia. 

You guys released your 3^rd LP ‘Ugly Produce’ last September, it peaked at 21 on the Aria charts. What a feat that was for a grind core band.

Congrats to all of you.

Thank you very much mate! We appreciate it, and it certainly took us by surprise. We appreciate the people that support King Parrot very much, our fans have been incredible.

 

That brings me to your genre as there is many conflicting descriptions of your sound. Your genre is said to be a nasty fusion of grind, death metal, thrash and punk rock.

What do you say right now what your genre is or is it a case of who cares, just listen?
It’s obvious that with all the blast beats and the general approach that we are steeped pretty heavily in the vein of grind core, but we don’t like to be pigeon holed too much. There’s elements of all the things you mentioned and more. We’re definitely on the more extreme end of things, that’s for sure.

. (Your YouTube channel has some um interesting videos! I was going to ask a question about your videos but for once I am speechless haha!

 

Ok I came back to this question. How would you describe your video for ‘Piss Wreck’ for our audience?

It’s a social commentary on the young adults of Australia, being on unemployment benefits and getting wasted with your mates. We all did it, and the next generation are doing it now. It’s pretty unhealthy and absurd, but we’re Australian so you just do what your told right? lol

Pretty much! Your new shoes are amazing! I have Green Day Converse. I love wearing them. Who designed them?  In fact, who is the merch person your band? you have some sweet threads in your shop. Merch shop here
Our merch guys at ‘Out With The New’ in Melbourne designed them for us. We love merch and coming up with new stuff and when they threw this idea at us we couldn’t refuse.

Thanks for your time, I hope you have a blast at DL and your tour.

 

 

 

Live Nation, UNIFIED & Secret Sounds Present Married At First Sign…ing Tent

Melbourne Saturday March 24, 2018  Flemington Racecourse

Tickets on sale now from www.downloadfestival.com.au

Download is an 18+ fully licensed event

Korn (Only Australian Show)  Prophets of Rage | Limp Bizkit Mastodon | Good Charlotte | NOFX  Suicidal Tendencies | Gojira | Amon Amarth Arch Enemy | Falling In Reverse | Neck Deep | Sabaton Hot Water Music| Of Mice & Men | The Story So Far  Northlane | Trophy Eyes | Nails | Issues | Bad Cop / Bad Cop
Ocean Grove | Psycroptic | King Parrot| Clown  Chase Atlantic | Make Them Suffer | High Tension

It’s a nice day for a faux wedding! We are very excited to welcome the Inflatable Church to spread their love and unholy matrimony to Download Melbourne!

Grab your luvah, your best people, and walk down the bouncy isle to the first day of the rest of your faux life!

After you have signed your fate, head on over to the official Download Signing Tent, open from 1pm – 9pm, to meet artists from the Download line up. Keep an eye on the Download Melbourne 2018 app (iPhone and Android) and Facebook for specific signing times released later this week.

 The Download site map and updated playing times are also here!

Plan your best path from stage to beer, from stage to burger, from stage to markets, from stage to signing tent, from stage to… donuts! And that imperative visit to Hell’s Kitchen, our mates from Mary’s have created one delicious fucking monster, combining the smoky eyes of Aaron Turner (IGNI), the African insanity of Duncan Welgemoed (Africola), the cheek of Dani Alvarez (Fred’s), the sauce of David Moyle (Longsong).

 

Train times:

Heading to Download by train? Your timetable is here.

Tram it:

The No. 57 tram runs from the corner of Elizabeth Street and Flinders Street directly to the Flemington Racecourse main gates.