NEW ALBUM "NEIGHBOUR"
Our Story - Formed in Adelaide South Australia in 2014 the band first made waves across Australia and New Zealand being nominated in every category of the 2018 Australian Blues Music Awards on the back of their 2nd album Tales of A Rich Girl, and ultimately picked up 3 gongs. Tales was tracked in LA by 7 x Grammy winner Jim Scott and mixed in Nashville by 4 X Grammy winner Vance Powell. It received some incredible reviews and had a stellar run on the charts hitting no.1 on the Australian Blues Music Charts, and no.15 on the International Roots Review. Huff Post’s Randy Radic called the album “.....a humdinger”, and Peter Salzony from Blues Blast Mag wrote “You are left emotionally drained after this soulful experience has concluded.......expert musicianship and top notch production propel this effort into greatness. Hearing is believing!”
Between 2017 and 2019 in support of Tales of a Rich Girl the band toured extensively throughout Australia and New Zealand appearing at many of the major festivals in those 2 countries including Womadelaide, Wangaratta, Broadbeach, Mitchell Creek, Bay of Islands (NZ), Mordialloc, Bruthen, Blenheim, Eltham to name a few. However, the announcement that they had signed to Big Wing Records and were heading to the USA for their first full tour was the most exciting news. The US tour took in 7 states and 22 performances kicking off at Summerfest in Milwaukee and finishing at Mammoth Lakes Bluespalooza in California where they featured on the main stage with the likes of Buddy Guy, Trombone Shorty and Charlie Mustlewhite. Other dates included 210 Live, Rosemont and Rockford Illinois, Mishawaka and Gas City Indiana, Nashville, Memphis and Knoxville Tennessee, Little Rock Arkansas, Dallas Texas, and LA and Morro Bay California, with the highlight a live performance on WGN-TV in Chicago reaching a potential 60mil homes through the US! The summer tour rounded out with a return trip at the start of September where the band played a headline set at Grapefest in Dallas TX.
Most recent news, Kings and Associates are in the final stages of tracking their 3rd studio album titled ‘Neighbour’ with a planned release date set for 25th April 2020. While in the US the opportunity was taken to hook up with Jim Scott for a reunion of sort to record a bunch of new songs. Speaking to song writer and bassist Steve Portolesi this was by all reports and amazing session. “Firstly, getting to work with Jim again back in LA was always a priority and desire for us based on how much fun we had tracking Tales. Jim is both a rock music legend and an absolutely amazing man, we simply love the relationship we’ve built and thrive in the encouraging, creative atmosphere which oozes from his studio.” Unlike Tales where all the songs were pre-arranged the new songs took a slightly different path Steve adds, “with the last album we had 12 tunes which we’d pretty much been playing for the previous 12 months, so it was just a case of going into the studio and recording them. This time round we were a little bit greener with the songs being pretty new, but we were fortunate to have our entire band in the studio tacking simultaneously including our US organist Louie Higuera and Paul White from Australia, so there was some serious spontaneity in the way we played....most of the stuff is live”.
Lyricist and lead vocalist Angie explains from a lyrical perspective the new album retains themes of social observation, personal experience and enthusiasm for life, “I’ve always felt most at ease writing from my experiences and learnings as it helps me keep my themes fresh and current. It’s also what impacts me the most so these become the topics most accessible in my creative process....I guess that’s how creativity works”. Thematically the album has been written specifically for vinyl, “music has obviously changed in the way people interact with artists, so we wanted to go back to something a bit more classic and move away from what’s become the standard 12 or 13 track CD type release. Our drummer Kelv had the idea to have the songs create a bit of a theme and momentum on each side of the vinyl more in line with the way music was enjoyed back in the day. It’s certainly not a new concept, but for us it seemed like a cool thing to do, and definitely represents where we’re at currently”. Neighbour from all reports is going to be another sidestep from traditional blues but certainly not a move away entirely from what their fans love. Word is it’s eclectic and soulfully exploring new grounds, and the excitement from those who have heard it is compelling!
TOURING:
To coincide with the release of Neighbour several trips to the US in 2023 are currently in the planning including another summer run returning to many of the places from the 2019 tour. Stay connected to Kings and Associates social media for the latest news…..
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