To set the scene here, we’d just arrived on American soil at JFK airport, New York from Frankfurt, Germany after our first European tour as King Parrot. A couple of us have toured Europe before with other bands, but this was our first run as KP. We did a 10 show run across 7 countries with Weedeater. It was a great way to test the waters for us as well as get acquainted with our touring buddies in Weedeater before both bands set out for a month of dates across the USA. In this first pic, the lads are just lounging about in the airport lounge during our layover before flying down to New Orleans, Louisiana.
We finally made it to New Orleans after an 8+ hour layover at JFK. Our friends from Housecore Records, Kate and ‘The Big Fella’ Steve were awaiting our delayed arrival in NOLA and drove us back to the Housecore ranch where we had a bit of a catch up beer before we all passed out. After spending some time there recording our new record “Dead Set’ in the early part of 2015, it really has a home away from home feel when we stay with Philip and Kate!
After a lazy day and a couple of nights rest at Housecore Records HQ, we loaded up the van and the trailer and headed up to Austin, Tejas for SXSW. There’s Mr White giving us a wave! Hello Mr White!
After driving to Austin, Tejas on the Thursday, we went and got our artist passes for SXSW, then headed down to the Midway bar to catch our mates Honky who were playing there that night! We then went to our friends 8-Ball and Lisa’s place which is our Austin home away from home, where we spent a few night during South By.
Austin had been dumped with rain for a few days prior to our arrival, and when we went to move the van for our first show at The Dirty Dog, we got nice and bogged!! This photo only shows the early stages. Lets just say that after several attempts on our own, we had to call AAA and get winched out! The front lawn looked like one of those mudpits they drive the monster trucks through by the time we got out! We parked on the street after that! Either way, it was an exciting way to kick off our SXSW weekend!
After a reasonably painless load in (by SXSW standards), we were finally reacquainted with our tour buddies, Weedeater at the Dirty Dog bar for our first show of the US tour! Austin is always a great show for us as we’ve played a few in this town in the past year. Some nutter was moshing with garbage bins in our pit which kinda scared the less crazy KP fans off. But you never know what’s gonna happen at a KP show! Here’s a snap of our boys Weedeater tearing South By punters a new arsehole!!
SXSW day 2!! We had a show at The Lost Well on the Saturday night called Heavy Metal Parking Lot, which had about 15 bands and Weedeater headlined. Our set went well, with another crazy, sweaty water drenched pit to boot!! But the highlight that day was when we went to Browns BBQ for lunch! I got ribs and brisket, with a side of Mac n cheese and spicy cabbage! And of course a local brew to wash it down! Delish!!
After a great couple of days at SXSW, Weedeater went to Dallas to play a festival and King Parrot played our own headline show in Midland, Tejas at Blue Max! Although this show was a late addition to our schedule, and it was seemingly in the middle of nowhere, this show was NUTS!! It was a smaller crowd than the previous 2 nights, but they really brought the rukus in Midland! Not only was the crowd amazing, the venue looked after us really well. Some delicious home cooked Tex-Mex food and plenty of cool treats from the bar! A great night all round!
Onwards to Albuquerque, New Mexico! After a drive day (day off) we met up with the Weedeater blokes for what was realistically the first show of OUR tour. The SXSW shows were somewhat hectic with several other bands playing, then we split to different parts of Tejas for our shows the day after, so this one felt like the proper start of the Weedeater/King Parrot US run together. Just like Europe where we got to hang out and play together everyday! The venue was called Launchpad. It was a decent room with a mezzanine and a nice stage! Although the mens dunny had Squizzy confused when he needed to drop the kids off at the pool.. No seat, to shit tickets, no cubicle? Oh well, when ya gotta go, ya gotta go!! Onya Squizzy!!
Scottsdale, Arizona was next on our agenda! After a scenic drive through the desserts of NM and AZ, we arrived at the venue and loaded in as we do everyday. But today was a special day, as we had been informed that heavy metal legend, Max Cavalera (Soulfly, Cavalera Conspiracy, Killer Be Killed, ex- Sepultura) would be attending the show tonight! Max has mentioned that he likes King Parrot in various interviews in the past year, and Youngy met him and his wife Gloria in Australia during Soundwave festival when he was out with Killer Be Killed. But as we were playing on the opposite day, he never got to see us. So Max brought the family down for a lovely evening at a King Parrot show!! I dunno about the other lads, but I was a little nervous! But we ripped it up in our usual fashion and the Cavalera’s were well impressed. Max told me it was ‘Intense’ with a huge smile on his dial! Here’s a great road shot of our half packed trailer, with King Parrot and Max Cavalera!
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King Parrot return to Australia next month to tour their brand new record Dead Set, out May 15th, with special guests High Tension and Colossvs. The full tour dates are here:
Thursday, 14 May -The Loft, Warrnambool, VIC 18+
Friday, 15 May – Fowlers, Adelaide, SA LIC/AA
Saturday, 16 May -The Corner, Richmond, VIC 18+
Sunday, 17 May – Wrangler, Footscray, VIC AA
Thursday, 21 May – Magpies, Canberra, ACT LIC/AA
Friday, 22 May – Corrimal Hotel, Wollongong, NSW 18+
Saturday, 23 May – Newtown Social Club, Sydney, NSW 18+
Sunday, 24 May- Small Ballroom, Newcastle, NSW 18+
Thursday, 28 May – Tatt’s Hotel, Lismore, NSW 18+
Friday, 29 May – Coolangatta Hotel, Gold Coast, QLD 18+
Saturday, 30 May- Crowbar, Brisbane, QLD U18
Saturday, 30 May- Crowbar, Brisbane, QLD 18+
Friday, 5 June – Prince Of Wales, Bunbury, WA 18+
Saturday, 6 June – Amplifier, Perth, WA 18+
Sunday, 7 June – HQ, Perth, WA AA
Album pre-order bundles with tickets available now: http://nervegas.com.au/king-parrot/dead-set/. And for more details on the band, follow them on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kingparrotband
